“In the morning?”
“No, night. You slept most of the day away. Now it’s time for you to earn your keep.”
She wanted to say something snarky, but he didn’t seem to be the kind of guy who liked jokes. He was more the type who hit people who made the jokes.
“I still don’t know exactly what you want to do.”
“We need access.”
“Access to what?”
“Just give us access, and we’ll do the rest.”
She shook her head, and he pulled his hand back like he was going to hit her again. She ducked away and started speaking fast. “Listen, it’s not one big system. There are hundreds, no, thousands of little systems that force you to be at that exact location or in specific locations to access them. It’s like if you go to a restaurant and want French fries, or chips, but they don’t have a fry vat to cook them. You can yell all you want that you want fries, but you aren’t getting them. I need to know exactly what you want and where it is located to even know if I can hack into their systems.”
She wasn’t going to reveal which systems she could hack and which ones she couldn’t. If what they wanted was dangerous, she wouldn’t do it, even if she could. She would lie and stall, but she wouldn’t do something that could destroy a building or a country. She sure as hell wouldn’t start a war.
Tall’s lips thinned, and he lowered his hand. She guessed he wasn’t going to hit her after all. He just had to tell her what she needed to know, or she couldn’t help them. Not that she would, but he didn’t need to know what she would or wouldn’t do.
Bean hated waiting.The wait, more than anything, drove him crazy. Garnet was out there waiting for someone to save her, but her rescue would take time. He knew rushing in would ruin everything. They trained to the extent that their operations were like reflex, but running in without thinking, without plans, without waiting for the right time would get people killed.
The government was spending a ton of money to get her back. They liked to keep their assets safe, but agents knew going into certain situations meant they might end up captured. Garnet must have some skills or knowledge they didn’t want other people to have.
Why was she here? What had happened to this embassy that she had to fly over and fix the issue? Why couldn’t someone else fix it?
“You look deep in thought,” Keel said.
He nodded, thinking he had to tell his team something about Garnet. He looked up, seeing the camera with the red blinking light. “I’m having thoughts, but I don’t like this situation.”
Chase stood. “Let’s go outside and stretch. I need to move around some.”
They followed Chase outside, all of them taking in their surroundings, looking for cameras and checking angles. Stanley made a motion for a group of trees, and they headed over. It was clear from the camera angles so no one would be watching them.
“What’s up?” Chase asked as he stretched his hands over his head, making it look like he was really doing stretches.
“Long story. Garnet was at the dinner we went to. The one in DC where we all wore penguin suits.”
The atmosphere of the group changed, and their attention focused even more on him. “Tell us everything,” Chase said.
“The social hour before dinner. You know, while we were all milling about before we went in to eat. I saw her walk in. I wanted to meet her, so I excused myself from the conversation I was having and ended up beside her. We spoke and exchanged numbers. Well, I gave her my number.”
“Is she military?” Link asked.
He shook his head. “No. She’s a computer geek. But she’s wicked smart. Like photographic memory, smart. She knew everyone’s name at the event. She works on special projects. Didn’t tell me what, but she left before the dinner was over.”
“Did she tell you anything else?” Link asked.
He shook his head. “Not really. She sent a text, telling me she was headed out on a business trip and would text me when she got home. I replied, but she never sent another text.”
“When did you realize it was her that we were going in to rescue?” Mick asked.
“While we were looking at the files, I saw her photo.”
“So why are we out here whispering about all this?” Chase asked.
“Why would she come over here to fix this? They have computer people over here. They have people who could handle the problem. Unless it was something bigger. Like, why would they send someone from the US to Beirut? That cost a lot of money and time.”
“What are you getting at?” Mick asked.
