Chapter 18

Sleeping was becoming difficult, and I wasn't sure if it was because I was in strange place or if this whole planning was beginning to stress me out. I kept thinking that I was missing something and spent ages that night just running through everything in my head. I'd resisted googling anything about Cambodia because at the back of my mind I was feeling that my luck might just run out. Come on, how long did I usually last before something disastrous happened to me?

I let the alarm clock inform me through its loud beeping noise that it was time to get up so went through a morning ritual of showering and dressing. I dressed in jeans and a thick sweater knowing I could be outside on the streets again. Tonight, would be the last night that I would be sleeping here and tomorrow my last night in New York. I had two days to try and make contact with that animal rights group and to talk them into letting me have a copy of their computer virus.

I was pleased when I was able to leave the hotel unseen again, it gave me the confidence to walk down the street without worrying unduly. It didn't stop me from making detours to ensure that I hadn't picked up a tail who may have been watching from outside. I found another café to have breakfast at, bagels and coffee, so sue me, I was trying really hard to keep to a healthy diet.

Being sat at the café also gave me an opportunity to watch what was going on outside making sure that no one was passing back and forth in front or hanging around. Once I'd finished and left cash to pay the bill I continued on my way to Grand Central Library. Why there you might ask, well I wanted to find out more about the group AfA, Action for Animals and thought that maybe back editions of the newspaper would be the way to go.

Going through old editions of a newspaper was tedious and time consuming, the local newspaper that I'd seen the day before didn't upload online onto the internet, which surprised me because most papers nowadays did. I'd found a large bound ledger, courtesy of the friendly librarian, and was now sat going back from yesterday's paper.

It was six months earlier and 165 papers later that I found the first mention of the group. It seemed that another animal rights organization, Animal Rights, had been blamed for a break in at a research lab, where animals were being used for testing. It sounded as though a small group had separated themselves to form the new group, AfA because they wanted more action and less talk when pushing for animal rights. Hence the name they were working under, Action for Animals. The name of the new group was given but not any names to follow up on. I did find the name of the original group founder, as she'd been more than happy to give an interview to the paper and denounce any involvement with what had happened.

Moving across to a computer I was disappointed that the group AfA weren't to be found through a search, so I returned to the name of the woman from the original group. With her name and the group that she was involved with I started to search for a contact number for her. I was really pleased when they had a website and various contact numbers if you were interested in joining.

Now was the hard part, how to get her to give me a number or name for this new group. From what I'd read there wasn't much love lost between them. Three blocks down from the library I found a small area with trees and benches and made the call.

"Hi, is it possible to speak with Madelaine Jones, please?"

"Speaking"

"Oh, hi. I was wondering if you could help. I'm new to New York City and wanted to continue my work with a group like yours"

"Sure honey, we're always looking for new recruits"

"Oh good. My cousin she mentioned another group, Action for Animals and said it was the same people in both groups"

"She did?"

"Yeah well, I think it had more to do with the man that set it up, if you know what I mean"

"You need to avoid going anywhere near him honey, he's bad news"

"He sounded like a nice guy, from what my cousin said about him"

"He's nothing but trouble"

"Are we talking about the same man?"

"Adam Guttridge. You tell your cousin, he aint what he seems"

"She's not answering her phone and she's supposed to be at a meeting tonight. I need to find her, where would they usually meet and then I can go get her"

"The Brass Monkey or Johnny's Bar in the meatpacking area. Good luck with that. Now we're meeting next Friday"

I knew I'd have to play along with being interested in her group so continued the conversation so that she wouldn't get suspicious.

"Okay, where do you meet, I'd like to meet everyone"

"We meet here at my home. I have a large space at basement level. West 162nd Street, Harlem. Bring that cousin of yours with you"
"That sounds good, thank you for talking to me"

I stood up feeling very pleased with myself and what I'd found out. The only problem would be knowing what time to be at those bars and what the hell Adam Guttridge looked like.

I needed to rest for a while before I went to those places looking for Adam Guttridge so started the trek across town to the fancy hotel. A couple of hours sleep, a shower and food were what I needed. In the end I hailed a taxi because to be honest I felt exhausted especially with all of the walking I'd been doing. The lobby was quiet as I entered, and I turned surprised at hearing the girl on the desk calling out a name. It took me a few seconds to realize that she meant me. I approached the desk, almost afraid of what she would say.

"Ms. Aspenall, a package has just arrived here for you"

As she handed me the package, I smiled realizing that these were the hard drives that I'd ordered. I thanked her and took the elevator up to my suite. With the door locked I stripped down to my underwear, set the alarm on my phone and crawled between the sheets. I had no problem falling into a deep sleep.

I woke to the sound of my alarm feeling slightly disorientated but much better for the sleep. It made me wonder why I had slept so much better here than at the Holiday Inn. I showered, enjoying the complimentary soap and shampoo and once dressed in the jeans and sweater looked through the bag that I had with me. I decided to leave anything associated with Lilian Aspenall here at this hotel. They were locked into a safe along with my laptop and spare phone leaving me with only the key card for the room to get in with and the two new hard drives. I put those into a zippered pocket in my coat, along with a lot of cash, making sure I had the card for the Holiday Inn, a phone and the id and bank card for Carrie Emille in my bag. If for any reason I lost my bag, then the contents could only reveal that information about me.

For some reason I was feeling anxious and pulled a hat from the closet and pushed that into another pocket, but then again maybe it was because I was hungry. I carried my jacket with my bag down in the elevator and made my way across to the hotel restaurant.

The restaurant had a few guests inside eating allowing me a choice of where to sit. I found a small table at the back of the room, looking around at who was sat in the room, before picking up the menu. There was a lot of choice making it difficult for me to decide. Did I go for my favorite Italian or something traditional? In the end I chose the Tagliata, grilled prime New York strip, rainbow chards, porcini cream and shallot rings. I didn't regret my choice, savoring every mouthful. Of course, I couldn't resist the Tiramisú. As I finished my dessert, I noticed that the restaurant was filling up with people and knew it was time for me to head out.

I'd always assumed that Manhattan was a fairly safe area of New York, a place where tourists would come to enjoy the attractions from a central location and make the most of the night life. I'd been a couple of times to clubs here and never had any problems. I wasn't too sure about the area I was making for though, the Meatpacking area, or even the bars. I had a feeling that they might be busy and more where the locals would go.

The first place I came to was Johnny's Bar and I had a suspicion that this was where I would find Adam Guttridge. I almost walked past it and it was only because of the loud music that I actually looked up and saw the sign. The entrance was through a wooden door that was next to a window that I presumed served as a serving hatch during the day or in the warmer weather.

As I walked in, I had to move through the crowd of people inside until I came to the bar. It was a clutter of bottles and glasses stacked up with a wall full of pieces of paper and plates from cars. The place was actually narrow with bar stools against the bar and the wall opposite and I was having difficulty finding one to sit on. As a group of men picked up their drinks and walked away from the bar, I saw a vacant stool and was soon sat waiting to be served. There was an older man behind the bar, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, white hair, maybe the owner of the place. I was glad when it was him who served me rather than the blonde, busty woman.

"What can I get you love?"

"Half a Guinness please"

I hadn't drunk that stuff for years, probably since I was at college, but knew that I liked the taste. I watched as he used the lever to pour out the beer and then handed him a note. While he fetched my change, I took a mouthful, closing my eyes as the memory of the taste came back to me. It was sweet and creamy with a flavor of coffee and chocolate and a hint of malt. I'm sure I moaned at the taste because when I opened my eyes the bar tender was looking at me.

"Good?"

"Yes, exactly how I remembered"

"You on vacation here then?"

"Not really"

I leaned forward toward him, not wanting other patrons to hear what I was going to ask.

"I'm looking for Adam Gutteridege, I was told I might find him in here"

He looked to the end of the end of the bar and nodded his head to a small group of men stood at the far end of the room, then handed me my change without another word. I picked my drink up, getting down from the stool and made my way toward the group of men.

As I approached, I knew I needed to approach them very carefully so went to the jukebox next to them first and started to look through the choice of music. This wasn't like a distraction where I needed to attract the attention of an FTA, subtlety was what was needed, not exactly my strong point.

"You gonna choose something or just look at it all night?"

I turned and realized that one of the men was now standing next to me, grinning at me. Great, just what I needed, a guy trying to pick me up.

"Not sure what to choose"

"Just push D6"

I did that and then followed him back to where he was stood, leaning against the wall as the music came on. I almost winced as I heard "Hound dog" by Elvis, not really a favorite of mine. The guy got the hint though that I was willing to talk to him.

"Tourist then?"

"No, not really. I'm looking for someone"

"You're in luck, here I am"

I laughed at his joke and to be honest he was a cute looking guy. Probably my height with blonde hair that was too long and totally out of control. Not my type at all, in fact no one could ever be my type now, not after Ranger.

"Funny. I'm actually looking for Adam"

I saw him give a sideways look to a guy opposite him, giving me the impression that he was probably Adam Routledge. Now Adam had a look that shouted out "Bad boy" He had long dark hair and moustache and beard with studs in his ears and nose. His brows were heavy over pale blue eyes that moved their attention onto me.

"What's wrong Liam?"

"This woman's looking for you"

"Oh yeah, and why would you be looking for me"

I moved across to him and spoke quietly so that hopefully just the two of us could hear.

"I want to help stir up some action"

His eyes lifted to look beyond me and then he took my elbow, and I was suddenly being pulled past the juke box and through a door that looked to be some sort of storeroom. As the door closed behind us, I placed my half full glass of bear on a nearby crate and stood in front of Adam. I wasn't going to show him how nervous I was.

"Talk, and make it quick"

Okay this was it, I'd done my research on this so hoped my naivety didn't come through. I also hoped that he saw me as genuinely wanting to do something that would further the cause of the group he ran.

"I have access into a company that does some awful testing on animals"

"So?"

"I'm there for a week as part of my job and I hate what they do to the animals. I want to give that company a farewell gift"

"Who are we talking about?"

"Covance"

I saw the change in his look as he faced me, yeah, he was interested now with what I was going to say.

"You can get in there?"

"I sure can. I'm a web designer and will have access to their systems"

"How do I know you're not the cops or something?"

I thought that might be a stumbling block for Adam and to be honest I didn't have the time to play games with him in order for him to trust me.

"I'm not, I don't know what to say to convince you that I'm not"

"So what exactly is it you want from me?"

"A copy of your virus so I can do some damage"

I got the two hard drives from my pocket and a wad of cash, $1000, which I hoped would be an added incentive and held them out to Adam. I could tell he was definitely thinking about it, his forehead was pulled into a frown. I removed the money with my other hand seeing that he was watching what I was doing.

"The money's yours when I get the copies"

He took the hard drives from my hand, slipping them into his pocket, his eyes still on the money.

"Okay, what password do you want?"

Shit, I hadn't even thought about that. I smiled though as one came to me, hoping it wouldn't be too obvious that anyone with a knowledge of me and computers could guess it. I knew the keyboard though so in my head I started at 1 and then decided on the next letter by going across two and down one, alternating using the shift key. Then across four and up one.

"1eJ.}0ts"

"Okay, I'll remember that"

Hell I hoped so because I was hopeless at remembering combinations of letters and numbers.

"How do I get them back, I only have tomorrow?"

"The afternoon, 3.30 at Piccanto café, corner of West 40th Street and 8th Avenue"

"I'll be there"

I watched as Adam continued through the storeroom and walked out using the fire exit. I was surprised that no alarms went off but seeing as he seemed to know to use it then he probably knew that it wasn't connected. I was just about to go back through to the bar when the noise level in there changed from conversational and laughing to shouts and the occasional screams.

Something was happening, maybe a bar fight, though I couldn't hear the usual sound of breaking glass. I held my ear next to the door trying to work out what was going on when every sound in the place stopped, even the jukebox stopped sending out its music, as though someone had turned it off or disconnected it.

"We're looking for this woman"

Came through to me, causing me to consider that it might be me someone was referring to. I jumped when the door handle turned and brought out of my stupor, turned to head for the door that Adam had used. I was more than surprised when the door from the bar didn't open and heard someone banging against it.

"Why's this door locked?"

"Open it now"

That was all I needed to hear as I made for the exit. I hit the door hard, running out into the cold air, finding myself in a narrow alley that ran behind the bar and other shops on the street. I turned right and continued running, hearing the door behind me slam shut. I could only hope that whoever was on the other side of that door hadn't heard it. A small amount of light from windows above me lit the way, enough for me discern the garbage and trashcans littering my way. At the end of the alley I took a left, putting distance between me and the bar.

I couldn't hear any footsteps behind me, and the way ahead looked clear, so I slowed down trying to catch my breath as I came out onto a crowded street. I spied a group of girls ahead of me and catching up with them walked just to the side of them as though I was part of their group. When they turned and went down the steps into the subway, I saw that as my chance to lose myself. I'd spent so much time on the subway in the past couple of days I almost had the map imprinted in my head.

I spent the next two hours detouring between the streets, subways and late night cafés, slowly making my way back to the Holiday Inn. I was tired of walking, but my nerves were making me feel on edge, my spidey sense was telling me that I wasn't out of danger yet.

As I came to the end of the street diagonally opposite the hotel, my breath caught. Parked in front of the hotel were two black SUVs and gathered in a group between the cars were 6 men, all dressed in black suits. Certainly not any of my Merry Men. As the men talked, huddled together I quietly slipped behind a wall and found a vantage point. I suppose I was being nosey, because I wanted to see who they were and what they were going to do next.

Two things happened next, both of which shocked me. The light, that I was sure was from inside the room that I was using went on and the silhouette of a person could be seen walking past the window. There was a shout from one of the men.

"She's in the room"

Then another man turned away from the group and started to talk on his phone. I couldn't hear what he was saying but as he turned, the light from the streetlamp showed his features. Shit, I was sure that he was one of the men that I'd seen at Rangeman. The one who'd been meeting with Tank in the conference room, the one who'd been arguing with him in the corridor.

He shouted out orders and the rest of the men split up, running in different directions. They looked to be covering any exits as some went to the front door and others disappeared down either side of the building. It was time to leave so coming out from behind the wall I backtracked the way I'd arrived and headed back for the subway, pulling the hat from my jacket pocket over my head and pushing my hair out of sight.