She wasn’t kidding.
Holy shit, she was serious.
He let it sink in. While part of him wanted to believe that couldn’t happen, he also knew something was massively wrong right now. There had to be an explanation.
He nodded his head while a plan solidified in his mind.
“Alright.” He pushed up. “You’re going to tell me more about that later, but right now we need to stop this. We have to get in touch with whoever is running with this information and stop it before Valentino gets away. Call Zora again.”
Diha already had her phone in hand as he jabbed his analyst again.
A traitor.
Now things were beginning to make sense. If Diha couldn’t trust her own people, they had to lean on others outside their organization.
What the hell had they gotten him involved with?
6.
Wednesday. Place. City, United Kingdom.
Aleksandr slowly worked the stiffness out of his limbs.
He hadn’t intended to stay in place all night, but he was curious about what might happen below. It was obvious the men set up to watch Aleksandr’s targets were the patient sort. They’d set up and gotten comfortable. From what he could tell, they were professionals, but he couldn’t place them.
Was it possible he wasn’t the only one who’d been recruited for this job?
That was a question he’d pondered for most of the night, but now, watching the local police round up the five men, he knew they couldn’t be hired by Skilton. Skilton would never tolerate people who could so easily be scooped up by police.
Aleksandr crawled backwards and then behind the shelter of the roof entry before pushing up to his feet. Muscles and joints protested. The cold and wet had seeped into his joints, numbing his fingers and toes. His collar was soaked and so was his knit hat.
It was time to move.
His targets wouldn’t remain in position long, at least he didn’t think they would despite his intel on them. Anyone with common sense would move after this. Whoever those men were, they worked for someone and those people would be coming after the targets.
Aleksandr had to get to them first.
But not here.
He’d have to follow them.
When the girl had begun covering the windows, he’d known the window of opportunity had shut. If he hadn’t been quite so careful, he could be done with the job. But time had proven that caution always worked in his favor, so he would bide his time and wait. Eventually he’d slip in and finish the job. And then no one would ever find those two again.
WEDNESDAY. THAMES HOUSE Security Service Headquarters. London, United Kingdom.
It had been over a year since Diha felt so powerless. When she’d been doing her job at the CIA, the frustration she’d felt had been constant. She hadn’t been in control of anything. The difference was that then she’d been at the will of a slow system bogged down in old ways. Now she was strapped onto a rollercoaster that was barreling out of control.
“Another news site is reporting it,” she said. “American Terrorist Attack Thwarted.”
Miles paced the room. He’d been on hold with someone higher up the food chain at whatever Security Services office was in charge of the arrest for going on half an hour.
Her laptop chimed with an incoming hit and she cringed.
She clicked it and brought up a live feed from the front doors of some stately old building in Brighton. A man in a dark suit with little hair left approached a set of microphones.
The name under him on a BBC banner made her stomach knot up.
“Miles? Miles, they aren’t going to answer your call.” She slid down a little in her chair.
It was her team that had been attacked and arrested. They were good people who didn’t deserve this.
Miles stalked around behind her. “Shit.”
He tossed the phone down on her desk, then braced a hand on the back of her chair. She caught that smell again, the one so uniquely him. It was comforting, what with all this going on.
She turned up the volume as the man began to speak.
“At half-past eleven a team of our finest put a stop to a new threat,” the old man said.
“Turn it off,” Miles snapped and straightened. He pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. “Sorry, it’s not you, it’s this.”
She closed the laptop and peered up at him. “I know. I feel the same.”
Diha fisted her hands to keep them from shaking. She was so angry and powerless.
What could she do for them?
Harper and the others had been arrested.
Zora didn’t know what was going on.
Miles couldn’t find out anything more.
Out of all of them, Diha had the best luck finding clues.
She’d pulled all the information about the so-called American terrorists. There were reports going back for months. Valentino had worked fast and was very thorough, which meant he’d done something like this before. This hack was nothing new. She had to wonder if this was the first time anyone had figured it out, though.
If she said something, would she find herself staring down the barrel of a gun?
Diha shivered at the thought. She was happiest in her lab, safe, where she could observe everything from a distance. But Harper and the others had given this job their all without even understanding what it was they were doing. She couldn’t abandon them. Not even if it meant flirting with danger.
“They can’t seriously...” Miles shoved a hand through his hair. It wasn’t neat and perfect anymore. He’d run his fingers through it so much it was messy. “This is a nightmare. A fucking nightmare,” he said. “And now Valentino is going to get away.”
It sounded that way. They’d been outplayed by someone far more intelligent than Diha. And here she’d been preening under Miles’ attention, as if she’d somehow outsmarted the hacker mastermind. It was laughable.
“Do you want to see what I found?” she asked.
“Yes.” Miles bent again, leaning over her shoulder.
She sat very straight and still. Could she feel his warmth, or was that her imagination?
“Here is the report naming our people as a threat. I’ve highlighted this sentence because it sounded unique enough that if I searched it...” She plugged the words into the search to demonstrate.
Another report came up.
She clicked it and opened the two side by side.
On the left was their team with a very official looking, fully fleshed out report.
On the right was the exact same report with a few things changed and listing different suspects.
Seeing them together, it was obvious now how the falsified report had been altered. In a scanned page, she could even tell where smudges had been left from a photo editing software.
“Christ,” Miles muttered.
“There are more. I’ve begun indexing them so we can prove that this was done deliberately.”
“Christ,” he said again and straightened. “Is there anything you can do from here? Anything else?”
She considered the question, but beyond what she’d already found out, there wasn’t much to go on. “I don’t think so. Not without some crumb to follow.”
“Crumbs.” He snapped his fingers. “If you got your hands on their equipment, maybe saw the condo?”
Her shoulders lifted. “Maybe?”
“Then let’s go. Let’s see what they left behind.”
Diha’s jaw dropped and she gaped at him.
Her go into the field? Was he crazy?
She couldn’t exactly say that, so instead she squeaked out, “Now?”
His eyes shone with determination, just like Harper and the others. It was a tenacity, an inner drive that pushed them to fix things. She respected it, but preferred to see it from afar, not aimed at her.
“It’s late morning,” he said. “It should take us two hours to get there this time of day. We’ll have all afternoon to look over the place. What
else can we do?”
Oh, no.
No, no, no.
She couldn’t get in a car and drive two hours with him to be out in the field. Sure, she’d been field trained, but that was a formality. She never actually wanted to fire a gun or fight someone. She wouldn’t be good at either.
Harper and the others would drop everything to save her were the roles reversed.
She couldn’t let them down. She had to be brave.
“O-okay.” She took a deep breath. This was happening. She just had to get on-board with it. “No, you’re right. That makes sense. And if we need to do something to get the team release, we’ll be there.”
Diha stood and pulled out the tote bag she’d stashed out of sight earlier. It was big enough to fit everything she felt was crucial to her working environment. The laptop and cord went in along with her notebook and pens. She swept the other bits and bobs into the side compartment to sort out later.
Miles whirled to face her again as he paced the room. “We might get stuck there. Can you grab some things from the hotel in case?”
In the back of her mind, she’d known this was coming. It still left her feeling off-balance. If her parents found out she was taking an overnight trip with only a man, they would be horrified. Yet again, they weren’t as progressive as they liked to think they were.
But they never had to know, and it wasn’t like anything would happen.
“Yes, I can be repacked in a few minutes,” she said. “What about you?”
Energy seemed to crackle around him. He was a force of nature wound up like this. “I keep a bag here, just in case. I’ll go grab it, change and meet you by the elevator.”
“I’ll be there.”
Now she just had to survive a two-hour car ride and an overnight stay in the man’s company without spontaneously combusting. She could do that. No problem at all.
Who was she kidding?
WEDNESDAY. VALENTINO’S Condo. Brighton, United Kingdom.
Miles peered out of the windows, going just under the speed limit as they completed their first circuit around the warehouse-turned-condo building.
Brighton was a very different city from London. The vibe was younger, more trendy. The air seemed lighter.
Maybe what he needed was to move out of London. Go to a different office.
That idea didn’t settle well with him. He thrived doing what he did, but he also wanted more.
“I don’t see the vans or any sign the guys were here.” Diha twisted in her seat.
She’d changed out of her flowing floral outfit into a more casual ensemble of black leggings with a black tunic top. It was a shame. She’d looked so nice earlier, but it was a memorable outfit.
“I’m not seeing any police presence either.” He had a pretty good eye for spotting surveillance, and yet there had been nothing.
“What did they think the guys were doing here? Did they talk to anyone? Look at anything?” Diha asked.
“I don’t think so. It sounds to me like no one really wants to ask questions, they just want the win of arresting someone. Especially with all the articles coming out.” He turned his head. “You think that’s Valentino, too?”
She grimaced. “Yeah.”
News stories about the arrests had rolled out almost concurrently. For a case that hadn’t existed yesterday, there were far too many experts about it for any of it to be real.
“I just keep telling myself that if Valentino played his hand so strong, it’s just because he’s scared. We’ll figure out how he hacked the system and fix it. What we learn will lead back to him. But it’s really hard to see any of that right now, you know?”
“Aye.”
He slid into a parking spot vacated by another car several blocks from the condo.
“What are we doing now?” Diha turned to face him. “If the condo isn’t a crime scene, what can we do?”
“We’re going to have a look around anyway,” he said.
“But, can we do that?”
He didn’t want to answer that.
So far, he hadn’t found anyone who would grant him a search warrant. The arrests had taken center stage. What he wanted to do would throw those arrests into question. And yet, they were doing the right thing.
“We’d be breaking in, wouldn’t we?” Diha asked slowly.
“That or we do nothing.” He’d really been counting on someone listening to them.
She stared straight ahead at the brick wall for a moment. “Could we ask the landlord?”
“They’d want a warrant.”
Miles didn’t want to do nothing. He knew that to get the best results he had to follow the letter of the law. But they were dealing with a criminal who could warp the law by feeding it whatever intel it wanted. In order to catch Valentino, were they going to have to step outside the lines? Or was there another way?
“This is why we hired the Aegis Group team.” Diha glanced at him. “Because of situations like this. Because sometimes we have to bend laws.”
It took him a moment to realize she was answering his question from earlier. He nodded. It was an answer that made abundant sense. How often would he have liked to simply get something done, but had to jump through hoops? What was Diha working on that they needed to circumvent the law that much?
“If we do this, if you get something you can act on, would it hold in your courts?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“Are you willing to do this?” he asked.
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she seemed to consider and weigh the question for a moment. “Yes. I believe in the law and that it’s there for a reason. But I also know that there are some bad guys we will never stop if we don’t bend.”
“Okay. Let’s do it. Let’s go in there,” he said.
A knot eased from between his shoulders. He hadn’t realized he was that tense.
She reached for the door handle, but he grasped her wrist.
“Wait,” he said.
She froze.
He took his hand back and leaned against his door. “We need to be careful about this.”
She nodded slowly. “Yes. The pictures on the files were clearly taken while the guys were here.”
“Then we have to keep our faces off cameras we can see and those we can’t.” He twisted in the seat to peer around them.
“Then we need hats or masks or something?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
Diha leaned down and grabbed the large tote she’d hauled with them. She began digging in a side compartment.
“This is just an idea, but... What about these?” She held up two medical masks, the kind some people wore out when they were sick.
It would cover everything under their eyes. It also wouldn’t be as strange as wearing something like a knit mask.
“Perfect.” He took one from her and fit it on his face before grabbing a baseball hat from the back seat.
Before heading out, he’d changed as well, including the small addition of his firearm that was currently under his jacket in his holster against his side. Once he had the cap and mask in place, he was satisfied there wouldn’t be enough for a person to work with.
“How’s this?” Diha twisted to face him.
She’d put her mask on too, but had wound a maroon scarf around her head and neck, leaving only her eyes visible.
“I think this is pretty damn smart.” He grinned at her.
The corners of her eyes crinkled and he knew she was smiling back at him.
“Grab what you need and let’s get over there.” He reached under his seat for a small kit he didn’t often use.
They got out and locked the car. He’d have liked to leave the car somewhere far away and take public transportation to the condo, but he didn’t want to spend that much time. Besides, they didn’t know if it would protect them given how extensive Valentino’s access was.
Diha met him on the sidewalk. She’d parred her things down so it fit in a canvas messenger b
ag he’d had in the trunk.
“Stay close, and keep your head down,” he said to her.
They kept pace with each other as they took a meandering path toward the condos.
Hardly anyone glanced at them. While the face masks weren’t terribly common, it was September and cold season had begun in earnest.
“How are we getting inside?” Diha asked after a few blocks of silence.
Ahead of them, the building loomed.
“That part’s hardly ever difficult.” He didn’t like admitting that, but it was the truth.
He watched the people walking along the sidewalk.
A young couple was burdened by grocery bags and juggling the leashes of two small dogs. Miles remained focused on them. They looked the type.
As he and Diha crossed the street, the couple paused to swipe some sort of keycard to the condo.
Miles lengthened his stride.
Diha matched him.
They didn’t quite run, but they moved with purpose, closing in on the door just before it shut. Miles caught the door with the tips of his fingers and pulled it open, blowing out a breath.
Too perfect.
He held the door for Diha, then glanced behind them, searching out anyone taking an interest in them.
No one was even looking.
It didn’t mean Valentino wasn’t watching, though he’d rather the piece of shit were upstairs. If he could arrest the hacker, they’d be one massive step closer to ending all of this.
“The condo is on the top floor,” Diha said.
He nodded and led the way to the elevator. Clearly the building had been converted recently to have something like an elevator.
They rode up in silence, their backs to the camera.
Despite Diha’s nerves, she was carrying on beautifully. No hesitation. She looked relaxed, normal, as if she belonged.
The lift dinged and the doors slid open.
Miles stepped out first before her and peered up and down the hall.
It was empty.
“Camera,” Diha whispered.
“I see it.”
Miles pulled her over to walk on his left and just behind him. With luck, his body would block her from the camera.
They stopped outside the condo. He pressed his ear to the door and listened, but there was no sound.
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