Page 72 of Command and Control: GHOST Operative

Heidi lifts one shoulder. "I don’t know." She glances at the corner of her computer where the clock is. "Holy shit, it's already five o'clock."

If Heidi doesn't know what time it is, she sure as shit doesn't know how long it's been since Julieanne left. I leave her again and this time go directly to the security room, barging in. The guard monitoring the feeds spins to face me. He starts to greet me, but I cut him off.

"I'm looking for Julieanne. I can't find her.” My eyes roam the feeds. “Have you seen her?"

His brows pinch together like he doesn’t understand the question. "She left about fifteen minutes ago." His lips press into a frown. “Nothing looked odd. Is something wrong?”

I grip the door frame as the world starts to spin out. "She left?" I'm yelling and I don't give a shit. "How in the fuck did she leave? She can't get out of this place on her own."

The man in front of me goes white as a sheet, his throat working as he swallows. "Well… She didn't actually leave alone."

26

LOOSE MORALS FOR THE WIN

JULIEANNE

"HOLY SHIT."

My focus snaps to where Heidi sits beside me, staring at her computer screen. "Did you find something?"

"Yes." She tips her head, lips pursing. "Maybe. I'm not sure yet."

I lean in, trying to get a better look at what she's looking at. "What is it?"

Eyes narrowing, she continues working while she explains. "So, I'm in some relatively sketchy hacking groups, and I just found someone asking about a program that erases pathways."

My jaw drops. "Holy shit."

"That's what I said." Heidi is still scanning her screen, scrolling through what seems to be a never-ending comment thread. It's difficult to tell, because quite a bit of it is still encrypted. “People in these groups are super secretive, so unfortunately it's gonna take me a while to figure out who's asking and if they’ve got any connection to our guys."

She’s been working on this all day and I know she has to be tired. I’m on day five and I’m freaking exhausted, and I don’t have twins at home or another job.

And now I feel like an ass for bringing her here.

"I'm really sorry. I know I'm taking you away from your job and your kids.” I blow out a frustrated breath. “I just didn't know who else to turn to."

"Don't be sorry." Heidi gives me a quick smile. "I love this shit." She leans closer, lowering her voice. "And I've kind of missed hanging out with your asshole boyfriend."

I smile, because I can see why Vincent likes her—and Vincent does like her, whether he admits it or not. "I'm pretty sure he missed hanging out with you too." I don't want to offer up too much information, so I make my next question more about her side of this. "Is the owner of your company still pissed?"

Heidi snorts. "Pissed is probably an understatement." She’s still working, managing to carry on a full conversation without so much as pausing. "Pierce was fucking livid when he found out Vincent was behind all the weird shit happening. And it only got worse when Vincent tried to play it off like he was helping by showing Pierce where the company's weak spots were."

It was kind of a dick move, but I'm not telling her I think that. My loyalty is to Vincent. No matter what he's done, I'll back him up. I might scream at him about it later, but in front of other people, I will have his back every time. "Were there weak spots?"

Heidi's lips press together. "I'm not going to answer that."

I like that she has her own allegiances and isn't going to throw anyone under the bus. It means she’s trustworthyand loyal, and makes me glad Vincent’s had her around. Even though she might work for another company, Heidi doesn’t seem like the kind who would run back and tell her boss everything that’s going on within GHOST.

Heidi rolls her head, cracking her neck. "I'm sure they'll work their shit out at some point. Honestly, they both have the same asshole tendencies, and they both need each other, even if they won’t admit it."

That’s an interesting statement.

"I'm still not entirely clear on how they worked together." Now I'm just being nosy. I’ve accepted that I’ll never get to work for GHOST, but I still want to know as much as I can about it.

"Both companies are privately held, but all of Alaskan Security’s contracts are civilian." Heidi leans forward, eyes squinting at the screen. "GHOST’s contracts frequently have government ties, so it was convenient for Vincent to occasionally use Alaskan Security to add an extra layer of separation between GHOST’s actions and the people who requested them."

It makes sense. I can see how certain entities wouldn't want to be connected to the kinds of things I know GHOST does. "So what's in it for Alaskan Security?"

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