Christmas Witness Protection

She appreciated that he’d said “we” and not “I.”

“Well then,” she said, “let’s go.”

Noah whispered a prayer under his breath. But before she could figure out what she thought about that, he’d pulled the tarp aside and slid out. “Come on!”

She crawled out from under it, leaped to her feet and ran after him. Immediately, the headache hit her again, as unexpected as a left hook. Her knees buckled and for a moment she thought she was going to fall.

Noah stopped, turned back and stretched out his hand. “You okay?”

She looked at the palm extended toward her and hesitated.

Come on, Corporal. Just push through the pain.

“I’m fine.” She forced herself forward. “Let’s go.”

Voices sounded in the distance. Her kidnappers were searching the warehouse, no doubt looking for them. She ran on autopilot, pushing her legs to move, one after the other. Noah started jogging, matching his pace with hers. He rounded a tight corner, then stopped at the end of an aisle. A cargo loading bay lay ahead, up a steep ramp that led to a garage-style door. Light seeped through a two-foot gap at the bottom.

“Okay, so we’ve got a clear line to run from here to there,” Noah said. “We’ll have to be fast, then when we’re outside, we can lose them. Got it?”

His eyes searched her face. They were worried. She didn’t like that.

“Yeah, I got it. Let’s go.”

He ran, and she followed, keeping her head low as they pelted across the empty space and up the steep incline. So far, so good. He reached the garage door first, dropped to the ground and slid through. Then he looked back at her through the gap and waved at her to hurry. She was trying to. But it was like her legs weren’t cooperating and the ramp was growing steeper with every step. She stumbled forward, lost her footing and grabbed a metal loading cart for support. It slipped from her fingers and rolled down the ramp, crashing into the pallets below.

“Hey, over there!” the Ghoul shouted.

A bullet flew past her head, followed quickly by a second. She dropped to the ground and began to crawl.

“Holly!” Noah’s voice drew her gaze toward the gap beneath the garage door.

“I’m coming!” She gritted her teeth and dragged her body across the floor.

Noah leaned his torso through. “Here! Take my hands!”

She did, grabbing on to both his wrists as he grasped hers. He yanked her through the gap and out into the snow. She lay there on the ground for a moment, feeling cold wind and thick flakes lash against her skin as prayers of thanks rose within her. Unexpected tears rushed to the corners of her eyes. She blinked fiercely, feeling them freeze before they could fall.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Noah knelt beside her.

“I’m fine.” She gritted her teeth yet again. “I just have a really, really bad headache and it’s making me dizzy. It got better briefly when I was lying under the tarp. I just need to rest quietly for a few minutes somewhere until it goes away.”

She pulled herself up to her feet. Sirens sounded around her, echoing off the buildings and surrounding her with noise. Her knees buckled.

“Let me carry you,” Noah said.

“I told you, I’m fine—”

“Corporal!” His voice rose. “If you were on the battlefield and a fellow soldier was too dizzy to keep up, would you carry them?”

“If the situation warranted it.” Her chin rose. “And for the record, if need be, I’d carry you.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he said. “Now, please let me help you.”

“Fine.”

She felt one hand slide beneath her knees then and the other along her back, as Noah swept her up into his arms, cradled her to his chest and ran. He dashed through the snow, weaving quickly down back alleys, away from the warehouse, emergency vehicle sirens and flashing lights. Then stopped suddenly in front of a plain, unmarked metal door, where he pressed a button on the speaker box.

“It’s me,” he said. “I’ve got Holly. Let me in!”

The device beside the door looked broken and stayed silent. Then it hissed quietly.

“Look,” Noah added, “I know you can see me, and I know you can hear me. I promise there are no Imposters on my tail. Let me in. Now!”

The door finally opened. A man stood there, slender and good-looking, in an intense and scraggly way. His blond hair was down to his shoulders and his jaw needed a shave. He narrowed his eyes. “You decided to bring her here?”

“Holly Asher,” Noah said, “meet Seth Miles, Canada’s most notorious hacker.”

“Hi.” Holly waved briefly in greeting. Then she glanced at Noah. “I think you can let me down now. Unless we’re going to keep running.”

Noah put her down carefully. They stepped through the door and Seth closed and locked it behind them. Then he turned to Holly.

“Corporal Holly Asher,” Seth said, as he reached for her hand. “I can’t tell you how big an honor it is to meet you. I have huge respect for what you’ve done in risking your career to speak out against a superior officer. I have all the admiration in the world for anyone who stands up to authority and abuse of power. If there’s anything I can do to help you, I will.”

She shook his hand. “Thank you,” she replied. “But I’d like to think I just did what anyone in my position would do.”

“You’d like to think.” Seth shook his head, then turned back to Noah. “So, witnesses are expected to just double up on safe houses now?”

Noah rolled his eyes and didn’t answer.

“I don’t want to put Seth in danger,” Holly said. “Can’t they track us here via security cameras?”

“Not if I’ve already knocked out all the security cameras in the area and replaced them with dummy feed,” Seth said. “I’ll also doctor the footage to look like you guys ran north, not south. I’m not saying it’s foolproof, but them finding you here definitely wouldn’t happen fast and would take a whole lot of fishing. You’ll be long gone before they think to check this block.”

He flipped open a panel in a wall, revealing a keypad, and pressed in a code.

“I don’t remember installing that,” Noah said.

It was Seth’s turn to snort. He started up a narrow stairway to the top floor of the building, with Holly after him and Noah taking up the rear.

“I gather from the sirens outside that all imaginable emergency services have arrived at the crash site?” Noah asked.

“They have,” Seth said. “Bad news is I can’t guarantee who out there is the real deal and who’s an Imposter. Tell me you saw the Ghoul and the Wraith.”

“Not up close,” Noah said. “I never saw their faces. But I can tell you that one’s big, one’s thin and I’m pretty sure both are men.”

“Helpful,” Seth said.

“Holly got a lot closer to them that I did,” Noah added. He waited for her to jump in and agree with him, but she didn’t. “Are you any closer to determining if there’s a leak in the RCMP?”

“Not quite,” Seth said. “But I did pinpoint the person who gave the Imposters Elias’s route today and told them how to target him.”

“Do we have a name?” Noah asked.

“No, just a handle. Snitch5751.”

“Any idea who that could be?”

“Someone with high level security clearance,” Seth said, “and current access to a law enforcement or military server. That’s all I’ve got for now.”

Well, that narrowed it down. Noah and Holly stepped into the wide and brightly lit loft. Tall windows ran from floor to ceiling on one side, with rough redbrick on the other three. The furniture consisted of a couch, two overstuffed chairs and a coffee table that looked like it had once been a door. A futon bed sat high on a platform by one wall, accessible by a ladder. Not a single computer was in sight.

Holly walked over to the couch and sat down. Seth looked down at her and crossed his arms.

“You actually tangled with the Imposters and lived to talk about it,” he stated. “Any idea what they wanted or why they targeted you?”

“None,” Holly replied. “It’s possible their real target was Officer Crane, and I just happened to be the person he was transporting. I don’t think he thought much of the assignment.”

“Elias was past retirement,” Noah said. “He could pick and choose what assignments he took. I think he requested your case personally.”

“Did they get you to read something on camera?” Seth asked.

“They tried,” she said. “But they didn’t succeed. And no, I didn’t see what it was.”

“What would happen, hypothetically, if someone managed to see one of their faces and could identify them?” Noah asked.

“They wouldn’t stop coming after them until they were dead,” Seth said, and Noah felt a shudder run down his spine. “But that still doesn’t explain why your transfer into witness protection was targeted. They don’t risk coming out of the shadows unless it’s a really big job. We’re talking huge. Bigger than big. I mean, that inquiry you’re testifying at is a big deal for General Bertie’s career, but if he could pay big bucks to have you killed, it’s unlikely he’d hire cyber terrorists for the job. Hit men have got to be way cheaper than what the Imposters would charge. And it’s not like either you or Elias was in possession of something worth millions. No offense.”

“None taken.” Holly lay back against the pillows and closed her eyes. Her face was way too pale for Noah’s liking.

“I still think you should talk to a doctor,” he said.

“I don’t,” Holly retorted. “It’s just a headache. I’ll be fine in a moment. Seth? Have the Imposters ever impersonated medical personnel?”

“Yup, all the time,” he answered. “It’s one of their main go-to methods for kidnapping, killing or poisoning people. They’ve been paramedics, nurses, doctors and other hospital staff.”

Was Holly trying to make a point about not wanting to see a doctor? Either way, she’d succeeded in making Noah think twice about just rolling up to a hospital. He looked around the loft, surprised at how hard he found it to drag his eyes away from Holly. “Where are you hiding your computer? Clearly, you have one. Otherwise you wouldn’t have tipped me off.” Not that he much liked knowing someone he was supposed to be protecting had violated the rules of his agreement.

Seth walked over to a bookshelf and pulled. It swung back on hinges. A neat folding table complete with three monitors and two towers sat inside. One of the screens was cracked and one of the computer towers seemed to be held together by duct tape. Noah noticed the machines were already humming.

“You know the more secrets you keep from me the harder it is for me to protect you,” Noah said. He’d have to report Seth for this, but that could wait until after they got to the bottom of whether someone within the RCMP was Snitch5751. “I don’t even want to know how you put this together.”

“Dumpster diving,” Seth said, and sat down at the machines. “It’s amazing what you can do with what other people leave behind. Also, I want the record to show that I’m acting as an informant and that I revealed all this to you voluntarily, knowing the RCMP can confiscate it for violating the terms of my agreement.”

“Yup, so noted,” Noah said. Not that it would necessarily make much of a difference. “Did you manage to get through to Liam, Jessica and Mack?”

The hacker nodded. “They’re all on standby a few blocks away.”

“Good,” Noah said. “Tell them to come here. We’ll regroup and figure out what’s going on together.”

Thankfully, from what Seth had said, it sounded like none of them could be Snitch5751.

“Why not?” Seth shrugged. “I’ve already got one cop in my loft. Why not make it four?”

“And a corporal,” Holly added, her eyes still closed. “And considering your background, I figured you’d hate military more than cops.”

Seth glanced back at her over his shoulder, a surprisingly soft smile on his face, and Noah was reminded that the man’s first major target was taking down the corrupt military general father who’d abused him.

Yeah, he was probably really happy to be back to taking down criminals online. Noah couldn’t imagine how hard it would be for someone like Seth to be cooped up here, in witness protection, unable to do the one thing that made him feel the most alive.

“With your permission, Holly, I’d like to plant some false information about you online,” Seth said. “Just some minor red herring stuff so that the Imposters have a harder time finding you.”

“Go for it,” Holly said.

Seth turned back to the computer, and his grin spread. “Right, I’m going to have you applying for a wedding license in Ottawa, booking a flight from Montreal to London and renting an apartment in Vancouver.”

“Sounds like my doppelgänger is having a lot more fun than I am,” Holly said. “Who have you got me marrying?”

“John Smith,” Seth said. “It was the most generic fake name I could think of.”

Noah’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced at the screen. Anne was calling again. He hesitated so long the call went through to voice mail, and then he turned to Holly.

“Listen,” he said. “I know a doctor. She’s a small-town family physician and she’s like a sister to me. How about you just talk to her on the phone and describe your symptoms? If she agrees you’re fine, I’ll stop pushing you to get medical help.”

“And what if she’s compromised?” Holly asked. “Or the Imposters are able to hack her line?”

Noah suspected the question was more about wanting to avoid talking to a doctor than worrying about her safety. But Seth spun around on his chair to answer.

“Let me explain how a criminal duo like the Imposters works,” he stated. “They’re smart and that means being focused. They’re not tapping the phones of everybody all across the country. They’re looking for anyone the slightest bit related to ‘Corporal Hildegard Asher.’ They’re setting up online traces and snares to catch anything you post or that’s written about you. They’re looking into your family, your friends, people you’ve worked alongside and served with. They’re turning your life inside out, and since Snitch5751 only told them yesterday that Elias was assigned to transport you, they haven’t been at it that long, which makes it the perfect time for me to muddy the waters with fake information, as well. Sure, if they figure out you’re with Noah, they’ll start digging into his life, too. But the estranged wife of the former foster brother of a detective they probably haven’t identified yet isn’t anywhere near their radar.” He spun back. “Besides, I already have traces running for Noah and the people who matter to him. Of course I ensured her line is secure.”

He went back to typing.

Holly opened her eyes and sat up, as if a new thought had suddenly hit her. She looked at Noah. “Seth just said they’d be looking for Hildegard Asher. Which makes sense, since only my closest friends call me Holly. So, why did you?”

Noah gestured to Seth. “He told me to.”

“So, it’s out there online?” she asked.

“Nope.” Seth flashed a grin at her over his shoulder. “Fellow army brat. We went to the same school for a year, even though we weren’t in the same grade and didn’t have any classes together. My brain’s always had a pretty big hard drive and the fact that I heard your birthday was on Christmas made you interesting. We’ve just got to hope that the Imposters are stopped before they dig too deep.”

Holly lay back and closed her eyes again. Seth kept typing. Noah’s phone began to ring again. It was Anne, and this was the third time she’d tried to reach him. He whispered a prayer under his breath and answered.

“Hey, Anne,” he said. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Noah, hi!” The doctor’s voice was anxious, but not panicked. “Do you have a minute? I just wanted to talk to you about Caleb and the gym.”

That would be Bros Gym, the business he’d invested his entire inheritance and savings in, alongside the money his parents had generously left Caleb in their will, only to watch his foster brother run it into the ground. And why Noah applying for higher level security clearance would mean investigators poking around all the ins and outs of Caleb’s gambling addiction, bad decisions and wreck of a life.

“I’ve found a buyer,” Anne continued. “I can’t take living in limbo any longer. Caleb’s never here anymore. He doesn’t want anything to do with the gym. And our son, Drew, has been accepted to a really prestigious film school program for creature design and special effects, and could use the money from the sale.”

Yeah, and untangling his finances from Caleb would get rid of the only impediment to Noah getting a higher security clearance. But it wasn’t that simple. It would also mean Caleb getting a sudden windfall of money, thanks to the fact that the inheritance Noah’s parents had left Caleb had made up Caleb’s share of the investment. And Anne, of all people, knew why that was a very bad idea.

“Hey, Noah?” Seth’s voice floated at the edge of his consciousness.

Noah held up a finger. “Just one second.”

“It’s important,” Seth said.

Yes, but so was talking to Anne.

“Just give me one moment.”

“No!” Seth’s voice rose. “Now.”

Noah glanced at him. The hacker’s face was as gray as the slush outside.

“Sorry, Anne, I’m just in the middle of something,” Noah said quickly. “I’ll have to call you back.” He hung up. “What is it?”

“I figured out what the Imposters were after,” Seth said. “Elias’s laptop and phone. Somehow they used them to bypass encryption and hack into the RCMP witness protection system’s database. My guess is they targeted him because he was the oldest active cop in the program. They might’ve thought his device would be easiest to hack.”

But why hack the witness protection database? The sweeping pile of data was filled with information about the names, locations and identities of hundreds of vulnerable whistle-blowers, witnesses and victims whom the RCMP had hidden and protected over the years.

Noah took three steps toward him, feeling dread drag on him with every one. “Whose secret identity and location were they after?”

“Everyone’s,” Seth said. “Absolutely everyone. They’re putting them up for sale on the dark web. On Christmas Eve, the name, identity and location of everyone in the RCMP witness protection database will be auctioned off online to the highest bidder. We’ve got six days to stop these criminals, or hundreds of witnesses could die.”

FOUR

Fear swept over him. For a moment, Noah stood there, frozen in place, as the full implications of what Seth was saying beat down on him like a hailstorm. The RCMP’s witness protection unit was responsible for relocating hundreds of whistle-blowers, former criminals, witnesses and survivors across Canada, giving them new names, lives and identities. These were people Noah and his colleagues were responsible for, including individuals, families and children, many of whom had lived through terrible things. And then risked everything to turn in the criminals they personally knew, putting their own lives on the line for the sake of justice. They’d given up everything—their friends, family, jobs, homes, even their own names and identities—because law enforcement had asked them to, and their own consciences and faith had propelled them to. And because officers like Noah promised to keep them safe. That either the criminals they’d outed or others wanting to discover what they knew might be able to buy their entire file online was horrifying.

This is all my fault... If I’d managed to get Elias to listen... If I’d managed to stop the Ghoul and the Wraith in the warehouse, as well as getting Holly to safety... He felt his limbs shake. How do I stop this?

A hand grasped his arm and squeezed slightly. He hadn’t even realized Holly had gotten up from the couch, but now she stood behind him, her fingers brushing against his forearm and down along the back of his hand in a gesture that was both reassuring and caring. An unfamiliar warmth spread through him.

“Breathe,” she said firmly. “You look like you’re about to pass out, and we need your head in the game. It’s going to be okay. That’s what you told me when we met, right?”

She was a whistle-blower whose life had been threatened and who’d just been kidnapped. He was the witness protection officer. And yet she was reassuring him? But for a moment something about the way she said it almost made him believe her.

“Hey, Noah?” Seth’s voice sounded almost like he was being choked. “My name’s on the list.”

A firm and determined knock sounded on the door below. Holly’s touch disappeared from Noah’s hand. Instinctively, he stepped between her and the door, sheltering her with his body as he reached for his weapon.

“It’s Liam, Jess and Mack,” Seth said. He rose, and Noah couldn’t help but notice his entire body seemed to be shaking. “The team’s all here. I’ll go let them in. You figure out what on earth we’re going to do.”

“Wait!” Noah said. “If the entire witness protection database has been accessed, does that mean they have this address and know that someone in witness protection lives here?”

“I don’t think so,” Seth said. “I’ve accessed my file in the past, to scrub my location and replace it with a dummy. They shouldn’t know anyone in witness protection lives here. But nothing stays hidden forever. I’ll brief them downstairs to give you guys a moment. I’m getting the impression you want one.”

Did they? Noah definitely wouldn’t mind one. Especially as he had something to ask Holly about that he didn’t want to address in front of the rest of the team.

Seth went downstairs. Holly walked back over to the couch and sat down again. Noah sat on the coffee table opposite her, and for a long moment they stayed there, face-to-face, so close their knees were almost touching.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Neither Liam, Mack nor Jess can be Snitch5751. They’re three of the best people I’ve ever met, and I trust them with my life.”

A niggling in the back of his mind told him that Holly would want to know she was placing her life in the hands of four detectives who weren’t on active duty. And he would tell her. It was just a matter of how and when. Or better yet, he’d wait to let them tell her themselves. Their personal stories weren’t exactly his to share.

“We have to stop this,” Holly said.

We? She was going to stay safe somewhere until the date of the inquiry she was supposed to testify at. He was going to stop this, somehow, with the help of the colleagues Seth was right now letting in downstairs. And to do that, he needed more information than he already had.

“Tell me everything I don’t know about this thing you’re testifying in,” he said. “What do I need to know about General Frey?”

“Bertie,” she said quickly. “He tells everyone to call him General Bertie.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and then lay back against the pillows. Her eyes closed again. He heard voices from the stairs. It sounded like Seth was briefing the others in the bottom of the stairwell, and Noah was thankful Seth was giving him and Holly a moment alone.

“It’s a parliamentary inquiry,” she said. “Which means I’ll sit at a table and for days be grilled by government leaders, on camera, broadcast live to the nation, a lot of whom really want to believe that Bertie is innocent and I’m a big fat liar. It could result in his resignation or criminal charges. But if they don’t believe me, it could also lead to absolutely nothing but a major setback to my military career.”

He noticed she hadn’t mentioned leaving the military as an option.

“I’ve heard about it on the news,” Noah said, “and I’ve read your file. But I’m not going to pretend to understand it. I do know he has a stellar reputation and people really like him.”

“He does,” she said, “and they do. He was my mentor for years and I felt honored to serve under him on my last tour of duty. Whenever he’s home in Canada over the holidays, he throws this huge party at his country estate, in northern Ontario, with elaborate light displays and free turkeys and food hampers for servicemen and -women, and those in other areas of emergency services and law enforcement. Presents for their kids, too. From a sheer military perspective, I loved serving under him. He was a hero of mine.” She frowned. “But in my experience people tend to be more complex than you’d think.”