The Doubt Factory

  Adam frowned as he plucked the rat from his pocket. “I could’ve sworn I locked them all up.”

  “That’s the beginning of a horror flick, I think,” Tank said. “Rats getting out. Eating people in their sleep.”

  Adam laughed and made kissy faces at the rat. “This little guy? Nah. He wouldn’t dare touch me until my body was cold.”

  “They’re rats,” Kook said as she started typing code. “They eat the ears off babies.”

  “Really?” Adam regarded his pet with interest. “I thought it was ferrets that did that.”

  “They’re all rodents. They’re going to take over the fucking world,” Kook said.

  “If I were a mouse, I’d live in the walls,” Tank said. “No one would ever find me.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, little guy,” Adam said. “If you were a mouse, you’d build a better cat trap. Fuckers would never know what hit them.”

  The images on the camera feeds changed abruptly. Moses leaned forward, suddenly interested.

  “Hey there, looks like our friends are finally waking up.”

  Cop cars were arriving. A lot of them. Official vehicles starting to gather. Chevy SUVs. A Lincoln town car. Moses zoomed in and started snapping license plates, capturing faces of people as they emerged. Storing images, all of them coming fast and furious now. Lots of activity. More than he would have expected. He’d expected some reaction, sure, but this looked more like straight-up panic.

  “What do you make of this?” Moses asked. He pointed at an SUV as it pulled up in front of the Bankses’ house and more people emerged.

  Tank peered over Moses’s shoulder. “Williams and Crowe, for sure. Recognize them anywhere.”

  Adam pressed in for a look. “Hello, old friends.”

  Kook got up from her workstation to join them. Everyone peered at the screen and the ants’ nest of activity swarming around the Banks household. “Damn. That’s a lot of heat,” Kook muttered.

  “More than I expected,” Moses agreed.

  “We screw something up?”

  “Don’t know, but it looks like we kicked the ant pile, whatever’s happening.”

  “They’re freaking,” Tank observed. “For sure, they’re freaking.”

  “Some of those guys look like feds,” Adam said.

  “We might need to speed things up,” Moses said. “If the FBI is getting in on this, everything gets more serious.”

  “Or else slow down,” Adam suggested.

  “This was bound to happen sometime,” Kook said. “We’ve got to be on some watch list already, and you know it. NSA, FBI. Big data has got to have something on us by now.”

  “If they had something on us, we’d already be caught,” Moses said.

  “Does this mean we need to be worried?” Adam asked. “Should we think about pulling back?”

  Should we? Moses turned the question over in his mind. Thinking of all the work they’d done, all the setup. Everything.

  We’ve been careful. I’ve been careful.

  Except it wasn’t totally true. He’d been careful all the way until he’d let that private school stuffed shirt throw him off his game. Even if he denied it out loud, inside he knew it had been a mistake. He could have stolen the guy’s key card anywhere. Waited until he was off campus. But against all reason, Moses had been driven to go onto the campus itself.

  Sloppy. His uncle would have shouted at him that he was sloppy.

  So why’d you do it?

  Moses shoved down the question. What was done was done. He focused on the activity. Was this something he needed to be worried about? Had he made a bigger mistake that he couldn’t see? Did he have a blind spot?

  “No,” Moses said finally. “There’s still no way they could have any idea what we’re up to.” He studied all the people going in and out of the house, figuring the angles. “I sure wouldn’t mind being able to hear what they’re up to inside, though.”

  “I told you we should have bugged it right from the start,” Kook said.

  “And that would have gone real sweet if the little brother messed with the Xbox and found us peeking in before we were ready.”

  “You think it’s worth the risk now?”

  “I don’t think we’ve got a choice. With Williams and Crowe on the scene, we need to be inside their heads. No more of this outside-looking-in stuff.”

  Kook pinched her lip. “With Williams and Crowe on the scene, it’s going to be harder to bug.”

  “We can do it, though, right?”

  Kook gave him an annoyed glance. “Of course we can do it. Who do you think you’re talking to? We’ll have eyes inside before you blink.”

  Tank was nodding in agreement. “They got tons of gear in there we can piggyback.”

  “So let’s do it,” Moses said. “I want to know what they’re thinking before they think it. Information is power. I want to make sure we’ve got more information than they do.”

  Kook studied the activity boiling around the house. “Kind of fun to see old Simon Banks guessing and in the dark.”

  “It’s going to be even more fun once we’re inside his head.” Moses clapped his hands. “Okay. Let’s get some eyes and ears inside that house.”

  “No problem, boss.” Tank slammed down his helmet shield and headed off.

  Kook waved to Adam. “We’re going to put some more things on the shopping list,” she said.

  They started conferring while Moses lingered at the monitors, watching the Banks household scramble.

  What’s got you so spooked? Sure, we’re poking at you, but you look like you’re prepping for the zombie apocalypse. What’s got you so riled up?

  It didn’t matter, he decided. The plan would keep rolling. This time, he knew more than Simon Banks did.

  Knowledge was power, and information was control. And for the first time in his life, Moses Cruz had more of both than Simon Banks.

  You can call in all the guns and favors you like, Moses thought. It still won’t save you when I bring down the hammer.

  8

  ALIX LAY IN HER BED UNDER moonlight, trying to make sense of the strange new world she inhabited.

  If she pulled back the curtains, she could make out the surveillance van parked on the street. Somewhere, there were others, too. All of them waiting for… what? An attack? A kidnapping?

  It felt so melodramatic to think that anything was wrong at all. The street looked so safe. Graceful oaks. Broad swaths of manicured lawns and gardens. A few lights still glowed at the entrances to various homes, marking pathways up to arched doorways. Peaceful.

  And yet a stranger was out there and, if Dad was to be believed, maybe something bigger. Maybe a whole group bent on kidnapping her or Jonah. People who wanted to use the two of them to get to Dad.

  It was like the stories she heard that came from places like Bangkok or Mexico. When Alix went to Cancun for winter vacation, she remembered being warned that Mexico was dangerous. When she went online, it was full of reports of people who had been kidnapped and ended up in shallow graves. Even Guillermo del Toro’s father had been kidnapped, and del Toro was a movie director. The guy had done Hollywood movies, and because of that, people had targeted his family for kidnapping and ransom. Alix remembered thinking that things like that happened in Mexico but didn’t happen here.

  Except now maybe they did.

  She got out of bed and padded downstairs. She was wearing a long T-shirt that she liked to sleep in. The day had been hot, but now everything had cooled off. Her skin turned to gooseflesh as she tiptoed down the stairs.

  2:12 flashed on the stove clock, green light casting across the kitchen.

  She slipped into Dad’s office, not even sure what she was looking for.

  Ask your father.

  This was absurd. She could practically see Jonah mocking her for being a silly girl. She sat down in her dad’s chair. Touched the trackpad on his computer. The screen flickered alive, showing a password challenge.

 
There was another computer in the den, which Jonah was allowed to use, out where Mom and Dad could look over his shoulder and make sure he wasn’t surfing for porn. This computer was Dad’s. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Just touching the keys felt like an invasion.

  Alix felt a chill of self-consciousness and glanced toward the windows. The night was so dark outside. The house felt dark, too.

  A scuffling came from the kitchen.

  Was someone inside the house?

  Alix held her breath, suddenly afraid. The scuffling came again.

  The light of the computer screen with its password challenge bathed her, and Alix suddenly felt very exposed. There was only one light on in the entire house, and it was right beside her, and she wasn’t wearing anything except an XXL T-shirt. She wished she’d put on sweats at least before she came downstairs.

  She glanced at the windows to the backyard and tugged her T-shirt down over her thighs. Williams & Crowe was supposed to be out there. Are they looking in?

  She eased out of the chair. It creaked as she came off the seat. She realized she was still holding her breath and tried to make herself breathe silently. Was she being stupid? Was she just imagining the sound?

  If 2.0 was in the house, he’d know she was there because of the light from the computer. He’d know right where she was.

  Get a grip, Alix. There’s no one here. Security would have caught him. They’re supposed to be watching.

  Alix slipped to the edge of the study door, straining to hear over the pounding of her heart. The refrigerator started to hum. The computer monitor went back to sleep, plunging her into darkness. Blinded, Alix froze. She blinked her eyes, trying to force them to adjust, listening for more movement in the kitchen. Still nothing.

  Nothing at all.

  Feeling stupid and crazy, but unwilling to let her caution go, Alix eased out from behind the study door. She peered into the kitchen. Now that her eyes had adjusted, the light from the stove clock gave a dim view of the room. Tiles and stainless steel surfaces. Smooth bamboo floors. The Sub-Zero fridge against the clean modern lines of the granite countertops.

  Nothing.

  She listened, but she couldn’t hear anything.

  You idiot. You were imagining it.

  A shadow moved behind her and Alix spun around. Her breath caught.

  He was right there, looking through the glass door.

  Hands to the glass as he peered inside. Shadow and eyes, looking in, seeking. Then pausing.

  Alix tugged her shirt down again, trying to make herself disappear. To hide. She froze as his gaze swept across her and held.

  They stared at each other. She felt pinned by his gaze. His expression was solemn.

  Don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic.

  Suddenly he smiled. He held his finger to his lips. Shhh. The message was unmistakable. Shhh. Let’s keep a secret. And then, absurdly, another motion: one hand atop the other, forming a T.

  Time-out.

  Seriously?

  He made the motion again, smiling. Time-out.

  No. Suddenly Alix knew exactly what he was saying.

  Truce.

  The thing he’d suggested when he’d caught her in the smoke.

  How about we call a little truce?

  Unbelievable.

  Alix knew she should scream. She should call the cops. She should turn on all the lights. However he’d gotten past Williams & Crowe, all it would take was one loud scream to bring them down on him.

  But something about his demeanor held her. The rakish confidence. The lack of shame or fear. She’d busted him, and he didn’t even have the grace to act embarrassed. Instead, he was smiling at her and signaling for a truce, as if they were playing some game of tag or hide-and-seek. Grinning at her like it was all a big game and he’d just happened to be caught.

  Alix walked over to the door and stared at him through the glass. He was dressed entirely in black. He barely stood out against the night beyond. He pointed at the door lock.

  Alix shook her head, but she couldn’t help smiling at the guy’s chutzpah.

  “No,” she mouthed.

  He just quirked an eyebrow and made the T again with his hands. His lips said truce.

  Suddenly her heart was pounding.

  I’m insane.

  She flicked the lock and stepped back. He reached over to slide the door open. Alix was suddenly horribly aware of decisions she couldn’t take back. She retreated behind the granite island.

  2.0 eased inside.

  “Truce,” he said.

  Alix nodded. “Truce.”

  They regarded each other warily. It was as if they were both mindful of crossing a solemn boundary, a line that turned out to be more important than they’d realized.

  Alix cleared her throat. “How did you get past our security guys?”

  “Oh, you know. Williams and Crowe…” He peered back outside, seeming to check on something. “They got systems. It makes them predictable.”

  “And you’re not.”

  “Try not to be.” He was gazing around the kitchen, taking everything in. “You’re kind of a surprise, yourself.”

  “Because I let you in?”

  “Dumb move for such a smart girl.”

  “I could scream. I’ll bet Williams and Crowe have a system for that.”

  “Bet they do.” His eyes locked with hers. “You won’t, though.”

  “No.”

  Alix realized her heart was still pounding. Everything about the moment felt electric. She had an almost overwhelming urge to come around the island. To walk up to him—

  “You need to go,” she said abruptly. “I need you to leave.”

  Before I do something even more stupid.

  “Did you hear me?” she asked.

  He didn’t respond. Just ran his hand across the granite countertop. “You talk to your father?” he asked. “You ask him what this is all about?”

  “He doesn’t know. He said you’re an animal rights activist.”

  He smiled slightly. “Surprised he didn’t just go straight for terrorist. It’s a better PR smear these days.”

  “My dad doesn’t smear people.”

  “For free.”

  “What?”

  “‘My dad doesn’t smear people for free.’ That’s what you should have said. He smears plenty of people, but he doesn’t do it unless it’s worth money to him.”

  “I don’t know who you think—”

  “You don’t have any idea what your dad does, do you?” His tone had sharpened and become accusatory. “You don’t know where this nice house comes from. You don’t know how many bodies you’ve got buried in the basement. You don’t have any idea where all your money comes from.”

  “I want you to leave.”

  “So scream.”

  She glared at him. “Why are you going after my family?”

  “You really haven’t figured it out?” He laughed. “I mean, I knew your old man was good at PR, but I didn’t think he’d even lie to his own daughter.”

  Alix felt her anger rising. “Cut the mind games. If you’ve got something to say, say it. No more of your Mr. Mysterious bullshit. Just say it.”

  He turned serious. “That how you want to play it?”

  “Yeah,” she said, glaring. “That’s how I want to play it.”

  “Okay.” He blew out his breath. “This is payback, Alix. Everything that’s coming down on your dad is payback for everything he’s ever done to all the people he’s ever done it to.”

  “So what do I have to do with that? I haven’t done anything.”

  “Yeah. That’s true.” He was nodding in agreement, staring down at the surface of the counter that separated them, looking almost guilty. “You’re just the wrong person in the right place at the right time.” He looked up. “Then again, none of us get to choose the right place, do we? We just get what we get, and sometimes it turns out we’re just collateral damage.”

  There was a long pau
se as they both studied each other.

  “I think our truce is over,” Alix said finally.

  All the play had gone out of his expression as well. “Maybe we never had one,” he said.

  He was out the door and enveloped in darkness before she could decide if she should scream or not.

  9

  “YOU’VE GOT A BODYGUARD?” Cynthia asked Alix, disbelieving.

  Alix nodded her head tiredly. “Yeah.”

  Seitz had reopened, and life had returned to a strange semblance of normal, except that Animal Control was still roaming the campus in pursuit of white lab rats; the science building still showed evidence that 2.0 had been there, despite the best efforts of the custodial staff; and Alix’s dreams were haunted by the merry prankster, whom she was pretty sure she was at war with. Even though she couldn’t quite bring herself to hate him. Even though he seemed hell-bent on doing something horrible to her.

  Maybe I have Stockholm syndrome, she thought.

  She’d spent the last couple of days wrestling with the question of whether she could tell anyone at all that she’d let 2.0 into her house (her house!) and concluded that her own Teflon reputation as the responsible child of the family wouldn’t survive it.

  She did mention that she thought she’d seen someone lurking in the backyard. That was enough to send Williams & Crowe into a new tizzy of paranoia that had also resulted in a new home lockdown policy, as well as the every-waking-minute bodyguard situation that now plagued her life.

  Cynthia listened to Alix’s woes as she ate french fries, complained that she was going to break out if she ate any more oily things, and then ate another fry.

  “You’re making up that thing about the bodyguard,” Cynthia accused as she eyed another greasy stick of potato.

  “I wish,” Alix said. “Check out the teachers’ table.”

  Cynthia craned her neck. “I don’t—wait, that blond lady? She doesn’t look like much of a bodyguard.”

  And she didn’t. That was what Dad had said made Lisa perfect. She was a stealth pit bull, he’d claimed. No one would see her coming. All the guys in school might check out Lisa’s tight butt, but nobody would guess she was dangerous. In Alix’s mind, Lisa wasn’t so much a stealth pit bull as a Death Barbie, and, unfortunately, Death Barbie seemed mostly bent on screwing with Alix’s daily life.