Read A Deadly Web for Free Online

cold and relentless and remorseless.
    They didn’t speak to each other.
    Apparently, they didn’t have to.
    They didn’t hesitate at any point in the hallway but went straight to her door. Standing rather close together, they blocked her view of the door handle, but whether it was with a key or some other means, the door was open within seconds, and the three men slipped inside the condo.
    She hadn’t seen any sign of weapons, but Tasha was nevertheless very glad she had fled the apartment. She could imagine, with total clarity as though she watched from inside, them moving with that same relentless determination through to her bedroom, knowing exactly where it was, because they would and because it was a small condo with the two bedrooms in a fairly obvious location.
    Would they search the condo when they found her not there?
    If so, they were incredibly fast, because in less than three minutes by Tasha’s internal clock they were back at the door, moving out into the hallway, still expressionless.
    If her absence either surprised or disappointed them, they gave absolutely no indication.
    Tasha hesitated, then slid back along the wall and, very swiftly and silently on bare feet, climbed the stairwell up to the fourth floor. She pressed herself against the wall beside the door in case she might need to escape the stairwell that way.
    She’d pull a fire alarm if she did. Yell. Pound on doors as she passed them.
    They want this to be quiet. They need it to be quiet.
    She heard the very slight sound of the third-floor door to the stairwell opening. Straining her ears, but keeping every other sense as quiet and still as possible, she heard the click of it closing.
    She counted to ten, then moved just far enough forward so she could see the stairwell below.
    They had already reached the ground floor and moved to exit the building, leaving as silently as they had come.

 THREE 
     
    It was probably a good ten minutes before Tasha could persuade herself to return to her apartment, and even then she argued with herself for at least half that time.
    Notify security.
    No, don’t.
    Why? They should damned well have been watching. Why weren’t they watching?
    They were. They thought they were. It’s a computerized system; anybody could have hacked in and put the camera video on a loop or something. This late, there wouldn’t be much if any movement in the hall except for the guards, and even if they
do
vary their patrol patterns like I was told, there has to be plenty of time they wouldn’t be visible on any one floor. The guard downstairs at the desk probably saw . . . just what they wanted him to see.
    Sure, because
that’s
a common skill, computer hacking.
    Not all that uncommon these days, especially with so much Wi-Fi.
    The building has a closed system, apart from the Wi-Fi residents can use. Remember? You have to use a special code to access it, and that code is a lot more elaborate than the usual Wi-Fi system. One of the reasons it seemed like such a safe system. Unhackable.
    No system is unhackable. It could have been hacked. Had to be. Unless I find sleeping or missing security guards downstairs, what else could it be? Those men damned well weren’t invisible.
    Maybe to cameras they were.
    And to guards?
    Maybe. Sleight of hand. Misdirection.
    How?
    I don’t know how. But they got through the doors easily enough. Even the ones requiring cards and codes. Did they get cards somehow? Did they know the codes? Or did they have a way to bypass those locks?
    You don’t know much, do you?
    No. I don’t.
    And during all that, tumbling through her mind below the surface thoughts was the cold realization that even though they hadn’t found her there, the men could have left something behind in her condo. Something bad.
    Something to finish the job they hadn’t been able to finish.
    You think they want to kill you.
    What else could it be?
    Kidnap you?
    And ask ransom of who? My financial manager?
    Maybe.
    No. It