#youlikeit - BLACKBIRD book 1

15 . mr. smith

Russell went to the supermarket to buy some lunch. Gillian tried in vain to wake up Connor, until she whispered, "Russell's here, barbeque for lunch." That pushed Connor's eyes open.

"Coming," he mumbled.

She kissed his forehead with a chuckle and went back downstairs, where she found Brandon bringing his computer around the table to sit by Tanya. "Behave, please," she said. "Underage son on the way."

"I think we got him, Reg!" said Tanya, on edge.

"Him?" asked Gillian, hurrying around the table to join them.

When Russell came back, Gillian helped him with the bags and pushed him out of the kitchen to the family room, where Brandon showed him the picture of a man on his screen.

"Meet Clint Fraser," said Gillian with a triumphant smile. "AKA Charlton Bronson, AKA Matt Cruise, AKA Robin Damon."

"Or Keith Norris, that's the best," said Brandon.

"But those are scrambled names of actors," said Russell, frowning.

Gillian winked. "Well, looks like the man is a bit of a narcissist. We still don't have his real name, but—"

Tanya's laughter cut her off. "John Smith!"

"You gotta be kidding!"

"Now I get why he picks those flashy names!"

Gillian frowned. "T, isn't that Brandon's computer?"

Tanya's grin oozed awe. "Yeah! You should see his software, Reg! The national databases alone are... wow! If I could only use half the tools they have in the FBI, I would—!"

"End up in prison within a week, T."

"I can run any search you need, anytime," Brandon said with a chivalrous smile.

"Really? That'd be so cool!"

Gillian was about to mock them when Russell raised a hand. "Can you please tell me who the hell is this guy?"

Gillian tried to curb her excitement. "The kids in the group didn't have any school overlap, and the only activity in common Tanya and Brandon found, was summer camps. But they all went to different summer camps, so we compared camp staff and activities. Turns out all of them attended a one-day seminar about dealing with intimidation."

"Okay, I like how it sounds."

Tanya went on. "But the seminars were given by different persons, or so it seemed. So Bran thought of looking for their pictures to compare them."

Brandon finished, grinning, "And they turned out to be all the same man. Now T and I also found him giving his conferences all over New England, at summer camps and also at schools."

Gillian said, mockingly stressing the nicknames, "And when T and Bran searched the news, they found several incidents involving attacks against school bullies in many of those cities and towns."

Russell gawked. "Guys, you got him!" He checked his watch. "In only three hours!" He threw his arm around Gillian's shoulders. "You're rockstars!"

Gillian corrected him with a quick grimace. "We didn't get him, maybe we identified him. Actually, we identified a man who gets in touch with teens about intimidation issues in six states. And we know that wherever he goes, bullied kids tend to get violent with the bullies who pick on them. But that's it, Russell. There's nothing to link him to the attacks. Nada."

"Cooper's gonna love it."

"You think she will listen to us?"

"I'm the new face in town and you're a TV star, so I think we have a good shot."

"Barbeque?" grunted a hoarse voice behind them.

Brandon saw the tall boy dragging his feet, eyes hardly open, messed hair, and didn't need to ask who he was.

Russell patted Connor's back. "C'mon, kiddo! Help me get it going!"

Connor glared at his mother. "You woke me up to make me work, you cheater," he grumbled, letting Russell drag him to the kitchen.

"Love you too, son!" She smiled and turned to the table, where she found Bran showing more of his software to T. "Hey, T, why don't you call the lads? Tell them to bring whatever they wanna throw in the grill, and something to drink, of course."

On her way to the kitchen, she heard Brandon's suspicious question. "The lads?"

"The rest of our team."

"Oh." Was it disappointment at the perspective of sharing Tanya's attention? Or was it hacker's phobia of direct social interaction without a screen in between?

"Reg! Where's that big knife of yours?" asked Russell.

"Isn't it stuck in your back for waking me up so early?"