Page 14 of Storm and Tempest
“Good idea.”
“Have you ever come across Assistant Director in Charge Hadley?” Jax asked. “He’s here, shaking the trees and asking me if I’m seeing the psychologist.”
“I’d say, ‘Don’t act unhinged and they won’t think you’re unhinged,’ but it doesn’t always work like that.”
Stairns could say that, because when Kenna was retired with no room for debate, it was Stairns who’d signed the papers, thinking he was doing her a favor. Someone needed to do Jax afavor and just let him look for his wife. The other agents in the office could take care of their cases. He needed to be a man on a mission.
Finding Kenna.
“There has to be a way to get to her.” The elevator doors opened, and Jax sniffed, stepping out so no one would think he was having a breakdown. “I need to find her.”
“Talk to Bruce. Both him and Ramon called me this morning. You need to get with them and work this.” Stairns paused. “As far as Hadley goes, watch yourself. He hasn’t risen to the top without stepping on a few heads on the way up.”
“Copy that.”
“I’ll let you go,” Stairns said. He must’ve heard the shift in Jax’s tone.
“Thanks.” Jax hung up.
He ducked in the surveillance office, logged into the closest computer, and pulled up the feed for the room where Maizie was being questioned. Anyone who checked the records would know he had observed the conversation.
He slid the headphones on.
“…explaining how it is that your station interacted with this worm more than once,” the agent stated. She was older and didn’t go out in the field much, but she was whip smart and hopefully astute enough to treat Maizie with compassion.
His girl sat across the table, straight with her shoulders back. Chin high but not high enough to be defiant. To her credit, she didn’t look as tired as she should be after being up half the night, digging up a dead body and stealing surveillance video. “Everyone in this office likely interacted with that worm,” she replied. “The fact I did it only a couple of times means I likely brushed past it in the course of my normal duties.”
“Let’s talk about those ‘normal duties.’” The agent made air quotes. “The Special Agent in Charge personally invited you to work here, even vouched for you.”
Maizie stayed quiet longer than someone just thinking what to say. As though taking a more measured approach, keeping herself from saying something she didn’t mean to and landing in hot water for it. “If I brushed past the worm, that’s likely the same as anyone on the network has done. There’s nothing special about my activity.” She spoke calmly, as if she’d been advised how to treat this interview, and was reserving judgment on how much trouble she was in.
“You’re eighteen years old, and you work as an FBI consultant technician. You think there’s nothing special about your situation?” The agent relaxed in her seat. “When did you first realize you were so good with computers?”
Trying to make friends with Maizie so she would let down her guard.
The agent had no idea what kind of person she was dealing with. A fact that could help Maizie keep her own confidence and come across as unflappable, and equally meant she might break more than anyone this woman had ever met. Jax knew it had happened. Her trauma whipped up and slapped her across the face when she least expected it, as it often did to former victims.
The question was, how far would this agent push—and how would Maizie react?
Maizie cleared her throat. “The worm you showed me on that device is pervasive. Everyone has likely interacted with it, unknowingly.” She motioned to a tablet on the table. “That’s what we’re talking about right now, because that worm is a threat to this office, and you need to deal with it.” She leaned forward. “You needmeif you want to get rid of it.”
Jax absorbed those words, wondering when she’d decided to make a power play. To shift the balance from the agent to her.She was the one in a position to help the Bureau rather than the agent having all the power. Maizie didn’t need to simper and bargain for concessions.
Effective, but not the tactic that Jax would have told her to use.
Maizie’s lips curled up, just a fraction. Not enough that anyone who didn’t know her would recognize.
Jax shook his head and muttered to himself, “Who is talking in your ear, Maze?”
He would put money on her being coached in the moment. Maybe by Ramon, but more likely it was Bruce the former CIA agent. Or both. Men he wanted to blame, rage against, and pummel until they got him Kenna back. But right now, he couldn’t muster up the anger that seemed to have been burning in his chest since he found out she was gone.
In fact, he was angrier at the FBI than at Kenna’s team right now.
“What was that, sir?”
Jax hadn’t realized the agent on the far side of the room could hear him. He shook his head, holding the earphones in place. “Nothing.”
The agent across the table from Maizie in the interview room tapped the tablet screen. “You might be able to help us, but that means answering my questions.” She lifted it to Maizie, which meant he couldn’t see what was on the screen. “Like explain to me why you’ve been looking at this page of the silo after action report more than any other.” She paused a second. “Is there some kind of code embedded in this data?”
