Chapter Sixty

Rolling from one side of the bed to the other between the satin sheets, Trapper and Leah held each other in a lover's embrace, the relative silence broken only by a sporadic deep chuckle or lilting giggle, and the occasional 'oo', 'ah', moan or growl; sounds that accompany intimacy along with a squeak coming from the bed frame if they moved too quickly. Poised eye-to-eye, they froze when a distinctly different noise pierced those mostly mellifluous sounds. Turning away from each other, both said, "It's mine," as they reached for their pagers on their respective bedside tables. Without another thought of each other, both stood and while Leah headed for the bathroom and clean clothes, Trapper picked up the phone and dialed the hospital.

Moments later he joined her in the bathroom. "What's yours?" asked Trapper.

"An attempted system breach. Someone's in the hospital that shouldn't be there."

"Yours?" she asked as she pulled her jeans on.

"That was Applebaum. There are several people walking the hall in greens that he doesn't recognize."

"I didn't expect anyone to be looking this soon," she said, leaving the bathroom, grabbing the strap of her purse and heading for the door with Trapper right behind her. "They tried to hack your computer."

"My computer?" he said as they made their way up the walkway and through the gate to his car. Trapper opened her door, waiting for her to move her casted foot in, and then went around to the driver's side.

"It makes perfect sense. Your office is well isolated, especially late at night when there aren't many people around. Do you lock your office at night?"

"No. I never needed to. All the file cabinets and my desk are locked."

"Well, now that you have a computer, you should." When she saw a frown appear on his face, she moved a hand to his thigh. "It wouldn't have mattered. If they're sophisticated enough to attempt a system hack, your door lock wouldn't have stopped them."

When they arrived at the hospital, Allen's men escorted them the rest of the way to Trapper's office. They arrived as a man dressed in scrubs, a white lab coat and wearing handcuffs was being led out. "Ms. Haverty," said Agent Allen, who was just rising from Trapper's desk chair, "can you find out what he was trying to look at?"

She took a deep breath and walked around the desk to the keyboard of the computer. "That seems obvious, Agent Allen."

Trapper turned to leave. "While you do that, I'm going down to check on the patient."

"She's fine, Dr. McIntyre. No one has been in her room except for Dr. Applebaum and the military nurses."

"Well, if you don't mind," Trapper answered with a patronizing smile, "I'd like to see for myself."

Before he left, Leah and Allen's pagers went off, prompting them both to look. "They're in my computer room," growled Leah, heading for the door.

"Wait just a minute," said Allen, grabbing her arm and pulling her back, moving her in front of Trapper. "Keep her here until I call."

When Agent Allen left, she tried to follow, but Trapper took her arms. "He's right. You need to stay here until they clear the basement."

"But…"

"No buts," he said calmly, moving his arm around her shoulder and guiding her toward his desk. "After doing what they did to Wright and Frank, they'd have no problem getting you out of the way quickly and permanently. Can't you do what you need to do from here?" Trapper asked, motioning toward his computer.

She sat down hard in his chair and began typing in commands as Trapper moved behind her to watch. She was typing and moving from one screen to the next so fast, he couldn't really keep up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm locking down the tape library and all the tape drives, and I'm disabling all the computer terminals down there." In another minute, she said, "There. They can't get to anything above the floor. Now I just need to bring up the port map and make sure they don't plug directly into the mainframe ports under the floor."

Sitting on the side of the desk, Trapper asked, "If you can do all that from here, why were you so anxious to get down there."

"Because, I have two operators down there at night to mount tapes and take care of any abends…sorry programs that end abnormally…abnormal end…abend. Who do you think pages me when there's a problem?"

Trapper frowned at the sharpness of her response, but let it go, knowing he would be just as worried about his people under similar circumstances. Then he remembered that he did have people in what might turn in to bad situation. Taking a deep breath, he rose from the desk and walked to the door. "Excuse me. I'm going to check on my patient…and my staff."

"That's not fair. You get to check on your staff, but I don't get to check on mine?" she said, fuming.

Trapper held his hands out to his sides. "My area hasn't been compromised." She turned away. "Leah, look at me." Once she slowly turned back to face him, he said, "That's only because you're doing an exceptional job at protecting the information." Holding his hand like a gun and cocking it at her, he winked, smiled and left before he could see the corner of her mouth turning up into a proud smile.

Still, she wasn't going to sit alone in that office like an obedient school girl. As soon as Trapper had time to turn the corner down the hall, she was on her way to that corner to peer around it. What she didn't know was that as soon as she left the office, the phone rang with Agent Allen on the other end.

"Damn that woman. Can't she do anything I ask her without questioning it? You," he said, grabbing one of his men. "Go up and get Leah Haverty. I need to find out what files were compromised down here. And as soon as the van gets here, get these men loaded and on their way to The Presidio. And page Dr. McIntyre. He won't be able to do anything for the guy over there, but this one's still alive."

In the confusion of the melee in the basement, Allen's guards had left the elevator unattended, so after Trapper disappeared behind its doors, Leah pushed the down button and waited. The man Allen had sent to find her met her when the doors opened to the basement. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Haverty. Get out of my way," she answered, shoving past him and limping toward the mainframe. She froze when she saw Hector Ramirez face down on the raised floor. "Oh, God," she whispered, raising a hand to her mouth, her eyes fixed on the figure lying on the floor until she began to look around her. "Mike. Where's Mike?"

Allen stepped between her and Hector's body. "Mike's over here. I've sent for Dr. McIntyre."

Kneeling down next to Mike who was lying on the floor near the tape shelves, she smiled as she brushed his hair from his forehead. "Mike, I'm so sorry. The job description certainly didn't include getting shot, did it?"

"Ms. Ha…Haverty? Is H…H…Hector alright. I heard him yell."

"Hector…" she turned back toward the mainframe and looked at Hector's still body, "…is being taken care of. Let's just worry about you for right now, okay? Dr. McIntyre is on his way," she said softly, taking Mike's hand. "I'll wait for him with you."

"Ms. Haverty, you don't have time to wait. I need to know what information they were able to get to."

"Give me your jacket, you heartless bastard," she spat, glaring back over her shoulder at Agent Allen. After she laid the jacket over Mike to keep him warm for he was beginning to shiver, she spoke to Allen without taking her eyes off of Mike. "They mostly likely didn't get into anything. I locked everything down from McIntyre's office." Allen began to turn away, but stopped at the word, "But…"

"But what?"

"I don't know if I got to the mainframe ports in time. Where any of the floor panels disturbed?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because there are direct access ports underneath the raised floor…in case of an emergency and if we've lost the terminals. I need to check under the moved panels."

"Ms. Haverty, is there room under that floor for someone to hide?"

"Yes, but only in certain places, and even then it would be tight squeeze."

Allen didn't wait for Leah to finish. He was already on his way back to the raised floor, motioning for his men to spread out and be ready, all of them pulling their guns from their shoulder holsters. No one bothered looking to see who had just stepped off the elevator. Trapper saw the commotion and headed toward the mainframe, but a familiar voice drew him to the tape shelves.

"Trapper, this is Mike," said Leah quietly as Trapper knelt next to them. "Mike, Dr. McIntyre will take good care of you." Both Leah and Trapper looked up when they heard yelling near the mainframe.

When Leah stood to go over, Trapper grabbed her wrist. "Stay here."

Twisting her hand to escape Trapper's grip, Leah protested. "It's my job to protect that mainframe."

"Not this time. Allen's men had their guns drawn when I stepped off the elevator, and with the yelling, you know something's not right. "You're staying right here," he said in a tone more like an order with an increasingly firm grasp of her wrist.

"I don't take orders from you," she snapped in a barely controlled rage.

"Leah!" he said through gritted teeth. "You and I are going to move Mike to your office out of the way of whatever is going on over there." Taking a deep, calming breath, he nodded his head toward the tape library desk. "He's got a shoulder wound, and he's lost some blood. Get that rolling chair and help me get him into it."

She sneered when she rose to get the chair, and as she turned back with it, a chill ran through her as she watched Allen's men pull a writhing, kicking person from underneath the raised floor, and then slam him down on his chest, drawing his arms behind him to handcuff him. Agent Allen saw her and motioned her over.

"I'll be with you in a moment," she called back, rolling the chair to Trapper. "Why don't you just call for a gurney?" she asked calmly. "It appears the worst is over. Allen wants me on the raised floor."

Trapper stood, and moving his hands to his hips, he looked up at her from under his brow with a look she was just beginning to recognize, a mixture of ire and apprehension. "Where's your other technician?"

Moving a hand to his chest, bowing her head, and then looking back up into his eyes, conveying her apology and her sorrow, she quietly answered, "Hector is dead."

Trapper's mouth opened at the same time he crooked his jaw. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." Then his nostrils flared as his anger rose. "This ends here."