“I’m not letting you anywhere near this evidence.” Mulder tapped the closed laptop lid. “I’ve read your file. I know what you’re capable of when you get a keyboard beneath your fingertips.”
She was still barefoot and wearing the sleepwear she’d had on when the feds had burst into the apartment. Even so, when her teeth chattered, she wasn’t sure if it was from her lack of appropriate attire or the trouble she was in.
Who’s setting me up?
It was a question she couldn’t answer unless she was given a chance to look at the evidence.
Which left the question ofwhy? Why would someone want to frame her?
She’d helped bring down plenty of criminals in the two years she’d worked for the Department of Defense. Had one of them somehow traced their apprehension back to her? Were they now seeking revenge in the best way possible, by making her out to be the thing she hated most? A lowdown, dirty criminal?
Which, of course, brought her back around to her original question. The question ofwhowould—
A sudden thought occurred and she nailed Mulder with a diamond-hard stare. “Who tipped you off to mysupposed”—she flicked a finger toward the laptop—“involvement in this ransom scheme?”
Mulder’s chin jerked back with incredulity. “Do I need to remind youIamthe one asking the questions here, Miss Blue?”
“I just find it strange that this afternoon I found proof that a group of Chinese hackers have discovered a way to insert malware inside the computer system controlling Texas’s power grid, and now here I am being accused of conspiring with the very people I’m paid to hunt down.”
Ignoring her, Mulder said, “If you cooperate, if you help us take down Red Square before they can kill the pipeline, I’m sure we could work out a deal on your charges. Get them lessened.” He sat back again and gave her a friendly smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I mean, it’s possible we could even get them dropped. How does that sound?”
“I wouldloveto help you take out Red Square. Problem is, I don’t know who they are or how to find them. If I did, I wouldn’t have conspired with them. I would’ve nailed the bastards to the wall.”
For a long moment, the fed said nothing, simply regarded her through narrowed eyes.
She tried her best not to squirm. But it was damned difficult considering she was barely dressed. And considering if it was more than sixty degrees inside the room she’d eat her favorite WiFi Pineapple whole, including its five radio antennae.
“You’re very convincing, Miss Blue,” Mulder finally said. “But I’ve been doing this job long enough to know all the good criminals are. Tell me.” He cocked his head. “Have you been playing the long game this entire time? Two years with the D.O.D. just to get to this point? Or were you a good little cog in the machine until you saw an opportunity to make a little extra scratch?”
This is going nowhere,she thought impatiently as another uncontrollable shiver made her teeth clack together.
Rubbing her hands over her exposed arms didn’t do a thing to ease the goose bumps peppering her skin. And when she glanced around the room, looking for a vent in the hopes she could go stand under the heat, she realized there wasn’t a duct to be found. Just four drab, gray walls. One cold tile floor. And the uncompromising metal table in the center of it all where she sat opposite a man who refused to believe a word out of her mouth.
“Can someone get me a coat or something?” She hated the pleading in her voice when what she really wanted was to fly across the table and choke Mulder with his own tie until helistenedto what she was saying.
If this whole Red Square/Dominion setupwasrelated to the intel she’d uncovered about the Chinese hackers, time was of the essence. According to the information she’d stumbled upon, the hackers planned to have their inside man attack Texas’s grid in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
“Agent Waller?” Agent Mulder turned to look at the two-way mirror that showed Hannah’s pale and shivering reflection. “Bring Miss Blue a blanket, would you? She’s not dressed for this weather.”
Not dressed for this weather because you didn’t let me change or grab shoes, you blackhearted bastard,she thought.
Aloud, she asked, “Can you at least tell me if the information regarding the Chinese hacker group made its way to my superiors?”
She’d sent her gathered intelligence through the coded channels she always used. But given her current predicament, it was possible she’d been followed out of the depths of the dark web and reverse-hacked, then framed so that doubt would be cast on her character.
If that was the case, she thought it highly likely her message for the big fish inside the D.O.D.—the nameless, faceless group that took her information and ran with it—had been intercepted and sent to that limitless, virtual garbage bin in cyberspace.
“I’ve played the shell game before, Miss Blue,” Mulder tsked. “But I’m not going to let you distract me. No sleight of hand is going to turn me away from the issue of Red Square and your association with them.”
She sighed. Or shuddered. A sigh mixed with another full-body shiver automatically became a shudder, right? Continuing to try to convince Mulder she was innocent was a waste of her time. He’d made up his mind about her.
Changing tactics, she curled her toes against the cold, tile floor and asked, “Is it possible for me to speak with Agent Floyd? He knows me from a job I assisted the FBI with a few months back.”
After she’d played a key role in helping the Black Knights expose the Russian-backed troll farm, she and Agent Timothy Floyd had gone out to dinner. They’d soon learned their similarities stopped at their mutual love for Carpi Sun, however, and there hadn’t been a second date.
Even still, he’d been on the call with her and the director. Surely he’d be willing to try to convince Agent Mulder to at leastconsiderwhat she was saying and investigate whether or not her intelligence had been received by the higher ups in the Department of Defense.
“Agent Floyd transferred to the Cincinnati office three months ago,” Mulder informed her with a self-satisfied shrug.
