The Wolf Within Read Online Free Page A

files, then so be it.
    “Hey,” he said with a smile that was just a little too friendly for my liking. This was so not about me and Dan getting cozy. It was about catching the thing that killed my family.
    “I’m here,” I said. “Let’s get on with it. Tell me about Tate.”
    Daniel studied me for a moment. I thought he might be going to push his luck and try some small talk but he just passed me a folder. “This is everything we have about Tate’s finances when he disappeared. The accounts were frozen and no one’s been near them for twelve years. Two weeks ago, someone tried to tap the account on the top of the list on the first page.”
    “Two weeks?” So much for wanting the best. I figured Daniel had tried just about everything in his power before coming to me. “What makes you think I can find anything when the FBI has failed?”
    He shrugged. “You always said you were the best. Prove it.”
    That earned him a glare but I still ran my eyes down the list of accounts. Most of them were US banks but there were a few in the usual tax havens. The total balance was well into the millions. And I doubted the list was complete. Either being a psychopath paid well or Tate had used his talents for mayhem and violence in a profitable way. I didn’t want to think about how he might have done that. “If this list isn’t complete, he’s probably been living off other funds. Or accumulating new funds. Or he’s dead and the attempt has nothing to do with him. Maybe it was a dumb hacker challenge.” It wasn’t unusual in my line of work to come across computer geeks deciding that trying to beat the Swiss banking system or something would be fun. It probably was fun. ‘Til they got caught and copped some heavy jail time.
    “It wasn’t hackers. At least, no sensible hackers. It was a straight access attempt from a public terminal.”
    Damn. Public terminals were designed to be anonymous and untraceable. Though they weren’t foolproof, they were a good place to start if you wanted to hide your tracks. “Surely Tate’s not going to do something that obvious.”
    Dan shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he’s bored and wants to play games.”
    “I assume you checked out the terminal already?”
    A nod. “Yep. Rented under a fake id. Not one of Tate’s known aliases. And the proprietor doesn’t remember any faces. It was a Saturday night, big gamers’ night. The place was packed.”
    “Surveillance?”
    “Nothing. The tape got fried somehow. And before you ask, yes, we pulled the guy’s servers and the actual terminal. So far there’s nothing worthwhile on them.”
    Double damn. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. The challenge was enough to raise my professional interest. I ran a finger down the list. “Well, I’ve got a few things I can try but there might not be anything to find. Give me the soft copy of this and anything else you’ve got and I’ll see what I can do.”
    “You’ll have to work from here.”
    I dropped the folder. Spend time here, in the bunker with Dan? No thanks. Not gonna happen. I knew lunacy when I heard it. “I have a business, remember? An office?”
    “It’s not secure.”
    I bristled. My security systems are state of the art. My clients depended on my discretion. I had firewalls on my firewalls and encryption systems a spook would be proud of. My office had alarms, back up alarms, body scanners and cameras. Plus pretty damn good security in the building before you could even get up to my floor. I wasn’t up to the FBI’s standard maybe but I figured I was covered. “Gee, Dan. You work for the FBI. Maybe they could secure my little ol’ computer.”
    “It’s not just your computer I’m worried about.”
    Tate? He was worried about Tate coming after me? Sheesh. Dan had always been the protective type but combine that with alpha wolf instincts and he’d gotten paranoid. “Tate doesn’t even know who I am.” The police in Caldwell had always told me the attacks