Chapter 4

Chapter Four

“Can you fix it?” Rhy asked.

Gabe glanced at his boss, who looked very concerned. “I’ll do my best.” He raked a hand through his hair, then winced when his fingers brushed against the goose egg. He felt awful for inadvertently unleashing a virus. Should he have anticipated that? He wasn’t sure if he would have considered that as a possible threat even if he had his memory. Unless his memory included finding a virus in the first place. Yet if that was the case, he would have reported it.

“I’ll call Assistant Chief Michaels.” Rhy glanced at Cass, then back to Gabe. “I don’t mean to pressure you, but we really need your expertise to get us back up and running. Thanks to the changes you made in the system last year, this should only impact our precinct. Not all of them.”

The thought of all the precincts in the entire city of Milwaukee going down gave him a chill. Talk about a crippling blow against law enforcement. He gestured to the computer. “I’ll get to work on this right away.”

“Thanks.” Rhy turned to head to his office, but Cassidy hung back.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Her voice was low so as not to carry. “I’m not a medical professional, but I’ve heard screen time is not good for concussions.”

“I’m fine.” He forced a smile, touched by her concern. “Sounds like I should know this system backward and forward.”

“You do,” she said with confidence. “But you’re not a robot either. Just be careful. Don’t push yourself too much.”

“I won’t.” He told himself there was no time to bask in her concern. He turned his attention back on the computer. Despite the holes in his memory, he knew exactly how to access the system’s basic operating system. A few keystrokes later, he was in and able to navigate around. In familiar territory now, he searched for the virus that had infected their departmental system.

At some point, Cass brought him more coffee. “Thanks,” he said absently, without taking his gaze from the screen. “I appreciate your support.”

“That’s our line when it comes to the work you do for us,” Cassidy said lightly.

He tore his gaze from the screen to look over at her. The way she said the words indicated they spoke on a regular basis. Conversations that he would have loved to remember. “I really wish my memory would return.”

“You seem to be working fine without it.” She gestured to the computer. “Looks to me like you’re making progress.”

He wasn’t referring to his job, but their relationship. They obviously knew each other, well enough to know where they lived. To get rides from each other. He assumed he and Cassidy were friends, which was nice. But the fact that she was the only team member he’d remembered last night, combined with his undeniable attraction to her, made him think he’d yearned for more.

A vain hope as a nerdy guy like him wouldn’t have a chance with a beauty like Cassidy.

“I’ve found the virus and isolated it,” he said, falling back on familiar turf. “Thankfully, it wasn’t something too crazy. In another hour or so, we should be back online.”

“Great.” She rested a hand on his shoulder. “I knew you could do it.”

He wanted to cover her hand with his, but he couldn’t seem to move. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, especially here in the precinct where they both worked. He forced himself to get back to the task at hand. Cassidy released him and moved away.

It was all he could do not to call her back.

Focus , he told himself sternly. The entire precinct needs you to focus!

He snacked on fruit-flavored candy as he worked. There was something familiar about being here. At some level, he was aware of the activity around him, but he was able to ignore the muted conversations. It wasn’t until he’d successfully launched the departmental program that he realized how bad the pounding in his head had gotten.

“I’m in.” His voice sounded odd to his ears, and he had to blink to bring Rhy’s and Cassidy’s faces into focus. “I need you both to try to log in now too. That will be the real test that we’re back in business.”

“Gabe, are you okay?” Cassidy’s voice held concern. “You look pale.”

He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. Maybe she’d been right about screen time not being good for concussions. His head hurt so badly he was tempted to crawl into one of the cots in the equipment room, pulling the covers over his head to sleep.

Wait a minute, how did he know there was a cot back there? The knowledge gave him hope his memory was returning. He lowered his hands to find Cassidy eyeing him with grave concern.

“I’m in,” Rhy said with satisfaction. He grinned, his brown eyes full of relief and gratitude. “Incredible work, Gabe. You’re amazing.”

“Except that he looks like he might throw up,” Cassidy said with a frown. “He needs rest, Rhy. He worked nonstop for two hours straight without his memory and battling a concussion.”

Two hours? Gabe hadn’t realized it had taken so long, but that explained his awful headache.

“Yes, of course.” All hint of humor faded from Rhy’s expression. “You may need to head over to the American Lodge for a while. You look like you could use some sleep.”

The American Lodge sounded familiar, but he had no intention of leaving. “I’d rather stay here, close to the team.”

Rhy frowned, glanced at Cass, and shrugged. “Okay, but you should get some rest. We’ll wake you when it’s time for lunch.”

He wasn’t hungry. Between the snacks and the headache, he felt sick to his stomach. “I’ll get some rest,” he agreed, hating to show weakness. “But there’s more work to do. I need to figure out how these guys got in to activate the virus in the first place. And rebuild the firewall to prevent another attack.” The more he considered the work ahead of him, the less he felt like sleeping. “Maybe I’ll work for a little while longer...”

“No!” Cassidy’s tone was vehement. “You need to rest first. Pushing yourself could backfire, taking you out of commission even longer.”

“I agree with Cassidy. You will go back and rest. That’s an order,” Rhy said sternly. “No argument. The alternative is to have Cassidy take you to the hospital.”

“Okay, okay.” Since Rhy’s face was growing blurry, he figured an hour with his eyes closed would be good. Now that he’d gotten their operating system up and running, the weird sense of urgency had returned. Trying not to stress about what he was supposed to be doing, he pushed himself upright. Turning, he headed toward the equipment room. Cassidy kept pace beside him, as if worried he would fall over.

The room was well lit, but when he sank down onto the edge of the cot, Cassidy hit the light switch, plunging the room into darkness. The lack of light was a welcome relief. He stretched out on the cot, pulled the blanket up to his chin, and slowly relaxed.

“Rest well, Gabe,” Cassidy whispered, before stepping back and closing the door behind her.

He found himself smiling at the image of Cassidy in his mind’s eye as he drifted off to sleep.

“I don’t like this,” Cassidy said when she joined Rhy in his office. As Gabe had contacted her, she’d gotten his case by default. “Clearly these incidents are related. It’s likely the same person assaulted Gabe, ransacked his house, and sabotaged our system. What we need to know is why. What’s the end goal?”

“I don’t know,” Rhy admitted. “Somehow, Gabe is at the center of this, so keeping him close is a good plan. Other than that, we can only pray his memory returns.”

“I have been praying for that since he contacted me last night.” She had faith that God was watching over them, but it wasn’t enough. “He’s not working on anything for you, is he?”

“Nope.” Rhy scowled. “It could be that whoever took his laptops from his place used them to send the virus through our system. Maybe they’re just as computer savvy as he is.”

She’d had the same thought. But there were points that didn’t make sense. “Gabe was nearly killed while sitting in my kitchen, which begs the question, why had they let him live in the first place? Why hit him over the head and drop his body at the side of the road without making sure he was dead?” She hated thinking about how close Gabe had come to dying. “Unless they’d assumed he’d succumb to hypothermia last night, and when he didn’t, they returned to finish the job.”

“That’s one possibility,” Rhy agreed. “Or it could be that we have two different sets of assailants.” His gaze rested on the computer atop his desk. “Makes me wonder if Gabe was using our system to do some sort of investigation of his own.”

A chill snaked down her spine. Gabe could have easily used the police system to dig into something on his own time. They weren’t the experts in that sort of thing. He was.

“We’ll have to ask him about that when he wakes up.” She hoped more of his memory would return by then too. Without that, they were searching for a faceless adversary while stumbling around in the dark.

Rhy eyed her thoughtfully. “I was hoping Gabe may have confided in you.”

“Me?” Her eyes widened in surprise, and she felt herself flush. She and Gabe were friends, but she was friendly with the rest of the tactical team too. Why did Rhy think Gabe would talk to her over anyone else? “I, uh, no. He didn’t.”

“Hmm.” Rhy frowned. “We need something to go on. I can call district five where Reed Carmichael works and see if their tech expert can get Gabe’s cell phone records.”

She knew Reed Carmichael was Rhy’s brother-in-law, married to his younger sister Alanna who was an emergency department nurse at Trinity Medical Center. “Okay. Let me know when you get the data, I’ll be happy to dig through to see who Gabe was talking to prior to his assault.” She scowled and tried to think of another avenue to explore. “I could also check local pawn shops, see if any computer equipment has shown up.”

Rhy nodded his approval as he reached for his phone. Leaving him to talk to his counterpart at the fifth district, she headed to an empty desk.

There were only two pawnshops in the city, unlike the dozens in Las Vegas, and of course neither of them reported getting any computer equipment in this morning. Both owners promised to call if that changed.

Sitting back in the chair, she stared off into the distance, wondering how the shooter had found Gabe at her place. An inside job? She scanned the precinct, which was mostly devoid of officers as they were all out on the street, but quickly dismissed the idea that anyone working here was responsible. As far as she knew, none of them had computer skills that were anywhere close to those possessed by Gabe. Besides, why hit him on the head, drop his body out in the middle of nowhere, and then shoot at him?

No, this wasn’t police related. His personal electronics had been taken for a reason. Why, she had no idea.

But Gabe might know once his memory returned.

If his memory returned.

When her phone rang, she quickly grabbed it. Seeing an unknown number gave her pause. “Yes?”

There was a moment of silence, making the tiny hairs on the back of her neck lift in alarm.

“Who is this?” she demanded.

More silence. After another beat, she lowered the phone and looked at the screen. The caller had disconnected. After waiting a moment, she quickly redialed the unknown number.

But the call went straight to voice mail. A nonpersonalized voice mail.

“I’d like to chat,” she said, feeling foolish at leaving a message for what could very well be a wrong number. “Call me back.”

She set the phone on the desk next to her, practically willing it to ring. But the unknown caller didn’t try again.

If Gabe were here, she’d ask him to track the number. But she wasn’t sure how to do that. It occurred to her how much Rhy and the rest of them depended on Gabe’s expertise. None of them could do even half of what he could.

And that wasn’t good. All systems should have a level of redundancy.

“Cass?” Gabe emerged from the equipment room, his hair sticking up out of his head at odd angles. He looked different without his glasses, and she kinda missed watching him push them up on his nose. “We need to go back to my place.”

“What?” She jumped to her feet. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Not really, but I think I left something in my house.” His gaze implored her to go along with the plan. “Please. I need to check the freezer.”

“The freezer?” She crossed over to put a hand on his arm. Clearly, his head injury had gotten worse. “You better sit down. I’ll talk to Rhy. We need to take you to Trinity Medical Center right away.”

“I don’t need a hospital,” Gabe said, shaking off her hand. His flash of annoyance was so unusual that she took a step back. “I’m not crazy or losing my mind. I woke up thinking I stuck something in the freezer for safety. You know, so that no one else would find it.”

She eyed him warily, wondering if he really had used the freezer as a hiding place. But for what? Gabe’s expertise was computers. “I don’t think electronics work well at subzero temperatures.”

“They don’t,” he agreed. “But I still need to check. Please, Cass. I need something to help jog my memory.”

She glanced at Rhy’s office, noticing he was on the phone again. Gabe’s home in White Gull Bay wasn’t that far from the precinct. She reluctantly nodded. “Okay, we’ll go. But we need to get in and out of there relatively quickly.”

“I can do that.” He looked relieved that she’d given in. “Thank you. It’s important.” He grimaced, and added, “At least, it feels like it is.”

She reached for her police-issue jacket that she’d tossed over the back of her chair. “We’ll take the new undercover Jeep since Rhy doesn’t want us driving our respective vehicles.” She knew where the keys were located and headed over to grab them. “That should help provide some anonymity.”

“Whatever works.” He shrugged into his coat, wincing a bit as if his head still hurt. “I appreciate you doing this for me.”

She paused, noticing his choice of words. Remembering what Rhy had said about Gabe confiding in her, she asked, “Do you think this is something you’ve been working on by yourself? Outside of the precinct?”

“I, uh . . .” He looked surprised. “Maybe. Stealing my personal computers does lead to that conclusion, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Although that virus impacted the entire precinct.”

“I know, and that worries me. I hate thinking I may have put everyone at risk by my actions.” Gabe followed her outside into the cold December air. Dark clouds hung in the sky, but it wasn’t snowing like it had been last night.

She unlocked the Jeep, then glanced at him. “You know that Rhy values your work. If you needed to investigate something, you could have discussed it with him. Maybe even gotten the rest of us involved.”

“I know, and I wish now that I had.” His brow furrowed. “At least then we’d have a clue as to what’s going on.”

Sensing there wasn’t more to be gained from this line of questioning, she slid in behind the wheel of the Jeep and waited for Gabe to get settled beside her. She let the engine run for a moment to warm up, before backing out of the parking space and heading northeast to White Gull Bay.

“Have you heard from Zeke?” she asked.

“Who?” Gabe glanced at her in confusion.

She mentally kicked herself for bringing it up. “Never mind.”

“No, really, I should know the people I work with.” His gaze was earnest.

“I can’t list them all, as you do work for every cop in the entire precinct. But those you work closest with are Rhy, whom you already met. He’s our captain. Joe Kingsley is our lieutenant and Rhy’s brother-in-law.” She hoped rattling off the names wouldn’t make Gabe feel worse about being unable to remember. “We have Steele Delaney, Brock Greer, Raelyn Washington, Grayson Clark, Roscoe Turner, Jina Robertson, Zeke Hawthorn, and Flynn Ryerson. Zeke was shot in the line of duty and has been off work since early October.”

“So many,” Gabe said. “It feels wrong not to be able to put faces with names.” He glanced at her, and added, “Except for yours.”

“It’s fine; you’ll remember soon.” She did her best to sound positive. “Don’t stress. You remembered putting something in the freezer, and that’s a start.”

“It’s not even a clear memory,” he groused. “Just an undeniable need to check the freezer for something that doesn’t belong.”

She still thought it was odd that he’d have put anything electronic in the freezer, but what did she know? She eyed the rearview mirror glad she hadn’t noticed a tail. Then again, she hadn’t noticed one last night either, and a shooter had still shown up at her condo. The thought made her realize she’d need to make arrangements to have the window repaired.

As she continued driving, another possibility struck her. “Does this have anything to do with your dad?”

“My dad? I don’t think so.” He looked thoughtful. “Last night you mentioned I inherited the house from him.”

“Yes, he passed away two years ago, but you never explained in detail what happened. I always assumed he died of natural causes.” She waved a hand. “Never mind, it was just a thought. The fact that you were attacked late at night and your home was ransacked has me thinking along the lines of this being a personal vendetta. But there was that virus at the station, too, so maybe not.”

“Don’t downplay your instincts, Cassidy.” His tone was serious. “You’re a good cop and should be asking questions. I just wish I had answers for you.”

“Hopefully soon.” She slowed as they approached White Gull Bay. “Look around, Gabe. This is your neighborhood. I need you to let me know if you notice anything suspicious.”

“I’ll try.” He didn’t sound confident, but she knew he wasn’t giving himself enough credit. He had good observation skills. Maybe not like a cop, but better than the average citizen.

She found Gabe’s place without difficulty. Cass decided to drive past the house first, without stopping, just to get a quick glimpse of the area. As she’d noticed last night, most of the houses around Gabe’s were brightly decorated, which made it difficult to figure out if people were home.

“See anything unusual?” she asked. After going the length of three blocks, she turned to head back.

“No.” He was still looking around with interest. “I don’t remember growing up here. Makes me wonder when my dad bought the place.”

Since she had no idea where he’d grown up, she didn’t respond. She pulled over to the side of the road on the block behind Gabe’s home. She killed the engine and turned to face him. “We’re going to approach the place from the back. You don’t have a fenced-in yard, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”

“Okay. Hopefully, the Landons won’t call the police.” He pushed open his car door and slid out.

The Landons? She found it fascinating the way some memories popped out of his mouth without his realizing it. Granted, she’d have preferred he remembered something better, like who had assaulted him and why, but she was hopeful this was a good sign.

She followed him along the side of the neighbor’s driveway until they were cutting through the Landons’ backyard. When they reached Gabe’s property, she put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“Hold on,” she said in a hushed tone. “Take a moment to look around. Do you see anything unusual?”

He frowned but did as she asked, carefully scanning the backyard. The snow from the night before had melted, and the only prints left behind were from small animals, rabbits or squirrels. “No. But you’re making me nervous that I’m missing something important.”

“You’re not. I just want to be sure.” She had thought that seeing his backyard in the daytime would bring more memories to the surface. “Looks like there’s a keypad on the back door. Is it the same code as the garage?”

“I guess we’ll find out. I’m not even sure how the code came to me last night, considering I wasn’t even able to remember my last name.” He took another moment to look around before crossing the backyard. The grass was still damp from the melted snow, and when she looked behind them, she noticed their footprints had left an obvious trail for anyone who cared to look.

Couldn’t be helped. It was always a problem sneaking around in the winter. At least it was daytime, so they’d be able to see any potential threat clearly.

She watched as Gabe entered the key code. It took her a moment to realize the digits were her birthday. Had he done that on purpose? Or had he simply chosen the digits of 1014 randomly?

It was too late to ask, as he was already entering the house. She stayed close behind him, her hand resting on her weapon. Without her telling him to, he paused to listen.

Thankfully, there was nothing but silence.

Gabe moved quickly into the kitchen, straight for the freezer. The destruction of his home hadn’t changed overnight; if anything, it looked worse in the daylight. Gabe opened the freezer and rummaged around.

Then he held up a small Styrofoam box. “Found it.”

“Found what? Leftovers?”

“No, this.” He reached for a knife, cut the tape that had held the two portions of the Styrofoam together, and pulled them apart. A small USB drive fell onto the kitchen counter.

“What’s on it?” she asked, her pulse racing. This was exactly the clue they so desperately needed.

“I don’t remember. But let’s get it out of here so I can find out.” His eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he dropped it into the front pocket of his jeans. “Whoever tossed the place didn’t bother to look in the freezer.”

Which meant he’d put it there specifically to hide it from view. Had Gabe anticipated someone would come after him? She was suddenly desperate to get far away from there.

“Follow me.” She pulled her weapon and led the way out the back, retracing their steps. She half expected to be assaulted by a pair of gunmen, but they made it back to the undercover Jeep without difficulty.

“I’m glad you remembered stashing something in the freezer,” she said, pulling away from the curb. “I forgot to mention that Rhy is getting your phone records too.”

For a moment, Gabe looked panicked, but then he nodded. “That makes sense. I must have contacted someone to start this cascade of events.”

“Exactly.” She drove quickly, anxious to leave the city of White Gull Bay behind.

They had barely cleared the city limits when she noticed a black SUV coming up fast. Cass hit the gas, blowing past the stop sign and speeding through the intersection.

“What’s going on?” Gabe asked.

Before she could answer, a crack of gunfire shattered the rear window.

“Get down!” Using every evasive driving maneuver she’d ever been taught, she wondered what on earth was on that USB drive that was worth killing for.