Chapter 30

"Here goes"

She said as her finger pressed down. I could see her disappointment when nothing seemed to happen and then all of a sudden, the screen came to life. Looking at what was there surprised me, because I was looking at the outline of a map of the world. Down one side of the screen were what looked like a column of boxes with the word location and a number, going up to the number 10.

The top box looked to be darker which made me think that you would have to select a box and then hit return again.

"What do those mean?"

I looked from Steph back to the laptop as she asked me that and answered honestly.

"I don't know, hit the return button again"

I suggested. Doing that we were faced with yet another request for a password.

"Do you think it's the same password?"

I asked, though to be honest I doubted it.

"I don't know. I'll try it"

As Steph input the numbers again and hit the key we were faced with a message.

You have 4 attempts left to access this page.

I was as disappointed as Steph looked when that came up but was curious as to how she knew the first password.

"How did you work out the first password Babe?"

I wasn't sure if she was going to answer me but after a few moments began to explain it to me.

"Petco was totally into Einstein. I read some of the books that he had, well skimmed through them, but there was one small book that he kept next to him. He had a bookmark in it and told me that it was important. It was a quote from Einstein, and it stuck with me.

"Armament is no protection against the war but leads to war. Striving for peace and preparing for war are incompatible"

I could agree with that and actually understood exactly what he had meant by it. Hadn't the Manhattan Project proved that? The small rumor that Germany was designing a nuclear bomb had America and its allies trying to beat them to it, something that they succeeded with. The Cold War got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In a "hot war," nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, both sides fought each other indirectly, but it didn't stop them from amassing huge stocks of weapons of mass destruction.

"How did you get to the password?"

Though I had a feeling that I could already work it out, the fact that there were three words that started with an "a" and there were three times that Steph had used the number 01, suggesting that the first letter of each word had taken on its numerical order in the alphabet.

"The first letter of each word in its numerical order in the alphabet"

Okay, so that was easy to work out but if Petco had used a different quote, then the rest might be difficult to find.

"Any ideas for the other passwords Babe?"

Because I was becoming both increasingly frustrated at the block we'd come to and worried what the program would reveal.

As Steph shrugged her shoulders, she closed the lid down on the laptop, and leant back on the couch. It was then that I asked myself the question, did it matter? The laptop was safe here, so Markovic wouldn't be able to get his hands on it and there was no way that I was going to hand it over to Rayner.

"Babe, it doesn't matter. As long as this laptop is safe, maybe even destroyed, then that's all we can hope to achieve"

Steph didn't open her eyes to reply but it was obvious that she was thinking.

"Why is it so important then?"

I wasn't sure about the answer to that. Markovic wanted it as a ransom demand in exchange for his daughter but what did the people who had sent the demand want with it?

"I don't know Babe"

The worry that I had was that Steph was totally caught up in the puzzle that it presented and maybe with everything that she'd gone through I couldn't blame her. I watched as Steph got up from the couch and went to the fridge for a bottle of water, then as she started to pace the kitchen area.

"Can I use the computer in your office?"

I smiled as I stood up and went over to her, yeah she was still trying to solve the puzzle, would she like what she found if she succeeded? I really wasn't too sure about that. But it did make me wonder what the hell Petco had designed so long ago that would be so important now. I led her through to the office and switched on the computer.

"Your password from Trenton will work here. Do you want company?"

I wasn't surprised when she shook her head so decided to go downstairs and see Marcus.

"I'll be downstairs"

Were my parting words as the screen came to life in a Google search. I spent a lot longer than I wanted talking with Marcus. I refused to tell him why I was here in Miami and also refused any attempts he made for Steph and me to go out for dinner with him. I knew Marcus, all too well. He loved living here in Miami because at heart he was a family man and there was family who still lived here. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if our parents might be here for the warmer climate, they often came south to escape the cold and wet weather of New Jersey. I had no intention of putting Steph through meeting any of them, besides I'd promised her that I would focus on what she wanted to finish and was sure that she would already have our next move planned out.

To appease Marcus, I did audit his reports, financial and business targets, which took me longer than I wanted. As I completed those, I at least had the satisfaction of knowing that they were done and out of the way. Taking the elevator up to the apartment I felt tired, I squeezed the end of my nose to relieve the tension that was building up. That was why I hated to drive here from Trenton only to end up reading for hours on end.

The apartment was quiet when I went in and as I toed off my shoes and placed the fob on the hallway table I was wondering where Steph would be. The kitchen and lounge area were quiet, but I could hear the hum of the computer working so assumed that maybe she was still there. Entering the study, she was still there, but her head was laid down on the desk with her arms around it. She was fast asleep. I ignored all of the paper with her writing on scattered over the surface and very gently lifted her from the chair.

It seemed that she'd already showered and changed into a T-shirt, one of mine, so all I had to do was to lay her on the bed and pull up the sheets around her. Of course, I sat on the seat and watched her allowing myself to relax. I couldn't believe that she was here, in Miami and in my bed. Showering and pulling on some silk shorts it wasn't long before I was with her wrapped into my side.

Morning came too soon for me especially as Steph was up and dressed before me. I wasn't too sure what that was about other than she must have found something last night and wanted to chase something up. Dressed and shaved I found her pouring out coffee in the kitchen, so I silently walked up behind her, and with a hand resting on the work top either side of her began to trace my lips down her neck.

"Morning Babe. You're up early, what's the rush?"

Because having missed her being awake last night I was looking forward to this morning.

"I need to go somewhere"

That had me backing away with a mug of coffee in my hands considering what she was saying.

"Somewhere?"

"Yeah, but it's a long way"

My idea of a long way was out of the country, so I was really hoping that she wasn't wanting to go back to Serbia.

"You found something?"

A nod of her head confirmed that, making me wonder what it was that she'd found. I held back asking her that and instead focused on the where first.

"Where do we need to go?"

Hoping that my tone didn't give away the frustration that I was feeling. I'd wanted her to drop the whole issue of that damn laptop, but I had a feeling that wasn't going to be happening.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but I need to go to Princeton, New Jersey"

That did surprise me, because I couldn't think of anything that was there that would have her running back to New Jersey. Hell, I would have thought its proximity to Trenton would have put her off.

"Are you sure?"

Okay, I got the look that said that of course she was sure, so decided not to push that anymore.

"Where is it you need to be?"

"Nassau Street, Princeton. I think I figured out what Petco would have used as a password"

The words that she'd said to me at that motel came back to me. I had to trust her and not demand an alternative action or try to take over even though every fiber of my being wanted to do just that.

"I'll arrange transport. We'll leave in an hour"

There was no way that I was driving back to Trenton, so I arranged for the jet that Rangeman had use of to take us. The only problem that I could see was that we'd need to land at Trenton Mercer airport with the jet, but that couldn't be helped. I contacted Santos and asked him to arrange for a car to be there for when we arrived, so that we could drive to where Steph needed to be. I knew the area so would avoid the main routes to get there, it would only add minutes to the 30 minute drive.

Three hours later we were walking toward a black SUV parked next to one of the hangers. I found the keys for it under the front wheel arch and helped Steph into the front seat. I was certainly glad that we'd worn warm clothes because compared to Miami it was definitely cold. Steph had jeans on like me and a thick sweater, but she was still fastening up the jacket she was wearing.

"You'll warm up in the car"

I assured her as I started the engine and turned the heater up.

"How far is it?"

"Only 30 minutes, but I'll take the back roads and avoid the main routes"

I was curious now as to exactly where we were going. Steph had been busy on the flight looking through her notes that she'd made the night before, but I thought that I'd been very patient so far and deserved to know.

"Where are we looking for?"

"Landau, Nassau. It's an old-fashioned shop specializing in European wool sweaters, jackets, coats & scarves, but it's also the only permanent Albert Einstein exhibit in the United States. It's tucked into a rear corner of the shop and has photos, articles, artifacts, and lots of fascinating information about Albert Einstein. A lot of people donated the things from their family because Einstein lived in the area"

I acknowledged what she said and was about to ask her if she knew what she was looking for when she gave me another piece of information about Albert Einstein.

"Did you know that Einstein's eyes are believed to be stored in a safe deposit box in New York City. Apparently his eyes were extracted during an autopsy in 1955, how weird is that, won't they have shrivelled up or something?"

Shaking my head I acknowledged that I hadn't known that, but then why should I? Amazed as usual how Steph had managed to find out so much information. What exactly she was looking for I would wait until we got there before asking her that, with two of us looking for it would be faster.

The roads were quiet given that it was midday, so it was easy to keep an eye on the road to make sure that no one was following us. I doubted there would be because where we were going to wouldn't be somewhere we would be expected to be.

As we travelled, we passed large houses with white fencing onto the road, this was an expensive part of town, so there was probably no reason for people be out on the road. As the road straightened and the houses disappeared to be replaced by a wooded area that was when I noticed that Steph looked distracted. She'd been focused on the view outside but was now looking down to her right hand, what at, I wasn't too sure of.

It was when she turned and looked at me that I knew something was wrong. There were tears in her eyes and such a sorrowful look.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

Because I had no idea what had caused her to be so upset.

"You lied to me, you didn't trust me"

I looked back at her not understanding what she was saying or even why she would say that.

"Babe, I do"

She shook her head and before I knew what the hell was going on her door was opening and she was leaning out of the car. Her seatbelt had been released and even though I was leaning over trying to grab hold of her I watched as she disappeared from sight, tumbling onto the road, her last words coming back to me, stabbing me like a knife.

"I loved you and trusted you, yet you betrayed me"

My foot was hard on the pedal slamming the brakes on hard but even as I did that and looked in the rearview mirror she was gone. The car began to swerve so I needed to control the skid then I could turn around and go find her, she couldn't have got that far.

As I came to a screeching halt that was when I noticed a large jeep heading toward me and watched as it came to a halt across the road in front of me. It didn't worry me because I was going back the way that I had come, but just as I started to reverse the car another jeep appeared from the tree line and blocked me in. That was when I saw several small red dots lit up on my chest, the laser sights from several armed men who had me in their sights. I opened my door and then with my hands held high looked to the jeep parked in front of me. A soldier appeared behind me and removed the gun that was tucked into the back of my jeans and then proceeded to pat down my legs finding my ankle gun and knife. Disarmed, the door to the jeep opened revealing non other than Colonel Raynor.

I had no idea why he was here or why he was treating me this way but had no intention of speaking. I needed for him to explain himself first. The sound of an engine had me looking beyond the jeep to see a large SUV that I was sure that I recognized. A chauffer, or should I say bodyguard opened his door and proceeded to open the back door. Shit, what the hell was Markovic doing here?

"A job well done Manoso"

I had no idea what Raynor was talking about until I heard the door of my SUV open and close, seeing a soldier walking toward Raynor with the package that held the laptop. As soon as Raynor held it in his hands everyone began to disappear, melding back into the trees or getting back into the jeeps. I was left on my own on that lonely stretch of road. Everything that had happened since I had stopped the car had happened in minutes. I knew what I had to do though, I had to find Steph so started to run back to where she had fallen from the car. In my mind all I could hear were the words that she'd said before she disappeared. Somehow, she knew what was going to happen, and she thought that it was me who had set it up. I found the place where I'd last seen her but there was nothing to see, even as I ran through the trees shouting her name, I knew that she was gone.

She had thought that I'd betrayed her trust, so now I had lost her.