Yeah. She remembered Tim mentioning something about missing his family and being homesick for Ohio.
So much for that idea.
Changing tactics again, she asked, “I’m assuming you plan to book me tonight?”
“We have more than enough to hold you with or without your confession.” Mulder’s expression morphed from self-satisfied into what could only be described as smug.
“So I get a phone call, right? A chance to talk to my lawyer?”
As soon as she mentioned the L-word, irritation flamed in the agent’s eyes. He knew as well as she did the instant a suspect demanded their counsel be present, the interview was over.
The gray metal door leading to the hallway opened and Agent Waller—man, how I haven’t missed him—walked into the interview room. He had a ratty blue blanket that looked like it belonged on the bed of a Civil War prisoner.
She wondered if he’d found it in the dumpster outside.
“Not that you deserve it, traitor.” He threw the blanket on the table in front of her before stomping out of the room.
She couldn’t bring herself to care about his vitriol. Not when her freedom—maybe her verylifeand the lives of many others in Texas and across the country—could be at stake.
Unfolding the blanket, she quickly wrapped it around her shoulders. It wasn’t long enough to tuck around her feet, so she pulled her legs up and sat crisscross-apple-sauce in the uncomfortable metal chair until she could snug the blanket beneath her frozen toes.
Better,she thought once the only part of her remaining visible was her head.
Although better was a far cry from good. She still couldn’t keep her teeth from chattering or her limbs from shivering so hard she worried she might shake them loose from her body.
“You’ll have to excuse Keith,” Agent Mulder said. “His wife works for Apple. She had to deal with that ransomware attack by REvil back in—”
“2021,” she cut in. “Yeah. I remember that hack job by the Kremlin. It resulted in unprecedented schematic leaks.”
“Right.” Mulder nodded. “Which means Keith’s wife was working around the clock for months trying to clean things up. Not seeing each other took a toll on their marriage. They’re still not fully recovered. You can understand how he’d hold a grudge against people like you.”
“People like me?”
“People who think just because they don’t run into the street with an automatic rifle and gun down innocents in a hailstorm of bullets that what they do doesn’t hurt people. There are real world consequences to this kind of online warfare, Miss Blue.”
“I didnotscheme with Red Square to take down Dominion Pipeline!” It was the dozenth time she’d repeated the words. And it had the same impact on Mulder as it’d had the eleven times before. Sighing, she shook her head. “You don’t take after your namesake, huh?”
His eyebrows pinched together.
“The truth is out there?” When he shook his head, she added the second most famous line from the series. “I want to believe?”
“Are you talking in some sort of code again, Miss Blue?”
“It’s fromTheX-Files. You know, Agents Mulder and Scully out to explain the unexplainable? Surely I’m not the first person to point out that you share the name of the FBI agent from one of the longest running Sci-Fi series ever.”
The line between Mulder’s brows deepened and she sighed again.
Was it a requirement that newbie FBI agents hand over their senses of humor and their subscriptions to Netflix when they walked through the doors at Quantico, she wondered?
“I don’t have much time for television, Miss Blue,” Mulder said as if he deserved some sort of medal.
“Right.” She rolled her eyes before adding, “Can I get my phone call now?”
“As you wish.” He pushed up from the metal table and motioned for her to precede him toward the door.
She considered making a reference toThe Princess Bride. But she’d learned her lesson about using pop culture references and didn’t waste her breath.
She reallyhatedthe idea of uncurling from the infinitesimal amount of warmth she’d found snugged inside the blanket.But needs must.Physical discomfort was temporary. Being able to clear her name and possibly save the state of Texas—and the country at large—from a disaster of incalculable proportions would last a lifetime.
