He wanted it.Goddid he want it.
And he didn’t want Bryce to get it.
“That asshole,” Daniel snorted.
He couldn’t even hear the man’s name without getting pissed. Bryce Stewart had been his nemesis since the day Daniel started at FinCEN, which had been only three months after Bryce signed on. Top of his class at Annapolis, then on to Pitt where he’d finished with a perfect record, Bryce strutted around FinCEN with his chest out, like the rest of them should be grateful that he’d deigned them worthy enough to work with.
The man had become damn near apoplectic when Daniel strolled in with his Phi Beta Kappa key and Stanford degree, and just as much praise—if not more—than Bryce had garnered. Daniel had never been overly competitive. He didn’t care if the Marine next to him was able to run a more impressive four hundred, or if he wasn’t the fastest at writing code. He’d always been content to just put his head down and focus on his work.
Bryce was the one who’d made this into a competition, and now Daniel was borderline obsessed with getting the best of him.
Vegas was the prize. Everyone knew it, and everyone knew what it would mean to whomever was tasked to run it.
“I have to get it,” he whispered.
But he wasn’t going to get anything if he didn’t solve his current case.
He went back inside and caught the elevator up to the twenty-second floor. He cut through the Sales Department, dodging a Texas-shaped stress ball being tossed back and forth by a couple of guys he still didn’t know by name. When he turned the corner, he caught sight of Justin Vail standing at his desk.
Why was his supervisor waiting at his desk?
“Hey, Justin,” Daniel said. “Sorry I wasn’t here. I had to run out for a minute—”
Justin waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. Can you come into my office? I need to ask you something.”
A weight as heavy as a solid brick of gold settled in Daniel’s stomach.
Oh shit oh shit oh shit.
Had he been made?
He’d been extra diligent about covering his tracks this past week. Yesterday, when he’d had his best opportunity yet to breach the Cybersecurity Department, after he’d found the room’s coded doorlock hadn’t latched completely after the last person entered the room, he’d decided against it. The risk of getting caught had been too high. It turned out to be the right decision. The head of security had walked out just a few seconds later. Daniel had managed to play it off, but maybe he hadn’t been as convincing as he’d thought. Had someone become suspicious?
By the time they reached Justin’s office, Daniel had chosen the story he would use out of the five he and his team back at FinCEN had devised were someone to make him while on a job.
“I—” he started.
“Did you hear about Mike?” Justin cut him off.
Mike?
“Yeah, I did,” Daniel said. “Jerry Johnson just told me. Sounds as if Mike’s lucky to be alive.”
He really needed to figure out who this Mike guy was.
“I went to the hospital to see him yesterday,” Justin said. “He’s in good spirits, but in a lot of pain.”
Daniel nodded in sympathy. It would be nice to know what any of this had to do with him. Did Trendsetters have some program for helping injured employees that they wanted him to get some training on like everything else?
“I’d like you to take Mike’s place on a new project that’s starting up,” Justin said, putting to rest his speculation. “I know the two of you aren’t in the same department, but given the work you did at Four Corners Technologies, I think you’d be a good fit.”
Daniel did a mental rundown of the various jobs on his résumé. Four Corners Technologies. India. Quality control analyst.
“What’s the project about?” he asked.
Justin gestured for him to follow. “Come with me. The new team is getting together for their initial kickoff meeting.”
Daniel followed him out of the office and into the larger, more traditional conference room. About a dozen people from various departments sat around the table. Justin nodded to John Kim. “He’s agreed to join,” his supervisor said. Then he turned to the others.
