Page 37 of Fallout

“Sie?”

The twin’s voice came through, sounding exactly like Peter’s so that it was going to be impossible to tell them apart. “They moved. This is…” He let out a sound of frustration. “Above you.”

“The staging area?” Peter asked.

“No,” Simon said, “there’s a terminal on the west side. Halfway down, in the wall.”

Jasper jogged around the training mat back to the stairs. Peter met him there. Jasper went first, upstairs. “This floor?”

Peter said, “Hook left.”

This hallway appeared to be a whole lot more industrial. At the bend, he looked first before stepping out. The woman had a laptop plugged into an open panel on the wall, her attention on the screen.

Jasper held his gun up and took measured steps down the hall. “April, put the computer on the floor, and put your hands up.”

She let out a sharp noise and nearly dropped the laptop.

“Put it down.”

Peter followed right behind him. “You’re done here.”

April sneered. “Yeah, I am.” She dropped the laptop horizontally so that it hit the linoleum flat. Shattered from the sound of it. Had she just destroyed evidence? She raised her hands. “Guess you caught me.”

Something about this raised the hair on Jasper’s arms. “You’re coming with us.”

The woman had injuries from being “beaten” by her boyfriend. But had the plan all along been to infiltrate Vanguard and access it from the inside?

Jasper got her cuffed and then pulled out his phone while she faced the wall with her hands secured behind her back. He dialed Samantha’s number.

“Detective Jesse.”

“Your confidential informant is under arrest,” Jasper explained.

“I’m on my way.” Samantha hung up.

He stowed his phone and glanced at Peter, who was also on the phone. The guy had a dark look on his face. “What’s the damage to Vanguard? What did she access?”

They could have assets that were now compromised.

“He doesn’t know.” Peter stowed his phone. “Yet.”

April started to laugh.

SIXTEEN

Destiny clicked her mouse in the program window on their secure network. “Okay, I got it.”

Through the phone speaker on the desk, Clare said, “Type this.” She rattled off a long series of letters, numbers, and symbols. “Then hit enter.”

“Done.”

The computer screen flashed COMPLETE.

“That should secure everything.”

More like quadruple secure, but she got the point. Destiny said, “Jasper knows.”

“You told him?”

---