“What else did he say to you?”
Mason sat across from her in the conference room. The Secret Service office in Seattle was small—they didn’t need a huge detachment. Talia had met his boss. The assistant director was a bald Caucasian guy in his fifties who looked more the part of a jaded old homicide detective than someone rising in the ranks of a cutting edge federal agency.
She smoothed down the fold she’d made in the sub sandwich wrapper, then slid it ninety degrees and made another fold. “That’s all of it.”
Not much, as far as he was concerned, but it had to be enough because she had no intention of telling him more.
She had to check her tablet again, to see if Haley had come up with anything on the ID of the man whose photo she’d taken. There had been no word about that when she’d checked all her devices on the way over. Only a whole string of messages about the bank robbery. Lots of concern, in all caps, asking what was going on. Nothing about the ID.
“Talia.”
She didn’t want to, but she looked up. “Yes?”
“There’s more.” He paused. “You can trust me with it.”
When he looked at her like that, she wanted to. Talia had to bite back the urge to spill it all. But then she’d end up crying over the sandwich shop napkins. Her makeup would run. Mason would realize she was nothing but a horrifying mess. A blubbering lunatic who couldn’t get over what had happened. He’d wrap this up, a total professional, and then watch her walk away.
She shifted her hand on the table and her watch clinked against the surface. She looked at the face of it. Where was Victoria? How could it possibly take this long to get to the bank, realize she wasn’t there, and then drive here?
“Somewhere you need to be?”
She shook her head.
“Talk to me, Talia.”
She didn’t quit shaking her head.
Mason sighed.
She didn’t like disappointing him. The weight of it rested on her and threatened to buckle her under its pressure. “I don’t know who that guy was. I don’t know who put that money in my account, or why anyone wants to target me.”
“Maybe that’s true.”
He thought she was lying? Talia said, “I’m not lying.” She just wasn’t telling him the whole truth. She couldn’t, not until after she talked to Victoria.
“Who did you call?”
She frowned.
“Outside the bank, when I walked up to you. Who were you talking to?”
“My boss.”
“And he’s someone you talk to?”
“She.”
“Does your superior at the NSA know what this is about?”
Was he going to go above her head? “My boss isn’t NSA. She’s a Director with the State Department.” His brow furrowed, but she waved off his question. “I’m attached to the Northwest Counter-Terrorism Task Force.”
“So this is about terrorism?”
“I have no idea.” They’d been chasing someone with computer skills. A person who had sold VX gas to a militia in the Washington backwoods. But they’d caught Clare Norton, neutralizing that threat. Then they’d traced the money to fake scholarships for a research college just out of Portland.
She’d gotten too close.
That had to have been why hired men kidnapped her and delivered her to traffickers. People who would post her for sale on the dark web. As a hacker with government clearance, she’d fetched a high price.
Victoria had brokered a deal that meant she was the one who bought Talia back. Did the hacker know her boss had rescued her? She figured the person behind it was tech savvy enough, he knew exactly what had become of her.
“How did you get this bank assignment?”
“I wanted to do something…normal.”
The things she’d seen in captivity had stayed with her. In her head. She couldn’t get rid of them if she wanted to. She’d wanted to use her qualifications to do something solo. Get her confidence back. A quick win that would set her on track to who she’d been before her whole world was shattered.
And now—
A loud crash from the office made her yelp and spin around. She twisted her head so fast her neck tweaked. She hissed and couldn’t stop her shoulders from lifting as her body curled in on itself.
“Hey.” His voice was soft and right beside her.
She looked over at him, crouched beside her. Compassion written all over his face. He didn’t touch her, which was good. She wasn’t sure what she would do if his warm, strong fingers wrapped around hers. She wanted to be brave all by herself. Confident.
If he tried to help her she would just crumble.
Her fingers shook as she swept hair back from her face. This was so embarrassing. He’d seen her lose it, and now he was going to have more questions. Ones she did not want to answer.
Talia had to do this herself. She’d been targeted, and he was still messing with her.
“I don’t like that look.”
She shook her head. “Sorry I can’t make you feel better.” Did she even want to? It wasn’t up to her to relieve him of his concerns. He had no idea what had happened to her, and if she managed it herself, then he never would.
Where was her team? She needed to get out of here.
Mason stood. She saw the expression on his face before he turned away. Disappointed. But there had been no way to avoid that.
He was a strong man, one whose tendency was to protect and safeguard other people. Why else would he have become a Secret Service agent? She knew the type because she worked with agents like him every day. But in this, she didn’t need the help. She wasn’t about to let other people get caught up in the fallout of whatever this guy did next.
Mason pulled out his phone and occupied himself. Probably checking email—or Facebook messages from his mom. Then again, if that was his work phone then it probably wasn’t about social media. Real-time update emails would be more like it.
Normal stuff. The kind of things her team hated because it meant they were part of the federal behemoth.
More people she wasn’t about to allow to be hurt by this person.
She needed to do this alone. To solve it alone. Otherwise, she would never believe that she’d be strong enough to go up against him herself—strong enough to face her demons. And where would that get her? She’d be here in this place, stuck under the fear, for the rest of her life.
Talia couldn’t live like that. If she did, she wouldn’t survive it. She had to beat this, get past it.
She had to beat him.
Mason’s phone buzzed, still in his hand. “I need to go speak with the assistant director.”
Talia nodded. “Could I have my tablet?”
She needed to get going with this search. Bring the fight back to the arena where she had the most ability. Not to mention, ask her team what was taking them so long to get here. “I’d like to get to work while I wait.”
“No.” Mason turned, already at the door. “Sorry, but I can’t give you your tablet.”
She got up, fully prepared to argue her case.
He shut the door behind him before she could.
. . .
“Well?”
Mason met his boss outside the assistant director’s office. “There’s something going on, but it’s not that she tried to steal money from that bank.”
Assistant Director Elliot Stanton leaned back in his chair. “You’d stake your career on that?”
If he did that, it would be a personal move made on a case that was personal. This was not. “When we’ve collated all the information and put together a report, I’ll let you know the findings.”
Diplomatic, yes. But this was about evidence, not his gut feeling that Talia had gone through some serious trauma. It was almost like she had PTSD.
The alternative was paranoia, and he just hadn’t gotten that sense from her.
“Very well.” His boss nodded in approval and looked down his long nose. The man was six-four and probably weighed one-seventy-five. There was a pool going on in the office of when he would finally crack and partake of the break room donuts, but so far they weren’t getting anywhere on it and the money was piling up. It could fund somebody’s vacation at this point.
“And the money from the theft?”
Mason said, “Nothing was actually stolen from the bank, according to our techs. The two million that was transferred to Talia’s account was put back, as she said it was, and the bank robber appears to have been bluffing. Our techs said there was nothing running on the phone he had that could possibly have penetrated the bank’s computer system.”
“So it was a nonstarter?”
“It appears that way.” And where did that lead them? A man who’d done nothing except wave a gun around and implicate Talia. That meant she’d been specifically targeted.
If she’d put the money back, did that mean the bank robber enacted his plan after she did so? Possibly as a reaction to the fact she’d immediately sent the money back.
It was worth a thought.
“The National Security Agency finally called me back.”
Mason felt his eyebrows rise. “Did they fill you in on Talia Matrice?”
“She joined the agency fifteen years ago.”
The woman wasn’t old enough for… “She—”
“Was barely eighteen. I know,” Stanton said. “Seems like she was some kind of child prodigy, and they snapped her up. Evidently that’s the case every once in a while when they can’t afford to let someone slip through their fingers. Right out of school. Fresh from that California science, poly-technical, whatever-it’s-called college. She signed right on with them.”
“And her team now?” She’d made mention enough he knew there was something unusual about it.
Stanton nodded. “The Northwest Counter-Terrorism Task Force.”
Was that what she’d called it? Mason had forgotten in the confusion…and the footrace. He was still angry the guy had gotten away, but he’d been assured their techs were on it. Hot on the surveillance trail. Running his ID, locating him from ATM and traffic cameras.
He couldn’t hide forever.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Mason said.
Stanton nodded. “And that’s apparently the way they like it. The Director, Victoria Bramlyn, keeps it that way, though she’s managed to build herself a reputation. She’s well known as a maverick. Once they mentioned her name, I put it together. Word has it she’s been working on a team that stays under the radar.”
“She has an agenda?”
“The team is legitimate enough, and they’ve closed some big cases lately.” Stanton shrugged. “Whatever her goal is, though, isn’t known. She’s been running her team for about five years, and Ms. Matrice is part of that. The rest of the group are from different agencies. Homeland, the Marshals service. Even NCIS.”
Mason shook his head. Agents from different federal branches working together? That made no sense.
“It’s an interesting model, but I can’t say I have enough information to assess whether it’s effective.” Stanton motioned to the conference room. “Maybe she can tell you.”
He thought about that. Now he’d concluded Talia had gone through something that made her jumpy and nervous, he’d figured the bank incidents were a result of her being targeted. Now that he knew more about this task force, he was even more certain she was hiding something.
His boss wandered off, and Mason checked his email again even though his smart watch would notify him if a new message came in from the technicians, or other agents still combing through the events of that morning.
Then he poured two fresh cups of coffee.
When he moved back to the conference room, he saw she clutched her big gold purse on her lap. The phone and tablet she’d used at the bank were part of what the techs were working on. Going through her devices and looking for evidence that would either indicate what she’d done, or clear her of any suspicion.
He was nearly at the door when a rush of feet startled him.
“Special Agent Anderson!”
Mason spun around. The tech nearly ran straight into the coffees. Mason took a step back, and some splashed on his shoes. “What is it?”
The tech sputtered, then swiped back a chunk of hair that had come loose from his bun. The guy had skinny jeans, a T-shirt ripped on his left hip, and he wore boating shoes with no socks. Why the assistant director let them dress like that, Mason had no idea.
“Speak.”
The guy took a breath, then said, “I need to talk to her.” He jabbed a finger over Mason’s shoulder, in Talia’s direction.
“Yes?”
Mason turned to see if her expression matched her tone. His lips pressed together. “What’s going on?”
Before the guy could answer, Talia said, “I’m guessing they’re having some…problems with my devices.”
“It happened the moment we connected them to our system,” the tech said.
Mason turned to Talia. “Whoever hacked the bank and transferred that money can get into our system here?”
Her eyebrows rose. “You think he used my device to access the bank’s internal network?”
“I don’t know. Do I?”
She glanced from him to the technician. “Well?”
Apparently she didn’t want to talk about what Mason thought.
The guy flushed. “Your devices triggered some kind of fail-safe we think is designed to keep us from accessing anything.”
“She unlocked it.” Mason had personally requested that she unlock the device and allow them access. He’d taken the passcode off before he handed it over to the techs, just so it didn’t lock again before they got the chance to plug it into their system.
The tech shook his head. “Ms. Matrice.” He sounded nervous. “We know who you are. We’d like to respectfully request that you come down to the lab and allow us to disconnect your tablet from our system in a way that doesn’t delete everything on our system permanently.”
Talia shook her head while a wry smile played at her lips. “Of course you tried just unplugging it.”
“The whole thing is…ingenious.” The tech looked like he was about to bow to her.
Mason had to wonder if this was some kind of nerd ritual, or meeting of the minds. He turned to Talia. “What did you do?”
She lifted her chin. “You asked me to hand over my device. You also asked me to unlock it.”
“On the understanding that we use the access to help you provide evidence which will back up your statement.”
She scoffed. “We both know you’re only trying to get to the bottom of it all. Not that you’re trying to help me. And I’m not going to give access to my system to just anyone, am I? There’s no way I’d be that stupid.”
Mason shut his mouth. But he was stupid, because he’d assumed just that? He folded his arms. “Let’s go.” He tugged her toward the elevator while the tech trotted behind them. “You can fix what you did, and then I have more questions for you.”
“Joy.” She sounded anything but happy.
They were almost to the elevator when the doors opened and a slender blonde woman stepped out wearing heels and a skirt suit, a purse hanging from one elbow. Her eyes narrowed on his hold on Talia’s arm. “Not so fast.”
Mason could have sworn he heard Talia chuckle under her breath.