My heart sank through my chest and into my stomach. I could feel it drowning in my belly acid. I dropped my head into my hands. "That's how he found me so easily in San Fran. Shorty would have started asking around the...well, the criminals." I tipped my head. "In his position, Tenner would have his finger on the pulse of everything that goes on in that city and if he killed my parents then surely he's involved in other criminal activity, right?" I felt a spark of a memory try to push through my wall, but it faded before I could snatch it.
"Most likely...unless this was a crime of passion that he's trying to cover his tracks on." Alex clicked his fingers. "Maybe he wants you gone because he sees you as a threat. He must have worked out that you were in the house that night. You're probably that last loose thread in this case."
I frowned. "Either way, he must have huge influence in the city...maybe even the whole bay area. There's no way we can get this guy."
"But the crime didn't happen there." Zach squeezed my hand. "It happened in L.A. and Special Agent Jackass doesn't work there anymore."
"He's still part of the FBI."
"Yes, but he won't have his eye so closely on L.A. activity." Alex's grin sparked with pride as he looked across at his nephew. "Elliot can you try doing some sort of search to find us the police reports on the Tate's investigation?"
Elliot's eyebrows rose. "You mean FBI crime reports?"
"Yeah, from five years ago." He scrambled for the file, flipping through the articles. "Anything to do with Jack and Edith Tate in February 2009."
Hearing the details rattled off with such detached efficiency made me feel sick. In spite of that, I was starting to feel a tad calmer. Reliving their deaths had been hideous, but there was a certain sense of release. I'd held the details locked in for so long and getting them out seemed to lift a weight off me. I didn't feel that pressure in quite the same way, although I still felt like there was more.
I tried to relax my brain, see if more would come forth, but I was obviously still scared. My brain muscle seemed to bunch in protest every time I reached for it. It was damn frustrating.
"You know I can't just Google that information, right?" Elliot lifted his eyebrows.
"Yeah, we know. That's why we called you." Alex's eyes were fiery as he prepared himself for Elliot's reaction. "We need you to hack into the FBI."
The air went still around us as everyone held their breath. It was like Elliot had frozen in time, the only thing to move were his eyeballs, which darted from one corner of his eye to the other. Finally, after an age of waiting, a laugh burst from his mouth.
"Bring it."
He swiveled in his seat and bent over the keyboard, losing himself in a flurry of keystrokes.
"I'm gonna try activating a couple of backdoor sleepers that I nabbed from the underground guys."
I had zero idea what that even meant, but was completely fascinated watching Zach's friend. His eyes ran over the screen, frenetically taking in whatever code he could find. Sometimes he'd frown, other times he'd snicker and half an hour later, he slumped back in his chair with a triumphant smile.
"So, Dani-girl. What do you need to know?"
"You did it?" My mouth dropped open.
"Of course I did it."
"But it's the FBI."
"And I'm Elliot Strickland." An arrogant smile stretched across his lips, making Zach laugh.
"You're such a douche bag."
Elliot just winked at his friend and shuffled around in his seat. The smile disappeared from his face as he looked up at me. "Come here."
I nibbled the bottom of my lip as I edged around the table, past Alex, who was already scanning the screen.
"Try that one first." He pointed to a file named Tate, J with a long number after it.
Elliot double clicked and a file popped onto the screen.
"We need to keep our movements minimal and fast. Trust me, somebody is onto this already, but it's cool. I've got this breadcrumb trail bouncing a spider's web across the globe with an evolving encryption algorithm that the Chinese recently knocked out. So yeah, this one will get some real attention and the Chinese will now be on my ass."
With a nod, I quickly scanned the details. "This is the right file."
"I'll image them to my desktop."
Elliot nudged me out of the way and quickly copied the entire file over. A blue line slowly inched across the screen, my heart rate increasing with each second that passed by. Finally, it disappeared and a few keystrokes later, Elliot logged off.
"Damn, that's cool. Our own little hacker. Good job, man." Alex slapped Elliot on the back with a broad grin. "Now let's take a look at these files."
Elliot double clicked the first file. Inside was a long line of photos, which he selected and opened up. They popped onto the screen, stealing my breath and making me want to crumple to the floor. I squeezed the back of the chair I was leaning on, grateful when Zach's hand silently snaked across my back and pulled me against him.
Images of my house wrapped in yellow tape were suddenly replaced by the floppy armed corpses of my parents.
I gasped and covered my face. Zach's hand cupped the back of my head and pushed me into his shoulder.