Page 40 of No Questions Asked

I must have gasped in horror, because Slash looked over at me. “What’s wrong,cara?”

I quickly closed the email. “Nothing. Just my mother. Let’s keep working. I found something. Take a look at this.”

He leaned over to look at my screen, his elbow resting on the desk. He read through the data before pointing at a spot. “A penetration here.”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “It’s a noncritical sector, but they broke through. The critical data is perfectly safe, but I notified Tim of the intrusion and to remind the staff not to post anything valuable on email, while keeping the normal traffic going.”

Slash tapped a couple of keys on my keyboard. “Good. It looks like they’re nowhere close to the hidden walls of the critical data.”

“Not yet. We have to prepare for the contingency, though.”

“Si, we do.”

We kept working for a while longer until I stopped and turned in my chair to face him. “Something is bugging me, Slash. Why would drug runners ambush a vaccine expedition? If they were drug runners, it’s a risky move. That kind of attack is bound to catch the eye of the government, bring their attention to the area, and that’s just stupid, right?”

Slash kept watching the data scrolling across his screen. “Maybe they were just a couple of stupid, greedy guys who decided to do a quick grab and run with some valuables.”

“Except you don’t really believe that.”

“No, I don’t.” He leaned back in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. “But it should be on the table for consideration. The truth is, at this point, I also don’t have enough data to postulate another theory.”

“How did they find us? There’s no way they just stumbled upon us in the rainforest. They either expected us, or followed us to the village. Do you think they were trying to disrupt the process? Scare us away from vaccinating the villagers? I suppose that would be an attack of another sort on the program.”

“It would, but it would also mean they’ve got some reach high up in Brazilian government. If so, that’s significant, a possible game changer. I checked the jeeps for tracking devices and didn’t find anything. So, that means either someone told them we were going to be there or they tracked us some other way. I suppose a couple of drug runners could have been in the area, or we crossed some invisible zone that’s being monitored by a drug lord, and they followed us, not knowing who we were. Then they decided we were easy targets and,boom,they attack. Didn’t realize their mistake until it was too late. And if that turns out to be the truth, they’re basically marked men. There won’t be any protection for them in jail.”

I had to agree it was a plausible scenario, but the bottom line was Slash was right. We didn’t have enough hard data to know for sure. We were just throwing out suppositions, which wasn’t terribly helpful. Unless those guys talked—which apparently they weren’t going to do—we wouldn’t have any clear answers.

I blew out a breath and started to get back to work, when Slash put a hand on my arm and lowered his voice so I could barely hear him. “We also can’t discount the possibility that the hackers have someone on the inside,cara. Someone at this camp who might be disrupting the process, compromising the team, or be after the vaccine formula. We have to be vigilant for the insider threat.”

I nodded. It had occurred to me, but seemed even more ominous and likely after the morning’s events.

We couldn’t trust anyone.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lexi

There are a lot of uncomfortable aspects to camping, like cold showers, a variety of biting insects, lumpy beds and pillows, and strangers who snore. In my opinion, however, the worst part of camping is having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. You can’t simply stumble out of bed and wander into the bathroom. No, when camping you have to put your clothes and shoes on and carry a flashlight to see where you’re going. Don’t even get me started on where to put that flashlight while taking care of business.

Unfortunately, as badly as I wanted to ignore it, nature was calling. Resigned, I rolled over and grabbed my clothes from the bottom of the bed. After I dressed and slipped my feet into the hiking boots, I checked the time on my watch. Three twenty-four a.m.

Ugh. Morning was going to come all too quickly.

I heard some light snoring as I slipped out of the building and headed to the outhouse. I passed a security guard, who gave me a curt nod and went on his way. He didn’t even ask me where I was going, but I figured he knew. Where else would I go at three in the morning?

I arrived at the outhouse and quickly took care of business, my flashlight tucked awkwardly under my chin. On my way out, I caught a glimpse of a dark figure flitting past the dining building toward the lab. If I hadn’t been looking in that exact direction, I would have missed it. The person hadn’t been walking deliberately, but almost furtively. Instinctively, I pressed back against the side of outhouse, waiting until the figure passed in front of one of the hanging lanterns.

Vicente.

He hadn’t come from the direction of the outhouse or the men’s quarters, so I wondered where he’d been and what he was doing sneaking around the camp at three o’clock in the morning. I expected him to move toward the men’s sleeping quarters, but instead he headed toward the lab, slipped around the building and disappeared into the darkness.

What the heck?

As far as I knew there wasn’t anything behind the lab. Curious, I darted toward the lab and edged up to the corner, daring a quick peek around the corner. Vicente stood at the fence speaking quietly to a man through the barbed wire. The two men exchanged something and then the man outside of the fence melted into the darkness. I drew my head back and darted around the other side of the lab, pressing back against the building. I had to process what I’d just seen and I thought it might be better if he didn’t know.

I heard Vicente’s footsteps head toward the front of the lab. He rattled the doorknob twice and then stopped. Was he trying to get in or make sure it was locked?

I stood completely still, but my pulse jumped when I realized he was coming my direction. A quick calculation determined no matter how fast I ran, he’d see me. I’d have to face him. Taking a deep breath, I clicked on my flashlight and stepped around the corner.

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