Chapter 42
forty-two
Natalia
I never let the hard drive go.
Not on the ride, where Jake and Sylvia spend the entire time catching up like family. Not on the long rest stops all the way upstate. Not even when we stand on the welcome mat on the second floor of a midcentury apartment building waiting for someone to open the door.
I clutch the drive to my breast, protecting it more mindfully than the heart beating in my chest.
“Let’s hope she’s home.” Jake says quietly. “She gets flown around the country all the time.” He pushes a faded rectangular doorbell and turns to look at us with a sigh.
“I’m pretty sure I owe her my firstborn child. At this rate, I may as well just give her the whole family—” The door swings open, a round face peering at us in confusion.
“I already told the last Jehovah’s Witness people I’m a satanist.” She announces.
“Bee.” Jake says in a warning tone, looking around the hall for anyone that may have heard her, the starched fabric of his suit rustling in the hallway. My friend and the hacker stand off for a long moment, until she breaks the silence with a cackle.
“Just kidding. I thought you were my lunch delivery. Did you see any food in the lobby on your way up?” Sylvia and I glance at each other, biting back a smile.
“No, I didn’t see your lunch. Can we come in?”
She opens the door wider for us to enter her apartment, the heavy metal door groaning as it closes.
I relax once the locks click into place, holding the drive a little less desperately than I’ve been the entire car ride here.
Bee’s apartment is small, but cozy. An outdated galley kitchen greets us to our right, laminate counters washed in yellow light.
Just past it, a tiny living room greets us with an explosion of color, a pink velvet loveseat pushed up against the wall and filled with all types of adorable throw pillows.
“It smells really good in here.” Sylvia remarks, giving the woman a smile.
Bee turns on one foot and motions at the living room, a cloud of raven black curls swishing around her face. “Thank you. I just bought a new candle.” Her oversized sweater, stitched with flowers, curves around her gently rounded stomach, black leggings hugging fleshy thighs.
I shuffle awkwardly before holding out my hand. “I’m Natalia, and this is?—”
“I know who you are.” The young hacker smiles. “Natalia—and Sylvia—right?”
“Yep.” I answer, unsettled.
“Sorry, is that weird?” Bee glances at Jake. “My boss told me to stop doing that, but I can’t help it. I know the names of everyone that live in the building, too. When they piss me off I mess with their internet.” She offers, walking into the kitchen. “Do you guys want something to drink?”
“I’ll take some water.” Sylvia asks, following our host into the kitchen. “I…I never got a chance to thank you for helping Jake that day. You saved my life. Thank you—so much—really.”
Bee gives Sylvia a taken-aback smile. “You’re welcome.
It was nice to do something useful, for once.
Doesn’t come a lot in my line of work. I feel like a villain most days.
” She jokes, sliding a glass of water at my sister.
“Did you get with that cute agent you were on the news with? The silver fox?”
Sylvia grins into her drink. “We live together now.”
“I love love!” Bee exclaims, clapping her hands together. “That’s amazing. You two make the cutest couple.” She babbles, then freezes when she finds Jake staring at her.
“…Sorry. This is probably not a social call. What can I do you for?”
I step forward, holding up the drive in my hands. “My…my boyfriend is in trouble. His name is Matias Rojas.” Bee slides Jake a look.
“Yeah, all of the agencies have been in a big hubbub since he was captured.”
“Bee...” I clutch the drive in my hands, my heart skipping a beat at the thought of admitting the truth. “He left me a drive—he thought it had some type of serious evidence. Enough for people to kill over it. Matias wasn’t able to find anyone good enough to decrypt this drive.”
Her delicate brows arch upwards, big brown eyes gleaming. “You…you want my help?”
I nod firmly. “If you don’t mind.”
“Of course.” She holds out her hand, and it takes every ounce of courage in me to hand over the hard drive.
Jake frowns. “You’re not going to ask her for any national-security related favors, like you did with me…?”
“She’s a girl.” Bee says, shrugging. “I need friends.”
“We’re friends.” Jake replies, affronted. Bee rolls her eyes, bringing the drive closer to her face and reading the specs on it. Jake takes off his suit jacket, making himself at home and rolling up his sleeves.
“Can I use your bathroom?” Jake asks.
Bee nods absentmindedly. “Sure, just—DON’T GO IN THERE!” Her scream is shrill. “I—ah—I have to tidy up!” She shoves Jake out of the way, making a beeline for the bathroom down the hall. “My office is last door on the right, you guys make yourselves at home.”
Sylvia and I grin at each other, following the young hacker’s instructions until we’re in her home office. The room is small, carpeted and cramped, and I’ve no doubt everything in here is worth a complete fortune.
“Whoah.” Sylvia breathes, standing at the wall of computer screens in the far end of the room, taking a quick glance at all the shelves lining the room, filled with books of all shapes and sizes.
“That thing is what she used to find me?” She asks, pointing at the behemoth workstation in front of us.
Jake shakes his head. “She found you with her CIA issued laptop.”
Bee enters the room a moment later, breathlessly shoving her mane of curls from her face. “Okay, you can use the bathroom now.”
“You know, I could handle a dirty toilet.”
Bee laughs jaggedly, inviting Sylvia and I to have a seat on an oversized reading chair stuffed between two bookshelves. “I’m a single girl that lives alone. It’s not the toilet I was worried about.”
Jake gives her a quizzical look and disappears down the hall, the bathroom door clicking closed a moment later. I fidget restlessly on the overstuffed chair, watching Bee as she plugs up the hard drive and a flurry of action breaks out on the screen.
She rattles away on a colorful mechanical keyboard, pausing every once in a while and cocking her head. Sylvia and I sit with bated breath, glancing at each other occasionally as she tries different ways to get into the drive.
Jake enters the room a moment later. “Your lunch is here.” He says, holding up a plastic bag with a yellow smiley face. “Now that I’m holding it, I’m kind of starving.” He admits.
“You girls want anything to eat?”
Sylvia perks up. “Actually, I could use a bite and stretch my legs after the ride here. It’ll probably take a while, right?”
Bee accepts her food from Jake and nods. “Yeah, this won’t be quick. You guys can take a break, if you want.”
Sylvia glances as me in askance, but I can’t bring myself to leave. “I’m not hungry.” I say with a weak smile. “You guys go ahead.”
Sylvia presses her lips together and narrows her gaze, like she’s got a lot to say, but she rises to her feet and leaves without fuss. Bee doesn’t pay me much mind, the wall of screens in front of her flashing as she takes a crack at the drive.
I use the opportunity to rise to my feet and study her book collection, grinning when I find an entire shelf of colorful romance novels.
“I like your books.” I say gently, plucking one off the shelf and admiring it. “I read this one last year.”
She glances at the book in my hand. “Did you like it?”
I give her a hesitant look before wrinkling my nose. “…Not really. The first one was much better.”
“That’s what I said!” Bee exclaims, a huge smile taking over her face. “Okay, I don’t feel crazy now.” The hacker turns to face her computer again, the sound of her keys rattling. I continue inspecting the rest of the shelf, pausing when I notice a stack of cardboard file boxes on the bottom shelf.
“Are these case files?”
Bee digs into her lunch, absentmindedly glancing at me over her shoulder. “Oh, those? Yeah. I think those are the last of the files on Reynaldo’s case. After he died trying to escape, well, the bureau didn’t seem to care as much. Jake left his copies here.”
My recollection of that time is hazy—the events spanning a handful of days feeling like years. I tug on the box and peer inside, wondering how all of this reads on paper.
“Do you mind if I read the files while you work?”
“Knock yourself out. They’re dusty, though. Hold your breath.”