Page 108 of The Fallen One

“As you know, Secret Service checks your mother’s home regularly,” Oliver said, eyes still on Mya, but he’d dialed down his tone. The lingering effects of their showdown remained in the form of uncomfortable energy, though. “So, of course, after the incident with your glasses, they checked again. Also, swept your dad’s place. Nada.”

My shoulders slumped at the lack of news.

“Way to bury the lead,” Mya grumbled.

“At least I’m talking about the mission and not about the key to happiness,” he hissed back. Oliver had only joined the tail end of that conversation, but it’d clearly struck a nerve.

“So what’s the lead, then?” I had to redirect these two before Mya tested the theory of gravity and threw this man from the plane. I guess Carter and I aren’t the only ones distracted by . . . well, feelings. The good and the bad.

“Secret Service found no inconsistencies in your dad’s security software, but Gwen did. She isolated two discrepancies in the footage that ninety percent of cyber experts would’ve missed. The security feed was placed in a loop on two different occasions, hiding about four minutes each time.”

Not very comforting. “When?”

Still holding his injured arm, Oliver shared, “Wednesday night and two weeks ago.”

“So, two weeks ago is when someone more than likely planted a device, and they hid the evidence they were in his home?” I asked, putting it together. “Then this Wednesday they removed it to cover their tracks?”

Mya nodded. “Your father met with Sydney’s dad Wednesday afternoon. Archer passed over the tracker for your glasses and explained how to use it.”

“That was the same night the President called Carter to the White House to task him with helping out,” Oliver chimed in, “and your mother gave him the suitcase with your things. Your dad wasn’t home Wednesday night, and someone must’ve known that was the case. So, presumably they broke in and took out the device, then hid the fact they were ever there by altering the footage.”

“What about the neighboring homes? I’m sure most have Ring cameras in the front and back.” Of course, you’re all smart. You checked already and clearly came up empty. “Ignore me,” I whispered, pushing at the tight skin on my forehead, exhausted. “You wouldn’t have buried the lead on that one.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. It helps to talk through this,” Oliver said, his tone much gentler with me than with Mya. “But you’re right, no to the above.”

“Our best lead from all of this is that someone knew your dad well enough to assume he’d go to extreme lengths to keep tabs on you even after a rescue,” Mya shared.

“That leads us to believe the same person had prior knowledge that something would happen to you in the first place.” Oliver and Mya made a great team at delivering intel when they weren’t staring at each other like they wanted to murder one another. “Because otherwise, why your dad?” Oliver continued. “Why randomly start spying on him just before the lab attack? You know what I mean?”

After a few seconds to process, I admitted, “Yeah, I’m wiped out, burnt out, and, well, all the outs, but I’m following. Someone knew I’d be abducted because they were part of the hit. They figured a rescue attempt would be made. In case of success, they had a contingency plan to find me and take me back.” I glanced at Carter, finding him deep in conversation with Sydney and Gray. “I’m guessing my dad wasn’t home two weeks ago when they planted the bug either?”

“Your dad handles defense contracts for the Pentagon. Negotiates deals and the like.” Oliver waited for my attention and shook his head as if in apology. “Sorry, surely you already know that.” I didn’t, actually, but I had no plans to admit that. “Well, anyway, he was in New York on business,” he finished.

“And there’s no way for Gwen to see the original footage from those two times? You said she’s better than the majority of the world, so I’m just trying to be optimistic.” Pessimism will get me nowhere, so . . .

“Gwen is the best. Like top five. The problem is, she thinks someone in the top four is responsible for a lot of what’s going on. So, no dice on recovering the footage,” Mya explained, frowning. “But that’s another lead in itself, and the White House has people trying to track down those four hackers.”

“Unfortunately, when you’re one of the most elite hackers in the world, you’re fairly fucking good at going ghost both physically and digitally.” Oliver shook his head. “But between Natasha and Gwen, maybe they’ll find the needle in the cyberstack. We find the hacker, and maybe from there, we find who hired them.”

With all the names flying around, I was losing track of who was who. “Natasha is?”

“Ah, sorry.” Oliver pointed to Gray. “Natasha’s Gray’s cyber genius sister. She’s married to Wyatt, a SEAL working on this mission from a different angle.”

Yeah, this is a lot. And I could really use Dallas right about now. I spotted him curled up asleep next to Jack. Well, pretty sure that was his name. He was talking to another J-named guy. Jesse, right. Okay, so maybe I would get all their names straight. Would be helpful in thanking them once this was all over.

“So, to recap, what you’re both suggesting is whoever’s behind all this knows my father, and they hired one of the world’s best hackers to cover that fact and their tracks,” I said, opting not to wake Dallas despite the comfort I needed from him.

“Basically, yeah. Whoever’s fucking over the country must be fucking your dad, too.” Oliver grimaced. “I mean, not literally . . . well, hell, hopefully not.”

“Your delivery of shit news could use some work.” Mya stood as if needing to be eye level with him, but he still towered over her. “After this is over, you need sensitivity training, or maybe obedience school. Ring the bell. Do the trick.”

“Ah, if you want me to salivate like Pavlov’s dog, buttercup, all you have to do is?—”

Mya covered his mouth with her hand and gritted out, “Don’t you dare lick or bite me.”

“Enough,” Carter rasped, and my spine straightened at the deep voice throttling all of our attention his way. “You two are exhausted, and turning on each other because of it doesn’t help.”

As Mya slowly removed her hand from Oliver’s mouth, I spied a hint of his tongue catching her palm, but she didn’t cringe or smack him. Maybe Carter’s broody presence was enough to make them both behave. He was the bell himself, and he’d rung it damn hard.

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