Page 50 of Sensual Nights

He turned the box all around. "It just seems to be a plain box with no writing or information on it of any sort. The drive waslikely put into the box to protect it if someone buried it. Or to camouflage what was inside. Nothing denoting anything on it. I'll send pictures."

Mitch snapped pictures with his phone of the box and the drive, just for evidence sake. He tapped the photos and set his phone down.

"I've just sent them to you."

"Thanks," Ethan replied. "Okay, what I have here on my system is that along with that thumb drive, we are missing two others. The serial numbers are similar, and they went missing at the same time. But what I can also tell you is the information that you have on that thumb drive is needed for the other two thumb drives to mean anything. It's a newer system we have in place. These thumb drives were stolen from a secured storage locker. It'll take me a while to know if the information on them was overwritten or altered. They could have been stolen for the encryption. Or..." He took a deep breath. "Or this is an inside job, and we have a spy in our midst stealing information. I'll know more once I can match up the initial information uploaded to the drives and what you've found on it now."

Mitch took a deep breath and stood up. He looked over at Mason and shook his head.

Ethan asked, "Do you have any leads on the victim?"

Mitch cleared his throat, "Yeah, we have one. We're going to work on that right now. Do you have anyone listed as having checked those drives out?"

"Negative. They were stored by the locker commander and not checked out. That was fifteen months ago."

"Okay. Thanks." Mitch turned to Mason. "Anything?"

Ethan began talking before Mason could respond. "Also, I might also tell you that we have been following some individuals who are suspected of stealing military secrets. Two of them were caught about three months ago. Two of them remain at large."

Mason leaned forward, "Do you have the names of those two individuals at large?"

"Hang on, let me see." More keys were clacking.

Ethan came back with, "Affirmative. The two are Terry Bryan and Dustin Carter."

That didn't mean anything to him. He'd never heard of those people. He looked at Jace and Quinn. They both shook their heads.

Mitch said, "Thank you, Ethan. I'll be in touch. You do the same, please."

"Ten-four."

31

Carley ran up the stairs. She tripped a couple of times and stubbed her toes once, but she kept going. Fear propelled her faster than her legs ever could.

She reached the top of the stairs and heard a television or radio. Then she heard a chair squeak.

She froze. There was someone else up here. She hadn't counted on that. She thought there was just one person. She pressed her back against the wall and listened intently. She was in the kitchen. The sound seemed to come from the living room. Lucky for her, she remembered this house. She stepped to her left quietly and ducked around the corner to a mudroom. Beyond the mudroom was the door to the outside. She'd run down the road as fast as she could if she had to. She'd prefer a vehicle.

A voice called out, "Did she tell you anything?"

She froze. She didn't recognize the voice at all. It sounded menacing. Her heart hammered in her chest. She took some breaths and tried to hold them in to calm herself. The last thing she needed to do was to pass out from hyperventilating. Sheswallowed and kept herself pressed tightly against the wall. The voice said again, "Did she tell you anything?"

She heard the chair squeak and then she heard him stalk across the living room floor. He hollered down the stairs. "Did she tell you anything?"

No sound came. He swore, "Fuck." He stomped down the stairs, and that was her chance. She tried the back door, but it was locked. She fumbled with the lock and twisted the old thing. Opening it, she found the deadbolt engaged. She gripped it as tightly as she could, twisted the knob, and unlocked the deadbolt. She slipped out the door and closed it quietly behind her. Hopefully, they wouldn't know which direction she went.

There were two vehicles in the driveway. She ran to both of them. Neither one had keys in it. Of course, they wouldn't leave keys in the cars, but she knew where she was. She took off running down the road. There was another house within just half of a block. She ran as fast as she could to that house and prayed somebody would be home. She made it to the house and ran around to the back door so she wouldn't be spotted. She was grateful there was no fence to have to hop.

She climbed the two back steps and started pounding on the door. "Hello, anybody, can you help me? Can you help me? I need help. Help." She kept pounding.

Finally, a dog started barking, and she closed her eyes. At least if somebody was in there, they would hear her now. And finally, an older gentleman came shuffling to the back door. He looked out the window and saw her.

She looked into his eyes. "Please help me. Please help me."

He opened the door as quickly as he could. Not nearly quickly enough for her. And as soon as he opened the door, she pushed herself inside. "Please lock the door. Quickly."

She stood against the wall trying to catch her breath. When he'd locked the door, he turned to her.

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