Her Dark Web Defender. Dana Nussio

Chapter 6

      Kelly’s eyes burned and her head throbbed from the hours she’d spent staring at the screen, but it couldn’t be helped. She’d needed space from Tony after their conversation that morning. Though he’d never told her what he had against her, it wouldn’t matter once they found a way to put it behind them.

      If only she could get past her odd reactions to him, as well. How was she supposed to keep her edge as a fellow law enforcement officer when she could only think about his long lashes and the way his biceps strained against the sleeves of his dress shirt? He might have been older than she was, but he probably could have taken on most of the guys she’d met. And maybe he could take her on in a much more satisfying way.

      “Hey, are you available?”

      Kelly startled, a humiliating squeak escaping from her throat before she turned back to find Tony standing at the doorway of her cubicle. Why did he always have to show up when she was having off-limits thoughts? Also available? Was he a mind reader?

      “The conversations get intense, don’t they?”

      She didn’t bother looking at the screen for anything new on the feed.

      “I wouldn’t know. The chat rooms you gave me have been dead. I even wrote a few notes to draw out lurkers, but nada. Just a lame hello from somebody called STARGAZER. He said, ‘Greetings,’ and then nothing else. I half-expected him to follow it up with ‘Greetings, Earth people.’”

      “I told you those boards would be easy. We haven’t seen much action on them lately. But things are starting to heat up on a few other chats, so I wanted you to take a look.”

      She pointed to her laptop screen with its slow-rolling posts. “Are you sure I shouldn’t stick with these? You never know. Something might come up. About a spaceship maybe.”

      He shook his head. “This one’s hot,so I could use your help. I might need a voice for this one.”

      He stared at the floor when he said it. How he’d managed to not to choke on those words, she couldn’t imagine. He was trying.

      “Since you put it that way.”

      She exited the chat room, grabbed her notebook and pen and followed him to his desk.

      “You’re sure I’m ready for this?” She could have kicked herself the moment those words were out of her mouth. How was she supposed to convince him that she belonged there when even she was questioning?

      “Only one way to find out.”

      He’d already arranged a chair next to his, so she sat, and he handed her a headset. He pointed to a printout on the corner of the desk closest to her.

      “The conversation so far.”

      At first it seemed so strange reading the private chat between INVISIBLE ME and some guy with the unfortunate name BIG DADDY. She had to remind herself that the screen name wasn’t her. She was only lending her voice to an online persona, one of a few identities the task force was using. She tried not to be shocked when the conversation quickly turned sexual, just as Tony had predicted.

      Hold up. I gotta pee.

      Kelly couldn’t help but smile as she read the last line. “You make a great teenage girl. That last line is golden.”

      “You never saw his answer, did you?”

      “It wasn’t on the printout.”

      He pointed to the final line from the private chat on his laptop screen.

      Don’t make me wait too long. Never do that.

      The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, but she somehow managed to sit still. Memories of those bicycles, two little girls and spilled blue slushes pushed forward in her mind, but she ruthlessly shoved them back. She couldn’t go there. Besides, she wanted to ask Tony how he could keep returning to these same lewd conversations when the number of creeps online remained static. Now wasn’t the time to think about either of those things.

      “It looks like he left the chat room.”

      Tony nodded at the screen as he closed the chat screen. Soon he had navigated back to one of the larger threads.

      “But if I’m right about him, he’ll find her again.”

      Kelly appreciated the way he referred to INVISIBLE ME as “her.” It reminded her that even if the suspect was pursuing someone whom he believed to be an underage girl, it wasn’t Kelly. She needed to remember that those hands reaching out for this imaginary girl weren’t the same ones that had grabbed Emily, either.

      “He’s back.”

      At least Tony was too busy studying his screen to notice her shifting in her seat.

      “He’ll pretend to be disinterested for a minute, and then he’ll suggest the private chat again.”

      He typed a hello message back into the public discussion. Responses from three different screen names appeared below it. One even immediately asked her age.

      “What are you going to do?”

      “Wait for it.” He continued to watch the screen. “Wait…for…it.”

      Then, as if by magic, a comment from BIG DADDY appeared.

      BIG DADDY: So, you decided to come back?

      INVISIBLE ME: Told you I’d be right back.

      Kelly could only stare as Tony continued to type. He could’ve been writing an email to his mother, as easily as the words poured from his fingertips. Would she ever be that comfortable with all of this? Did she even want to be?

      By the next exchange, the suspect had suggested a private chat again. It didn’t take long for him to mention how nice it would be if they could have a voice chat. He promised it was all he would ask for, just the chance to hear her voice.

      Tony stalled through a few more comments, talking about how INVISIBLE ME didn’t like her voice because it sounded like a little girl, but finally he turned to Kelly.

      “Ready?” he whispered as he moved the microphone closer.

      “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

      He tapped the microphone and mouthed, “You’ve got this.”

      She squeezed the button. “BIG DADDY, are you there?”

      Nothing. She slid a glance to Tony. He made a circular gesture with his index finger, indicating for her to try again.

      She cleared her throat and pushed the button a second time. “Are you there, BIG DADDY? I was hoping to get to talk to you.”

      A crackling sound from another microphone filled her ears. “Lovely. Your voice is sweet. I knew it would be sweet.”

      Kelly’s breath caught, a scream expanding like a helium-filled balloon yet trapped inside her chest. That voice. Those words. It was him. Sweet. So sweet. The words replayed in a torturous loop, reminding her of the other time she should’ve screamed. She’d failed then, too.

      “Say something,” Tony whispered.

      The sounds around her were too loud. The printer in the next cubicle. The buzz of the fluorescent lights. Tony’s voice. Her gaze shot to the microphone button, but her clammy hands had already released it.

      “INVISIBLE, sweetie, are you still there?”

      She could only stare at Tony and the microphone by turns, panic building, twisting, maiming. It was him again, and she was frozen, rooted in place by her own cowardice. Just like before.

      Tony grabbed the microphone and crinkled the printout over the top of it. Then he yanked the cord from the USB port. Immediately, his fingers shifted to the laptop’s keys.

      INVISIBLE ME: Sorry. My bad.