“I know.” Always the weak link. She wanted to walk out the door. Go back to the task force office. Work on figuring out answers to the lingering questions. Too bad Stanton would probably have her arrested if she did that.
The hacker had targeted her. Did he know he would likely destroy her career in the process?
Out the corner of her eye, she saw Alvarez straighten. He set his cup down but didn’t get up. Was the still-healing gunshot wound from a few weeks ago bothering him? Maybe he had pushed too hard today and now was in pain.
“If you would remain where you are,” Stanton said.
She realized she had started to get up. See? Totally about to be arrested.
Before she could ask him what else he wanted to know, she spotted Victoria walking toward Alvarez. Talia’s boss looked tired as well, but in tiny ways anyone who didn’t know her really well wouldn’t notice.
She spoke for a second with Alvarez, and he pointed toward the conference room. When Victoria looked over, Talia gave her a small wave. She didn’t want it to seem like, HELP ME. But she did want to get rescued.
Victoria immediately strode over, not happy.
Behind her, Talia saw the curl of Alvarez’s lips. Mason said something to him, and the marshal barked a laugh. That didn’t entirely convince her. He was in pain.
Victoria twisted the handle and let herself into the conference room without invitation.
Stanton started to speak, but Talia cut him off. “Alvarez needs some Ibuprofen.”
Victoria nodded. “He told me it’s taking time to start working.” They shared a look, then Talia’s boss turned to Stanton. “This conversation is over. If you don’t have what you need by now, you won’t get it. File your report, and let’s move on.”
He stood. “I asked around about you. Got some interesting answers.”
“This again?” Victoria didn’t back down, but she also didn’t show any attitude. Men saw emotions as a weakness. Especially federal agents like this guy. “You have your hacker, and my team is done here. Unless you require our unique brand of assistance with the Prometheus issue.”
“What gave you the impression it’s an issue?” Stanton paused. “And why are the two of you assuming I don’t intend to arrest Ms. Matrice.”
Talia was starting to feel awkward, watching them face off in front of her. She caught Alvarez’s gaze through the window and made a face. He grinned. Talia pulled her phone from the floor beside her foot and sent him a text.
Is the bank robber being interviewed?
He tugged his phone out from his back pocket and sent her a reply.
That’s Stanton’s next job.
She nodded instead of sending a message back.
Alvarez sent her another text.
Is he going to arrest you?
She shook her head, then sent a text.
He’ll try. I figure Victoria will argue him down to a formal reprimand.
That was the least of her worries right now. Victoria would cover her professionally, though this was so big there was a chance her boss wouldn’t be able to do the kind of damage control that would keep Talia from getting fired from the NSA.
She figured if that did happen, Victoria would take her on as an independent contractor. After she fabricated an entirely new identity so no one knew the contractor was her.
Stanton was right up in Victoria’s space now. “After that call to the Director of the Secret Service, I should call the President. See what he has to say about your task force.”
Talia considered the idea that maybe she wanted out of the NSA, anyway. It wasn’t like she needed to stay for the pay, considering the apps she’d designed and programs she’d written generated an income.
Then there was the last conversation with the director of the agency that still issued her paychecks. Like she was going to spy on Victoria for them.
Her boss said, “Maybe you should. Seems to me like you need all hands on deck to deal with the aftermath of this breach.”
Talia didn’t know what that meant. She’d been kept out of the loop on the fallout, not to mention on what Prometheus actually was.
She walked a fine line, but considering Victoria had asked for complete honesty before she would hire her, Talia had told her.
She’d told Victoria everything.
. . .
Mason pulled the door open and stepped into the interrogation room where the bank robber had been situated.
“Finally.” The guy made a wide gesture with his arm, the cuffs on his wrists clinking. “I’ve been waiting hours.”
“Unfortunately for you.” Mason dropped the file onto the table and pulled out the chair. “Given your recent choices, I’d expect your life will be on other people’s timetables for some time to come. Judges. Attorneys. Prison guards, other inmates.” He sat. “Your future is looking quite dim.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “I’m sure we can make some kind of deal.”
Mason leaned back in the chair. “That assumes you bring something of weight to the table. Which means you’d have to have something to offer me.”
He left the file closed on the table. They still had next to no idea who this guy was. Even after running his photo and fingerprints through every database known to man. Nor did they have a clue where he’d come from. But he didn’t need to know that.
The bank robber studied him.
“So.” Mason pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and waved it. “Whatcha got for me?”
“You have no idea who I am. Do you?” There was a glint of satisfaction in the man’s eyes.
“You tied me to a chair and then proceeded to vent your frustration on me. All for the express purpose of persuading Talia to allow you access into the Secret Service’s network. What more do I need to know? What name you’ve decided to go by for the benefit of our talk?” He shrugged.
When the guy said nothing, Mason asked, “Was it you who accessed the network, or are you under the employ of someone else?”
The man just sat there, his gaze on Mason. Older than him, maybe. Or he’d lived a hard life that put lines on his face. Time spent in the sun. A mercenary in some blazing hot foreign country?
Mason thought again about the conversation he’d had with Victoria at the hospital. This guy had been efficient in the way he punched and hit. Precise. He’d known how much damage he was going to do, and Mason was feeling every inch of it.
His thin lips spread into a knowing smile.
“Tell me what you know about Prometheus.”
There was a slight hitch in his gaze, a moment of celebration he allowed to slip through.
Mason folded his arms, even though it hurt a couple of his bruises. “You know who we have in custody. Are you one of his men?” When the bank robber said nothing, Mason went on. “Hoping to be in on the operation that gets him back out in the world, free to cause havoc again?”
The man started to chuckle.
“I see this was a waste of my time.” Mason slid his chair back. “Clearly you don’t know anything that could get you deal.” He made a production out of pushing the chair in and gathering up the file. “Otherwise you’d have said something already.”
He laughed the whole time Mason had been speaking. When Mason turned away, he quit, then said, “I know what he’s going to do.”
“Prometheus is in custody.”
“Is he?” The man sat back in the chair, looking pretty smug. “When you realize the truth, I’ll be here.”
“Yes. You will.” Mason let the door shut behind him and strode to the elevator, where he went up to his desk. Stanton was back in his office. Victoria now sat with Talia and Alvarez in the conference room.
Mason tapped his knuckles on the door of Stanton’s office and then stepped in. He shut the door behind him.
“That bad?”
“Our man downstairs seems to think Prometheus has been severely compromised.”
“Have you heard back from our people in place?”
&nbs
p; Mason had been trying to contact their detail on Prometheus for the last few hours. The responses had been… He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he’d been trying to get someone on the phone ever since the first email came in.
Stanton showed none of the worry coursing through Mason. In fact, the man looked stone cold. Because any problems could be blamed on the Northwest Counter-Terrorism Task Force?
Mason pulled out his phone. He didn’t like the idea of throwing Victoria and her team under the bus. Prometheus was their thing. Despite Talia’s part in the breach, it wasn’t going to sit well with him if they were dragged into a war over whose fault it was if, or when, something happened.
Mason said, “No call backs yet. Just the same canned email.”
Could something have happened?
“I’ll call in as well. They should have responded to the request by now.” Stanton clicked on his mouse. “We got an ID on our dead man with the money. Two stretches for B and E. Petty stuff, local.”
“Hired to follow us and crash into the car so the guy downstairs could get the drop on us?” Had Talia been the target of those shots that had killed him and wounded Welvern?
“That’s the consensus.”
Mason thought for a moment. “I wish we knew what this bank robber guy knew about it, and how. Is this all just some plan from Prometheus—one of his guys trying to get him out? Maybe they hired a hacker with the skills to pull it off, and the bank robber is a foot soldier.”
“And the hacker’s history with the task force?” Stanton motioned to the windows in the direction of Talia and her friends.
Mason didn’t have an answer for that. “Could just be coincidence that I was there at the bank when it happened.”
“Or Ms. Matrice was right, and she was drawn into this for the express purpose of her giving him access to our system.”
“Because he has a thing about targeting her.”
Stanton shrugged. “She was just his guinea pig of choice, he could angle her to the bank. Get her on our radar. Get her dragged here to the office.”
Mason tapped his foot on the floor. “The breach of our network was the plan. Getting her to the bank was just the first part.” The hacker had made sure he was in position with Mason in time to make that video call. Whoever was behind it, this thing was heavily coordinated.
“She’s been on his radar for a while, and he targeted her directly. I think since she got away from him before, he decided to use her for this. Whether that means he’s related to Prometheus, or just a hired contractor, it got her pulled in.”
Without that, they’d never have met.
Mason turned to look at them. Victoria sat close to Talia, her stance one of quiet conversation where they were possibly making a plan, or she was reassuring Talia. Alvarez sat off to the side, watching them and listening.
It was clear they were all close. The team seemed to be especially protective of Talia. Now that he knew she’d been abducted—and her experience so much worse than his—he understood how they felt. He didn’t like the fact this guy seemed to have such an intense focus on her.
He wandered back to his desk but didn’t know what to do next. He cleared out some emails and answered a couple of questions a junior agent had. It was almost time to clock out for the day. One he wasn’t supposed to have been working anyway. He ran his hands down his face, feeling the swelling and wincing at the tenderness of the places he’d been hit.
So smug, that guy had been. Mason wanted to hit him back, but that wouldn’t have been professional.
Stanton called out, “Armstrong.”
Mason turned and saw his boss stride over. “What is it?”
“No one is able to contact any of our agents at the safe house in person. We can’t get anyone on the phone.”
Mason’s gut flipped over. That wasn’t good. At all.
“What’s this?” Victoria moved to stand with them. “You have a problem?”
“You know very well what this is,” Stanton said. “And whatever the damage, it’s on your team.”
“Then perhaps you’d care to explain to me why you have a serious threat not in federal prison, but in protective custody?” Victoria folded her arms.
She knew about Prometheus?
“If this is going to land on my shoulders, I refuse to believe it’s simply so the President can save face. There’s more going on here, isn’t there?”
Chapter 15
They geared up and got on the road within fifteen minutes. Mason changed into tactical clothing, despite several side glances she saw him receive. She didn’t blame them. He looked a mess from all the bruises and moved like he was stiff. She figured that didn’t mean he was going to sit on the sidelines. Even Alvarez joined up with the team headed to the safe house where Prometheus had been located—after they’d confirmed his security clearance.
Talia watched while they had a quick briefing and then filed toward the door. Except Mason, who motioned for her to join him off to the side.
Considering Stanton and Victoria were still butting heads, she didn’t mind letting them argue while she talked to Mason.
“What is it?”
Mason said, “Can you stay here until I get back? I’d rather you didn’t go out on your own. At least not without protection.”
Now he cared about her? Before he’d been content to have her be the bait to draw the bank robber out. She knew he didn’t have time to argue about it, though. “I doubt Stanton will let me go anytime soon.”
He made a face, communicating how he felt about that. It was nice to know he didn’t consider her a threat. But that didn’t mean the Secret Service were about to trust her with anything.
“Sir!” One of the agents on a desk stood and called out to Stanton. “Security said there are two agents headed up. Dakota Pierce, from Homeland Security Investigations and Josh Weber, DEA. They have a dog with them.”
Stanton said, “Copy that.”
Alvarez wandered past where Talia stood with Mason. “Hurricane Dakota just made landfall.”
Talia smiled, then said, “Should you be going with them?”
“Ibuprofen kicked in.”
“So you’re fine now.” She rolled her eyes. “You know it only masks the pain you’re in. Which is your body trying to tell you that you’re not a hundred percent.”
“Of course I’m a hundred percent.” Alvarez headed for the elevator.
“Yeah, sure.” she called out. “Like the rest of us.”
Alvarez shook his head and glanced back over his shoulder. “Armstrong and I are just tagging along. The tactical guys are going to take point.”
“And Josh. Take him with you.” The second their DEA agent team member found out an operation was in the works, he was going to jump right in. Talia would be surprised if Dakota didn’t try and get in on it as well, though she’d be torn between that and staying to protect Talia.
Mason said, “I’ve got to go.” He took a step away from her. “You’ll stay here?”
“I won’t go anywhere without protection.”
He frowned but nodded. He’d heard what she hadn’t said, as much as what she had. Talia hadn’t promised not to leave, she’d just promised not to be unsafe. She wasn’t going to put her life at risk unnecessarily. If there was a problem, she might be able to help the Secret Service. Right? That could shore up her standing with them.
Not an opportunity she would allow to pass by.
The elevator opened. First out was Neema, who trotted into the office on her doggy paws like she came here every day. Her tail wagged as she moved to Talia, sniffed her leg and then made a beeline for Victoria.
“Love you, too,” Talia said to the dog’s back, a grin on her face. She spotted Mason, his gaze on hers. A soft expression in his eyes. “Are you a dog person?”
He said, “I think I am now.”
Dakota said, “Talia!” Like they weren’t both in the same room, as opposed to being across a football field from each other. She str
ode over, that take-charge stance rolling the sensation of being cared for through Talia’s body. Her friends were here. Not all of them, but enough. She’d been friends with Dakota for years. Despite the fact Dakota didn’t let many people past that tough outer shell. And she definitely didn’t like it when Talia left a purple lip stain print on her forehead.
Josh stepped off the elevator behind her. Alvarez planted a hand on his chest. “Not so fast. We’ve got an op.”
Dakota turned back to her coworker and her fiancé. “Without me?”
“Keep Neema with you,” Josh said.
Dakota folded her arms. Mason stepped past her into the elevator with the other two men. “Hope it’s boring and a complete waste of time.”
Josh grinned. “Hope the coffee is awful.”
The elevator doors slid shut. Dakota turned to flash Talia a grin. “He only thinks he’s going to have fun without me.”
Talia wanted to smile back, but what exactly was there to banter about? Nothing was right in her life. As opposed to Dakota, who was engaged and shopping for a wedding dress. Happy. Looking forward to the future with the man she loved.
She wasn’t the target of a hacker. A crazy man up to who-knew-what.
Dakota blurred as she strode over. Talia realized it was because her eyes had filled with tears. Her friend put her arms around her, and Talia was gathered against her chest. “I know I look bad if you’re hugging me.”
Dakota’s body shifted with a chuckle. “You look tired. You okay?”
“My life is a mess.”
Dakota gave her a squeeze, then stepped back. “Happens to the best of us.” There was a knowing look in her eyes. Talia didn’t want to go there, though. She needed to keep this as light as Dakota and Josh had kept their goodbye.
Talia swiped at her eyes, brushing off the heaviness along with the tears. “Ain’t that the truth?”
“You’re such a good doggie.”
Talia turned, and Dakota did as well. Victoria had crouched and now rubbed Neema’s face while telling her she was such a good girl. Yes, she was a good girl.
Third Hour Page 12