Sudden Shadow

By Christopher Waters

SUDDEN SHADOW

Ryan Wilson is a Chicago Homicide Detective with a penchant for solving homicides with style and success. His solve rate is one of the best but his newest case is a puzzler. He is looking for a murderer that does not appear on the video tape of the murder scene and his only lead is an elusive thief that he hopes saw the killer. The case takes a strange twist when the killer strikes again with no apparent motive or connection to the first crime. Wilson relies on his partner Laura Nelson and his network of experts to help him find a link to the killer, but when he gets help from an unexpected source, he is reminded why people fear what might live in the shadows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479768899

Christopher Waters

Chris Waters is a former sales and marketing manager and hockey coach. He is a proud grandfather who enjoys playing golf and poker. He also writes poetry and short stories. He lives and writes near Toronto Canada.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Non-Disclosure Agreement

Part 7 – The recipient shall not disclose to any other person, business, and organization or entity, confidential company information obtained during or because of his employment with said Releaser. That would include but not limited to services, products, techniques, operating procedures, sales and marketing, and trade secrets used in connection with the business area of the releasee.

It had been the three days since they gave him his notice of dismissal and shut down his department. They gave them all what they considered a nice go away package. In other words; thanks for your work now go away. He had spent most of his time reconstructing his work at home on his computer but now he was finished. He could not go any further without help and he could not ask for help. He had signed the agreement. He felt lost. He opened a bottle of water and looked out the living room window of his apartment. He had isolated himself and was waiting for a sign that would tell him what to do. He didn’t need to work right away; they had made sure of that but take away a man’s dream and what is he. His mind was stuck and his brain felt like it was disengaging more each day. He had not felt like this since he was in grade seven when the older bullies had forced the weaker kids into giving up their lunch money so the bullies could buy cigarettes for themselves. His mother had been sent to karate classes with his brother but that hadn’t helped him. He just watched his brother in envy. He was as helpless now as he was then. Then one day one of the kids had flipped out and started beating up on one of the bullies even though he had no chance of defeating the bigger foe. The other bullies stood and watched in disbelief that they had been challenged by an underling but just as it looked like the bully might actually lose the battle a teacher came out to break it up and the extortion scheme came to light. One bully was sent to reform school and two others were transferred across the city, but today there were no bullies to remove, only demons in his mind to deal with. Then he heard the ping. It was the sound notification of a text message on his phone. He picked it up and looked at the message.

Hi, my name is Bill and I am looking for information on your former employer, Miralux Pharmaceuticals.

He looked at the message; it was a 732 area code, WTF?

After a minute he replied.

Sorry I can’t help you.

A moment later, another ping.

Okay – Do you know anyone who can?

He read the reply several times and looked up the area code on line, it was New Jersey. Then a spark went off in the back of his head and suddenly his brain was in overdrive. He had been presented with problem and he loved solving problems. He felt alive again; free of the robotic state he had been in. Was this the sign he was looking for? He paced around his living room thinking, thinking, thinking. And then finally he replied to Bill.

I might. I can talk to him.

Ping.

Thx again – Bill

He had barely slept last night with all the thoughts running through his head. Now in the morning light he sat down and made a list of things he would need. The first thing to do was to journey down to a seamy side of city and picked up a burnt phone. It would only last for about a month but that would be enough time. Then he could start his plan in motion.

On the way home he had picked up a bottle of red hair dye. He didn’t know that there were over fifty shades of red hair dye to choose from. He ended up choosing a shade that the girl behind the counter had recommended for his brown hair, number sixteen-bright fiery orange. The actual process of dying his hair was messy and frustrating but the final result was a new look that he felt justified the process. He also found his old glasses that he used to wear before he was fitted with contacts. Now he would call Bill and introducing himself as Warren set up the face to face meeting.

Bill?

Yes.

This is Warren. I understand you are intent on obtaining something?

I have a proposal for you, if you are interested. I am looking for information on Miralux’s research on Nanobots. Can you supply that?

Yes, but it will take some time to get it.

How much time?

Three weeks maybe.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the hall mirror and snickered; the Warren that Bill would meet was going to be a different Warren than the actual one. They arranged to meet at noon the next day at the Museum of History on South Lake Shore Drive. He enjoyed visiting there. It was first called the Columbian Museum and was located at Jackson Park but they moved it in 1921. The open area was a safe place to meet and Bill was easy to spot; black jacket, white shirt, black pants. Warren was wearing his beige jacket accentuating to his new auburn hair.

Warren?

Yes, are you Bill?

Yes. They walked across the courtyard to the Totem Pole and finally alone they talked.

How did you get in contact with everyone?

I am in security. It’s called networking. The list of employees let go from Miralux was sold to me. Now how do I know you can do it? said Bill.

Warren replied. Nano-pharmacology is the use of nanotechnology to the discovery of new molecular bodies with pharmacological properties. Nanotechnology is also useful for individualized matching of pharmaceuticals to particular people to maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects. Also used for carriage of pharmaceuticals to target sections or specific types of tissue in the body. Additionally Nano-crystalline materials can be made with finer resolution than typical fibers for enriched optics. In other words, clearer pictures inside the human body for doctors.

Warren’s dissertation was only moderately absorbed by Bill but he was content that the ground work was completed. Bill looked at him for a moment or two and then they shook hands. He handed Warren a bulky envelope, the down payment.

Keep me updated and don’t do anything stupid.

Stupid? Warren wondered if he meant getting caught.

Like doing a runner. Bill glowered at him.

Oh, no I always honor my contracts.

Bill looked at him trying to decide if he was serious or a smart ass, he settled on the former. Warren told Bill he would be in contact with his plan. He had many details to attend to before he could get to the pot at the end of the rainbow. He watched Bill walk away and reflected on the path he was now about to go down. This was all new territory to him but not all that much different than solving a problem in his lab. Rationalization can be viewed in many ways but only the person doing it can explain the reason for it.

CHAPTER 2

Tracy was wearing black today. Black slacks, black blouse, black jacket, and black high heeled shoes to along with her jet black shoulder length straight hair. She had had a power meeting this morning and as she was the only woman in the meeting she wanted to make a strong impression. Tracy was a striking woman; stylish to a point but she dressed for success and had serious goals and targets. She didn’t wear obvious lipstick, subtle colors were her strength. She was not a timid little object like some of the women in her company and she did not enjoy watching meek blonde secretaries kowtow to their bosses. Respect was one thing, but she turned her nose up at ass kissing. She didn’t have a secretary. That was a waste of her time and she certainly didn’t need to be training someone that would be gone due to pregnancy or incompetence in just a few months. Tracy liked to be in control of her situation and a dimwitted secretary would only slow her down. Perhaps a male assistant might have worked for her but she didn’t want to waste any of her time on interviews.

Tracy didn’t date per se. She viewed few men as her equal but men did have their good points even if it was more physical than mental. A limited number of men knew her well enough to get to her but those that did were treated to a special type of woman with unique cravings. Warren was a different type of man for her to see. She had been seeing him for the past weeks. His mental acuity intrigued her, they talked on almost any subject and he could answer her with something other than a nod or yep. While he lacked the muscular structure of the beach volleyball boys he had staying power that most of them lacked. She had opened up to him more than any man in recent times, excluding her ex-husband, and it was as close to the edge as she wanted to get at this time. The sex was great and he was open to her whims. He never had that flinch in his eyes and that was almost awkward to her. Was he hiding something from her? She had allowed him to get inside her head but not her heart. That would be too dangerous. Tracy had no time for love, it would just complicate things and she disliked complications. Life should be clean and neat, like their meetings, and for that reason she looked forward to seeing him. She did not refer to them as dates and tonight was another meeting, her special place; ten pm.

Hearing the tone of the elevator doors he looked at his watch, five minutes after nine. She was exactly on time. Oh yes, they were having a meeting alright, just not the way she was assuming. In perhaps thirty minutes she would have been at the rendezvous point, a nice hotel outside of Chicago, private and away from potential witnesses. Her high heels clacked on the cement floor of the underground company parking lot when she exited the elevator and walked towards her car. By contrast his Wolfe Loafers were virtually silent allowing him to get close to her without her hearing his footfalls. She routinely parked in the northeast corner so that she turned right when she got off the elevator. Her spot was beside a large pillar that was fortunately in a blind spot of the security cameras. As she opened her car door he was already pulling her hands behind her back and slipping on the safety tie. Covering her mouth with a strip of duct tape allowed him to safely wave a cloth spiked in Diethyl ether under her nose while he held her neck in place. Most people think Chloroform is the choice of kidnappers but would have taken time to process and it non optimal conditions it breaks down. Besides, ether is much safer to the patient if applied correctly. Chloroform has such a fine line between success and overdose that people playing with it as a gag usually have grave results. Some will survive with painful facial burns but the unlucky ones will sleep forever. The downside was the overall molecular stability of Diethyl ether required a little more precaution when used in an underground parking lot. Something as simple as the static charge from a car door opening could ignite a poorly packaged sample. Then you would become the victim. Life is always full of tough decisions.

After she passed out from the fumes he placed her in the back seat of her car and covered her with the emergency blanket from her trunk. He removed the silver duct tape from her mouth and if anyone looked inside her car it would look like she was sleeping. If his calculations were correct she should be out long enough time for him to complete his task and get the required data. There would be no more rendezvous or as she supposed – meetings. She had been an easy target he mused to himself and she had served her purpose. If she decided to look for him she would run into a dead end, as her meeting friend Warren did not exist. Miralux Pharmaceuticals was so large that Tracy had no idea that Warren was an ex-employee whose department was terminated after the fiscal forecast did not predict a substantial profit for the upcoming year. Everyone was looking for the next little blue pill breakthrough and Tracy’s division had the corner on that market. Her team’s work on nanobots and nanomites; tiny computerized chips that can infiltrate the body and do what doctors cannot do, is light years ahead of their competition and it will revolutionize the medical industry. This was making Miralux’s competitors very nervous and anxious, hence the approach towards Warren to provide info from his former employer. He had wrestled with his inner voice about the non-disclosure clause until a light bulb came on that relieved him of the burden of his dilemma. He would not violate an agreement; he was a man of principles and integrity. He would absolutely not provide any information that was availed to him during or because of his employment. Everyone in the industry talked about nanobots, magazines published stories on them and this was common knowledge and covered under Part 2 of the Agreement. But he never worked on nanobots or had any contact with Tracy or her division during his employment. So technically, that was fair game now and his new employer was willing to pay him handsomely for any information he might be able to provide.

He removed her pass card from her card wallet, it would get him into the building and her security code, her street number, would get him into her office. Too many people use the birth dates, either year or month and day making hacking easy. She had at least used a non-personal set of numbers for her four digit security code but once he had seen her address it wasn’t hard to crack the code. He put on his ball cap to shield his face from the cameras and headed to the elevator. Her office was on the third floor and at the end of the hall. The floor was empty at this time of night. He wore a plain black ball hat and kept the bill of the hat pointed downwards to obscure his eyes and most of his face. His outfit was ordinary and would be discarded at the end of the day. Once inside her office he went straight to her desk and booted up her computer. Her password was unique but not unimaginable. With a little prodding she had spilled it at one of their meetings. Each time they met he gleaned another piece of valuable information that he would need. He chuckled to himself; they really were meetings as far as he was concerned. He loaded the company paperwork into the printer and sent the files he wanted to the printer. He didn’t use a memory stick as he didn’t want any record of the files being copied or take any chance that a magnetic field wiped the stick clean as he left the building. He wanted hard copy print outs that proved where they came from but could not be traced back to him. He looked at the sixteen pages that he had printed out and smiled. Anyone checking the printer output would see that electronic records showed that she was in her office at that time these files were printed out. She