TexasTom: Chervil.
He sent the link to an anonymous chat room and waited for her to join under another username.
Rose: How’s Grandma?
He responded immediately under a new moniker of his own. As long as Grandma wasn’t gardening, Emma would know he was still safe to chat. If her situation had changed while they were switching to the secure chat, she would’ve asked about Auntie instead.
Dahlia: Ornery as always. I’m on a clean phone, outside the building, alone. Are you safe?
A few seconds passed.
Rose: I think so. Dumped my phones, and have a safe house. I’m out in disguise with 1 hour of wifi access. J’s with me and knows what I’m after, but not who we are. Seems willing to listen.
What the fuck?
Dallas forced a deep breath. Whatever. She was the one in the field. He had to trust her judgment.
Dahlia: What makes you think we’re bugged?
Rose: We might have been followed, but according to J our attackers knew the condo number. Don’t want to chance it.
He might be freaking out for nothing, but for now he’d assume that everyone and everything were compromised until he ruled them out.
Rose: Any word on N’s health?
Shit. The rock that had been sitting in his stomach for the last couple of hours grew heavier.
Dahlia: I’m sorry. She didn’t make it.
The three dots indicating typing danced for several long minutes. Just when he’d given up on a response it landed on his screen.
Rose: I never should have left her. I’m so sorry.
Dahlia: You can’t think like that. If you hadn’t left when you did, we might be mourning you too.
Rose: I *will* figure out who ordered the attack, and take them down.
That sentiment had been going around the office since Gretchen got the word from the Swiss officials.
Dahlia: You have my full support, but stay safe.
Rose: <3 I’ll do my best. I’m hoping the files I got will help us solve this mess. I need to upload them. Where to?
Until he could verify that the computer systems at work hadn’t been infiltrated…
Dahlia: Stand by.
He could either go buy a cheap laptop and set it up with the software that ran everything out of the computer’s short term memory, preventing anything from saving to the hard drive, or go home and get the untraceable computer he already had.
According to the GPS app on his phone, if he took Highland Avenue instead of the 405, he could make it to Playa Vista in less than thirty minutes. That was probably the fastest option.
He just needed to make up an excuse to leave work early. It would have to be dire for anyone to believe it, since he was usually the last one at the office. He trusted his boss Gretchen—hell, deep down he still trusted his entire team—but he had to be smart about this. Any of them could have been hacked without knowing it. He’d get them to check for surveillance devices and malware without letting on that he’d gotten word from Emma. For now.
He sent her a quick message.
Dahlia: Give me 35.
Rose: *thumbs up*
