The Rosa Arroya International Detectives are called in to investigate. In cases of this magnitude, two heads are better than one, so Rosa teams up with Barry “Bud” Black. Together, they discover that a secret invisibility formula has been stolen. Who would have suspected NASA to be infiltrated with spies, secret surveillance, and even traitors, who will stop at nothing to keep the IF in the hands of the wrong people?
Invisibility Formula: Code Name IF is a fast-paced mystery that will keep you guessing. Filled with intrigue and high-tech spy technology, this case won’t be easy for Arroya and her crew. But with a little intuition and a lot of courage, Arroya and Black just might stumble on the guilty party and prevent a world of harm from being committed.
The Rosa Arroya International Detectives are called in to investigate. In cases of this magnitude, two heads are better than one, so Rosa teams up with Barry “Bud” Black. Together, they discover that a secret invisibility formula has been stolen. Who would have suspected NASA to be infiltrated with spies, secret surveillance, and even traitors, who will stop at nothing to keep the IF in the hands of the wrong people?
Invisibility Formula: Code Name IF is a fast-paced mystery that will keep you guessing. Filled with intrigue and high-tech spy technology, this case won’t be easy for Arroya and her crew. But with a little intuition and a lot of courage, Arroya and Black just might stumble on the guilty party and prevent a world of harm from being committed.
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Overview
The Rosa Arroya International Detectives are called in to investigate. In cases of this magnitude, two heads are better than one, so Rosa teams up with Barry “Bud” Black. Together, they discover that a secret invisibility formula has been stolen. Who would have suspected NASA to be infiltrated with spies, secret surveillance, and even traitors, who will stop at nothing to keep the IF in the hands of the wrong people?
Invisibility Formula: Code Name IF is a fast-paced mystery that will keep you guessing. Filled with intrigue and high-tech spy technology, this case won’t be easy for Arroya and her crew. But with a little intuition and a lot of courage, Arroya and Black just might stumble on the guilty party and prevent a world of harm from being committed.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781450274289 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | iUniverse, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 12/08/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 333 KB |
Read an Excerpt
INVISIBILITY FORMULA
Code Name: IFBy Elaine J. Anderson
iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 Elaine J. AndersonAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-7427-2
Chapter One
The Crime
The front-page headline in the Washington Post read, security breach at langley? An unnamed guard on night duty heard sirens blaring and lights flashing at midnight to signal the breach. Spokesman Dieter Jones said, "It was the first time in ten years that I can remember the sirens indicating a breach of the security system, or maybe it was just a false alarm. NASA has confirmed a possible short in the security system but has given no details.
The breach was breaking news on Monday morning on the Internet, television stations, blogs, and newspapers across the nation. Speculations on the cause of the blaring sirens ran the gambit, from theft to a frayed security wire. No one at NASA was talking.
Rosa's telephone line was ringing as she entered her office at the RAID agency early that Monday morning. The ringing telephone usually meant more business for the fast-growing Rosa Arroya International Detective Agency.
"Hello," she said into the phone as she dropped an armful of case files on the desk.
"Rosa!" a male voice said with an urgent tone. "I need your help right away."
"Is that you, Alex?" Rosa asked, thinking she recognized Alex Wadsworth's voice.
"Yes. We've been robbed. A top-secret document is missing here at NASA. Can you help?"
"I'm swamped with priority cases. Can you be more specific?"
"Not on the phone. Meet me for coffee at ten this morning at the Jiffy Coffee Shoppe near DuPont Circle."
Rosa was reluctant, torn between friendship and the nagging feeling that there was too much on her desk already.
"Okay. I'll be there."
Rosa hung up the receiver and sighed. She looked at the heap of priority case folders on her desk. In her mind, she thought, be careful what you wish for, especially if it's success.
Her thoughts wandered to five years ago, when she was the lead investigator with the New York Police Department, Special Crime Unit. Alex was a rookie then. It was at that time that she was working with her therapist on the emptiness she felt over the death of the diamond thief Jack Bucco.
She had told her therapist, "We had come to respect each other during our long cat-and-mouse game. More than that, I fell in love with him and he fell in love with me. He had decided to give up his life of crime and surrender to be with me. He wanted to pay his debt to society. His untimely death in Switzerland threw me into despair."
Her therapist had told her when she left the NYPD to start RAID. "It's up to you if you want to come back to New York for your sessions, or I could refer you to someone in DC."
Rosa had told her, "I will continue to work through this loss with you."
Each month, she takes the train from DC to New York to see her doctor with the same question. "Will I ever feel the deep love again that I felt with Jack?"
And each time she asks, she hears the therapist say, "Yes, Rosa. Someday you will allow yourself to feel again."
Rosa immersed her energy, focus, and skill into her work then and into RAID now. It was her way of processing through the deep hurt and loss she felt and the fear of loving again.
Her mind switched back to Alex. She remembered that Alex was just beginning his career in security and had finished his police training under her in New York. He had decided to specialize in national security and code breaking. Alex was a gifted trainee.
He finished his training at the top of his class and was the only student to break the challenge code that year. He was quickly noticed by NASA. He joined the NASA security team as the lead trainer at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Rosa and he had kept in touch after he left the NYPD and, on occasion, met for drinks when she was in her Georgetown office. She liked to hear his stories. They laughed easily together.
Rosa's attention drew back to her desk, and she began methodically sifting through a pile of folders while fielding several phone calls and pushing her thoughts of Jack away. For a long time, Rosa was lost in her work. When she glanced at the wall clock, it was a quarter to ten. Since the Jiffy Coffee Shoppe was off Massachusetts Avenue, near DuPont Circle, and too far to walk, she called for a cab from her office. As had become her custom, she jotted down the address of the Jiffy Coffee Shoppe for the taxi driver and slipped it into her jacket pocket. She turned out her desk lamp, pushed back her chair, and left the office.
As Rosa walked to the coat rack in the hall for her coat, she stopped to call to her partner, Bud, in the next room. "I'll be back by noon."
"I hear you, Rosa," Bud responded. "I'll be here putting the finishing touches on the H case."
Bud had been a long-time confidant and police academy classmate of Rosa. She had nabbed him away from the Miami Vice Squad a year ago to join her at RAID. He was her loyal partner, an excellent agent, and was easy on the eyes.
"Good. If you have time, would you please finish up the paperwork on the G case for me?"
"You've got it!" he called over the classical music playing in the background in his office.
Rosa walked toward the door on her way to meet Alex for coffee.
She thought of how fortunate she was to have Bud working for her. He was one of RAID's best undercover agents. He frequently portrayed a diplomatic courier, a Spanish count, or other disguises as needed, and was very good at it. And we share a devotion to this job, she reflected.
Rosa's mind looked back on her life's story: some parts she had shared with Bud and some parts she had never shared with anyone. It was a private story that was guarded and kept away from the media. In fact, she and RAID operated beneath the public radar.
Rosa stepped outside into the chilly, sunny morning and walked to a waiting taxi. "Jiffy Coffee Shoppe at DuPont Circle, please," Rosa said as she leaned into the cab's open rear door and slid across the seat. The driver turned and looked at her for more information. She reached into her jacket pocket and handed him the piece of paper with the address of the coffee shop written on it. Rosa had learned to do that while living in DC. So many taxi drivers in big cities were in various stages of learning English, and it made it easier this way. The driver nodded, looked at the paper he had taken from her, smiled at no one in particular, and floored it. They arrived at the coffee shop at ten fifteen.
Rosa leaned across the seat with two bills in her hand. "Keep the change," she told him and reached for the door, opened it, and stepped out of the taxi onto the busy DuPont Circle. She began to walk to the coffee shop just steps away.
Alex appeared out of the crowded street, still wearing his NASA security uniform. To her surprise, he grabbed her arm and walked her to a tiny pub at the other end of the block.
"What are you doing?" she asked, feeling herself stiffen. Years of police work made her want to put an arm lock on him, but knowing it was Alex, she held back.
"Look pleased to see me. Pretend," Alex whispered. "I've been followed."
"Well, then surely we will both be followed," Rosa snapped, taking the pleasure out of this unexpected meeting.
"Just play along. I plan to slip him in the pub."
"Slip who?" Rosa asked, studying Alex's short goatee and stress-filled face.
"I'll explain later. Keep walking with me. It's just a little further," Alex said, guiding Rosa with a firm grasp.
As they arrived at the pub door, he reached forward to pull open the door with his right hand while pushing Rosa ahead of him into the dark pub with his left hand on her shoulder.
Once inside, Alex took her hand and led Rosa along to a back-door exit and into a small side street. Once outside, Rosa stopped, wrenched her hand free, and hissed at Alex. "Stop this, now!"
For a moment, he was shocked but regained his grip on her hand and pulled her into the shadows of the building.
"I want an explanation right here, right now!" she demanded, leaning against the brick wall that lined the alley.
"Rosa, I'm innocent," Alex pleaded, letting go of her hand and facing her fully. He spread his arms out and pleaded again. "I'm innocent, but NASA has me under surveillance after the theft of the IF."
Alex was hyperventilating. He put his hand on the wall for support and was in obvious distress.
Rosa's irritation turned to concern for her friend. "Take a deep breath and try to calm down. I've never seen you so rattled."
She took Alex by the shoulders and looked into his worried eyes.
"Surely, the theft was an inside job. That's why you are being watched. You are the head of the security training team and an expert code breaker. That puts you in a difficult and vulnerable position."
"I wasn't on duty this weekend," Alex explained. "My supervisor was supposed to be."
"Do you have an alibi, or are you the perfect person to frame in this heist?" Rosa's instincts were sharp. She knew Alex, and he was no thief. He was honest. He had been a good cop.
As they stood in the alleyway behind the pub, Alex filled Rosa in on the details of the past weekend. She questioned him the best she could, passing whispers back and forth, looking about for signs that anyone might be listening.
"Why are you acting so guilty? Why are you running?" Rosa was not pleased that Alex was playing into the hands of whoever was framing him.
"I was afraid. Confused. I didn't know what to do. I need your help," Alex pleaded.
"Okay, I'll take the case. It's a priority and I'm starting right now! Do you hear me? Right now."
"Yes, yes, thank you, thank you. I need your help. Thank you," he said, beginning to calm down.
Rosa took Alex's hand, and they began walking down the alley toward another side street. Quickly they walked away from the pub and the Jiffy Coffee Shoppe to the bus stop at the corner. The B bus arrived immediately.
"Get on!" she snapped at Alex. Alex hopped up onto the bus and Rosa followed, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they were undetected.
The bus lumbered down the street and pulled up to its next stop several blocks away from DuPont Circle.
"We'll get off at the next stop near the Ole Donut Shop," Rosa told Alex, now seated next to her, hiding his face behind a magazine he had taken from his inside pocket. She could hear his breath in short gasps as his eyes looked up and darted about at the passengers, as if to make sure they were safe.
When the bus stopped in front of the Ole Donut Shoppe, they got off and swiftly went to the door of the donut shop and entered.
"Welcome," they heard a woman's voice say after the door chime rang their entrance. They both went directly to the counter.
Rosa looked about for a table. Three other people occupied seats in the coffee shop. None of them looked up from their conversation and coffee.
Rosa ordered for both of them.
"Hello, we'll have two black coffees and two donut sticks."
She headed for a table tucked in the corner. Rosa took the seat facing the door. Alex waited at the counter for the order, paid for it, and, with trembling hands, brought it to the table. The coffee was steaming. They both needed the coffee.
They sat quietly, sipping the brew, deep in thought and dunking donut sticks for a few minutes, not looking at each other.
"Now tell me again what happened. In detail," Rosa whispered across her coffee, taking a moment to blow on the still-hot drink. "And don't leave anything out."
Alex leaned forward and began to repeat his story again. "I worked Friday. This was my weekend off. We only get a Saturday and Sunday off every three months, so it was really important to me."
"I hear you. Who knows your schedule?"
Rosa assumed a frame-up. Alex was the perfect fall guy for an inside job. It did not surprise her that he was suspected immediately as the one most likely to have the security codes, the opportunity, and the skills to decipher the IF code.
"My supervisor knows my schedule," he answered hoarsely, still showing signs of stress.
"Anyone else? Think," Rosa probed. She tapped the coffee cup impatiently while watching Alex's face.
"No." Alex hesitated and gulped a mouthful of coffee. "Well, the division director okays the schedule. He would know too."
"Who handles the schedule board?" Rosa wanted to know every name of who could use this scheduling information to their own advantage.
"It goes from my supervisor to the secretary of the division director. She forwards it to the director, who initials it and returns it to my supervisor. This procedure happens every week on Friday for the next week."
"So on Friday, these key people know the schedule and who will be on duty and who is off. Is that right?"
Alex paused, studied his half-eaten donut, and said, "Yes."
Rosa was leaning into Alex's space, their heads almost touching, intent on getting a hold of the situation.
"Okay, tell me how the IF was stolen from a high-security facility!" She pushed the hair from her eyes to look directly at Alex's worried face.
"This is what I know. According to the security report, it happened on Sunday night. Whoever did it was highly skilled at using the ropes and the pulley they left behind. They had to be very agile. The thieves were able to get past the security camera by changing its angle just enough not to be noticed right away. Then they entered into the room in the lab with the safe. They must have used the code to open the lock without setting off the alarms. They took the Invisibility Formula file folder that held the IF code, and as quickly and as invisible as they entered, they escaped. Shortly after the break-in, the security system was breached somehow, and alarms began to blast. The guards came to high alert, but there was no sign of the thieves."
A few more customers entered the donut shop to the ring of the door chime. Rosa and Alex relaxed for a few minutes to watch the new customers. Then Alex gazed intently at Rosa, looking for some sign of help. She returned his gaze.
"Who has access to the security codes?"
Someone was very clever and had thought this through with extreme care.
"Not many people have the access codes. In fact, the codes are changed on a random basis," he told her.
"Yes, but who has access to the codes?" she pressed.
"My supervisor, the division director, and"—he swallowed hard—"ah ... me."
"You?" Rosa was astonished. "Why do you have access to the codes?"
"Three weeks ago, I was told by my supervisor that the division director had chosen me to be the 'shadow' for code security."
"What does a shadow do?" Rosa was very curious. She wondered if the setup had begun three weeks ago.
"The way it was explained to me was that I could access the security areas if my supervisor was absent from duty," Alex explained feebly.
"You say 'they' explained it to you. Who were 'they'?"
Alex shifted on the chair, slurped the last of the coffee, now cold, and replied,
"'They' are my supervisor and the division director's secretary, Karen Sapinski."
"Was there a shadow when you were not working on the weekend?" Rosa's mind was in full gear. She had an idea. Either the shadow was in on the heist or there was no shadow that day.
Alex struggled to answer Rosa's last question. Finally, he replied, "I don't know. I don't think so. My supervisor was supposed to be working. As I heard the story later, he called in sick on Saturday morning with stomach flu or something."
Rosa raised her eyebrows at that and said, "And you were not called to cover?"
"No. I was away all day Saturday and Sunday on the beach at Lewes, Delaware, with my girlfriend, Nancy," Alex told Rosa.
"And no one could reach you by cell phone?"
"Well, yes. But NASA tells us to treasure our two days off because they are few and far between. Short of a national emergency or disaster, no one will disturb a person on leave," he answered.
"But you were to shadow in this event," Rosa said thoughtfully.
"Yes, but my understanding was that my two-day break was protected."
Rosa was pensive as she reflected on all of this and then said, "Protected from 'shadowing'?"
Rosa watched as she saw a thought in Alex's facial expression.
"I guess not, but no one called me," he answered.
"So you were set up!" Rosa looked at Alex and saw that he was distressed.
"I need your help. I'm innocent." Alex was nervously twisting the paper napkin into tiny shreds. "Is there anything else you can think of that could help me to help you?" Rosa asked as she looked at her watch and saw that it was almost noon.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from INVISIBILITY FORMULA by Elaine J. Anderson Copyright © 2010 by Elaine J. Anderson. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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