He snorted and shook his head. “No, but I imagine it’s not an easy spot to see. I could check for infection.”
My eyes narrowed as I studied him. I really didn’t know what the fuck to think.
“I’m good,” I told him. “It’s healing fine.”
“Okay,” he said, looking down at the table.
“Okay, then.” I continued to watch him.
There were things he didn’t want to talk about just like I had shit I refused to dig up. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the luxury of pretending his shit didn’t exist. And he knew it. I could see the weight of it in his nearly defeated expression.
“What’s the next step? How do we take him down and make him pay?” he asked, eyes cold.
“Well, now that they’ve likely cut your access, it would help if we had someone on the inside.” His face said he didn’t like where this was going. “If we could get our hands on some files Lipton might have that he’s not supposed to have. Or if we’re able to prove he’s been erasing shit and using his position to—”
“Yeah, I get it,” he said bitterly, like the idea of someone using their power to do such fucked up things was too disgusting for him to even hear about.
I could already tell the next question out of my mouth wouldn’t be one he’d like, but it had to be asked.
“Do you think you might have someone who could get us in?” I cringed, feeling like shit for asking, but it was going to take an asteroid to bring down this mountain. We needed all the help we could get.
“I need to take some time to figure out who I can trust,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
He looked ruggedly handsome even in his hopeless state, but in a distinguished way. The hard lines on his face hinted at stories. Told of a man who thought too much. Of someone who saw things in his surroundings that others wouldn’t even look for. His dark brown eyes held a sadness that gave away his pain. Gave away all the things he’d seen in his lifetime. They projected the strength he used to get through every single day.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen someone so beautifully raw before. So silently strong and emotionally open at the same time.
Those thoughts gave me pause. It didn’t seem like a normal thought someone would have in this type of situation, and even less so for me. Before I could question what the fuck was going on with me, he began talking again.
“I don’t think my team is compromised, but I need to take a step back and look at them with new eyes to be sure. If I think it’s safe, I’ll contact one of them and they should be able to get what we need with some help.” He sighed heavily. “Even if I feel confident enough to reach out to at least one of them, they won’t have as much clearance as I do. I’m not sure how we’d get around that.”
I smirked as I said, “If we could have a way in, I think we might have a few people who could find their way around.”
“Ah, your hackers,” he said with a small laugh and a sad shake of his head. “Then why haven’t they—”
“It’s not like they haven’t thought of that before. It’s just, apparently not as easy as TV shows and movies make it out to be, or so Milo likes to toss out there. Also, he likes to remind us that we are trying not to make any waves, so he’s been super reluctant to fuck with the FBI’s security systems.”
“That makes sense.” His head nodded slowly, his vision cloudy as if he was deep in thought and only half listening to me. “Like I said, I need time to think.”
A long moment of silence slipped by. I couldn’t help but watch him. The way his brows furrowed, then furrowed some more the deeper he thought about… well, whatever the hell he was thinking about. The way his gaze would sharpen, then go hazy again. It was like he could see the whole world right there in the hole he was blindly staring into my chest.
As strange as it was, I wanted to be in his head. I was desperate to know what or who made his face grow hard and relax and then tighten again.
“Was there something else?” he asked, his eyes blinked rapidly as he turned his gaze to me. “What else can I do?”
“It’ll help to know everything you do. No matter how little the detail might seem, we have to analyze it. We have to take his past moves, figure out what he was also doing at the same time, and use that to figure out his next move.” I paused, reaching back to grab my mug again. I quickly raised it to my lips and took a long sip. Ahhh, that was the good stuff. “Then we flip the script without him even realizing it. Instead of being three steps behind, we’re going to take him by surprise.”
His lips lifted in a small smile. I liked that he didn’t seem as intense and burdened as he had a minute ago. I had this strange urge to keep him in this mood for as long as I was able to.
“Seems simple enough,” he said.
I snorted and rolled my eyes.
“Easy-peasy. Piece of pie. No problem.”
“Pie? I thought it was cake,” he said with a half smirk and an amused twinkle in his eyes.
“I’m from Texas,” I did my best not to cringe as I spoke. “It’s always pie.”
