“They want him to try to recreate the hack from his memory to help them locate the vulnerability. They won’t file charges if he’s successful and his work allows them to plug the vulnerability before anyone else can exploit it.”
“Then we shouldn’t waste any time. Let’s wake him up so he can get to work.” His tone was less than enthusiastic.
She watched him, waiting for a smile or a hint of happiness at the good news. “I expected you’d be more excited.”
He turned away. This dejected, almost sullen man standing before her was starting to worry her. She’d never seen him this down. He rolled with the punches and took immediate action. He didn’t brood.
She took a step closer. “What’s wrong, Quinn?”
He didn’t look at her. “I really failed the kid, didn’t I? I mean, I knew Dad wouldn’t be there for him. But I should have been. Then I go and treat him like Dad does and . . .”
“You’re not his father.” She moved in front of him, forcing him to look at her. “You have a life to live.” A life away from all of us, she thought, but didn’t add.
“Maybe that needs to change.”
“What are you saying? You’ll quit the team and come back to Portland?” She waited for his reply. The other people in the room fell away; the only sound was her brain churning as she willed him to give her the answer she wanted to hear. The answer that said he’d leave the SEALs.
“I don’t know . . . I mean, what would I do? There’s nothing like being on the team, but . . .” He paused and seemed to think it over. “Maybe I can do a better job with him long distance . . . you know? Quit hollering at him like Dad does and be there for him. Not wait for Mom to call and tell me he’s in trouble before I come for a visit. Just get my butt back here more often.”
Her heart squeezed as it always did when it came to this man. She wished she could accept a life with him under those terms, but she couldn’t. “Sounds like a good start.”
“I hope he can pull off this thing for DHS.”
“I’ll make sure he gets it done,” she answered, though after his comment, her heart wasn’t in it anymore.
“Thank you, sweetheart. All of this is possible because of you.” He stepped closer, his eyes finally lighting on hers. “You’ve been there every step of the way. Not only for Ty, but for me, too.” He cupped the side of her face.
The warmth of his hand, the tenderness of his touch sent her pulse racing. She should pull away. Especially after his confirmation of his continued intention to remain a SEAL. Instead, she leaned into his palm. Just for a moment, she told herself.
“I—” He suddenly dropped his hand. She had no time to lament the loss of his touch as he jerked her to his chest and lifted her tightly into his arms. “Thank you, Nina,” he whispered, his breath warm on her skin.
She clung to him, inhaled his rich, masculine scent. Reveled in the beating of his heart and pulse at the base of his neck. She wanted this hug to go on and on. To have that life her mother had warned her never to pursue. To risk it all, put everything out there, and throw caution to the wind.
Oh, man. She was right back in the place they’d been two years ago. She wasn’t over him. Far from it. And nothing had changed. Nothing.
Except she was older. But wiser? No. The way she was letting him hold her, she clearly hadn’t learned anything. Regretfully, she pressed her palms on his chest.
He lowered her to the floor. His eyes were dark with a mix of longing and sadness. She wanted to slip back into his arms. To kiss him and erase his pain. It was for precisely that reason that she stepped back. One foot, then another for good measure.
“I should be getting back to the office,” she managed to say while under his careful watch. “Maybe it would be a good idea if your mom came in with Ty instead of you.”
“Maybe.” His focus didn’t leave her face.
“Have her call me when they get to the office. I’ll arrange with security to let them in.”
He nodded, his eyes still fixed on her. Questioning eyes. Had the hug led him to believe she wanted something from him? If so, she couldn’t let him think that.
“About the hug . . . the way I reacted,” she said offhandedly. “I was just letting you know I sympathize with your situation with Ty, nothing more. Don’t read anything into it.”
“Didn’t feel like sympathy to me.” He shoved his fingers into his hair. “Look. Since we’re stuck together for the unforeseeable future, we should probably talk about what happened between us.”
“Everything’s pretty clear, Quinn. There’s really nothing we need to talk about.”
“Yeah, I suppose. But then, I never apologized to you. I mean . . . I shouldn’t have gotten so mad and stormed out that day. You deserved more. It was just so unexpected.”
“You don’t need to apologize. You want one thing. I want another. End of story.”
“I figured it was all in the past. You know . . . this thing between us?” He gestured between them. “But it’s still there. Isn’t it?”
She didn’t respond.
“You may not be willing to admit it, but there was nothing friendly about that hug.”
“Fine, I’ll admit it,” she acknowledged grudgingly. “But nothing’s changed. I’m not dumb enough to act on it and let you choose the team over me again. Not a second time.”
He watched her for a long time. “I guess I’m pretty good at causing pain to the people who are important to me. Maybe I am like my dad after all.”
“Quinn, don’t. You may have some of his tendencies, but you’re nothing like him.”
He turned back, thunder in his expression. “If I am, I’ll fight it till my dying day.”
Seeing the determination in his gaze, she knew any dreams she harbored of them getting together vanished. He had to keep proving he was nothing like his in-control father, which meant he would remain a SEAL.
Chapter Fifteen
BECCA LEANED into Bryce’s trunk, catching a whiff of Connor’s musky aftershave as he bent over the other side of the Honda Civic. He still wore the PPB windbreaker, but today, he had on black tactical pants and a white shirt that stretched tight across a muscular chest.
He could have done this search without her and frozen her out on anything he found, but he gave her a heads up when he went to search Bryce’s car and promised to wait for her to arrive. That gave him big brownie points for sure and told her a lot about him as a person.
For a moment, she forgot their mission and wanted to ask why he was still single. Agents talked about their personal lives at crime scenes all the time. Becca only listened and never joined in. She really didn’t want to share her very personal work with foster kids. It just wasn’t something to gossip about, and it took up most of her free time. The rest of it she devoted to Kait, Nina, and exercise, so she had little else to discuss.
She rifled through a paper bag finding nothing of value. Just an old pair of sneakers, a ratty windbreaker, and two empty Red Bull cans. They worked through the entire trunk, not leaving an inch uninspected.
Connor backed out and snapped off his gloves. “I’ll get forensics to vacuum the truck, but I doubt we’ll find anything to prove our boy Bryce is involved in whatever you’re working on.”
“He could have gotten wind of our investigation and cleaned out anything that implicated him.”
“How? You said you had the other boys under wraps. And if everyone on your team is as closed-mouthed as you are, no one would have breathed a word.”
She shrugged and looked away.
“Come on, Becca. Stop stonewalling me.” His tone said the nice guy had a taken a pause and the irritated cop had replaced him. “Tell me what’s going on so I can actually do some good here instead of rummaging through a trunk.”
“Inspecting the trunk is of value.”
“Sure, but any criminalist can do that.” He laid a hand on her arm and eyed her as if waiting for her to jump back.
Surprisingly, she was tempted to step closer, but she shut that down by quickly pulling her arm free. She should step back, maybe walk away, but his sincerity in wanting to help made her tell him about the NFL.
When she finished, he let out a long low whistle and ran a hand over his hair, leaving it rumpled. “You weren’t kidding about national security.”
“That’s why carefully processing this car is important. If the boys are involved and feeding us a line, we need to know now, before it escalates.”
“I’ll get our best forensics team out here and supervise them to make sure they’re thorough.”
“Thank you.” She smiled her genuine appreciation at him.
He drew in a sharp breath before quickly averting his eyes. She didn’t know what she’d done, but whatever it was, he’d reacted almost as if she’d stabbed him with a knife. Or like she had when he’d touched her at the restaurant.
“I’d appreciate getting a look at the surveillance video from Bryce’s neighbor once you’re able to get a copy from them.”
He nodded and when he faced her again, the look was gone. “After I contact the neighbors, I’ll get our video technician to retrieve the files. I’ll call you as soon as they’re in.”
“Perfect.” She looked around, seeking a reason to stay but found none. “I should head back to the office to process the computers we took into evidence.”
“I’d offer my help, but I’m almost as helpless around computers as Sam.”
“Wow, I was shocked that Sam was so out of touch, but a second guy our age who’s that clueless? Impossible,” she teased.
“Hey, watch it. I said almost.” He laughed, and it was deep, rumbling, and contagious.
She found herself joining in and suddenly wished she didn’t have to leave. But she had a job to do. Work came first. It always did.
PLACING THE TRACKER on Brandt’s car had paid off. She was at work. If she moved her vehicle at all, Wiley’s phone would issue an alert, warning him of any danger. His only real concern right now was a nosy neighbor or the SEAL. Wiley had staked out Mr. Military Big Shot’s house last night to plant a tracker on the dude’s car, too, but the SEAL hadn’t come home. In fact, the whole family was MIA. Wiley suspected the Feds had stashed them away somewhere, too.
Wiley grinned with satisfaction and stared at the FBI building down the street. He’d apparently caused all kinds of inconvenience for so many people. The Ahmadis. The Stones. All the agents working their tails off. They were about to be far more inconvenienced than they could possibly know.
He opened the phone he’d assigned to Brandt and logged in to her bank account. He stared at the screen, his heart racing. The money Crash had transferred sat in her checking account like Crash had promised. A wireless transfer routed through a series of banks, making it untraceable. Forty grand. In one big honkin’ deposit that screamed she was up to no good.
Sweet. Wiley had achieved his first big goal. He sat for a few more moments, savoring the victory. Letting the joy slide over him and chase out the chill he’d felt since prison. Ah, yes. Revenge. Such sweetness.
He clicked a few buttons to transfer twenty grand from Brandt’s account to the bank account he’d set up for Hamid, then opened a text message.
Check your account. Money’s been transferred, Wiley typed and sent it to Hamid to establish even one more link between the pair for the FBI to find.
He stowed the phone in an outside hidey hole, then returned to Kip’s car and whistled all the way to the hotel. In the hallway outside Hamid’s room, Wiley’s steps faltered. A skinny agent escorted Tyler Stone, his beefy brother, and a woman he suspected was their mother toward the elevator.
Toward him.
A rush of adrenaline shot through his veins, and the fear of discovery nearly had him charging to the stairwell and out of the building. His heart thumped wildly, but he checked the placement of his balaclava and got his feet moving again.
Straight toward the agent. Toward the SEAL. Each step was torture, combined with a rush that he couldn’t describe. It felt a lot like his days in prison when another inmate was stalking him. Minus the dark. Minus the fear of death.
Here, he was in control and could run anytime he wanted. Anywhere he wanted. But he didn’t want to. He liked the feeling. Liked his blood rushing. Relished it actually. He was up for the challenge. It was him against the world. Him against these lame agents. He would make the most of it.
He nodded a greeting at the scrawny agent instead of looking away and raising the guy’s suspicions. The agent tipped his head in acknowledgement, the aviator sunglasses on his head blinking a reflection from the overhead light.
Stupid agent. The FBI was supposed to be so tough. So on top of things. But Wiley had been right under Brandt’s nose. Now this guy and the muscle-bound SEAL . . . neither of them had bothered to check him out. Their loss.
Wiley’s gain. He smirked. Not only did he know Tyler Stone was staying there, too, but Wiley could finally put the GPS tracker on the SEAL’s car. Bonus!
Wiley waited for them to round the corner before digging gloves from his pocket and grabbing Hamid’s cell phone, then darting into the stairwell.
He opened the message he’d just sent from Brandt’s phone to confirm it had come through. His fingers shook, but he wasn’t surprised. What a rush this was. He’d do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe he’d been playing it too safe. Maybe he needed to risk a bit more. Enjoy the hunt while taking vengeance. He’d have to think on that.
Text confirmed, he logged in to Hamid’s bank account. Wiley knew the money would be in Hamid’s account and Wiley didn’t need to look. But to make it look as if the brat Hamid really was involved in a hacking scheme with Brandt, Wiley checked for the deposit. That’s what Hamid would do, if the situation was real. If Wiley wanted the Feds to believe Brandt and Hamid were behind the hack, Wiley needed to leave a digital record to show the account had been accessed by this phone in the location where Hamid was at the time.
It’s all about leaving the right breadcrumbs, Wiley thought as the screen unfolded.
Perfect. Twenty grand. Big and bold, the transaction was pending in the kid’s account. Just as it was supposed to be. The plan was moving along. Smoothly. Still, he’d drop one more crumb.
He opened a text message to reply to Brandt as Hamid would likely do in this situation. Money received. Proceed with sale as planned.
IN THE OFFICE parking garage, Nina shoved her phone into her purse. She’d survived her daily call with her mother, meaning her day could only improve from there. The sun had finally burned through the haze and should have served to brighten her mood, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. She hadn’t been able to shake it since leaving Quinn at the hotel. Nothing concrete, just that warning from her gut again.
Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe it was just that her life was spiraling out of control since Quinn showed up. Having him around left her feeling like something bad would happen any minute. It was the same way she’d felt nearly every day living at home after her brother had died. She’d battled it hard, though, and as she got older, she found ways keep it in check.
As long as her day was planned, she did fine. And as long as Quinn wasn’t in her life, she could manage. He wasn’t precise and neat, like she was. He was messy and wild. Danger in a uniform. The person she wished she could be. She had tried to be like him once, but who was she kidding? She needed order in her life. Things she could plan. Count on. Not this.
Shaking her head, she swiped her credentials and stepped inside. At her cubicle, she grabbed her laptop and files, then gathered everything she’d need for Ty and headed for the small conference room. She passed through the bullpen
throbbing with the tension of an impending time bomb, ticking down the minutes until a terrorist took action with the NFL. If she hadn’t been on edge already, this atmosphere would do it.
She put it out of her mind and set up Ty’s computer. She heard voices outside the door and saw Kait escorting Ty, his mother, and Quinn into the room.
Kait hung by the door. “Security called your desk but you weren’t there, so I answered and went down to get these guys for you.”
“Thanks,” Nina said, though she wished Quinn had been left downstairs. Why he was even there? He’d obviously decided to ignore her request. So what else was new?
She wouldn’t take it out on Ty. She put on a smile and greeted him. “I have everything set up for you.” She gestured at the computer. “Take a seat by the laptop, and we’ll get started.”
Kait stepped into the room. “You need any help?”
“Not at the moment,” Nina said, keeping her voice down. “But I might need you to babysit Ty if I can get the Hacktivist administrator to agree to see me.”
“Just let me know.” She lowered her voice. “And good luck with Quinn. He’s acting kind of grumpy. Not sure why. He was like that when I got downstairs.”
Kait departed, and Nina glanced at Quinn. He did look out of sorts, but she wasn’t about to investigate the reason and open their own personal can of worms again.
She dug deep for her Southern manners and turned to his mother. Tall and slender, with a pixie haircut, she usually had a bright welcoming smile. Not today. She wore a black shirt topped with a short white jacket over coral slacks and had twined a scarf swirling with all three colors around her neck.
Nina had always admired her sense of style. “Go ahead and take a seat anywhere, Mrs. Stone.”
“Didn’t we get rid of the Mrs. Stone business a long time ago?” she asked pleasantly. “Is this because of the way I behaved last night? If it is, I’m sorry. I was upset, and took it out on you. Will you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive.”
She watched Nina from eyes very much like Quinn’s. “Then why the formality all of a sudden?”
Web of Shadows Page 15