The view shifted to a dark-haired man standing across the street from the bar. He spouted what little they knew about the victim and the shooter. “Police are trying to track down the man who called in the attack. They’re also looking for this woman”—Valerie gasped as her picture appeared in the upper corner of the screen—“Valerie Sanchez, who’s wanted in connection with the murder of two federal agents in Virginia during her arrest on suspicion of espionage. Sanchez was seen arguing with the victim just moments before he left the restaurant.”
“Bastards,” she whispered with heat. Scott glanced at her. No tears, but her cheeks were flushed. “There was a small part of me that hoped…”
“I was lying?” he asked.
She nodded and sighed. “So, I guess I’m on the radar now. The kitchen staff saw us leaving together. It won’t be long before they’re looking for you too.”
“Guess I should ditch the hat.”
“And maybe shave,” she suggested.
“In this germ-infested hole?” He removed his ball cap and dropped it into a small metal trash bin. “No thanks.” Moving into the bathroom, he wet down his hat-plastered hair and splashed water on his face, watching it run down the rust-stained drain. Framed just so in his camera lens, the chipped porcelain might appear artsy, but in person the effect was ruined by the musty scent and peeling linoleum.
The limp white towel on the rack smelled of bleach, so he dried his face and hair, and snuck a peek at Valerie through the doorway.
The more he thought about it, the more he believed she was telling the truth. How much did he know about her employer, the man who’d hired Steele Security to watch her?
Kurt Steele, Scott’s boss, had done his due diligence on Aggressor and Hollowell. Both had good reputations, and Hollowell had friends in high places on Capitol Hill. But the thing with Suresh was not a mugging, not a random attack…
And Scott had told Hollowell where to find the guy not ten minutes before.
If he’d known someone had intended to take out Suresh, he would have—
What? What would he have done? Walked out on the job?
Bloodshot eyes stared back at him in the mirror.Hell, yes.Some would call him a hypocrite, but the targets he’d eliminated in the line of duty—or working for Steele—had been clear threats to innocent lives or his teammates. He’d take them out again in a heartbeat. No thought required.
But how had Suresh been a threat?
If Suresh’s story gave credence to Hollowell’s assertion that Valerie and Suresh were working together—or even proved that Valerie had been working on her own—then the old man needed him alive. Should have been desperate for his testimony. Killing the other hacker only made sense if he was a risk to Hollowell and/or Aggressor.
Fuck me. Scott rubbed both hands down his face.
He finger-combed his hair and flipped off the bathroom light. Valerie had pulled back the bedcovers to expose threadbare-but-clean sheets and sat against the headboard with her computer in her lap.
“Any luck with the WiFi?”
“I’m in,” she said, without looking up.
“If you start digging into shit, won’t someone be able to track our location?”
She gave him a patronizing smile. “Uh,hacker. Remember?”
He gave her his best “unimpressed” look.
Rolling her eyes, she said, “I’m using a special browser that runs my traffic through multiple layers of anonymous servers. And a few other tricks. You want more details?”
If her sparkling eyes were any indication, she was enjoying having the upper hand for a change. The combination of that look and her being in a bed made it hard for Scott to focus.
At least she hadn’t started rattling off a bunch of computer jargon. That might have helped cool his libido, but he didn’t want a reminder that compared to her, he was a dimwit.
He shook his head. “I’d like to hear your side of the story.”
She glanced up in surprise. “Why now?”
Leaning against the wall—because he sure as hell wasn’t joining her on the bed, and there was no place else to settle—he crossed his arms and studied her. “Look, I’m not some unthinking pawn for your boss. And I don’t like being played. Right now, all I know is what he told me and what I’ve witnessed. It’s not all adding up, and I’d like to hear your version so I can make my own decision.”
She closed the lid on her laptop and held it with both hands. “You probably know my pa… my father was a hacker, right?”
