Page 14 of Falling Fast

She had a team to help her work on it, but she’d wanted to do it herself. If she was going to use it on the op, she needed to know exactly how it all fit together. No one knew for sure what kind of security measures Baker had at his office or vacation home, so she’d made sure to use minimal metallic parts in case there was some kind of metal detector.

“Ooh, I like it.” Liz picked up the tube, examined it for a long moment, then gestured for the tweezers.

Charlie handed them over without a word and watched in amazement as Liz expertly slipped the chip into the base of the tube, then secured it with a wadded-up elastic band tamped beneath it into the base.

“Hand me the top so I can see if this will pass inspection.” Liz took the lid and snapped it into place, then took the lid off and twisted the stick of lip-gloss up and out of the tube. With a satisfied grunt, she handed it back to Charlie.

Charlie turned it over in her fingers, looking for a seam, any sign at all that the plastic had been tampered with. “Wow, you’re good. A little scary how fast you figured that out, considering I’ve been sitting here farting around with it for twenty minutes.”

“I’ve just got more years of experience on you, that’s all. So, Charlie.” She leaned back in her chair, plump hands folded neatly over her rounded belly. “Got any tea and munchies around here? I’m starving.”

After serving her guest, Charlie sat down and got better acquainted with Spider.

“I’m guessing nobody showed you a picture of me before I showed up, huh?” Liz asked before taking a sip of tea, her bright blue eyes sparkling with humor from within the frames of her glasses.

The agency had scrambled to put a file together on Spider for Charlie, but given the rush it hadn’t contained a photo, just mostly technical stuff about her online activity, and Liz had just flown into NYC last night. “No. It’s just that you’re one of the best hackers out there, and that your day job is in the IT field.”

Liz snorted. “I’m an elementary school librarian from Wisconsin and I’m about to become a grandma for the third time.”

Charlie’s eyes widened and she couldn’t help a smile. “Really?” That hadn’t been in the file either.

“Yep on both counts. Going on seventeen years at the school. I love my job.”

“And how did you get involved in your…” Not a hobby. Calling the kind of hacking Liz did a hobby was downright insulting. “Extracurricular activities?”

Liz’s lips curved upward in a sly smile. “My ex-husband was a NYC detective. I knew he was cheating on me, and didn’t trust any locals to help me get evidence. So I used my IT background, took up delving into the dark net as a hobby, and everything went from there.”

Wow. “Did you catch him?”

“Oh yeah. Divorced his cheating ass and got a nice settlement he’s still paying for through spousal support.”

Charlie laughed. She loved this woman. “Good for you.”

Liz grinned. “Yep. And then the woman he’d been cheating on me with wound up giving him gonorrhea.” Laughing, she put her mug down on the table. “So, let’s get down to business, shall we?”

The DEA had already briefed Liz on the investigation and upcoming operation, since she was an official informant for the agency. “Yes.”

An hour later, Charlie was even more impressed with the woman sitting across from her. No, more like awed and astounded. The woman wore frumpy sweater sets and pearls and looked like the most harmless woman in the entire world. But she was actually a predator in her own right, using her skills to unleash havoc on criminals she later exposed.

“Anything else?” Liz asked when she finished detailing how Charlie was to “fix” Baker’s computer system, then helped herself to another cup of tea.

Charlie’s mind was spinning. “One thing.”

“Shoot.”

“Why stop now? I mean, now that the agency is using you as an informant and given me part of your identity to use as a cover, your anonymity is over.”

Liz shrugged a shoulder. “It was time. I love the idea of going out with a bang, using my skills to help bring down a cartel.” Her eyes glittered with excitement. “I’m ready to pack it in and spend more time with my grandbabies before they’re too old to want to hang out with me.”

“When this is all over, promise me we’ll meet up again so you can tell me more about the virus you designed for Baker’s computer system.”

Another evil smile. “Some of my best work. What I wouldn’t have given to be a fly on the wall when your team uploaded it into his system.”

At the brisk knock on the door, Charlie’s stomach buzzed with that increasingly familiar combination of nerves and butterflies. “That’ll be my new neighbor.”

“Mmm, and it must be such a hardship, living next to a man like that,” Liz said with a conspiratorial wink. She’d met Jamie earlier at a meeting Charlie hadn’t attended because she’d been busy with the people from her department.

Charlie didn’t answer as she went over to open the door, steeling herself for the sight that awaited her.

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