W e listened to the audio again. I knew that second voice, the voice of Chen, and I couldn’t figure out how that was possible. The voice just jumped out at me.
“So you took dry cleaning in there one time?”
“James, you know better. I’ve never taken dry cleaning anywhere. Other than a couple of sport coats, I haven’t got anything worth dry cleaning.”
“Those jackets, amigo, maybe you should visit Chen’s.”
I was working it over in my mind when I heard the knock at the door. I figured out who it was before I’d even answered it.
“Guys, you got me involved in this, so I’d better know everything.” Em went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. No glass. She drank her Yuengling from the bottle.
I told her what Carol Conroy knew. We shared the audio-tape with her, and she listened intently.
“You’ve Googled this Chi Mak?”
“It was on my list,” James said sheepishly. We weren’t exactly coming up with all the answers that Em was. He walked to our computer sitting on the wobbly stand next to the stool in the kitchen.
“Where is Feng? Right now?” Em looked at her watch.
I punched in the code on my laptop for his GPS. “Looks like he’s back at Synco Systems. Working late.”
“And I’ll bet that Sandy Conroy is telling him about the smoke alarm incident.” She pressed her fingers together, staring into space.
“You’re right.” I knew Mr. Conroy would tell his head of security about the smoke alarm. But I had the evidence. No one could prove a thing. The smoke detector was on our kitchen counter, the two pieces lying face down. I wondered if Sandy Conroy had rendered it inoperable when he threw it against the wall. “This would be the time to have a listening device in there. I’ll bet he and Conroy are talking right now.”
James looked up from his screen. “This Mak guy was found guilty of espionage. The story is right here.” He read from the screen.
Chi Mak was convicted of taking computer disks from Anaheim defense contractor Power Paragon, where he was lead engineer on a sensitive research project involving QED, a propulsion system for Navy warships, according to an FBI affidavit. He also e-mailed photos and reports about the QED system to his home computer. Authorities say Mak and his wife copied the information onto CDs and then delivered them to a relative, Tai Wang Mak, who encrypted the disks and then was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong. From there, Mak allegedly planned to travel to Guangzhou in China to meet a contact.
“And during their conversation at the laundry, Chen is bragging on this guy.”
“Em,” James kept scanning his screen, “this guy was stealing stuff for maybe twenty years before anyone figured him out.”
“Great story.” I was watching Feng’s car, a blip on the computer screen. It was on the road, moving at a pretty good clip. “But what does it have to do with Synco Systems?”
Em took a long pull on her bottle of beer. “This Chi Mak was stealing Defense Department secrets.”
“Yeah. Big time.” James nodded emphatically.
“Synco Systems is working on a huge project for the Defense Department.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Em, this Chi Mak was an engineer. He had access to all the information. We’re pretty sure that Synco Systems is making a system that will protect the Department of Defense from having anyone like Chi Mak hacking into their computers. They’re trying to stop people like Chi Mak.” The two stories were diametrically opposed. There was nothing that brought them together. “And Synco Systems has no information. They have no plans-no idea what the Defense Department is planning. Feng doesn’t have access to any information within the Defense Department. To my knowledge anyway. Chi Mak had the plans in his hands. He was even designing some of them. If you’re designing a propulsion system, it’s one thing. Then you have all the plans, and you have the capability of stealing those plans. If you are designing a security system to stop that theft, it’s an entirely different story.”
James sipped on his beer. “We’re in Miami. Defense is, where? In Washington, D.C., right? They may as well be in different countries. Synco Systems has nothing. Just the software they’re designing, and that’s not going to be ready to go for another two or three weeks.”
“I just think there’s something lying right on the table, and we’re missing it.” Em sat on the couch and pressed her fingers into the fabric.
“Maybe not.” I stood and was pacing. As much as you could pace in the tiny abode we called home.
“Oh, so maybe there’s been a suicide or murder and the disappearance of two employees for no reason. Maybe Carol Conroy is just paranoid. Maybe this Feng is following you guys and Carol Conroy as just some sort of exercise. I suppose that could be.” Em smiled and slugged down another swallow. “Hey, boyfriend, bring me another beer.”
I did. And one for James and myself. We were now officially out of Yeungling, and I went outside to get the case from my car. The moon was coming up, and I realized the late hour. We hadn’t even looked at the video card yet. I hefted the case up on my shoulder, not needing any lower back strain at an early age, and turned to go in. I heard a car enter the lot, and turned briefly. The headlights were off, but I could make out the shape on the far side of the parking lot.
I walked into the apartment, case on my shoulder, and Skip and Em looked up from their conversation and applauded. Whenever someone is bringing the drinks they get the accolades.
Carrying the case to the refrigerator and setting it down, I turned to Em. “Well, do you have it all figured out by now?”
She gave me a smirk. “No. But one more of these, and I’ll have to crash here tonight.”
That wouldn’t have been all bad. We always spent the nights at her place, but if she really wanted to, well-That’s when the front window shattered and I heard the sharp crack from the parking lot. Like a whip, a firecracker. Like a gun. I froze.
The glass shattered in our second front window and I heard another sharp crack. You always wonder what you’ll do in a tense situation like this. I lunged at Em, tackling her around the hips and knocking her to the ground. Later, she said I’d actually bruised her, but I couldn’t have cared less. Climbing on top of her I screamed. “James, get on the ground. Now.”
He was sitting there, his mouth half open, watching me covering Em. Then, like a tottering bowling pin he fell from his chair and for just a moment I thought he’d been hit by a bullet. James stretched out flat, his eyes riveted to mine. A second later I heard the sound of more broken glass and something rattling. I glanced up at the computer stand and saw our old P.C. explode into dozens of pieces.
“Damn.” James had crawled under the kitchen table and couldn’t see the stand, but he knew what had happened.
I pulled my cell phone from my belt and punched in 911.
“Nine-one-one. Do you have an emergency?”
“Someone is shooting at us.” I was screaming.
“What is your address?”
I gave it to her, trying not to shout.
“Sir, is anyone injured?”
“Ma’am, if you don’t get someone out here immediately, we’ll all be dead. Damn the injured part.”
“Sir, I’ve already alerted the authorities. Now please, you have to tell me if anyone is injured.”
Something whizzed overhead and crashed into a lamp. “Not yet.”
“Can you take cover?”
“I’m lying on the ground, lady. Three of us are hugging the floor. It’s the best we can do.” Em squirmed under me, but didn’t say a word.
“Is there a bathtub? Or someplace safe you can go to?”
The bullets had come right through the windows. Even if we wanted to change our location, it would have been a bad decision. The minute we would rise up, someone could get hit, and none of us wanted that to happen. “Ma’am, I just want to know someone is coming.”
“Miami Gardens Police are on their way. Would you like me to stay on the line until they arrive?”
I could hear a siren in the distance. No more gunshots. “No. Thank you.”
“You’re certain?”
The sound of the siren was louder. “I think we’ll be fine. Thank you for being there.” I felt like we were doing a commercial for General Motors’ OnStar. “Em, are you all right?”
“You’re a little heavy, Skip. Other than that, I think I’m okay.” I stayed on top. There was no guarantee the gunplay was over.
I’d expected a run-in with the police tonight. It’s just that I expected to be arrested for bugging Sandy Conroy’s office. Instead, local cops were in rescue mode. Our rescue.
“James?”
“I’m here, pard.” His voice was quaking.
From underneath me I heard, “Skip, thank you for covering me, but seriously, I think you can move off of me now.”
So I slid off of Em, still hugging the floor. The siren was closer now, screaming with a mournful wail. Still no shots.
We were silent. The three of us realizing how lucky we were to be alive. I reached out and grabbed Em’s hand, secretly wishing I could grab James’s hand as well. She squeezed, and I felt a chill go through my body. I shivered and squeezed back, looking into her eyes. She had tears running down her cheeks.
“Hey, Skip?”
“Yeah, James.”
“Is it safe?”
“I don’t know, man. I wouldn’t go putting my head out the window. But I do know one thing.”
“What?” Em asked quietly from the floor.
“It’s gonna be a mess. Windows, the computer, the lamp.”
“Holes in the wall. God, I hope they didn’t hit the beer or the refrigerator. Why us?”
I didn’t have an answer. A couple of guesses maybe.
“You guys know more than you think you do.” Em was still hugging the floor, her face buried in the cheap carpeting, stained with beer and cigarette burns.
“But Skip-” James sounded more upbeat. The fact that no bullets had flown by in the last ninety seconds may have had something to do with that.
“What?”
“Is it safe?”
“Safe?”
“Is it safe?”
It had been a long time, but I remembered the answer. Amid all the craziness, the gunfire and near death experience, James was still playing. It was dangerous because someone was still out there, trying to kill us. But I answered. “Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.”
Em raised her head, looking at the two of us, still lying flat on the floor. “Are you two crazy? Wait. Don’t answer. I know.”
“You already know we’re crazy, Em,” James chuckled softly.
“Yes. There’s no question about that. Crazy enough to almost get us killed. But I know the movie.”
“Movie? What movie?”
“Guys, I know the name of the movie.”
James strung her along. “How do you know there’s a movie involved? Em, don’t give me that. No. No, you don’t know what movie that’s from.”
The siren shrieked as it pulled into the parking lot. I could see purple light, combination of red and blue, as it streamed through the window, or what was left of the window. There was a slight commotion as voices outside got louder, and still we lay on the floor, afraid to sit up.
The siren drifted off, and there was a pounding at the door. “Police, open up.”
Slowly I pushed myself from the floor, and as Em stood up she brushed at her clothes, shaking shards of glass from her hair.
I turned to my two best friends. “We cannot say anything about who might have done this. We’ve got no proof. Agreed?” The two of them nodded their heads. “Officer, I’m going to open the door. Nobody in here has any weapons.” The cops hadn’t asked, but I didn’t want any accidents. We’d already been shot at from a distance. Didn’t need to have it happen at close range.
I pulled the door open, and two young officers with pistols drawn stood on either side of the doorway. A small group of neighbors was gathered outside, and I thought I saw Jim Jobs at the head of the group. I remembered his scolding voice when I first had James install the fire alarm in Sandy Conroy’s office, and I wondered if my comments to him were strong enough to give him reason to shoot out our windows and blow our computer to kingdom come.
“Thank God you’re here.” James crawled up off the floor and offered his hand. Neither officer took it.
“Who called about the gunfire?”
“I did.”
“It came from-”
“The parking lot.”
“We have another officer checking that out.” He glanced around the apartment. “Do you have any drugs in this apartment?”
I couldn’t believe he was even allowed to ask the question. “A case of beer is about the strongest thing we carry.”
He nodded. “I’ll need to take a report.” The younger uniformed officer walked in and started making notes as he moved around the living room. The guy was probably about our age, maybe younger. This was the officer of the law who was going to save us from a sniper? A guy younger than I was?
“Marathon Man, James.” Em gave my roommate a grim look.
“Pardon?”
“When Laurence Olivier is torturing Dustin Hoffman he says ‘is it safe?’ and Hoffman, trying to get away from the pain says, ‘Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.’”
James shook his head. “You’re good. You’re very good. I can’t believe you came up with that.”
“Sir, would you step outside for a moment?” The older officer motioned to James and the night got a lot longer.