Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“You’re skeptical, though, aren’t you?” Savanna raised her voice slightly since they were all on speakerphone. As soon as Gray and Griffin had boarded the jet, Gray called them back to continue filling them in on their visit to Archer Group.
“I’m struggling to believe the owner’s daughter would not only sabotage the company but jeopardize the safety of the nation. A country she risked her neck for in battle,” Gray answered without deliberation.
Sydney Archer had served, same as Griffin and Gray, but . . .
“There is one other possibility,” Griffin suggested as if trying to ease the hell that Gray seemed to be in at the idea of an old friend being a traitor. “Sydney was taken.”
Savanna abruptly stood from the couch in the lobby. “You think Nick kidnapped her? Theft is one thing, but kidnapping?”
The sound of a deep exhale came over the line. “You’re not really that quick to defend a man you met for all of five minutes, are you? A murderer?” Griffin seethed, his tone raspy and . . .
Wait, what?
“I can’t wrap my head around the fact you still believe a man that your . . .” Griffin added in a low, gritty voice. “That your husband wouldn’t even forgive, can be redeemed.”
Husband.
There it was.
Was he placing Marcus between them once again? Did something happen to make Griffin believe she was off-limits again?
“Murderer,” she whispered, just now realizing what he’d said. She turned toward Carter and saw a look of surprise on his face. Not because he hadn’t heard this news. No, he was surprised that Griffin shared it with Savanna. “Do you all know?” She looked around the room, one by one at everyone as she waited for Griffin to speak again. To explain.
“I’m sorry,” Jack was the only one to speak up.
“Nick killed the three men who were on the job with him before he took off with what he stole,” Carter finally explained what Griffin hadn’t wanted to tell her. He’d let the truth slip out of anger, and now he was most likely regretting it.
“When did you find out?” And what if it’s not true? But she knew they’d argue with her, so why bother? She’d find out the truth herself somehow. Thieves were redeemable, weren’t they? But a murderer? Unforgivable.
“Yesterday right after dinner,” Jack told her. So that’s what Carter had wanted to tell Griffin when they’d gone out in the hall. And Griffin had come back into the room and made love to her . . . with that secret between them.
“I’m sorry.” Griffin’s apology meant she was right. She was hurt by his lack of admission, and yet, she understood he was only trying to protect her. He knew how she’d react to the news.
In Griffin’s eyes, defending a criminal was insane, and maybe it was. After all, her only tie to Nick was Marcus, but some part of her felt that if she severed that tie, she truly lost Marcus forever.
“We can talk about that later,” Carter began, and she nodded in understanding. “Start over from the beginning,” he directed Griffin and Gray.
There was a lot of background noise, and she assumed the pilot was preparing for takeoff. It’d be less than a two-hour flight and most likely quicker since they weren’t flying commercial.
“We were taken on a tour of the site by the head security guard, but the man said he didn’t have authorization or the security clearance himself to access their main vault where the hard copies of their projects are stored,” Gray repeated what he’d explained on their first call, but he was walking them through the details a bit slower this time. “The vault can only be opened by certain DOD personnel or one of our five suspects at Archer.”
“And that’s when you asked him about Sydney?” Oliver spoke up, scratching his jawline, standing near Carter, eyes on the phone.
Savanna exhaled, trying to find a way to get through this and not run crying from the room.
“Right,” Gray answered. “He said Sydney had only been at their Catania location in Sicily for three weeks, but then last week, she’d sent out an email that she was taking a vacation. No location provided. The man said it’d been unexpected, especially since she hadn’t been there long, but she’s the owner’s daughter, so no one pressed. Her out-of-office email provided no return date.”
“We requested security footage to be pulled from the day her out-of-office email went into effect,” Griffin spoke up, his tone still low. Angry at her for worrying about Nick? Or worried she was angry because he didn’t tell her the truth? She had no clue.
Savanna turned away from the room and smoothed her hands up and down her arms, her nerves getting to her, and the uncomfortable knot in her stomach intensified.
“There was some type of glitch in the security feed between zero seven hundred and zero eight hundred last Friday,” Gray went on. “When we asked why this wasn’t reported or didn’t raise any red flags, the security guard said it was reported. Well, more like emailed to Sydney.”
“Sydney was also at the Sicily office two other times this year. Shortly after each of those visits, Archer lost two major contracts to their rivals,” Griffin quickly dropped the bombshell. “Unfortunately, we can’t confirm if those projects were stored in Sicily. Same goes for the Elysium Project.”
“But I did speak with my father, who said Archer Group was awarded a project for an aerial defense system designed for the CIA black sites. That was a few years ago, so it’s currently operational. Chances are it was the Elysium Project.”
“Shit,” she whispered under her breath, knowing what that meant.
“My dad’s activating the security measures to protect those black sites just in case. That’s one major problem we can check off as being handled now,” Gray added while Jack and Oliver focused on Carter with puzzled looks on their faces.
“So, the black sites will be safe? The military and CIA officers working there won’t be at risk now?” Savanna double-checked, and that was something.
Murderer or not, would Nick do anything that’d put the lives of the military in danger after what happened to his brother? That would be even harder for her to wrap her head around.
“Yeah, the breach has initiated backup protocols. And any information the Archer Group possesses about the satellite orbital positions that would reveal the black site locations will be altered. Naturally, Archer Group won’t be notified given the potential leak,” Gray followed up with more details, and it was all good news so far. That was something.
Carter looked at Jack and then Oliver, but there was no apology in his eyes or in his tone as he explained his hypothesis about the Elysium Project he’d previously only shared with Savanna and Gray.
“You told her but not us?” Jack’s forehead creased. More surprise than anger.
“It just came out,” Carter said, shaking his head as if dismayed about sharing that intelligence with her.
Unlike the “Nick being a murderer” secret.
“So, whatever Nick’s boss had him steal can still be used to recreate our defense systems, which isn’t ideal,” Griffin noted, “but at least our people and sites will be safe.”
“I still don’t think Sydney is behind this,” Gray said a moment later. “I know her. She wouldn’t do this. She’s either really on vacation, and our insider took advantage of that opportunity, or she’s in danger.”
Carter was quiet for a moment, contemplative. “We can’t rule out any possibilities. Sydney could be the threat, or she could be the hunted one.”
“Wait, you think . . .” Savanna blinked in surprise at his words.
But if Nick was capable of murder, kidnapping wasn’t a stretch.
“It’s possible it’s not just Nick everyone might be after, but who Nick might have. The daughter of a billionaire with knowledge of a whole collection of top-secret government projects sounds like motivation to come after Savanna for the purpose of getting to Nick. And by way of Nick, to Sydney,” Gray explained whatever she assumed Carter had been suggesting.
“Maybe,” was all Carter would say.
Chills crept over her skin, and she did her best not to lose herself to dangerous what-ifs .
“What about Joe and his team?” she found herself asking, her thoughts quickly switching directions like the weather during a Southern summer. “The only way Joe could possibly know the Sicilian site had been breached, and which records were compromised, is if the insider told him. Because the insider knew Nick double-crossed them all, and he sent Joe’s team to hunt Nick down,” Savanna said, more so trying to work through her own thoughts to understand how Joe fit into it all.
“And Joe may also be searching for Sydney,” Gray responded.
“Or taking his orders from her,” Griffin tossed out.
“Which is why we can’t rule out any names on our suspect list. And it could still even be someone at the DOD,” Carter replied. “Gray, when you’re en route, ask your dad if Sydney’s ex at the DOD happens to have access to any of the projects with Archer. See if he’s on your dad’s list of suspects.”
Oh, God.
The puzzle.
The pieces.
Too freaking many.
“We’ll talk more when we arrive,” Gray said. “Our jet is taking off. We have to end the transmission now.”
She hated the quick goodbye, and she was still upset with Griffin that he withheld information from her.
“See you in a few hours,” Gray spoke up, and Griffin remained quiet before the line disconnected.
Her stomach was full-on somersaulting, and not in the lovey-dovey way.
“You okay?” Jack asked her, and she realized they were alone in the lobby now. Oliver must have followed Carter to wherever he went to phone the Italian billionaire.
“Why, do I look not okay?” She semi-smiled.
“You’re pale.” Jack’s brows pinched together. “But everything will be okay.”
“Everything-everything?” Even with Griffin? she couldn’t help but wonder, which she felt selfish for still worrying about at a time like this.
Jack smiled and nodded. “Everything-everything.”