Page 57 of Now or Never
“Everything you’ve told me so far is really helpful.”
“I need a real lawyer.” Felicity shot her a look. “No offense.”
“None taken.” She leaned forward a little. “I’ll do what I can.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“I’m not going to hide, and I have plenty of people around to protect me and to do the dangerous stuff so I can stay safe.” Kenna glanced at the guard in the hall, watching them. She wondered if he could read lips. “I’ve had enough of being threatened by these people, but I know I can’t fight them.”
“We thought we were doing good.” Felicity shook her head.
“It was a setup for the bombing,” Kenna said. “So the feds would come up with enough evidence to detain you all.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you know all of what was in the packet I received?”
Felicity nodded.
“I wouldn’t have much without it,” Kenna admitted. She didn’t want to explain about her White House meeting, or the other job she’d been requested to do. This woman needed to hope that they were doing everything they could, and not thatDominatuswas manipulating them. But Kenna needed to ask about the pictures in the packet.
She said, “Can you tell me what all those personnel dossiers were? The images are of real people, but it seemed like their details were made up.”
Felicity exhaled. “We needed a way to communicate when we realized the situation was turning against us. The images are all embedded with information. You need the right kind of program and a key.”
They’d already given over one key, but all it had done was open the files. “The same key that gave us access to the packet? That key?”
Felicity leaned forward, keeping her voice low. “Backward. The same code, but backward. You should be able to find the real information for each of the people embedded in the files with that.”
“Who are they?” Kenna asked. “Is each one part of the new generation?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The offspringDominatuscreated? Are they the children?” The ones on the ghost’s hit list.
“They’re images the think tank put together. I don’t even know if they’re real people, but the notes embedded in them are.”
Kenna frowned. “One of them is one of the kids, for sure. I was just at his house. Although now it’s a crime scene.”
Felicity flinched. “What’s going on?”
“He was murdered by a killer who works forDominatus. I know there’s a hit list, and you have a list of people and I figured they were connected.” But if they weren’t…
If the lawyers knew nothing about the offspring, or how they connected, it made no sense.
Felicity stared at the door for a moment, her gaze shifting. As though trying to puzzle this out the same way Kenna was.
“Okay. Here’s what we know.” Kenna figured they should start from the beginning. “You were hired to come up with a scenario that gave the feds evidence to arrest you.”
“An assassination plot that was stage one of a plan to destabilize the country.”
“But they’re already in charge.” The president was part ofDominatus. “So I don’t think the president is a target. They won on that count, murdering the previous one and putting her in charge.”
“Assassinating the president was never part of the plan.” Felicity shook her head. “The scenario had the Canadian prime minister as the next target, followed by the United Kingdom PM.”
“Let me guess,” Kenna said, “whoever is installed as their replacement is part ofDominatus,so now they control three major world powers.” She didn’t like the sound of that at all.
“That was never their aim before now, so I’m not sure why it would’ve changed. They were always content to operate in the shadows, to turn things in their favor slowly. And never through such overt means.”
