Читать книгу Rules In Deceit - Nichole Severn - Страница 13

“I don’t think the Sovereign Army took these pictures.” Elizabeth dropped the photos in her hand to her side. She’d been followed for weeks—maybe months. She’d had no idea, but she couldn’t let the fear spreading at the back of her mind take control. What else had her stalker uncovered? Her head spun. Nausea festered. Focus. She forced herself to breathe deep. She’d started a new life here, loved her job, was having a baby. Nobody would take that from her. Not some extremist group. Not Braxton. And not whoever had tried to blow her up three hours ago.

She headed for the door. Braxton was a former analyst. Analysts ran secure networks. All she needed was a computer. She trusted her team—trusted Vincent—with her life, but she had to see the Sovereign Army taking credit for planting that bomb at Blackhawk Security herself. The shooter in the garage, the photos Braxton uncovered. Neither of those were part of the group’s MO. “An extremist group bent on protecting Americans’ privacy wouldn’t run illegal surveillance on their target.”

“They didn’t seem so concerned about protecting privacy when they threatened to leak officials’ browsing histories to the public.” Braxton cut her off, his mountainous shoulders blocking her view of the door. “I watch the news, too. These guys have been known to do what it takes to get their message across, violently if forced. The best shot we have to uncovering who’s coming after you is Oversight’s backdoor access.”

The breath she’d been holding rushed from her lungs as the past threatened to overrun the present. She fought back the memories, but how could she when all she thought about when she closed her eyes was the last time she’d accessed that code?

“I told you I can’t do that.” Her voice rose with each word. He should understand that better than anyone. He’d been there. He’d watched how Oversight’s trial run had affected her. No. He didn’t get to decide how they handled the threat on her life. He’d lost that right the night he’d walked out on her all those months ago. “This is what we’re going to do. First, you’re going to get out of my way, so I can review the bomb squad’s findings for myself. Second, we’re going to arrange to get Vincent the slugs we pulled from the windshield. If he gets a hit on ballistics, you get to keep your end of the deal, and we pretend this whole thing never happened. Go our separate ways.”

“I’ll keep my end of the deal—” Braxton closed in on her “—but if he doesn’t come up with our suspect, I expect you to keep yours.”

“Agreed.” Silence settled between them. It wasn’t an empty silence. It was full of anger, of something else Elizabeth didn’t want to identify. “You’re pushing me out of the investigation by trying to keep me behind a computer. Why?”