The Lost Key (A Brit in the FBI 2)

“That cheeky bugger.”

“Nicholas? What are you talking about?”

He turned his laptop to face her. “Adam Pearce has hacked into my computer.”

“How did he manage that?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” And he clicked on the face.

A link popped onto the black screen. He recognized part of a word embedded in the string. Ariston.

Normally, Nicholas wouldn’t get anywhere near something like this, knowing full well it was a hack, and that whoever was on the other side could bring mayhem on his world. But if Adam Pearce was reaching out, he had to know.

He cli

cked on the link.

It took him to Jonathan Pearce’s secure e-mail.

He combed the messages. Clearly he was meant to see something here, but nothing jumped out at him. “Maybe I’m supposed to go back in time. Look at yesterday’s e-mail.”

Mike stepped behind him and pointed to a message. “No, wait. It’s right there.”

He looked at the message she was pointing to. “That’s spam, only an advertisement for a sale on British Airways.”

“Yep. One that so happens to invite Pearce to come to Scotland for a holiday. Click on it. Right there, on the northern coast of Scotland, where the small star is. That’s what we’re looking for.”

“What are you seeing that I’m not?”

“Adam Pearce is trying to give you the exact location of the sub.”

He clicked the message.

Instead of a normal e-mail coming up, a text message box filled the screen. Mike gave Nicholas a big smile. “Tell Adam I said hello.”

Nicholas wrote in the message box—It’s Drummond. We’re here.

“Hopefully he’s paying attention. Want to tell me how you knew this was the one?”

Mike said, “There are some private websites with hidden embedded links inside their home pages. It’s one of the ways child porn works. Believe me, I’ve seen too much of that.”

“What made you think this particular e-mail was the one?”

She flipped out her phone, opened her e-mail. “Because I get e-mails from British Airways all the time, and the one that came today was advertising a trip to Machu Picchu in Peru. Not to Scotland.”

He stared at her. “You’re very clever, Agent Caine.”

Before he could go on, the cursor started to blink on Nicholas’s screen. The words spilled into the small chat space.

“It’s Adam,” he said.

They have my sister. You have to help me. I’ll do whatever you want.

Nicholas wrote back.

We know they do, we are trying to help. Alex Shepherd—Alex Grossman—kidnapped her last night. Do you know where they’ve taken her?

Shepherd works for the Order, and now for Havelock. No idea where Sophie is. You have to help me find her.