Jax shrugs. “Whatever it takes — once we get the files, we’ll have a shitload of evidence against them.”
“And all of it would be illegally obtained if we do this solo, without the FBI’s involvement,” I counter. “The only thing those files would be good for is if we were planning to blackmail BHC. Which, if we had to do that to get them to back off, fine. It’d be enough to threaten them with — but that’s not our end goal, is it?”
“Hell, no,” Gunner chimes in. “We want them taken down, for good, not just slightly crippled. I don’t like it, but I agree with Emma — the FBI’s plan is the only option that gets us the results we want.”
Jude exchanges a look with his twin then clears his throat. “True. I agree on that point. But, our main concern is about where the priority is going to be.”
I wrinkle my nose in confusion. “What do you mean? The files are the priority, right?”
He nods. “Yes, exactly. The files — not you. FBI is going to be primarily concerned with the outcome of their investigation,” Jude says. “First and foremost, they’ll be looking to protect their own team members and secure those files, at almost any cost. If that means you might be treated as a pawn, or even considered acceptable collateral damage.”
Alarm bells are going off inside my head, and a cold chill runs through me. I’d not thought of it that way. “But you said you trust this FBI guy.”
“I do,” he says solemnly. “But it doesn’t matter how much we trust a single agent. It might not be his call to make. This is bigger than him.”
I look to Zoey, and I see my own worries reflected in her eyes. But I see something else, too — determination. This has to end, one way or another. We can’t keep living like this, with BHC orchestrating calamities whenever they so desire and constantly threatening to do worse. I reach for her hand, and we clasp our palms together in a tight squeeze.
Summoning courage, I say, “If BHC had stuck to just messing with my life, I might feel differently. But they didn’t. They’ve been targeting all the people I care about. So, this isn’t about what’s best for me, and you have to stop thinking of it that way.”
Jax and Jude both open their mouths to argue, but I raise a hand and cut them off before they get more than a syllable out. “No, listen guys — the decision has to be based on which plan has the best outcome for Zoey, and my parents, and each of you guys. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to end this, for good.”
I don’t wait for a reply. Instead, I turn to Jude, ready to move ahead with this plan. “This friend of yours, Agent Roth — he wants to meet?”
“He does,” Jude nods. His face is doing that thing where he’s trying to maintain his cool, his features tense. “We can hear him out, but if—”
“I don’t think there’s going to be a but,” I interrupt. “Look around — this room is full of smart, capable people.”
“Yeah…” he acknowledges, but his tone is guarded.
“Alright then, let’s come up with a way to make this work with the FBI, because this is happening. It has to end, because I can’t take this noose hanging around my neck any longer.” I reach out and take Zoey’s hand in mine again. “I can’t let the people I care about be in harm’s way anymore.”
Jax sits on the hearth to the left of the fireplace. “It’s your decision, ultimately, but please let us protect you.”
“Yes, exactly, that’s what I’m trying to say,” Jude says, snapping his fingers at Jax. “If the FBI is going to make the files their priority, then we need to make sure we’re involved, too, because you are our priority.”
The guys rallying around me is an incredible bulwark. They give me confidence. The very thought of some covert meeting with FBI agents is beyond intimidating, but I can do it. Especially with these men by my side.
I carefully shift the bulk of Mabel’s weight over to Zoey’s lap and stand up. “We’ll all go to the FBI meeting, together,” I agree, looking at each of the guys in turn. “A unified front. And make them listen to our ideas.”
Jax and Jude exchange a quick look, but they both seem relieved. “Yes, I think that’s the way to go,” Jax says.
“Hey,” Gunner says, raising a hand in the air and turning his gaze to me. “I vote we practice for the meeting. But you need to dress the part, since this is a tactile operation. You could wear these,” Gunner suggests with a grin, holding up the camo slippers. “And maybe nothing else?”
As the sounds of groans mingled with laughter fill the room, my heart feels full again, for the first time in a long while.
25
Jude
“Thanks for meeting us out here,” Agent Roth says, gesturing out the large bay door at the abandoned airstrip. The hangar’s on the smaller side as far as these things go, since the airport was a private operation when it was in use, but the empty shell of concrete and steel still produces faint, muffled echoes as Roth greets us.
“Anything to keep BHC from listening in,” I respond. “Their company own patents to some of the best surveillance equipment on the market, so I don’t doubt they’d put that stuff to use.”
“They have pretty good people, too,” Trigg adds. “Emma isn’t here yet because she’s losing a tail.”
“She’s with Desmond, right?” Daniel asks.
“Yeah,” Jax affirms. “But he’s using a taxi today so it doesn’t look suspicious to BHC. As far as they’re concerned, it’s just a crazy taxi ride, not a professional driver taking Emma on a spin.”
We all stare into the distance, looking to the far end of the airstrip for any sign of a taxi. After a moment, I turn to Roth. “Who’s your plant inside BHC? You said I’d know him.”
Roth turns toward the car he came in — a SUV with dark-tinted windows exactly like the one Trigg said was tailing Jeremy the day all hell broke loose. “Theo!” he yells, waving his hand. “Come say hi.”
I reach back into my memory as the passenger’s side door opens. Someone I would know... there were a couple guys… “No shit.” It takes me a second, but sure enough, that’s Lieutenant Theodore Burlowski, a big bull of an Airborne soldier I had worked with early on in my military career. “You’ve lost some weight,” I tell him when he draws close.
“Trimmed down a bit,” Theo nods and extends his hand, and we shake. “After the shoulder injury, I couldn’t lift weights like I used to.”
“Hey!” Gunner’s eyes go wide with recognition, but I know Theo was discharged from the military before Gunner enlisted. I glance back and forth at the two men with a mixture of surprise and curiosity, eager to see where this is going.
Theo’s looking a little deer-in-the-headlights as Gunner stares at him. “You’re the guy from the apartment,” Gunner says.
“What apartment?” I ask.
“The one who was watching Emma’s place from across the alley. The guy we marked as a tail from BHC.”
A sheepish grin breaks out on Theo’s face. “Yup. Nice show you put on, there, cowboy.”
Instead of blushing like a decent human being, Gunner grins. “I do my best.”
Jesus Christ. I shake my head and turn back to Theo. “How’s the shoulder? Got ripped up pretty bad, if I remember.”
He rotates his right arm. “It’s okay now. Took me out of the service, but the FBI doesn’t mind.”
“Not with the kind of deep cover work Theo does,” Roth says.
I catch a glimpse of the yellow paint of a cab at the far corner of the runway. Good. Emma’s arrived, safe and sound. “How long have you been with the Agency?”
“Couple years now,” Theo replies. “I went into private security when I got out of the military, then decided I wanted to join up with the feds. Roth, here, tells me you guys might be able to help us stitch this case together.”
“It looks that way,” I say.
“I sure as shit hope so — this is the worst fucking undercover job I’ve pulled so far. It’s taking everything I’ve got not to knock those assholes on their asses every
day. There’s some real shady shit going on in that company, but they act like dickweeds on top of it.”
Jax is tracking the cab’s movements as it gets closer. “We’ve noticed,” he says dryly.
Theo turns his back to the cab as it pulls around to approach the empty hangar we’re in. “I’ll just be over here…” he says before walking off to a darker corner of the building where a table with some equipment lays.
I give Roth an inquisitive look and nod my head toward Theo. “What’s that about?”
Agent Roth shifts from one foot to the other, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Uh... since Emma has seen him and associates him with BHC, Theo doesn’t want to scare Ms. Collins before she knows why he’s here.”
The cab pulls directly into the hangar, covered by shadow next to Gunner’s jeep, and Emma steps out. Trigg is immediately by her side, offering her an affectionate hug. The intimacy between them is obvious in how he pulls her in and hangs on tight for a second, and I can tell by the way that Roth’s eyebrows raise slightly that he notices. Jax leans down to the front window, and he and Desmond exchange some words, probably a quick rundown of what happened on the way here.
She casts a wary eye over the space. It’s pretty damn wide open, as a hangar should be — nowhere to hide. Trigg walks Emma back to the group, his hand protectively hovering at the small of her back.
Roth extends his hand. “Agent Roth, ma’am. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us.”
“Emma, please.” She smiles at him, dismissing formalities. “And thank you for the opportunity to do this. I want to take these assholes down.”
Roth tries to restrain his smile at her profanity, but the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkle. “That’s the plan. Speaking of which, I’d like you to meet our inside agent. He’s the one who knows exactly how this needs to go down. Hey, Theo, come join us,” he shouts over his shoulder.
All heads swivel to the corner of the hanger, and Theo begins walking back toward us and nearer the light. When he’s a few feet away, Emma’s eyes go wide. Then — unlike Gunner — Emma blushes. It’s obvious she didn’t think she’d ever see him again. She extends her hand to take Theo’s, but it’s obvious she’s in shock.
Theo’s handshake is quick. “I apologize for the circumstance of our first encounter, Miss Collins.”
She draws in a deep breath and purses her lips, trying to assess this turn of events. “I take it you don’t actually work for BHC?” she asks.
A discomfort comes over his features. “Well, technically, I do. That’s my cover. As far as they know, I’m an ass-kissing ‘yes man’, gunning for employee of the month.”
Emma’s brows raise, but she keeps her tongue. The uneasiness in her body language is evident, but she nods. I’m sure she isn’t comfortable with the idea of partnering with anyone who works at BHC, and she’s probably wondering if he’s playing the FBI and is really a double agent. But she knows this is the best chance we’ve got and it’s a risk we have to take. I’ve known Agents Roth and Burlowski a long time, so it’s easier for me to trust them, but I get the hesitation. If I didn’t have a history with these guys, I’d be wondering the same damn thing — we don’t put it past BHC to try to infiltrate the FBI. I’m glad Trigg is there beside her, his hand between her shoulders for support.
I push my way through what is quickly becoming a tense moment. “What can you tell us, Theo?”
His eyes flit to me, and I can see the relief he feels to get back on less personal footing. “We believe your assessment is correct. From the best I can gather, there’s a dedicated server that can only be accessed physically from inside the offices of the board members. There are several computers tied into the system, but none of it can be done remotely.”
His eyes drift across each of us as he talks, and I like that his gaze includes Emma just as much as the rest of us. It’s a sign of respect, in my book, an attempt to be inclusive of her. I’ve seen too many military men and government suits be dismissive of women, talking only to the men in the room.
“We need to be in the building — and in one of those offices,” Jax says.
Theo nods. “Exactly. They keep a tight fucking lid on that system. I believe it has an alarm system, and it’s rigged to self-destruct should anyone hit the panic button.”
“That’s what we, think, too,” I nod. Daniel, Jax, and Emma were adamant about that — they said BHC is too damn smart to not have some sort of failsafe.
“So, the only way we’re going to get near that system is with their full knowledge,” Roth says. “And that’s where we’ve been stuck — until Jude told me that Ms. Collins could not only arrange a meeting, but entice them to let her access the system.”
Emma speaks up. “Yes, I believe they’ll want to store the code for my program in their black vault.”
“Precisely,” Theo agrees. “They’ll invite you right in the front door.”
Jax crosses his arms over his chest at Theo’s words, still unhappy with having Emma be the one going inside, but trying his best to deal with it.
Daniel rubs his chin, deep in thought. After a second, he turns to Theo. “But Jude tells me you want her to download a hijacker, instead?”
“Eh, I might have got the technical details wrong,” I say quickly before Theo has a chance to speak up. “That’s why I wanted us all to meet, so I’m not relaying information about stuff that’s not my area of expertise.”
Theo tilts his head to the side and replies to Daniel. “No, not instead of. They’ll be watching, and they’ll want to see that she’s doing what she’s supposed to, so she’ll need to bring them the actual program for this to work. But, we’ll embed a small executable file within it that will rapidly copy the contents of the drive as her program downloads to it. We’ve figured out a way to mask the data packets as incoming rather than outgoing, so it shouldn’t set off any alarms. They can run their check on her program to make sure it’s solid, and she can walk right out the door.”
“But if something does alert them — if they realize what’s going on?” Jax asks.
“Then we’ll get her out of there,” Agent Roth says firmly.
We nod uneasily. The verbal confirmation is nice to hear, but we know how this works. It’s what he’s not saying that makes us nervous — the worst case scenario. Sometimes, despite all the best intentions, people get left behind. It’s a harsh truth that Trigg, Gunner, and I had to learn to accept. But not this time. Emma will be coming home with us, alive and well, period. Even if that means the guys and I run our own side operation during this sting. Because there is simply no other acceptable outcome.
“Jude.” Emma’s leaning toward me, her voice lowered. “I need to talk to you guys for a minute, outside.”
I exchange a look with the guys, and we all come to a silent agreement to follow our lady’s lead. She walks us to the big open door of the hangar, away from the echoing earshot of the FBI men inside.
“There’s just one issue,” she says once we circle around her.
“Just one?” Jax snorts. Emma gives him a don’t fuck with me look, and he lets out a huff of resignation but doesn’t say anything else.
“I see a million ways this could go wrong,” she acknowledges. “But, it’s the best option we’ve got, so it is what it is. However, the issue that throws the entire plan into a tailspin is the code.”
“Because of the Gamma segment?” Daniel asks.
“Yes,” Emma nods. “I’ve been working on it, but when I plug it into the rest of the code and run the program, it’s causing a system crash.”
“Can you just take the Gamma segment out?” Gunner asks.
“No, she can’t,” Daniel answers. “She can’t demonstrate the program unless it will actually run on a device, and the Gamma segment is the key to that.”
Emma nods at Daniel. “Right, what he said. I’ve painstakingly checked every bit of code, line by line, and I think the segment is solid, but it’s definitely breaking something earlier in
the process, and I can’t find it.”
“Well, damn,” Gunner says.
“Damn, indeed,” she agrees. “I’ve been working on this software for longer than I care to think about, and I don’t know how much longer it will take to get it running correctly. But we can’t wait. Any day now, BHC will be calling to tell me it’s time to go public with this stupid fucking partnership bullshit. This sting has to happen now.”
“Agreed,” I say.
“But the entire plan hinges on keeping BHC in the dark about what I’m really doing there,” Emma counters. “If I take a broken program into BHC, they’ll immediately be suspicious that I’m trying to play them and... well...”
We all exchange worried looks, but Daniel’s the one who voices our concern. “And you won’t be walking back out the door.”
26
Emma
Daniel has left the building.
Well, his mind has, anyway. He appears to be in some sort of fugue state. His eyes are vacant and dilated as he stares at the wall. His lips come together sporadically to form a silent word, and his finger traces figures on the desk next to me.
The place is a mess of computers and devices, and cords are everywhere. We’ve turned his penthouse dining room into Code HQ, and the three of us have only taken breaks for short naps and a couple showers the few days we’ve been at this.
At least some of the showers were together, which was nice, even if we didn’t have time to get into anything too frisky. Just being all naked and soapy, first with Daniel yesterday and then with Jax this morning, has been a lovely respite from staring at lines of code. We haven’t even had time to fuss with food — the others are making sure we stay fed and hydrated, with meals and drinks appearing on the table out of nowhere.
I haven’t had a coding session like this since my college days — and even those pale in comparison. Sometimes, Jackass and I would pull an all-nighter when we were on the trail of something good. Or when my classmates and I had an assignment due, we’d conduct a marathon tag-team session of programming, because Lord knows we always procrastinated until the last moment. But those sessions were nothing like what I have now — a pair of seriously sexy men working with me. Which is very distracting when my mind starts to wonder, but also, these guys know their stuff and damn, that’s hot, too. Sexy showers, hardcore programming, and unlimited cheeseburgers.
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