Page 79 of Suspicious

“Does that mean wedon’tthink the hack came from Marshall? That it’s bad intel?” I ask.

Loki shakes his head. “I don’t want to rule anything out. I have to dig deeper, but just in case itistrue, and we have a corrupt governor, you have to pull Haven out, Pres. She’s pulled that information from an inmate, and if that inmate tells any of Atlas’ other cronies in there that she broke, then Haven could be in deep shit. She’s gotta come out.NOW!”

Alpha yanks his cell from his pocket and starts sending off a text, probably to his friend, the warden. But my stomach turns as I think of Valerie. “Wait! What about Montana’s mother? Will she be in harm’s way by association with Haven or, you know,Tammy-Lynn?”

Alpha grimaces. “I’ll get the warden to put her in solitary until we can find a solution.”

Regret swarms through me. I hate that I have potentially put Valerie in jeopardy. “Should we tell Montana?” I ask.

Alpha glances at Loki, and there’s definitely a mutual look passing between them, though neither of them says anything. Which only heightens my anxiety, and I let out a huff. “He’s going to be so mad at me, isn’t he?”

Loki slides his arm around me for comfort. “Montana and Valerie have an amazing bond. Heneverwants his mom to be in danger. When we tell him that solitary is the best place for her right now, he’ll understand.”

“Maybe I should tell him, explain the whole thing—”

“No, Bea. I’ll tell him. You’ve had a big day, and you played your role. Now, it’s up to Loki to try to figure out what thehell we’re going to do with this information. We also have the birthday party this weekend. We need to factor that into whatever plan we come up with,” Alpha interrupts me.

Loki grips at his bearded chin. “The governor’s gonna have a secure network. I’mgonnaneed help cracking into that, especially because the due date for the notice of breach is coming up on Monday. I need to figure this shit out.Quickly!”

A slow smile crosses my face as I hear exactly what he’s saying. “You need me to call Theo?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Yeah… I need my best friend beside me for this one. If we’re bringing down someone as powerful as Bennett Marshall, I’m gonna need the power of Silicon Valley behind me.”

Bursting into a fit of giggles, I pull out my cell. “Oh, he is going toloveto know that you said that!”

Loki glares at me. “I’ll deny everything.”

Grinning, I wink at him, dialing my brother’s number.

I don’t know how on earth they’re going to fix this.

But if I know one thing for sure.

Loki and Theo are two of the best tech minds I have ever seen. Put the two of them together, and I can’t even imagine what they will come up with.

All of a sudden, this entire situation doesn’t feel unbeatable anymore.

I have hope, and as long as you have that, you can do amazing things.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Bea

Five Days Later

Within a few hours of Alpha sending off his text to the warden, Haven was back home, and we’ve all been deep in party prep since. Theo showed up a day or so later, and it’s been nice having my brother here the past few days. Even though he’s been locked in the den with Loki most of the time, both of them buried in work, headphones on, deep into hacking territory, it’s just been nice seeing the two of them together.

Especially after the last time Theo was here.

Just having the people I love most in the world spending time together, like in the good old days, is making me so freaking happy. Even if they are exhausting all their time trying to figure out how to bring down the next possible Vice President of the United States of America.

But today, I have told them that they need to take a break.

If only for a couple of hours, even with the looming deadline.

Because it’s Poppy and Louis’ birthday party, and I know with all the planning Clover has put into it, we’re sure to have a damn good time.

It’s especially exciting because some brothers from the NOLA Chapter are here for the party, too, because of their connection to Louis. I can’t wait to meet all these new people.

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