Page 80 of Silver Fire
After two hours of sweeping the immediate vicinity, Taggart and some Guardians called it a day. Justin had vanished. All they had was a brief footage of a man leaving the Corner Cafe, but no recording of which direction he took. The resolution was so grainy, there was no clear description of Justin either. A ghost through and through. Justin Bishop was a registered political science student at Georgetown University. He had never attended any classes. All the data that was out there was planted for misinformation.
“He must have been watching Divergent Research Zone this whole time,” Viktor said. “How else would he have followed Sophie to the cafe?”
Derek glanced over to Sophie who had been quiet since he had bundled her into the car and whisked her straight to AGS instead of his condo. He was furious at her for taking a foolhardy excursion to the lunch cafe, but biting her head off while she was still reeling from a stalker encounter was not the way to go. Besides, he did not trust himself not to say something he might regret.
“Could he still be watching Beth Turner?” Maia asked.
“Possible,” Derek surmised.
“Are any of my friends in danger here?” Sophie asked anxiously.
Viktor leaned onto the conference table, leveling his gaze at the blonde scientist. “Yes,” he stated bluntly. “Anybody close to you could be a target.”
“Viktor, I don’t think—” Derek said.
“Derek, stop it,” Viktor cut him off tersely. “Stop shielding Dr. Leroux from the reality of her situation.”
“I want them protected,” Sophie said.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Viktor replied. “But we’re not certain how Justin is following you around. However, we are taking some precautions.”
“What do you mean?” Derek asked, his eyes narrowing.
“At the bar, Dr. Leroux, did you keep an eye on your drink at all times?”
Sophie squirmed in her seat as Derek tensed when he realized where Viktor was going with this.
“I…not the whole time,” Sophie admitted as she cast a troubled look at Derek.
Viktor nodded to Maia who stood up and asked Sophie to do the same.
“I’m going to hold this device and scan your body for any internal tracking devices that may have been slipped into your drink,” Maia stated carefully. Sophie paled, but she nodded wordlessly.
Derek clenched his fists at his sides, wishing Justin were here right now so he could beat the shit out him. He held his breath as Maia waved the wand all over Sophie’s body. Orally-administered tracking devices had become more sophisticated in the past few years, leveraging nanotechnology and molecular biology to manage to remain in the target’s system for weeks.
“She’s clear,” Maia announced. Derek exhaled in relief.
“Was that the bag you carried to the bar?” Maia jerked her head to the hobo purse that was sitting beside Sophie.
“Yes, it’s the only purse I own right now.”
Maia changed the setting on her detector and picked up the bag, and even before her wand was fully on the object, the device pinged loudly.
Sophie gasped in dismay.
“Motherfucker,” Derek growled under his breath. The bastard had tagged Sophie this entire time and had been one step ahead of them since the beginning. “Fuck!”
“Derek, calm down. You’re freaking out Sophie,” Maia said angrily.
His friend was right. If Sophie was pale before, she was white as a sheet right now and struggling to keep it together. She must be feeling completely violated given her past. Rubbing his palm across his face to shake out of his rage, Derek walked up to Sophie, putting both hands on her shoulders.
“He won’t get you, Angel,” Derek said softly.
“He’s been tracking me all this time!” Sophie whispered hoarsely. “What more does he want from me? He already has a piece of my life. He took what I had left of my father. Oh god, it’s Adam all over again, isn’t it?”
“No baby, it’s not going to be Adam all over again,” he replied fiercely and clenched her to him. “He’s not taking you from me.”
“Why am I such a stalker magnet?” Sophie huffed in annoyance. Her earlier freak-out receding.