Page 69 of Honor Code

"Thank you, Boomer." She smiled back and sat next to him. With a sour look, Phoenix took the remaining chair.

Pat, Blade, and Boomer were drinking beers, so they ordered two more from a passing waiter then got down to business.

"We did some digging into Gilded Futures," Pat began. "They're an investment firm specializing in commodities and futures markets. On the surface, they look legit."

"Except we know they're not," Ellie cut in. "They hired those thugs to kill us."

"If they're behind this, they bribed a survey company to falsify records in order to convince Xonex, a private energy company, to acquire expensive drilling licenses and start exploratory drilling in a location that held no oil reserves."

"Do you know why?" Blade asked.

Phoenix shook his head. "Could be any number of reasons."

"Who did you say was involved?" Pat asked Ellie.

"My boss, a man called Henderson. He works for Xonex."

"Okay, we'll get our people to look into him." Pat took out his phone and fired off a text message.

It was nearly eight o'clock, and he still had people working for him? Ellie was impressed.

"How are we going to catch them?" she asked. "Phoenix and I are the only loose ends, and they don't know where we are."

"Not yet," Blade said, the corners of his mouth turning up.

Phoenix scowled. "I don't want Ellie involved in this. She's been through enough."

"Okay," Pat said slowly, "But we're going to have to make them think she is, else they won't come."

"Come?" Ellie looked between Pat and Phoenix, confused.

"We're going to set up a sting operation," Blade explained for her benefit. Somehow, the other men already knew what they were going to do. "We need to draw them out."

"Which means we have to make them think you've got evidence that can get them arrested," Boomer finished.

"Like what?" Ellie said. "I lost everything in the explosion."

"But they don't know that," Phoenix told her. "You were out on the inflatable when the rig went up. Henderson saw you return, that's how they knew to come after us."

"So?"

"He doesn't know you didn't have your laptop with you, or some other incriminating evidence."

Ellie nodded slowly. "How are we going to convince them that's true?"

"Do you know anyone at Xonex you can call?" Pat asked. "A friend, maybe."

"There's Suzi." She glanced at Boomer and then Phoenix. "She left to visit her father the morning of the blast. I could call her and tell her I managed to get away with my laptop with everything on it and need to convince the authorities of the fraud."

Boomer frowned. "You think they'll be tracking Suzi's phone?"

"Maybe," Phoenix said, thoughtfully. "Ellie could tell Suzi she wants to get a message to Henderson, as she's worried about her job and wants to know what she should do with the information."

Boomer tensed his jaw. "You're going to use Suzi to contact Henderson?"

"He's her boss too," Phoenix said, reasonably.

"I'll just act like the clueless bimbo they always wanted me to be." Ellie gave a determined nod. "After all, that's why they hired me. Shouldn’t be too hard to convince him I'm lost and don't know what to do with my reports, which belong to the company, anyway."

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