Alex O'Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves (The Fairy Tale Novels)

  What’s your birthday? Your favorite lottery number?”

  “Wow. That’s a toughie. How about you give me something on the top floor and far away from everything? I’m a light sleeper.”

  “310 is yours. Can I have someone bring up the bags for you?”

  “Don’t bother. I’ve got it.” Agent Furlow took his key, thanked Alex, and disappeared into the elevator.

  No sooner had the doors shut than she walked out into the lobby, trailing her three bags behind her, looking more than a little furtive. So Kateri was embarrassed about leaving too.

  “You ready?”

  She nodded, silently. Her cheeks and eyes were still red.

  Shaking his head in frustration, he grabbed the bags. “I wish you would tell me—” he started to say, when suddenly the office door opened.

  “Hey, Alex!”

  It was his dad. Alex hastily dropped the bags behind the desk. “Yeah?”

  “Oh, sorry I’m not out there. Just something on the computer…”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Alex said. “Hey. Kateri and I are leaving.”

  “I’ll be right out. Mind if I finish this up first? It will only take me a moment.”

  Alex waved his hand. “Sure.” As his dad shut the office door, Alex turned to Kateri to roll his eyes, but saw her looking at the closed door with a mixture of fear and anger that startled him.

  “Let’s go.” She turned abruptly for the door.

  “In a minute, Kat. He said he’d be right out.”

  “Alex, you notice how he always says that? But look at how much time he’s on that computer? Hours and hours and hours! It’s about time you started noticing!”

  He wished she would lower her voice. “Kateri. What are you trying to say?”

  Instead of answering, she stomped around the floor in frustration, waving her hands. “Computers! They’re a curse! They blind you to what’s going on around you! You just get so wrapped up in that little world that you don’t notice anything! Not even things that are right in front of you!”

  She paused right in front of him, looking up, her black eyes glowering at him.

  “Kat, you are really, really frustrating. Can I tell you that?”

  “Sure. Likewise.” She grabbed her bags.

  He tried to delay her one last time. “Look, are you sure you want to go now?

  Agent Furlow is here. He said he wanted to meet with the whole family over dinner. I presume he meant you, too.”

  “I don’t want to see him. Just tell me what he says. Later.”

  She crossed to the door and put her hands on the bar to push it open.

  At that moment, the phone rang. The guest phone.

  Their eyes met. “I’ll get it,” Alex said automatically.

  “You’re stalling, Alex.”

  He glared at her as he picked it up. “Maybe I am. Hello?”

  “Hi. I’m having some problems with the television in my room. Could you come take a look at it?”

  There was only one guest in the entire hotel. Alex knew what room he was in. “Not a problem, sir. Not a problem at all. I’ll be up to room 310 in a moment.”

  Kateri glowered at him. “Alex O’Donnell. This is just another excuse.”

  He was mad. Pulling out the van key, he tossed it at her. “Go ahead. You can leave. Drive yourself to the station if you’re so anxious to go. I’ll pick up the van later on.”

  He couldn’t say goodbye as she walked out the door. Stalking out of the lobby to the elevator, he wondered how much of their conversation Dad had overheard. But the office door remained shut.

  Leaning against the side of the elevator as the doors closed, he tried to calm himself down. Wasted, wasted, he thought to himself. All the time he’d spent with Kateri. Wasted. He’d thought that if he just kept her from leaving long enough, she’d change her mind. But now it was all over. A gaping hole blown through his life.

  He rubbed his eyes again. Time enough to get emotional later on. Yeah, he had time. Years, maybe.

  Feeling weary, useless, and stupid. A dumb fat kid holding a wooden sword.

  Feeling like a fool for playing at being a warrior. He knocked lightly on the door to Room 310.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said, when the agent opened the door.

  “Not a problem.” Agent Furlow walked back into the room, and Alex followed him.

  “So—what’s wrong with the television?”

  The agent had taken off his suit jacket. He ran his hand through his dark hair, rumpling it. “I can’t get all the cable channels to work.” He threw himself on the bed and leaned back against the pillows.

  “Hmph,” Alex said, going up to the television and clicking the remote.

  “Which channels?”

  “66, 210, 340…”

  “The adult channels? Sorry, sir. We have those blocked.”

  Furlow stared at him. “Why’s that?”

  Alex bowed slightly. “We’re a family company here, sir. We don’t support pornography. I’m sorry if it inconveniences you.”

  “Oh. Well, I’m pretty inconvenienced,” Agent Furlow said, pulling off his tie. He looked unusually miffed. “You’re sure you can’t unblock a channel or two just for me? Come on, what’s a single guy supposed to do in a hotel room this far away from civilization?”

  Alex shrugged, figuring that a sarcastic reply wouldn’t be kosher. “That’s our policy, sir.”

  “Well, if that’s your policy, and it inconveniences me, will the staff be able to provide some alternate entertainment?” He grinned. “What about that Kateri girl?”

  It was like something Uncle Cass would have said. Alex remained calm.

  “Sorry to not be able to help you out.” He attempted a smile. “We’ll see you downstairs for dinner.” We’re going to have to eat with this guy? That’s going to be an ordeal.

  “I’ll be down.” The agent leaned back on the bed and smiled broadly, reaching under his pillow.

  Alex had already turned to go, and as he did, a thought flashed through his mind. Never turn your back on a known enemy.

  But it was already too late.

  There was throbbing pain. A headache. The blood was pulsing in his skull, disorienting him. Alex moved his head, and immediately wished he hadn’t as the world swirled around him. He vomited into a sea of white.

  Coughing, he lifted his head and the world shifted around him. He had been leaning, head down, over the side of a hard, white, fiberglass surface. Despite his headache, he shook his head and tried to focus. To one side was a familiar silver faucet and dial spigot. He was hanging over the side of one of the bathtubs in the Twilight Hills Hotel. Room 310’s bathtub, to be exact.

  With difficulty, he sank backwards onto his knees and realized that someone had taken off his jacket and handcuffed his wrists tightly behind him. His head was still pounding, and he felt a stinging burn on his neck. That was where the agent must have stunned him.

  “You up, Alex?”

  His enemy. Pulling uselessly at the metal clamping his arms, Alex slowly looked up at the smiling face of the man who had pretended to be his family’s friend and ally through this whole predicament. A carefully played masquerade, while all the time waiting to make his move.

  Agent Furlow leaned against the door jamb of the bathroom, still toying with the Taser gun. “You recovered pretty quick. Think you’re all done in there?

  I hope so, for your sake.”

  Alex tried to position himself, to kick, to fight, but realized he was still too limp and dizzy to do anything but kneel there, panting and powerless.

  “I don’t know what those thirty-nine idiots were thinking,” Furlow said, stepping forward and flicking on the water to clean out the tub. “I don’t know why I bothered to organize that whole operation for them. I told them to let Admin handle the whole thing, but no, they were too paranoid. Couldn’t trust me. Had to see for themselves that it was done. So they all turned out and got themselves caught. Which is a shame, bec
ause it really was a one-man job.”

  He put a hand under Alex’s arm, twisted it, and hauled him to his knees.

  With easy practice, he maneuvered his captive into the bedroom and deposited him in one of the room’s boxy chairs. Then he reached into his duffle bag and pulled out a handful of what looked like red bungee cords with silver locks on the ends. He snapped an extra-long one between his lean and muscular arms, testing its strength, then pulled it around Alex’s shoulders and wrapped it around the rungs of the chair back, clicking it shut.

  “A one-man job,” Furlow repeated, and leaned over to look at Alex, a smile darting onto his face. “So long as you do things in the right order. Number one: start out by neutralizing the dangerous son.”

  Alex winced as the taut rubber cord pressed his arms and back against the chair. He couldn’t help a bitter smile of his own as the agent yanked a second one around his lower back. Guess I’m only dangerous so long as my luck holds. And mine ran out. Less than an hour ago.

  Whistling, the agent wrapped and clamped Alex’s still-numbed feet to the legs of the chair with the red cords. When his prisoner was bound hand and foot, Agent Furlow sat down heavily on the bed, tossing his Taser into his duffle bag. Trying not to let the man see his fear, Alex swallowed as unobtrusively as he could and attempted to meet the man’s eyes.

  “But having to do this over a second time isn’t all bad. There was one flaw in the original plan I didn’t know about,” Agent Furlow mused. “Religion. I had no idea you and your girlfriend were so moralistic. Kateri said her parents would never believe she’d skip town with a million dollars. I believe she’s right. But she seemed to indicate that your family had the reputation of being a little more—well, let’s just say ‘sticky fingered.’ After all, you all did cop that million dollars and kept it secret. So I thought, it’ll make more sense to her parents and the courts if the O’Donnells vanish with over a million dollars, and the only stiff the feds find is—hers.”

  He grinned, apparently enjoying Alex’s expression. Alex was trying not to react, but he wasn’t as good at the stoic thing as Kateri was. He was sure that Furlow could easily see straight through the impassive glare to his anguish. It didn’t help that rubber cords were contracting around his muscles, squeezing him in the stomach and the legs, making breathing painful and movement impossible.

  The man went on, still watching Alex’s reaction. “It helps that I have her on the record as saying that she believed your dad was the fortieth hacker—and the software I bugged onto her laptop will confirm that. I’ll have to make sure that laptop turns up in a landfill somewhere. Near where they’ll find the pieces of her body.”

  Alex turned his face away to the wall.

  Something beeped on the laptop computer lying on the room’s desk. With a grunt, the agent sat up, moved to the desk, and flipped open the computer.

  Swiftly his fingers flew over the keyboard. Alex recognized the site on the man’s computer. The Twilight Hills Hotel security system. He’s hacked our server already. Wonder if dad’s picked him up? Probably not. This guy’s had a lot of practice hacking us. Alex flexed his useless fingers again.

  His eyes flickering in Alex’s direction, the agent turned his computer screen away from Alex’s sight. For a few minutes, he tapped and clicked, then shut the computer, and slid it into the briefcase. Alex caught a glimpse of some of the contents of the case and flinched. His captor noticed.

  “Want to see my toolkit?” Agent Furlow displayed the handcuffs, knives, and razors inside the case. “Got a long night of interrogation ahead of me.” His blue eyes hardened. “And I can promise you this. I’m not going to kill you all until I find the location of every copy of our site logs, every scrap of data he stole. You and your dad are going to lead me to every single hard drive, server storage, and remote account where you might have hidden something, or your crippled mom and Chinese girlfriend are going to have a really miserable time of it before they die. You got that, Alex?”

  He checked the gun in his side pocket, closed his briefcase and stretched.

  “I’ll start with your kid brothers. Just to give you and your dad a sample of what I can do. I’m pretty ticked at your dad. It took a lot of trouble to make sure the data he turned over to the FBI vanished down the bureaucratic black hole. Now the O’Donnell family’s about to enter that same black hole.” He took out a roll of tape from his duffle bag and peeled off a piece. “Well, Alex? Got anything you want to tell me to make my job easier?”

  Feeling nothing but the steady pulsing pain around his forehead, Alex stared at the carpet. He had nothing left inside him. He was a gutless, hollow man, with nothing to give.

  “Still stubborn?” Agent Furlow shrugged. “All I can say is, be ready to talk, and talk fast, when I return. When it comes to torture, I’m a very impatient man. I’m afraid I tend to overdo it.” He grabbed Alex’s chin and smeared the tape across his mouth, then patted him on the head. “Sit tight. I’ll be back soon.

  And I won’t be alone.”

  He went into the bathroom and turned off the water, then came back. “Oh yeah.” He forced his way into Alex’s back pocket and pulled out his wallet. With two fingers, he extracted the master keycard. “Almost forgot that handy thing,”

  he remarked, dropping the wallet on the bed. It flopped open as the door closed behind the agent, the keylock snapping shut.

  Alex gazed the creased photo of Kateri in his wallet, sitting nestled over a worn holy card of St. Patrick. It was her college graduation photo. She had never looked so lovely. He couldn’t keep looking at her and looked up at the ceiling instead.

  Outmaneuvered. Trapped. Leaving his family to a grisly death. He didn’t want to think. He couldn’t escape the pictures crowding into his head.

  Only one thing that Agent Furlow hadn’t counted on. Kateri leaving him.

  Squeezing his shoulders against the rubber ropes, Alex prayed. I hope she really left. I hope she’s driving as fast as she can. Away from me.

  Kateri sat in the parking lot, engine running. Finally, she threw the van back into park with a groan. I’ll wait for Alex, she thought dismally as she turned off the engine. I owe him that much.

  Why? Why was it that she couldn’t leave Alex O’Donnell, even now?

  The van was hot. Even with the windows down, it was hot. At last, the heat did what anger and guilt and virtue could not. Kateri yanked the key out of the ignition and went back to the hotel.

  She pulled the glass doors open, stepped inside, and stood in the empty lobby, feeling the rush of air conditioning gratefully. No sign of Alex. She leaned against the glass door, glanced outside. Her bags and purse were still in the van.

  And she had meant to call her parents. She leaned into the glass door to push it open.

  It wouldn’t budge.

  Quickly she checked the lock. It was jammed shut. Mr. O’Donnell’s stupid security system malfunctioning again.

  Or…. was it an accident?

  Feeling queasy, she walked up to the office and knocked on the door. Mr.

  O’Donnell swung around with a guilty start.

  “Oh! Kateri, I’m sorry. I really will be right out there.”

  His ears were red, Kateri noticed. Licking her lips, she said, “The doors won’t open, Mr. O’Donnell.”

  “I know. The security system’s gone haywire for some reason. I can’t get anything to open. I’ve been almost frantic, trying to get it fixed. At least we don’t have any guests here.”

  She managed a smile. “But we do. Agent Furlow. The FBI. He wants to meet with the family.”

  “Does he? Oh.” He still looked red-faced. Embarrassed. Guilty.

  “Hello!”

  Both of them looked up to see the agent in question, beaming at them. She was struck again by his blue eyes and handsome smile.

  “Mr. O’Donnell. Kateri. I think we have a dinner date.”

  “Yes…” Kateri said, her eyes drawn back to Mr. O’Donnell. “I think that Mrs. O??
?Donnell is expecting you.”

  “We’ll be right there,” Mr. O’Donnell said to the agent. “You know your way in, right? Just through that door and down the hall. Please, let yourself in.”

  “I will, thanks,” the agent said with a wave, and walked off, whistling.

  At least someone’s in a good mood. Kateri nearly followed him, but Mr.

  O’Donnell caught at her arm.

  “Listen, Kateri…”

  Kateri almost yelled for Agent Furlow to wait for her, but something in Mr. O’Donnell’s eyes made her stop. Something that reminded her of Alex. “What?”

  “I heard what you said. To Alex.” He pushed up his glasses. “Look, you’re right. I do spend too much time on the computer. Way too much. I just—it’s a way for me to escape. Real life. I know it’s wrong. It’s time for me to change. You helped me recognize that. I think our whole family has learned a lot from you.

  You being with Alex.” He hesitated. “It sounded like you two were having a bad fight. I don’t mean to interfere, but I hope you can make it up with Alex. I think—I think you two are good for each other.”

  She didn’t know what to say, her eyes locked onto his. His eyes were a lot like Alex’s—there was something in them. Something irritating, and irresistible.

  She paused.

  “Okay,” she said. Even if he were a thief, he was still Alex’s father. She half-smiled. “I promise I won’t do anything rash.”

  “Thanks,” he said, and got up. “Thanks again for being part of the madness.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, and followed him out of the office.

  This would have been the perfect cue for Alex to show up, but the lobby was deserted. Troubled, she looked around. Maybe he had gone to his bedroom? As Mr. O’Donnell held the door open for her, Kateri entered the suite and hurried down the dark hallway to the living room.

  The sound of pleasant conversation and the smell of good food greeted her.

  Mrs. O’Donnell had left her wheelchair and was sitting on a low cushion in front of the coffee table, talking with Agent Furlow, who was squatting on the futon.