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Authors: Bowen Greenwood
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national security
people. They liked what he was offering: the ability to identify criminals and
terrorists before they even knew they were criminals and terrorists. But they
hadn’t seen the real potential yet. Even Doyle didn’t see the real potential
yet. Only Luther did.
All that stood between him and victory was Mike
Vincent. It almost made him laugh. Instead it made him swear. When Luther was
first starting out, Mike Vincent ruined his first big break. Now, the guy was
trying to do it again.
Not this time, Vincent. Not this time. Once I’ve
got LeBlanc, you’re going to find every single door closed. And then we’ll see
who puts who out of a job.
***
The lights of Middleburg,
Virginia gave the rainclouds an unearthly glow as Luther Cobalt grabbed an arm
roughly and pulled the girl out of the back seat. The duct tape over her mouth
muffled her noises of protestation, but he didn’t really care how she felt. She
was the key to getting his brother into the Senate, and that was all that
mattered.
They were at the main headquarters of Cobalt Data
Mining Systems. The building was part office space but mainly a server farm.
Uncounted thousands of terabytes worth of hard drives hummed in the basement
and on the ground floor. CDMS was in the business of digitizing and storing
genetic data and that required huge volumes of storage. The building could
easily have been designed as a simple warehouse, but his brother Doyle had paid
for more expensive steel and glass architecture. After all, he had Federal
contracts to pay for the construction.
The five-story building was completely unlit. Luther
had ordered all the low-level security guards home an hour ago to avoid
witnesses and when he did, he also ordered them to leave the place dark. Luther
knew the electronically-secured back door well, though. He didn’t need lights
to get it open.
He opened the back door of the vehicle and grinned.
There sat the key to getting his brother in the Senate, passing the Genetic
Probable Cause Bill, and gaining the kind of power that could change
everything.
He had opened the HVAC duct from the server room to
the outside. He had lain in wait in the server room and as soon as Alyssa’s
back was turned and Moira LeBlanc wandered within his reach, he had dragged her
outside to some waiting hired muscle.
The fact that the entire prison believed she had
escaped, rather than been kidnapped, just meant he could hold her without fear
of discovery.
Moira’s hands were cuffed behind her back, her mouth
was taped shut, and she wore a black hood over her head, the better to keep her
from knowing where she was being kept. Restrained like that, Luther never
doubted his own ability to keep her under control.
But just in case, he was pretty rough about shoving
her in the door to his brother’s server farm. He dragged the girl down the
hall, down a staircase, through several heavy steel doors, and finally into a
large windowless room in the basement.
He shoved Moira roughly into a hard wooden chair. He
gripped her wrists hard to keep her immobilized as he transferred her
restraints from behind her back to in front of her so she could have her arms
and legs tied to the chair. He didn’t need to hear her muffled whimpers from
behind the gag to know he was gripping hard enough to hurt.
He wasn’t planning to ease up. A little pain was
part of the fun.
Once she was tied to the chair, Luther tugged the
hood off her head, holding his face only inches from hers. At first, she
squinted against the sudden bright light. As she gradually opened her eyes, her
head jerked back in surprise when she saw Luther’s crooked nose only an inch or
so from hers.
“Welcome to your new home, LeBlanc,” he growled.
“You’re going to find that Federal prison was much more comfortable. They have
rules there.”
She made some noises under the duct tape, but Luther
just laughed.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not going to kill you.
I may hurt you a
people. They liked what he was offering: the ability to identify criminals and
terrorists before they even knew they were criminals and terrorists. But they
hadn’t seen the real potential yet. Even Doyle didn’t see the real potential
yet. Only Luther did.
All that stood between him and victory was Mike
Vincent. It almost made him laugh. Instead it made him swear. When Luther was
first starting out, Mike Vincent ruined his first big break. Now, the guy was
trying to do it again.
Not this time, Vincent. Not this time. Once I’ve
got LeBlanc, you’re going to find every single door closed. And then we’ll see
who puts who out of a job.
***
The lights of Middleburg,
Virginia gave the rainclouds an unearthly glow as Luther Cobalt grabbed an arm
roughly and pulled the girl out of the back seat. The duct tape over her mouth
muffled her noises of protestation, but he didn’t really care how she felt. She
was the key to getting his brother into the Senate, and that was all that
mattered.
They were at the main headquarters of Cobalt Data
Mining Systems. The building was part office space but mainly a server farm.
Uncounted thousands of terabytes worth of hard drives hummed in the basement
and on the ground floor. CDMS was in the business of digitizing and storing
genetic data and that required huge volumes of storage. The building could
easily have been designed as a simple warehouse, but his brother Doyle had paid
for more expensive steel and glass architecture. After all, he had Federal
contracts to pay for the construction.
The five-story building was completely unlit. Luther
had ordered all the low-level security guards home an hour ago to avoid
witnesses and when he did, he also ordered them to leave the place dark. Luther
knew the electronically-secured back door well, though. He didn’t need lights
to get it open.
He opened the back door of the vehicle and grinned.
There sat the key to getting his brother in the Senate, passing the Genetic
Probable Cause Bill, and gaining the kind of power that could change
everything.
He had opened the HVAC duct from the server room to
the outside. He had lain in wait in the server room and as soon as Alyssa’s
back was turned and Moira LeBlanc wandered within his reach, he had dragged her
outside to some waiting hired muscle.
The fact that the entire prison believed she had
escaped, rather than been kidnapped, just meant he could hold her without fear
of discovery.
Moira’s hands were cuffed behind her back, her mouth
was taped shut, and she wore a black hood over her head, the better to keep her
from knowing where she was being kept. Restrained like that, Luther never
doubted his own ability to keep her under control.
But just in case, he was pretty rough about shoving
her in the door to his brother’s server farm. He dragged the girl down the
hall, down a staircase, through several heavy steel doors, and finally into a
large windowless room in the basement.
He shoved Moira roughly into a hard wooden chair. He
gripped her wrists hard to keep her immobilized as he transferred her
restraints from behind her back to in front of her so she could have her arms
and legs tied to the chair. He didn’t need to hear her muffled whimpers from
behind the gag to know he was gripping hard enough to hurt.
He wasn’t planning to ease up. A little pain was
part of the fun.
Once she was tied to the chair, Luther tugged the
hood off her head, holding his face only inches from hers. At first, she
squinted against the sudden bright light. As she gradually opened her eyes, her
head jerked back in surprise when she saw Luther’s crooked nose only an inch or
so from hers.
“Welcome to your new home, LeBlanc,” he growled.
“You’re going to find that Federal prison was much more comfortable. They have
rules there.”
She made some noises under the duct tape, but Luther
just laughed.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not going to kill you.
I may hurt you a
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