She nodded. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
“I know. Now I’m going to change the channels.”
He changed them to be on the same channel as the rest of his team, and he butted into their conversation. “Garnet told me who she thinks set this up. Tell them who you think it is.”
“Oh, um, yeah.” She wiped her forehead, then closed her eyes before opening them to look at the men in the helicopterwith her. “So the problem I was sent over here to fix wasn’t something that would naturally occur. It was sabotage. At least I think it was. When I first arrived, I was just fixing stuff, but then I realized the issues had to have been set up by someone. So I think a person working at the embassy purposely went through the system and broke things so they couldn’t fix it easily.”
“Who could have done that?” one of the guys asked.
She shrugged. “It had to be someone knowledgeable. They broke the system but didn’t make it so obvious that other people could see what they’d done. It was only after I dug in and found the issues. If I hadn’t been exhausted, I probably would have figured it out faster, and I would have been able to alert someone else to the issue. But I needed sleep, and I went to the hotel to think about everything.”
“That’s when you were abducted?”
She nodded. “Yes. Now I know I should have just slept on a couch at the embassy, but I wanted real sleep.”
“Totally understandable,” Brady said.
She shook her head. “I just feel like a fool.”
Brady squeezed her knee. “Don’t beat yourself up. You needed sleep and that’s why you went to a hotel. Next time, you shouldn’t, though, unless you have security.”
Her work was behind the scenes. She wasn’t someone who terrorists targeted. Most people didn’t even think far enough to know she existed.
“Those guys wanted me to program a missile on a US base to target DC.”
Silence from the guys hung in the air as they took in what she’d said. She could see the shock on their faces and in their eyes.
“That’s not possible, right?” one of the guys asked.
She swallowed, unsure if she really wanted to answer truthfully. It wasn’t information that she felt good aboutspreading around. “Not like what they wanted.” She could fudge the truth a little. “I’d have to be on the base and probably in the room.” She didn’t want to say it would be impossible, because if she had the right equipment and time, it would be absolutely possible. “It’s nearly impossible, especially targeting a US city.”
The guys shook their heads, and a few of them narrowed their gazes, like they could see through her words.
“Dang, that’s insane,” Brady said.
She nodded. “Someone wants to destroy DC.”
The helicopter slowed, and she glanced out the window. Brady squeezed her leg, and she turned back to him.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
She believed him. He would make sure the right person knew what had happened. If she went back to the embassy, she would have protection.
The thought of being in Beirut alone scared her. But her work still had to be done. Sleeping on couches was uncomfortable, but there was no way she would leave the safety of the embassy after what had happened.
Chapter 9
Bean worriedabout Garnet’s safety. She’d been targeted and taken hostage. She wasn’t just some anonymous computer geek. Now she was known to a group who didn’t need to know anything about her.
He didn’t want to leave Beirut without her. Once they landed, he would talk to his team about staying close and keeping a watchful eye on her.
The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. About halfway to the embassy, Garnet rested her head against his shoulder. When he glanced down, he saw that she was sleeping. She looked peaceful, even after everything that happened.
He didn’t want to wake her when they arrived, but he needed her up. She rubbed her eyes and stretched after they left the helicopter. She looked incredibly cute. They weren’t in a relationship, but he wished they were. Even tired, she looked good.
She needed to be debriefed, but first, she was allowed to shower in one of the secure apartments that wasn’t open to the public. They happened to have an empty apartment after one of the employees left a few weeks before and hadn’t been replaced.
One of the other embassy workers had gone to her hotel to retrieve her bags, so she had clothes to change into. She looked refreshed after the shower, but he could tell she needed rest.
