Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Mantis took inventory of himself one last time, checking his sleeves, pockets, and the various holsters and straps hidden on his body. Sapphire Angel had no reason to be here, but if she made another unexpected appearance, he would be ready.
He glanced up at the sky and slipped forward when the moon disappeared behind the clouds. He moved with the grace of a cat, slinking through the darkness as he approached the back of the townhomes. Mantis held a small device in his left hand and crept toward the sliding door of one of the units.
This unit belonged to Beth Harper's friends. A thin smile had crossed his face an hour earlier, when he had seen movement through the windows before everyone had retired for the night. If Harper had known the police would tell Mark Devlin of her friendship with the two roommates, she wouldn't have stayed here. With the description of the laptop committed to memory, he shouldn't have any trouble finding it.
The black-clad man turned to look behind him, surveying the open ground behind the townhouses for movement. After his earlier encounter with Sapphire Angel, and Devlin's admonition, he couldn't be too careful.
Once he was certain he was alone with the night, he turned back toward the door, raising the tool in his hand. Within seconds, he had the door unlocked and was easing it open. He slipped inside, edged the door close, and started his search. It was time to correct his failing, and retrieve the laptop he shouldn't have lost in the first place.
Her alarm didn't wake Beth Harper, because she hadn't set one. What woke her was someone placing something over mouth and pulling her arms above her head. Before her brain came alert, the person had wrapped something around her wrists and tied them to the headboard.
As Beth's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she struggled to get her brain up to speed. She realized too late what was happening, as the stranger moved to her ankles and secured them with rope. Within seconds of awakening, Beth was trussed up in bed, stretched out with her arms secured to the headboard.
Her assailant shined a light about the room, settling on the laptop on the nightstand. Beth squirmed on the bed, her pajamas shifting over her slender form, as she tried to sound an alarm. Duct tape over her mouth prevented any sounds, save her muted murmurs of protest, from escaping her lips. As she wriggled in her bonds, the intruder darted to the laptop, grabbed it, and bent down to unplug it from the wall. With a grace familiar to her, the dark figure slipped to the door, laptop in hand.
Beth struggled in her bed, frantic, but couldn't escape. Just as silently as he had come, her attacker slipped away. Beth's heart sank and tears welled up in her eyes. Not tears of fright, but tears of frustration. The intruder had taken her one piece of hope, and by the time she could work herself free and make her transformation, he would be long gone.
The bound woman continued to squirm on the bed until she realized squirming wouldn't free her. Her attacker hadn't bound her to imprison her, but to restrain her long enough to take the laptop. Beth twisted her hands, picking at the rope where it connected to the headboard. After what felt like an eternity, she pulled at one end of the rope, slipping it through a knot. A minute later and she had pulled it through another loop. That was enough for her to untangle the knot and pull the rope loose from the headboard. Her wrists were still bound, but at least she was no longer tied to the bed.
Beth pulled the tape from her mouth with a grimace, before reaching for her ankles and picking at the knot. After several minutes, she worked the knot free. Not bothering with her bound wrists, Beth swung her legs off the bed and stumbled toward the door. She teetered down the hallway, reached the first door, and flung it open. Ross groaned and lifted his head from his pillow.
It didn't take her friend long to become alert. His eyes flew open at the site of Beth, her wrists bound.
"What the —" Ross began, tension clear in his voice as he swung his legs off the bed and rubbed his eyes. "Beth, what happened?"
"Someone took the laptop!" she exclaimed from his doorway.
"Shit!" Ross exclaimed. Jack's door opened, and he stepped into the hall, squinting. His jaw dropped when his eyes focused on Beth.
"Hold on while I get some scissors," Ross said, and rushed back into his room.
"Someone took the laptop, didn't they?" Jack asked with a defeated look on his face. Beth nodded grimly.
Ross returned with a pair of scissors and started cutting the rope around her wrists.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked.
"I'm fine," Beth said, rubbing her wrists.
"Let's sit down," Jack said as he led her into the bedroom, and to the edge of the bed. Beth sat on the bed, with Ross and Jack taking spots on either side of her.
"Is it safe here?" Ross asked, a slight tremble in his voice.
"Whoever it was is gone," Beth answered. "If he had wanted to do us harm, we'd be in a lot worse shape than we are now. He was only after the laptop, so I don't think we'll see him again."
Jack and Ross nodded, and Jack said, "Tell us what happened."
Beth told him what she knew, which wasn't much. She talked about being awoken as she was accosted, and watching as her assailant grabbed the laptop and fled.
"What I want to know," she said as she finished her story, "is how they discovered the laptop was here."
Jack shrugged. "Did you tell anyone about the laptop?"
"I didn't tell anyone," Beth said, but thought back to the incident in the parking lot. "The man who chased me at the hotel saw it. But how would he know who I was, or that I was friends with you guys?"
"Maybe he's working with someone who knows who you are," Jack said.
"I did identify myself to the police," Beth said. She thought back to the incident in the parking lot at the police station, and the men breaking into her car. It couldn't be a coincidence. They were looking for the laptop. But would dirty cops work with the man who took the laptop? His movements had been familiar to her, even in the dark. Beth had fought with her pursuer at the hotel, so she was more familiar with him than with a random stranger. The person in her room was the same man.
The three friends raised their heads as a phone rang down the hall. It was Beth's iPhone, back on the nightstand. She rose and hurried down the hall to reach it before the call went to her voicemail. As she entered the room and approached the nightstand, she saw Stanley's name on the screen.
"Hey Stanley," she said as she picked up the phone and answered.
"Beth, what's going on?" Stanley asked. "I lost the connection about 10 minutes ago."
Beth explained to Stanley what had happened. After assuring him she was fine, she asked if he had accessed any data on the laptop before losing the connection. She could hear the concern in his voice as he replied.
"I won't be able to brute force into the laptop now, obviously. But your programmer friends had a premium Internet connection, so I started a download of the drive, to make a cloned image. Maybe I can salvage something from the portion already downloaded, if I can get into it."
"Just do your best, as I know you will," Beth said.
"I'll check back as soon as I learn something," Stanley replied. "In the meantime, you need to be careful. This sounds like it is getting dangerous."
"I'm always careful, right?"
Stanley gave a chuckle as they ended the call. Beth looked up to see Jack and Ross standing in the doorway looking at her.
"What now?" Jack asked.
"Let's get some more rest," Beth replied.
"Shouldn't we call the police?"
"That can wait," she replied. Such a call would be a waste of time, but she didn't want to dash her friends' hopes. "We're exhausted and need rest. I'll crash on the sofa, so I don't disturb a crime scene. When we wake up, you guys call the police, and wait here for the officers to show up. I doubt they'll find anything, but it can't hurt."
"What are you going to do?" Jack asked.
"I'm going to talk to a police officer I met, who probably won't be on duty until later in the morning, anyway."
They exchanged worried looks. "Haven't you been in enough danger already, Beth?" Ross asked.
She smiled. "Going to the police station is about as safe as it can be."
Jack and Ross sighed, but agreed. They both offered their beds to her, but she refused. A few minutes later, she was curling up on the sofa. In the morning, it would be time to confront this problem head on.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Darn it! Come on, Mantis, freaking......ugh.
Great. Now he's got the laptop. I will say, though, he definitely made up for being bested by her at the hotel last time. Showed that it really was just an honest mistake and that he was better than that. He really drove a wedge into our plans, though....we spent, what, more than 10 chapters trying to get that thing? And Mantis just swings on in and retrieves it within half a chapter.
I think Jennings might be the officer Beth's talking about at the ending....? She did seem to be the only "good" cop out of everyone in the town. A small part of me also thinks it's Ted, but Ted seemed like he was just a garage guard more than anything else; it's Jennings who actually works at the department.
Wonder how Eric Stump is doing in WarTech's custody.....those kinds of people can't be good for him to be around.....
Great chapter! See you again on Thursday!