Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
“How am I supposed to remember where I saved a single piece of information about some guy I don’t know? It’s not like I’ve memorized the entire contents of our server.”
It was late. Elle was tired, and instead of her comfortable bed at home, she had a hard platform with a thin mattress to look forward to. At least she wasn’t sharing her cell; otherwise, it would’ve been a night of taking turns to sleep. Or worse, snuggling with her cellmate.
Which made her wonder. “Who was I meant to share a cell with?”
Ms. Patel, who somehow managed to look completely put together despite being at the station all day, just stared at her.
“Fine, don’t tell me.” Elle threw up her hands. It’d been twelve hours since she’d touched a computer, and she was seriously twitchy.
“Think, Elle,” the lawyer said unhelpfully. “According to Rachel, it’s something incriminating to do with the Fitzwater family, and Darian in particular.”
“Trust me, that doesn’t help.” Realization slammed into her, and she smacked a palm on the worn table. “Rachel! That’s who I was meant to share with. Well, that answers one question. With the size of her belly, there wouldn’t have been enough space on the platform for two.”
They were in yet another generic beige room, sparsely furnished with a table and two chairs. Ms. Patel had told her it was a client meeting room and completely secure. It also had no windows.
“Are there any rooms in this bloody building with windows?” Elle barked.
Ms. Patel folded her arms. “Are you late taking some meds? Can I send someone to fetch them for you?”
Elle narrowed her eyes at the perfect woman, sitting there with not a hair out of place and looking just as awake as when she arrived that morning. “I do not take meds. This place is getting to me.” She leaned forward, stretching her arms across the table toward her lawyer in supplication. “Please get me out of here. I’ll do anything. I’ll owe you anything. Just make them let me leave.”
There was a flash of sympathy in the lawyer’s eyes, but it disappeared so quickly that Elle thought she must have imagined it. “Right now, the police are petitioning for permission to hold you for questioning for up to fourteen days. They definitely won’t let you out of here tonight.”
Elle sat back in her seat with a huff. “Then at least give me a laptop to play with for an hour.” She glanced around at the empty room. “There’s no one here to see if I use one.”
Ms. Patel was unmoved. “They confiscate my devices before I walk into these rooms.”
“Is that even legal?” Elle was truly horrified. Taking away someone’s internet access was like lopping off one of their limbs.
The lawyer tapped the notepad in front of her. “Please focus. Your team needs help to find this information, and the sooner they have it, the sooner we’ll get you out of here. At least, that’s the plan. Can you remember any incriminating information regarding the Fitzwaters? Anything at all?”
“Can I pace?” She was too antsy to sit still and thought she might scream if Patel said no.
Thankfully, the lawyer waved a hand in acquiescence. With a huff, Elle pushed back from the table and started to pace the tiny room. Wall to wall and back again. At least this room had paint on the walls and carpet underfoot. If she never saw another white tile in her lifetime, it would be too soon.
“Darian Fitzwater,” she muttered, massaging her temples. Nope, still a blank. “Fitzwater, Fitzwater, Fitz…” She tapped the wall with the toe of her Doc Martens boot before turning. “Did Rachel mention what kind of rumors are floating around about this guy? That might help narrow down where to search for any information we might have on him.”
“No. Although, she did say someone called Katy Boyle is looking into his background.”
Elle tripped over her own feet and grabbed the back of the chair to break her fall. “Katy Boyle? Megan’s cousin’s kid?”
“She didn’t elaborate,” Patel said.
“Great. My life’s in the hands of a soccer-obsessed teenager. What could possibly go wrong?” Elle resumed pacing. Think, Ellie Blue. Think. But there was nothing. She heaved an exasperated sigh. “There’s too much information on the server to narrow this down without a hint as to which direction to look in. It’s not like I’m Sherlock Holmes with a mind palace in my head where I file every piece of data we collect. That’s why we have the server. So information can stay on there instead of in here.” She tapped her temple before plopping back down onto her chair.
Ms. Patel tossed her sleek black hair over her shoulder in a gesture that reminded Elle of Rachel. “According to Katrina, there’s an unauthorized person roaming around on your server searching for something. We need to get that information before they do.”
“No kidding.” Elle wondered if the lawyer had a degree in stating the obvious. “But unless you can give me something more to work with here, it would be best if they…” She clutched her stomach as nausea hit, brought on by the mere thought of what she was about to suggest. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry, so she picked up the water in front of her and took a few sips. There was no getting around it. There was only one thing they could do. She took a deep breath. “It would be best if they wiped the server. We can’t let the information on there get into the wrong hands. Not just the bit they’re looking for. All of it.”
Elle gagged, fighting the urge to vomit. The thought of losing all their information made her physically ill.
“That has been mentioned,” the unemotional robot said. “But only you, Evan, Lake, and Callum have the code to wipe the server. Have any of you memorized it?”
“Are you nuts?” This was the problem dealing with computer-illiterate people. They had no idea what they were talking about. “The codes are a series of numbers, letters, and symbols that are too long to memorize. They’re locked in the cyber equivalent of a secure vault for passwords and can only be accessed by someone with the right login information—which includes a face scan, answering two random personal questions, and a secure number being sent to your phone. My face is in here with me. And my phone went for a swim along with everyone else’s this morning. There’s no getting those codes with us in jail. You need to get at least one of the four code holders out of this place so we can wipe the server before it’s too late.”
“I’m doing my best. Unfortunately, the system moves slowly.”
As they fell into silence, the cold, stark reality of the situation began to sink in for Elle. There was a good chance this wouldn’t end well for her or Benson Security. If Fitzwater already had someone going through the files on their server, he’d definitely find what he was looking for. After all, he had a head start. He knew what it was. Not only that, but he’d also find out where to look for all the legally obtained evidence he’d need to bury the team in prison and throw away the key. Elle wasn’t stupid. She knew nothing on the server could be admitted as evidence in court—not without a proper warrant anyway. But having access to the information was like giving the guy a treasure map. X marking the spot where he’d find all the legitimate evidence he needed to lock them up forever.
“We’re stuffed,” Elle said, more to herself than anyone else.
It was telling that Ms. Patel didn’t disagree. “I’ll see what further information I can gather on this Darian person. In the meantime, you think hard about anything you might have seen that could help.” She stood and picked up her notepad.
With reluctance, Elle stood too. She’d rather stay in the client meeting room than return to her cell. “Not like there’s anything else to do in my tiled hellhole,” she muttered as she followed her lawyer out of the room. “At least tell me David’s free already?”
The lawyer glanced at her watch. “He’s being interviewed as we speak. I don’t expect him to be released until the morning.”
Elle perked up a little. “So they aren’t trying to keep him on terrorism charges?”
“No, it seems they’ve reserved that for only the four of you.”
“Well, I hope David gives them hell.”
Elle frowned at the officer assigned to escort her back to her cell. “This whole investigation’s bogus. It’s one petty guy out to get the rest of us, and you’d better hope Fitz doesn’t take you down with him.”
“Elle,” Ms. Patel said evenly. “Let’s not add threatening a police officer to the list of charges currently against you.”
“It wasn’t a threat. It’s a friendly warning. These guys need to look out for themselves because the captain of this ship isn’t steering straight.”
DI Singh very much wanted to go home to a glass of wine, a warm bed, and a cuddle with her cat. Instead, she was conducting one last interview for the night. And, to make it even more torturous, she was playing second fiddle to Commander Fitzwater. It was agony.
“Mr. Knight,” the commander said to the man sitting opposite him at the table. “David Knight. Is that even your real name?”
Maya groaned inwardly as she wondered what he was trying to achieve with this line of questioning. Did he have a plan, or was he just groping around in the dark? She glanced at his determined face and suspected it was the latter.
“It is now,” David said with a congenial smile.
He was perfectly relaxed and fully focused on the commander. Maya had a sneaking suspicion that he was actually the one in charge of this interview. Dressed in black, with a slender but muscled build and everyman features that meant he wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, David Knight shouldn’t have made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. But it did. Every instinct she possessed, both personal and professional, told her that he was not what he seemed. Those instincts also told her to tread with caution and be ready to run at a moment’s notice. She wasn’t sure why no one else in the room appeared to feel the same way.
“What was your previous name?” The commander had the look of a dog after a bone. “Your birth name.”
David’s smile was open and friendly… and about as real as Dolly Parton’s hair. “That’s classified.”
The commander’s hand, resting on the table in front of him, curled into a fist. “By whom?” he demanded.
“That’s also classified.” David leaned forward and spread his hands in a genial gesture. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll see if I can help? It’ll be much faster than you taking a stab in the dark until you hit something.”
Don’t fall for it! Maya wanted to scream, but all she could do was hold her breath and wait to see if the commander took the bait.
“And you’ll happily hand over any information I need?” Commander Fitzwater said with clear skepticism.
Maya slowly let out the breath she’d been holding. Perhaps Fitzwater wasn’t so dumb after all.
“It depends.” David cocked his head to one side. “I’m new to Benson Security, so my alliances, let’s call them, aren’t as solid as some of the other team members’. Basically, all I care about is getting my wife out of this in one piece. You remember my wife, Elle Roberts-Knight?” His demeanor was affable, but his eyes glinted with cunning. “So, let’s make a trade. I’m willing to give up certain information if you’re willing to guarantee Elle’s release—and that there will be no charges pressed against her.” He sat back in his seat. “It’s a win-win.”
David’s lawyer placed a hand on his arm. “I don’t think this is a wise proposition,” he cautioned.
The well-dressed lawyer in his mid-thirties obviously had some experience under his belt. Maya knew he was one of the TayFor staff lawyers and suspected he’d been assigned to his client due to David’s lower position on the totem pole. Maya also suspected they’d made a mistake. This lawyer was no match for his client.
David spread his hands wide. “I need to look out for Elle and myself. I can’t go down with Benson Security. Truth be told, I don’t owe them any allegiance. At the end of the day, this is just a job.”
“Well,” the lawyer sniffed. “You’re doing this against my advice.”
“Noted, Counsel.” David turned back to the commander. “What are you looking for?”
Fitzwater’s eyes lit up with manic delight, and Maya’s stomach clenched. This was a trap. She didn’t know what form it would take, but the commander seemed eager to walk right into it.
“I want every dirty little secret you have about Lake Benson,” he said eagerly.
“You’ll need to be more specific,” David said. “We don’t have an endless amount of time here. I’d like to get my wife out of her holding cell sooner rather than later.”
“Fine.” Fitzwater sat straighter in his seat. “Benson’s been cultivating information sources for years. We know he has them in every area of law enforcement and the government, but we’re more interested in his people on the street. What do you know about this?”
David shrugged. “That it’s true. I was one of his informants when I worked for a government agency. Lake collects information. All powerful men do.”
“Yes.” The commander practically salivated. “I’d like to know what he does with this information. Is he blackmailing people into doing him favors, or is he after financial reward?”
“Lake’s not going to blackmail for any reason.” David sounded sure. “Wouldn’t put it past him to use the information to lean on somebody though.”
“Exactly. I want to know why he’d lean on someone. Is it a grab for power? Does he play his victims off against one another? Does he have a long-term plan?”
“You mean for world domination or something?” David chuckled. “No, he’s more likely to use information to grease the wheels for his clients.”
The commander leaned forward with feverish eagerness. “Are you saying that if a client came to him with a problem, Benson would use information gathered by his informants to make their problem disappear?”
“Depends.” David looked thoughtful. “Lake’s not really a fixer. He’s more about protecting the people who hire him or helping them find justice. I’m not sure what kind of problem he’d make disappear?”
The commander sighed, clearly frustrated.
“Give me an example, and we’ll see if that helps,” David suggested.
His lawyer interrupted again to address his client. “I must insist that you reconsider your decision here.”
In other words, his lawyer wanted him to shut up. Maya watched David smile and suspected they were all being played.
“I have to do what’s right for me and Elle,” he said before turning back to the commander. “You were saying?”
Maya’s instincts demanded that she stop the interview, but she had no clear justification for doing so. All she could do was watch while felling like she was witnessing a slow-motion collision.
“You want an example—how about this?” The commander clasped his hands on the table in front of him. “Say Benson Security came across some incriminating information about a government official. Would Lake Benson use it to influence government policy?”
David shrugged. “I would. I assume you’re talking about terrorist activity here. As in, Lake influencing the government for some bad actors overseas?”
Fitzwater jerked back slightly in his chair. “Yes, yes, of course. What else would I mean? After all, we are investigating terrorism charges.”
“True. I’m just not sure what kind of information Lake could gather that would allow him to exert that type of pressure. It’d have to be something pretty heinous.” David shook his head, frowning. “I just can’t imagine Benson Security coming across anything that would allow that kind of influence.”
Maya was about to ask if he read the UK tabloids because they were full of scandals that’d brought members of parliament down—taking bribes, padding expenses, mistresses on the side. Hell, off the top of her head, she could think of at least ten secrets a politician wouldn’t want to get out.
A flash of impatience crossed her boss’s face before he assumed an expression of benevolence. He obviously assumed he was dealing with someone who wasn’t too bright. “People are brought down by their indiscretions all the time,” he said. “Something like a sex scandal would make perfect blackmail material.”
“In this day and age?” David seemed skeptical, and Maya’s internal warning system was in full screaming mode.
“I’m afraid so. There’s many a man who’d want to cover up something like that. Our newspapers have a field day with those sorts of rumors.”
“That’s true,” David said thoughtfully, as though he was genuinely considering the possibility.
“And Lake Benson has contacts in some of the seedier areas of London,” the commander continued. “Who knows what kind of dubious information they’ve handed over to him.”
David nodded slowly. “I can see where you’re going with this. Lake does know some shady people, that’s for sure.”
The commander leaned in, a hunter watching his prey about to take the bait. “To your knowledge, has he used any information gathered from his sources to influence the British government? To blackmail anyone on a client’s behalf or perhaps for some self-serving need?”
David frowned, concentrating. “I’m not sure. I’ll need to think on this some more.” He sighed, resigned. “Guess Elle and I aren’t getting out of here tonight.” He looked the commander in the eye, oozing sincerity. “Let me spend some time thinking this over, and we’ll talk again tomorrow. I want to be sure I’m giving you the right information. But you have to give me your word that if I help, you’ll release me and Elle. Do you swear?”
“I give you my word,” the commander said solemnly.
Maya couldn’t help but think he’d just made a deal with the devil.
“You’ve no idea what a relief it is to hear that. Looks like I’ve got a lot of serious thinking to do,” David said.
A look of triumph flashed across Fitzwater’s face before he nodded brusquely. “Interview suspended at ten twenty p.m.,” he said for the recording before he got to his feet. He glanced at Maya. “Please ensure Mr. Knight is returned to his cell.”
With that, he turned and left the room.
David looked at Maya, all innocence and charm. “I haven’t had my phone call yet. Would it be possible to make that before you lock me up for the night?”
His lawyer snapped to attention, ready to argue his client’s rights if they were denied.
“Sure,” DI Singh said as she stood. “Let’s get you sorted.”
She gestured for him and his lawyer to go ahead.
Maya didn’t want her back to David Knight.