“I know.” She could barely speak. “Forty people died during the trials. That’s more than the statistics from the implants themselves.” Her voice was hushed.
“The file says that the program was shut down,” Mendez pointed out.
Portia thought of the broken glass littering the alleys. “Obviously, someone saw the money-making potential of the drug on the black market and didn’t care how many more people it killed.”
“Do you think it was your father?” Ash addressed the elephant in the room.
Rubbing her temples, Portia glanced at Mendez. She hated airing her dirty laundry like this. She’d have to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t spill any of the secrets he was learning. “Probably,” she admitted. “Or maybe someone in the lab going rogue.”
Her father seemed a more likely candidate, but he hadn’t been seen in months. According to Aleks, there’d been a recent spike in Vyne sales. What did that mean?
She flipped through the rest of the file, hoping for more clues to what was happening with the drug now, but it was thin on details. “Can you dig up more information on the program? I need to know what lab created this and its current status. I also want to know how easy it is to get the ingredients to make the drug. And figure out where the money is going.”
Ash whistled. “You don’t want much, do you?”
She glared at him and he laughed. “I’m just kidding,” he said. “I’ve already got those queries running. I’ve set it up so both of us will receive alerts when there are results.”
“The files will come directly to me?”
“Yes, via the email encryption I set up for you.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Portia swiveled around in her chair and studied the two men. “Keep an eye on hacks that you think are coming from the Solveig Consortium,” she directed Mendez. “And help Ash however he needs. Just remember, whatever you find goes no further.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mendez said.
Ash just rolled his eyes. “Wait for me outside,” he told the other man. “I need to talk to Ms. Tremaine about something else.”
They both watched as Mendez left the room.
“Can I trust him?” Portia asked.
“As much as you can anyone,” Ash said.
She sagged back in her chair. “Well, that’s a no then.” At this rate, she wasn’t entirely sure that she could trust anyone in the company. Not for the first time, she wondered what would happen if she let it all burn down.
But she couldn’t. This was her inheritance, good or bad.
“He’s probably more trustworthy than most,” Ash said. “I’ve worked with him for years. He was actually a really good teammate. Which is wild, since hackers tend to be a bit on the antisocial side.”
She looked at him incredulously. “You’re the least antisocial person I’ve ever met. You talk constantly.”
His smile was bright. “Well, sure, that’s because I’m the best of the best.” She rolled her eyes and he laughed. “Seriously, though, I think he’ll keep quiet. You don’t mess with him, he won’t mess with you.”
That made a bit more sense to Portia than someone keeping quiet out of the good of their heart. “What do you know about him?”
Ash leaned against the side of her desk. “He’s been here about as long as I was. Never really got his story, but that’s not unusual. Most of us don’t want to reveal how we got caught.”
“Is he good?” It felt like a valid question. After all, Mendez had been caught, just like Ash had.
“Yes, he’s good. Almost as good as I am,” he said with a wink. “He’s right about the potential incursions from the Solveig Consortium. They made it in once, years ago, before either of us were here, and they were cut off quickly. Nowadays, even if they pay for help, they’re unlikely to get in.”
That eased some, but not all of her concerns. “What did you find on the outside?”
“Basically what the other analyst told you. The consortium sold some patents and have funneled some of that money to the cyber team. But they haven’t bought the best talent.”
“Okay,” Portia said slowly. She hated that she didn’t know enough about the cybersecurity side to do this research herself.
