The Adamas Blueprint

CHAPTER 13

Kevin looked around nervously as Erica punched her code into the ATM. The vestibule was partially enclosed, but he could see Kirby Drive easily from his position, as easily as the passing motorists could see him. He didn’t like being exposed like this, especially when using an electronic device that could be traced.

Erica removed the maximum $300 from the receptacle and retrieved her card.

After she had picked Kevin up and told him what had happened at the university, they’d agreed that the people they were dealing with were probably resourceful enough to trace their credit cards. They hadn’t discussed what to do next, but it seemed like a good idea to have as much cash on hand as possible, so they headed to an ATM that Erica didn’t normally use. Since Barnett and Kaplan had taken Kevin’s wallet, there was no way to get the $86 in his checking account.

“It’ll be another 24 hours before I can take any more out,” Erica said.

“I hope you don’t mind that we’re doing this,” said Kevin, as they walked toward the Honda.

“I’ve got some extra saved up. We’ll be OK.” He thought that the last phrase meant more than the money, perhaps trying to reassure herself that the entire situation would be all right. He could tell that she was still unnerved by her close call.

When they were back in the car, Erica sat staring at the steering wheel as if in a trance.

“What now?” she said. She had already called the hospital and told them she couldn’t come in for her ER rotation this afternoon, making up the excuse that there was a death in the family. Which almost came true.

“Start driving,” Kevin said. “If they’ve tapped into your account, they may know we just made a withdrawal from this location.”

Erica started the car and turned south onto Kirby. “What do you think the chances are that they’ll find this car? They probably know my license plate number by now.”

“As long as we stay away from anywhere we usually go,” Kevin said, “it’ll be coincidence if they see us. And if they find us on some random street, then either our luck is incredibly bad, or they have so much intelligence or manpower that we’ll never get away from them. The question is, how do we get into that safe deposit box on Monday?”

Erica seemed to come back to her senses and looked at him. “Ever since I found the key I’ve been thinking about that. And I only came up with two possibilities. We can either give the key to the police…”

“No way. As soon as we say it’s from Ward, it’ll get back to Robley. They’ll just think it’s another prank.”

“We could drop it off anonymously,” Erica said.

“What if the police just mail it to the bank? Who knows what’ll happen. It’s too risky.”

“Then the only other option is for you to use the key and open the safe deposit box.”

“Me?”

“Well, they’re not going to think I’m Michael Ward.”

“And you think I’ll do better?”

“One time you told me that you filled out so many forms for Dr. Ward that you probably signed his name better than he did.”

“That’s true, but so what? You think I’m going to walk in there and just sign my name and they’ll let me in? Come on!” Kevin threw his hands up.

“Why not? Banks are so big nowadays that the odds of the bank officer knowing any one customer are 100 to 1. And I’ve had a safe deposit box before. All they make you do is show them your ID and sign your name.”

“Hello McFly! One of those two is missing. I don’t even have my own driver’s license, let alone one that says Michael Ward.”

Erica rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. “Fine. What do you want to do?”

Kevin started to say something and then stopped and closed his mouth.

“Are you through?”

Kevin knew he was letting his temper get out of hand. She was right to make him stop ranting and start thinking.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m just not in this kind of situation very often.”

“Me neither. But ER rotations make you deal with stress as efficiently as possible. Now, as I was about to say, we need to go get you a driver’s license, Dr. Ward.”

“And I guess you know how to do that,” Kevin said. He wasn’t being sarcastic. He knew she must have some sort of plan.

Erica just nodded and turned left, pointing the Honda towards the Astrodome.

As they passed the retracting gate of the Beechwood Manor apartment complex and entered its parking lot, Kevin’s thoughts returned to the flight from his own complex. So much had happened already that it seemed as if days had passed since he’d heard of Dr. Ward’s death. He glanced at the digital watch on his wrist. It had only been seven hours.

As they got out of the car, Kevin noticed a superficial similarity between his complex and this one. Perhaps they had been built by the same developer. But that’s where the similarity ended. The buildings here looked as if they hadn’t been painted in ten years, and the pool they walked past was dirty and full of leaves. He was amazed that the electric gate had still been working.

He still wasn’t sure that coming to this seedy area east of the Astrodome was a good idea. After leaving the bank, Erica had stopped to phone the guy they were about to meet to make sure that he was home. His name was Daryl Grotman, a University of Houston student she had treated a month ago for burns. Apparently, he had been concocting a contact explosive out of iodine and ammonia, one that was pressure sensitive. Kevin was familiar with the compound. Ammonium triiodide, powerful stuff.

Daryl said he had heard about it from another student and wanted to see if he could make it. During the mixing, which he conducted in his bedroom, he had the doors to his apartment open for ventilation and a breeze slammed the bedroom door shut. The change in air pressure was enough to detonate the explosive. Luckily, he had been across the room at the time and only suffered burns to his arms. Still, the firefighters insisted that he go to the emergency room.

The guy didn’t get out much, going on and on about every detail of his life as Erica bandaged him. He bragged to Erica about his side business and told her that if she ever needed any help, just call him. Erica hadn’t taken it seriously. Patients often professed that kind of gratitude and made up all kinds of stories. But she couldn’t forget the number Daryl had told her. 555-FAKE.

Luckily, Daryl had been there to answer their phone call. When she told him who she was, he remembered her immediately and said that there would be no problem helping them out. All they needed to do was stop and get a passport photo taken of Kevin, which they did on the way over.

As they walked up to 215G, they heard heavy metal blasting from the apartment. Kevin didn’t recognize the band, but it was fairly hardcore. He wondered if the neighbors ever complained. Probably not.

After banging on the door three times, Erica tried the knob. It turned easily. She pushed it open.

Suddenly, as a chain stopped the door after only a few inches, the music turned off, and a shrill alarm began to wail. Erica jumped back in surprise, running into Kevin.

Just as suddenly, the alarm shut off, and they heard someone inside yelling, “Sorry! Sorry!”

The door shut again, the chain clinked, and then they were greeted by Daryl Grotman.

He was about the same height as Kevin, but at least twenty pounds thinner. To Kevin, he looked starved. Although he was a junior in college, Daryl looked almost ten years older because of a thinning crown and wild, wiry beard. The only clue to his age was excessive acne visible above his heavy, black-framed glasses and on the scarred cheeks above his beard. He wore Birkenstock sandals, cutoff jeans shorts, and a black T-shirt festooned with tour dates for a band called Raging Sperm.

“There’s my doc! Look,” Daryl said, holding up his arms. “All healed thanks to you.”

“Hi again. This is the friend I was telling you about. Daryl Grotman, this is Kevin Hamilton.”

Daryl shook Kevin’s hand vigorously. “I hope you guys weren’t blown away by the alarm. I rigged the system myself. Been a lot of break-ins in this rat trap. I meant to turn it off ‘cause I knew you guys were coming over, but I got caught up with something. Come on in.”

Kevin followed Erica in and was so shocked, he practically stopped in his tracks. He was expecting to see pizza boxes littering the floor, trash everywhere, dishes piled in the sink. The way you think of a computer nerd living.

What met them was the cleanest, neatest apartment Kevin had ever seen. It wasn’t decorated to his taste, what with the posters of heavy metal bands like Butthole Surfers and Blood Junkies covering the walls and row upon alphabetically organized row of comic books. But otherwise, he could have walked into an issue of Better Homes and Gardens, albeit one which featured rooms with $20,000 worth of computer equipment. Looking back at Daryl, Kevin noticed how spotless his clothes looked.

“Yeah, I know,” said Daryl. “Not what you pictured. I guess I’m just anal. Some of my friends think I’m kinda weird for it. Helps in my line of work, though.”

“What is your line of work?” asked Kevin.

“I thought Erica told you. I fake licenses. Sometimes other documents, passports, state IDs, but mostly licenses. I can do visas for six countries, but they take longer.”

“She did tell me. That’s why we’re here. But I didn’t think it was a business.”

“Well, it’s not something I’m going to do for the rest of my life. It sure helps pay the tuition, though. Computer science major, if you didn’t guess, although I’m getting a minor in criminal science.”

“Looks like you’re acing it,” Kevin muttered.

“How do you get so much business?” Erica asked, glaring at Kevin. “Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”

“Not really. You see, I also work at one of the school’s mail rooms. My orders come through there from practically every school in Texas and Louisiana. All I do is pick out the envelopes addressed to my business name.”

“Which is?” Kevin said, knowing Daryl would tell them anyway.

“Dave Zugot. It makes it easy to pick them out of the pile. You know, I don’t do too many of these in person.” He pointed at Kevin. “You’ve got to be older than 21.”

“Actually, I need a different name on it.”

Daryl nodded as if familiar with the request. “Ah. Anyone in particular?”

“Yeah. A guy I’m trying to play a joke on.”

“Sure. Can I see the photos?”

Kevin handed them to him. After a quick inspection, Daryl slapped them onto a scanner and began to tap on the keyboard. Three minutes later, Kevin’s picture was on the computer monitor. A minute after that, Kevin’s face was superimposed over a Texas Department of Public Safety background curtain.

“Behold,” said Daryl, “the wonders of photo manipulation software in all its glory.”

“I have to admit,” said Kevin. “That’s pretty amazing. You’d never know it wasn’t taken at the DPS.”

Daryl smiled. “It slices, dices, juliennes, but wait there’s more.”

Erica pulled out her license and compared it to the picture on the screen. “That’s incredible. But how do you do the hologram on the plastic covering?”

“Not a problem. I’ve got a thousand just like that.” He showed them a box with hundreds of plastic sheaths, all carrying the holographic imprint of the state of Texas.

“Where did you…”

“That’s a little touchy. Let’s just say that there was a mixup at the printing plant and a few thousand too many were made. Now! How do you want the license to read?”

Kevin spoke. “Michael Jason Ward. Just make up the address and social security number. The phone book doesn’t have his new address yet, and I don’t know how we’d get his social security number.”

“You obviously haven’t gotten the picture, Kevin. It’s not a problem. Not many comp sci majors don’t know how to hack that kind of info. If you have a couple of minutes, we can make your license look like the real thing. It’ll take a little longer if you want his actual license number. The state computers are a little tougher than the credit bureaus.”

Kevin shook his head. “The social security number and address are good enough.”

Two minutes later, Kevin was looking at the credit record of his professor, complete with card numbers, outstanding loans, and personal information.

“Holy shit!” said Kevin. “Erica…”

“I see it.”

Kevin couldn’t believe it. On top of payments on a Mercedes and a Lexus, Ward was three months into a home loan worth $750,000. He was already a month behind.

“Man, you guys must be in some serious shit.”

Kevin recoiled. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s none of my business, but you must either be desperate, greedy, or weird to be impersonating a guy who died yesterday. And the last two don’t fit Erica. Besides, a college professor doesn’t make that kind of money.”

Kevin and Erica exchanged worried looks.

“You’ll still help us, won’t you?” she asked.

“Hey, I’m not throwing any stones. Look around. I was just making an observation.”

“We don’t want to get you involved,” said Kevin, his tension easing. “What I mean is, we are in a shitload of trouble, so you’ll understand if we don’t share much with you.”

“No problem. I’m not sure I’d want to know anyway.”

“Can you print that out for me?” Kevin said, pointing at the credit report on the monitor.

“It’s already in the printer. So’s your ID. All we need to do is have you sign it, and then laminate it.”

“I’d like to ask another favor from you, Daryl,” said Kevin, as he signed the fake license.

“Shoot.” A homemade lamination heater gobbled up the paper license inserted into the holographic plastic sleeve.

“We were thinking earlier that we shouldn’t be using our credit cards because the records might be available to the people that are after us.”

“Smart move. If they have a halfway decent hacker, they can get into your credit card company’s database as easily as I accessed the credit bureau. Tracking you that way would be a cinch if you weren’t careful.”

Kevin looked at Erica, who furrowed her eyebrows in a puzzled expression. “Then maybe you can help us get a little breathing room.”