CHAPTER TEN
After the meeting, Greg dismissed everyone but Payton and Paride.
We fled to the seventh floor and our assigned classrooms as if they’d grounded us and sent us to bed early.
“Holy shiitake mushrooms, that was intense,” Corbin muttered, collapsing on a random cot since he slept in the other room.
“Agreed.” Jace scrubbed a hand over his face. “But damn, our girl took out an entire computer lab at Langley. How awesome is that? I might have given you too hard of a time when you started drooling over Callie’s coding, baby brother.”
CJ shoved his twin, matching spots of pink staining his cheeks. “I wasn’t drooling. I was being complimentary.”
Corbin popped upright. “CJ, you had us worried you’d short-circuit the keyboard. You bet your lazy little lizards you were drooling. There’s no point in denying it. We were all there.”
“I’m sorry,” CJ started, “but do you not want to hear what’s being said to our leader in that conference room?”
I smiled, realizing that CJ hadn’t wasted any time in pulling out his computer.
“Hey now, we were only teasing. Let’s not be hasty,” Corbin backtracked as we gathered around to watch CJ’s screen.
The various feeds were already loaded up.
CJ kept his eyes averted. “I, ah, may have left one foot in the door in case we needed a fast cover-up.”
“What are you waiting for, man? Turn it up,” Duane ordered.
We hushed as the audio tuned in to match the picture of Greg waving with his arms while Paride and Payton stood shoulder to shoulder.
“And another thing,” Greg continued. “You should have come to me if you were worried about being surveilled.”
“It’s not their fault,” Paride interrupted. “For now, Delta is their residence. I don’t care what that lady said. This was a clear breach of trust and protocol.”
“Be that as it may, it doesn’t erase the fact that Callie sent some sort of worm after them and caused them thousands of dollars in damages.”
Payton’s eyes went to the camera, startling Corbin and me both, as if he knew they were watching and wanted to know if the CIA could see this.
CJ controlled the camera to shake it side to side in a negative answer.
Paride, who’d clocked Payton’s line of sight, also stared at the camera for a beat.
“Uh-oh. I think we’ve been made,” Corbin sang.
Payton seemed to relax, knowing we were on the other end of the lens. “Director Miller, if I may? Whether or not Callie created the program, it was only meant as a protection against people looking to dig further. If no one tried breaking down the files, nothing would have happened. Considering the dormant nature, is it fair to hold this person accountable for another’s actions?”
Greg scowled at him. “It’s the damned CIA. If you didn’t expect them to open it, then you’re an even bigger fool than I am for agreeing to take on this godforsaken role as director! Get out of my sight. Both of you.”
Across the room, my computer dinged.
Brock glanced at me, his eyes stormy. “Think that’s Petrov?”
“Only one way to find out,” I replied, plopping down on my bed and checking the new notification.
“Wait!” CJ shouted. “Not yet. Paride is heading up here too. He wouldn’t let Mr. E shake him when he tried to rush the elevator, and now they are having a heated discussion.”
My fingers itched to click on the unread message from a blocked address, but CJ was right. We didn’t know what Paride wanted, and it’d be better to have my techy partner in crime on standby to run interference from his computer when we opened it. With Rollins’ warning still ringing in my ears, extra caution and layered redundancies couldn’t hurt.
Payton’s raised voice approached from outside the closed door, and if we hadn’t already been aware of their impending arrival, we certainly would have been now.
“Enough, Emerson,” Paride cut in. “Don’t you think you’ve given your team plenty of warning that I’m about to intrude? Especially since they’ve been monitoring our steps from the conference room?”
Corbin chose that moment to throw open the door and feign surprise. “Parade Day! Mr. E! Fancy running into you two here!”
Paride pushed through, barely acknowledging him. “Okay, you have some explaining to do.” When no one spoke, he set his hands on his hips. “Come on, nothing? You guys let me get caught with my pants down back there.”
“Yeah, about that,” Bryce drawled. “Why’d you stick your neck out for us?”
“Really? You have to ask?”
“I would think that’s rather apparent, considering I just did,” Bryce parried.
Paride groaned, swiping a hand down his face, frustration lacing every agitated movement. “Look, I understand that you all consider me an outsider or like I’m trying to replace Westphal. I’m not. What I am trying to do is step into the role to help field some of the hard hits from the top brass so you can continue to do your jobs. You’re one of, if not the most, prolific teams Delta has. If I’d been informed, I could have kept Rollins and her rabid pack of robots at bay. Instead, I was forced to go on the defense, scrambling to play catch-up. Do you grasp that?”
Jace crossed his arms. “Considering we confirmed that our employers were spying, can you blame us for closing our ranks?”
Paride bobbed his head. “That’s a fair point, I’ll give you that, but trust me. If the director of the CIA is gunning for you, and you want to keep Callie out of a dark hole somewhere, can you afford to turn away help?”
Corbin was the first one to break the silence. “He did try to defend us up there.”
Payton glanced around at our expressions, trying to judge our thoughts on the matter. “Okay, Mr. Coppola, we’ve heard your offer. Would you mind giving my team a moment to converse about it in private?”
Paride backed toward the exit without hesitation. “I don’t want to force your hand, so by all means, discuss away. I’ll be right outside.”
The door shut behind him.
“Before we discuss anything,” Duane began, his voice rough and gravelly, but somehow low and melodious, “you should know that Callie received an email from an encrypted address. If we’re voting about reading him in, I figured we needed to be aware that this is all or nothing. Madam Rollins drew the line in the sand, and further involvement beyond this point with Petrov will be like prodding the tiger.”
Payton absorbed the information in stride. “Fair enough. If we’re discussing whether or not to trust Mr. Coppola, then we must also consider that he’ll demand our full disclosure. We’ll be dragging him with us if we choose to fall down this rabbit hole, and that is something to deliberate with care.”
“I care not,” Aleks grumbled. “Puny Italian man is right. We need all help fighting CIA.”
Brock grunted. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Aleks.”
“Boulder!” Aleks beamed, slapping him on his back.
Brock rolled his eyes. “Coppola is smart enough to know what he’s getting into, and he’s still here. We’re not risking him by accepting his help. He made that choice knowing the consequences.”
Various sounds of agreement followed, and I watched with wide eyes.
Payton noticed. “Callie? Luv, do you have something you wish to contribute?”
“Uh, yes? What if I don’t want any of you falling on this sword with me? We haven’t discussed that yet, but you all seem like your involvement is a foregone conclusion.”
They blinked back at me as if I was slow.
“Because it is?” Corbin offered, sounding confused.
Duane’s face shifted into a roguish grin. “Babygirl, it was never a question, so forget trying to face this alone. We have CJ to help track you down. Surely he’s picked up on some of your tricks by now.”
“I have,” CJ promised, a dark warning in his eyes, as if daring me to try to shake them.
My goodness, every time he grew assertive, a huge turnaround from his normal personality, it wreaked havoc on my brain.
“Okay,” I conceded, recognizing all the signs of them digging their feet in on a united front. Pretty much any instance where Aleks and Brock agreed, the matter was decided.
“And Paride?” Payton prodded.
I bit my lip but nodded. “Yeah, Brock’s right—”
“And me!” Aleks reminded me.
“Paride is a grown man and trained agent. He knows what he’s risking.”
“That’s settled then,” Payton decreed. “Jace?”
“On it, boss.” Jace swung the door open. “Good news. You’re in.”
Paride straightened from the wall and rejoined us. “I knew you guys would listen to reason. So what’s first? Do you need—”
“Hold your horses there, gunslinger,” Jace warned. “Callie received a response from Petrov just before your arrival. We figured we could start with that.”
Paride blinked. “Oh. Yeah. I mean, that sounds like a plan.” Then, because he couldn’t quite contain his shock, he rounded on me. “Did you really get a reply that fast?”
“Yeah, we’ve sort of been in touch a lot longer than the disastrous email this morning,” I offered, pulling my computer over.
Paride’s eyes rounded. “Wait, you’re just going to open it here?”
I hesitated. “Yes? This is my personal laptop, not the one I use at work, and CJ planned to run back up interference from his.”
Paride only looked marginally appeased. “Alright, I get that you’re both some of the best in the biz, but if you don’t think the CIA’s tagged every last piece of tech you’ve touched, down to an electric toothbrush, then maybe you don’t realize how far in over your heads you are.”
A beat passed before Payton clipped out, “If you have any suggestions, we’re all ears.”
Paride paused before nodding decisively. “Yeah. I have a place. It’ll be much more secure. Grab your stuff. I’ll take you there.”
Further down the rabbit hole we went.