Exchange of Fire

by P. A. DePaul

  Chapter 46

  Sandra’s stiff shoulder protested as she carefully padded into the kitchen. The day-after meeting she had been dreading since last night had finally arrived. Rip the bandage off and get it over with. She kept her face blank and briefly acknowledged Romeo, Cappy, Ted, and Magician.

  Steeling her nerves, she met Grady’s eyes and said neutrally, “Good morning.”

  He crossed his arms and leaned negligently against the counter near the sink. Sun streamed through the hastily applied plastic sheeting where the glass window behind him used to be, shining upon his golden head like a muted halo. Her stomach tightened and her blood quickened. Can she say Norse God? His eyes raked her from head to toe, his stance so blasé, she might as well have been a generic mannequin. She’d believe his act too if it hadn’t been for the faint ticking of his jaw muscle.

  “Morning,” he drawled, taking a sip of soda.

  Damn. The tenor of his voice had a sinful effect on her warring halves. Love versus moral obligation promised to be a bloody battle, most likely leaving her a barely functional survivor. Criminy. They had barely started dating, but this already felt like the morning after a bad breakup. Yeah, you’re not usually already in love on the first date, though. True. She rubbed the small hairs on her arms against the breeze from all the holes in the glass brushing against her skin.

  “There’s no coffee maker,” Romeo announced by way of greeting. “So this morning’s caffeine is brought to you by the makers of Coca-Cola. Would you like fully leaded or diet?”

  “Fully leaded.” She hadn’t slept a wink after leaving Grady on the deck. “I need all the help I can get.”

  “I bet that wound kept you up, huh?” Ted asked, pausing whatever he was doing on the computer tablet.

  “Something like that,” Sandra muttered, popping the tab on the bright red can. Thankfully her roommate, Magician, didn’t dissuade the genius’s naive statement or rat her out in front of the others. Long bouts of crying and nose-blowing had kept the other woman up too.

  Sandra took a long swallow and tried not to choke on the burning bubbles this early in the morning. Her stomach protested and tied into a further knot. One more eye to meet. She attempted to push her shoulders back, but the jolt of pain halted the movement. Shitdamnfuck.

  Talon sullenly braced himself against the pantry door, his expression challenging her to say something. Like what? Did he know she had overheard his confession last night? She’d barely had the time to comprehend it, let alone process how she felt about it, but she couldn’t stay silent for long. She’d have to face it soon enough, but not today. He lifted an eyebrow, which was quite a feat with all the swelling and bruising—a morbid match to Grady’s. Subtle about resolving their differences, these two were not. The scruff on his face was nearing beard territory but she bet he hadn’t wanted to scrape a razor across his bruised and cut skin.

  Talon’s T-shirt of the day, hanging out over a pair of black cargo pants, was gray with the apropos caption of THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB IS: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB. Sandra could only shake her head. It’s like he plans this stuff when he packs.

  “Now, Ted,” Cappy’s deep voice cajoled. “You’ve had your beauty sleep; start talking.”

  Ted jolted at his name and swallowed. He must have taken a shower this morning because his hair was wet (though still a mess), and he had changed out of those wretched khakis and put on a pair of jeans from the eighties and another short-sleeve button-down shirt—this one in red-and-blue plaid. The man definitely had his own unique style.

  “You mentioned last night that SBG really thought Wraith was dead. What changed?” Cappy asked, obviously to get the conversation moving, since Ted still hadn’t done anything but swallow.

  “I received this in an e-mail from my old MIT roommate.” Ted motioned to the screen.

  Cappy stayed put, already in a good position on the end of the island, but Grady, Romeo, and Magician stepped behind Ted. She didn’t want to get any closer, dreading whatever was about to pop up on the screen. Talon peeled himself away and limped toward Romeo—opposite where Grady stood.

  Grady smirked, following Talon’s progress. She itched to smack him. Taunting her already volatile teammate would not help the situation at all.

  Ted pushed play.

  A black-and-white image filled the screen and shook violently. No sound resonated from the speakers, but no one—save two—in this room needed an audio track to remind them of the explosion. Chunks of building dropped to the ground as glass flew through the air. The rumbling finally settled, and black lines rolled up the screen. Thirty seconds later, Sandra watched herself scale down the wall. She adjusted her getaway bag and briskly walked off camera. The tape went blank.

  “Jesus Christ,” someone mumbled.

  “It’s like I was suddenly back there again,” Romeo said softly.

  She could barely swallow past the lump that seemed permanently lodged in her throat. The faces of her team ranged from anger to sadness, and every one of them carried a haunted light in their eyes.

  She choked down another sip of the soda, wishing the liquid could erase the shame. When she lowered the can, her eyes collided with Grady’s. He didn’t give much away, but the frown tugging at the corners of his mouth said enough. She looked away, her guilt answering his silent inquiry anyway. Yes, I set off a bomb. Yes, I put my team in danger with it. No, I didn’t think of all the consequences and repercussions of trying to leave SBG. See, this is why you’re better off without me.

  “Why did he send it to you, and how did you know it was Wraith?” Cappy asked, jerking her away from the one-sided conversation.

  Ted’s face reddened. “I, uh, just, uh . . .” He cleared his throat. “I recognized the way she climbed down the ladder.”

  “Dude,” Romeo said, “you could tell it was Wraith from her ass? That’s talent, my man.”

  Sweat broke out along Ted’s hairline, and he wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “Uh, yeah. I guess.”

  “Good taste.” Romeo saluted with his can. “She’s got a killer backside.”

  Embarrassed by Ted’s ability to recognize her from behind, she tried to join in the lighthearted banter by winking at Romeo and gushing, “Thanks for the compliment. Coming from you that means a lot.”

  “But, Ted, why did he send it to you?” Magician re-asked Cappy’s question.

  “Oh,” the IT genius replied. “He said a student from one of his speaking engagements e-mailed it to him and asked if he knew anyone who could ID her. Condor thought of me. In his e-mail to me, he stated the student suspected the woman was behind a bombing in Mexico that injured his uncle and admitted the Policía didn’t have the resources or inclination to follow up on it.”

  “Uncle, huh?” Talon mumbled, sliding back to his original post by the pantry. “One of Carlos’s many nephews or a relative of the supplier?”

  “I’m betting Carlos.” Romeo set his empty Coke can on the counter and leaned against the stove. “As head of the Osvaldo Cartel, he’d be more likely to have family loyal enough to want vengeance.”

  “Agreed,” Cappy rumbled. “Continue, Ted. How did Victor find out?”

  Ted cleared the image from the screen. “It took me hours, but I was able to clean up the footage and get a clear enough shot to positively ID Wraith.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know if you remember, but a few years ago, I had to write a program that logged what every employee worked on and how long they spent on it.” He scrubbed his palms against his thighs and sent a pleading gaze to Sandra. “I knew it would only be a matter of days before Victor pulled the reports and found out on his own. Better he hear it from me firsthand than find out I hid it.” He shrugged. “I figured maybe with me being his nephew, he’d be more candid in what he planned to do with the info.”

  “I’m guessing he was,” Cappy stated.

  Ted nodded. “The guy went apeshit in his own way, pulled me off every project and made finding her the prio
rity.”

  The bitter taste of betrayal filled Sandra’s mouth. Ted? Ted was the one who’d tipped Victor off? Caused the domino effect that brought hell to Grady’s door? What the hell? How could the same IT genius who’d just demonstrated his devotion by identifying her ass in a video seal her death notice? Magician squeezed her arm and moved closer. Sandra drew in a breath and forced the feelings of betrayal back. Bittersweet aching throbbed in her chest as a second thought occurred to her: If he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have reunited with her family.

  Grady thwumped against the sink, the muscles showing beneath his polo shirt twitching as he lasered his cold gaze onto Ted.

  Ted gulped, his expression both remorseful and fearful as he turned to tap on the detachable keyboard. “As much as I hated having to tell Victor, it turned out to be the best thing that could’ve happened.”

  “How do you figure that?” Grady asked in a low, controlled voice.

  Sandra pushed the pain of Ted’s confession aside. She now had a whole new insight into what her group was going through. If they were willing to forgive, then she could do no less. Hopefully, Ted’s revelation would make that easier.

  “I made a discovery when I was scouring the system looking for everything we had on Wraith, an anomaly jumped out at me. More storage space was being used than what we had calculated. As I dug deeper into the server, I noticed there was a drive that wasn’t mapped to any of my systems.” He paused and swept his gaze over the group.

  What he said sounded important, but she didn’t fully understand all the inner workings of computers. Storage space, mapping, and drives eluded her.

  “I would’ve sworn that couldn’t happen with all the security we have in place until I saw it with my own eyes. After hours, I started following the trail to see where it was getting its data.” He wiped his palms onto his thighs again. “It seems as if my uncle had set up a shadow drive long before he became CEO. And well before we put the extra security in place—at his directive.”

  “Naturally,” Talon said coldly.

  “According to the root data,” Ted continued, “that drive was established when he was first recruited with SBG as an operative.”

  “Slimy bastard always had tricks up his sleeve,” Magician said, her face full of distaste.

  “I don’t know how he used such a large data memory without tipping off my department, but he created the hidden space to store all his secret documents and recorded phone calls.”

  “Wait a minute.” Cappy held up a hand. “Are you telling me he recorded every phone call?”

  Ted nodded. “Pretty much. As well as kept files on events we aren’t supposed to acknowledge and copies of documents that aren’t supposed to exist.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Cappy breathed. “That’s either brilliant or the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “Maybe a little of both,” Ted agreed, and his mouth wobbled. “I guess it won’t shock you to hear Victor wasn’t content to just run an environmental front company.”

  “No, really?” Romeo deadpanned. “I voted for him to be Boy Scout of the year.”

  Ted lifted one side of his mouth. The effect was gruesome with his paling skin. “He used operatives to gather intel on some influential people, including a few elected officials.”

  Talon snorted. “Let me guess. He turned around and blackmailed them, didn’t he?”

  “Yep.”

  “Greedy bastard,” Talon muttered.

  “But our gain, I take it?” Cappy asked, sitting straight on his stool.

  “There are quite a few senators who would love to see Victor taken down and, given their positions with the government, understand the need to do it quietly.”

  “So we have allies,” Cappy rumbled, sitting forward on the stool.

  Could there actually be an end to this nightmare? Her pounding heart pumped hope with every beat. “Question: How are we going to take him down if everything we do is classified above what the public can know?”

  Ted grinned—the first honest one since he trudged through the door last night. It highlighted his face and made him appear cute in a completely nerdy way. He held up a palm-size, black external hard drive. “It took hours to copy all that data onto this. I was terrified he’d discover I had accessed it. At home every night I listened to as many calls as I could stomach and cataloged them. I also viewed every single document he had saved.”

  The room exploded into activity, with everyone talking at once. Cappy put his fingers to his lips and whistled.

  The room plunged into silence. “You’ve got something on there about Sam and Thane?”

  “My smoking gun.” Ted’s smile spread from ear to ear. “I’ve got proof that he was complicit in the murders of Thane Milton and Sam Clover, as well as a ton of other operatives. But since the public doesn’t know about you guys, Thane and Sam will take Victor down.”

  Chapter 47

  Grady’s heartbeat skyrocketed. Did this IT nerd actually hold the key to ending this clusterfuck? The same nerd who admitted to stirring up the whole fucking mess in the first place?

  “Goddamn it, Ted,” Cappy exploded, silencing the commotion in the room. “You sat on this information and decided to go to sleep last night?”

  Ted lifted his chin, the two spots on his cheeks steadily growing redder.

  “He’s a fucking flight risk,” Cappy continued his rant, pushing off the bar stool and pacing in the crowded area. “If he thinks you have this evidence in your possession, then he’s probably already gone.”

  Grady couldn’t help but be impressed with the transformation overtaking the socially awkward guy with the horrendous fashion sense. The genius seemed to grow a pair and shot Cappy the haughtiest expression.

  “I’m not a complete moron,” Ted shot back stiffly. “You’re forgetting what I do for a living. I’ve created and destroyed more aliases and covers than anyone else in SBG history. Ones that have never failed even the most detailed scrutiny.”

  “Good for you,” Cappy snapped. “Your résumé doesn’t help me at the moment.”

  “On that shadow drive,” Ted continued as if Cappy hadn’t spoken, “I found a list of aliases he had attempted to make on his own as well as the ones I created for him over the years. While I waited for my flight to leave O’Hare, I uploaded Victor’s name and every one of those aliases into the Office of Foreign Assets Control database. If he uses an airport, train station, or car rental agency, he’ll be detained immediately and—fingers crossed—cavity-searched.”

  Grady blinked while the rest of the room burst out laughing.

  “Did you state that Victor was a drug mule?” Talon asked, smiling, which caused his lip to begin bleeding.

  Ah, justice keeps on giving. Grady ripped a paper towel off the rack and dangled it toward him.

  Talon flipped him the finger.

  Cappy snatched the towel, shooting Grady a hard look before slapping it against Talon’s chest.

  Ted shrugged, his eyes wide, following the exchange. “Yes. It was all I had time to do.”

  Access to OFAC, just like that? Damn, this group was scary. The way they blithely treated powerful resources made Grady edgy. In this instance he was glad Ted had the ability to do all that, but overall, where was the oversight? Who made sure no one with that kind of power went too far?

  He allowed himself another peek at Sandra. Her coloring had paled, and the cuts, bruising, and scrapes stood out even more against her skin. By the expression on her face she appeared hopeful. He scratched his chest to hide how much he wanted to rub away the pain. Did that mean she was excited to leave Ridge Creek—him—behind? Move on with her team? He knew it was for the best, even agreed to it last night, but, damn, it still hurt.

  “Who’s the best person to help us with this?” Magician asked, tossing her soda can in the trash and settling between Grady and Romeo against the counter.

  Ted tapped the portable hard drive. “Victor kept all his victims’ evidence organized in separ
ate files. Each one has a cheat sheet summarizing the offenses and all the different ways he can make contact.”

  “How thoughtful of him,” Romeo said sarcastically. “I know he’s your uncle, Ted, but what a douche.”

  Ted’s shoulders drooped. “I know. To answer your question, I think we should target US Senator Bob Harris from Kansas first. He pays Victor the most.”

  Magician jerked. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Shocked me too.”

  “Give me the details. How does it work?” Cappy asked.

  “Victor set up a fake wildlife association, and each victim makes a ‘donation’ every month. Every few weeks, he transfers the balance offshore to help ‘animals in need.’”

  “Son of a bitch. And squeaky-clean Senator Harris pays the most?” Romeo asked.

  “Fifteen thousand a month,” Ted answered flatly.

  “Holy shit,” Sandra mumbled.

  Romeo whistled. “What the hell skeleton is in his closet? A really ugly mistress?”

  Magician smacked her partner in the chest.

  Ted’s face flushed and he cleared his throat. “Boys, actually.”

  Everyone blinked and stared at the guy like he’d grown another head. Grady hadn’t heard a lot about the senator other than what he saw on the news. Boys definitely hadn’t made the headlines.

  “I didn’t really study the blackmail since that’s not my forte.” Ted fiddled with the hard drive. “But I can tell you there are pictures of him in compromising positions that can’t be mistaken for anything other than what they are.” He held up his index finger as if to drive home his next point. “If it helps, every male he had, ah, relations with is over the age of eighteen, though not by much.”

  “That’s a far cry from his TV ads,” Magician stated. “The man’s whole platform is about family values and upholding the Bible. Last I heard, he was adamantly against passing a law to legalize gay marriage.”