“Check the lighthouse as we go past.”
Nhiari used the binoculars to check the lighthouse car park, but it was empty. Then she scanned the ranges and the other car parks they drove past, but all was clear. Maybe the military men actually trusted her to know what she was doing.
They arrived back at the cave and started the laptop. The password screen stared at them. Nhiari’s spirits fell. “Any idea?”
Lee chuckled and typed in a long password. After a moment of processing, the computer opened.
Nhiari raised her eyebrows. “How?”
“I helped him come up with that password when he was about ten. He uses it on everything.”
“What is it?”
“Girls Suck Boys Rule as all one word, but the first letter of each word is a capital, the l is an exclamation mark, and the i, o and e are all numbers.”
She smiled. “So he was going through a hating girl stage?”
“He’d just had his heart broken by his first crush.” The smile faded from his face as he remembered that Andrew was dead. He sighed. “Andrew was an awkward kid and not popular in his class.”
She squeezed his hand. “Then let’s ensure he didn’t die in vain.”
She let him go through the computer, checking folders to find the information he said he had on Stonefish. Aside from a bunch of gaming folders, his university studies folder and a lot of porn, there wasn’t anything else. Lee sat back.
“He could have saved it in a cloud folder,” Nhiari said.
They went through his internet history and found a couple of links to cloud folders which automatically logged them in when they clicked on them. They hit the jackpot on the last one they opened. Almost a terabyte of data. Lee flicked through folders and whistled. “This looks like backup files of all of Stonefish’s financials.” He clicked on another folder. “How did he get this stuff?”
“I have a friend who could figure it out.” Amani had gone into tech crime after the academy because she was a whiz with computers.
“No. This can’t go further.”
Nhiari shook her head. “We need to get this to someone who can analyse it.” It was over her head.
“I can’t risk it yet.”
“Lee, this is more than just stopping Lucas. We have to end the entire company and to do that we’re going to have to bring in more people to help us.” She understood his reluctance. “Dot already spoke to Amani when she found the island hideout. We can trust her.”
“We can’t get the laptop to her yet.”
“We don’t have to. The laptop is connected to the internet. She can log in.”
He stalked away and paced back and forward. “I can’t let Lucas get away with killing my father.”
“He won’t,” Nhiari promised. “We need to come out of hiding.” But not so Lucas saw them. There was only one place. “We need to go to Retribution Ridge.”
Lee’s muscles tightened until they ached. Nhiari wanted him to go back and face the people he’d betrayed? She might have forgiven him, but the rest of them wouldn’t. He had killed their sheep, spied on them and pretended to be someone he wasn’t. Amy had become a friend while he’d camped on their property, and she would never forgive him.
He shook his head. “They want me behind bars.”
“Georgie doesn’t.”
“Georgie’s a special case.” She never thought badly of anyone.
“Matt will back her up, and so will I.”
“You’re still outnumbered.” There were four Stokes siblings, Sam and Sherlock, plus all their partners. He was way outnumbered.
“Ed and Tess will back you up too.”
