Chapter 36 Ben
Ben
Cypress Creek, Texas
Sunday afternoon
I stare at the tablet Athena is reading from like it’s a loaded gun. In a way, it is. Russian KGB. International arms broker.
Multiple encrypted calls. An expedited auction happening sometime in the next forty-eight hours. All of it tied to the reason
I’m standing in a farmhouse on the edge of town reconciling the truth that Cybil Langford is a spy.
Or, as Athena described her, a cover asset.
Forget protecting her—what I should’ve been worried about was how many ways she could kill me with a nail file and still make
it look like an accident.
If there was any relief in learning Cybil wasn’t spying for Edmond or a former Russian KGB member, it was short-lived when
Athena and Katherine explained why SNAP Global was now involved in Operation Shadow Broker—or rather taking it over.
“Ramirez has an operation in Brazil called PetroSul. It’s a subsidiary of Enzo Coal & Oil and works with a local energy consortium to explore for natural gas deposits in underdeveloped parts of the basin,” Athena explains.
“While there, his team discovered a naturally occurring but incredibly rare mineral called Aurelite-X. On its own, it’s not much more than a shimmering metallic ore.
But once it’s refined and combined with certain reactive elements—think niobium, scandium, even trace amounts of enriched boron—it becomes something else entirely.
It’s lightweight, nearly indestructible, and can withstand extreme heat and energy output without structural failure, making it ideal for weapons casings, missile guidance systems, stealth drone components .
. . even hypersonic delivery systems.” Athena pauses.
“Because it’s new and unregulated, Aurelite-X isn’t on any export control lists.
No watchdogs. No oversight. If Ramirez can get it out of the country and into the wrong hands, it’s not just a weapon. It’s an arms race shortcut.”
“And why we’ve decided to bring you both in today,” Katherine says. “Now that we’re dealing with a national security threat,
we’ve hit a point where compartmentalization is no longer an asset—it’s a liability. Both of you have ingrained yourselves
into a position we can use to effectively take down Lorenzo Ramirez and stop an international security threat before it’s
weaponized.”
I glance between Katherine and Athena. Off to the side, Cybil is leaning against the wall, spinning her father’s gold ring
on her thumb. She’s anxious. And rightfully so. If a global threat isn’t bad enough, if I understand what was just said, the
situation isn’t just bad—it’s escalating. And Katherine and Athena are dropping us deeper into it.
Which—sure. Fine. I’ve worked hard missions. High stakes, ugly targets. But none of those involved someone I care about standing
in the line of fire.
“What do you want us to do?”
Cybil’s question doesn’t seem to surprise Katherine. Or Athena. And Ruby looks almost amused. I am not.
I glance at Cybil. She meets my eyes—steady, stubborn. And I know she’s not going to back down.
“You’re both going to do exactly what you’ve been doing,” Katherine says. “Craig Miller will continue to serve Ramirez’s financial needs regarding the deal. We know of two interested parties, Kamarov and Samuel
Baird. The unknown is who Baird might be brokering the deal on behalf of. We need names in case the deal goes through.”
I frown. “In case?”
“Our goal is to prevent the auction altogether,” Athena says. “But we expect Ramirez’s growing suspicion will push him to
accelerate the deal, leaving us without much time to intervene. If we have the names of the buyers, we can pursue them post-auction.”
Cybil pushes off the wall. “What do you need me to do?”
For the first time, Athena’s confident posture shifts. “Earl Edmond has been invited to the auction. You’ll go with him as
expected. We need you to get close enough to Ramirez’s laptop to access the evidence for the mineral deal.”
“You expect her to break into his laptop?” I say, my voice wavering with incredulity and anger. Frustration slices through
me. This is my fault. This was my mission and because I failed, Cybil’s life is on the line. “Ramirez is already suspicious
of her. If she gets anywhere near his laptop, you might as well hand him the gun and tell him to shoot.”
“We need the proof,” Katherine says calmly. “If Cybil disappears now, it confirms Ramirez’s suspicion and accelerates his
response. But if she reappears as expected, acting as if nothing has changed, it creates doubt. He’ll question whether he
misread her, whether he overreacted. That uncertainty works in our favor. Her presence is the variable that destabilizes him.”
She looks at Ruby. “And she only needs to get close enough for the PhantomKey to extract the information, right?”
“Yes.” Ruby slides a matte-black case out of her pocket and opens it with a quiet click. Nestled inside is a sleek, dime-sized
disc the color of gunmetal, with a faint ring of light pulsing at its center. “This is a PhantomKey. It’s a zero-latency proximity
breach device. Think of it like a Trojan horse, but sexy. Get it close enough to Ramirez’s laptop and it hijacks the laptop’s
biometric input—fingerprint, face ID, retinal scan, whatever he uses—and creates a synthetic credential that unlocks the system
long enough for us to access the encrypted directories.”
Cybil blinks. “So I just walk up to his laptop with this in my pocket?”
“No.” Ruby snaps the case closed. “It’ll be embedded in custom housing to look like a brooch. To anyone else, it’s jewelry, but it’s going to require you to get close. We’re talking elbow-on-the-table, lean-in-for-a-whisper close. It’s the only way to bypass the YubiKey encryption.”
“So get within kissing distance of a laptop owned by a war criminal and pray he doesn’t notice my jewelry is cloning his hard
drive. Honestly”—Cybil swallows—“still not the worst date I’ve ever been on.”
“Sure, because nothing screams subtle espionage like leaning in close to a paranoid crime boss with a weaponized brooch.”
I don’t know if her nonchalance is covering nerves, but I’m not okay with this. “Why not give her a pair of exploding earrings
too?”
“It’s the only shot we have.” Ruby gives me a look that reads trust me. And I want to, but this is Cybil we’re talking about. “She doesn’t have to get close to Ramirez. Just his laptop—within
ten inches to activate.” Ruby looks at Cybil. “Once it locks onto his laptop, you’ll feel a single vibration. That means the
device has found a viable connection. It’ll take about twenty seconds. When you feel a double vibration, that means the scan’s
complete and the data has been transmitted to our secure server.” Ruby meets Cybil’s gaze. “You’ll only get one shot. Once
the scan completes, the device disables itself.”
“Twenty seconds.” Cybil nods. “I can do that.”
“You say it like it’ll be easy.” I cross my arms. “Ramirez is spooked. His suspicion is already directed at Edmond and everyone”—I
glance at Cybil—“working with him. He’ll be looking for any abnormal behavior. You so much as blink wrong, and he won’t ask questions before reacting. Not only are we putting
her in danger, but we’re also putting the entire operation in danger.”
“Well, guess I’d better practice my blinking then.” She gives a little laugh. “Wouldn’t want to accidentally launch World
War III with a side-eye.”
I exhale sharply through my nose. “That’s not funny.”
“Maybe not.” She shrugs. “But if I don’t laugh, I’ll start panicking. And then I’ll blink weird. And we’re back to a nuclear
fallout.”
Ruby snorts. “I like you.”
“Listen.” Katherine’s focus turns to me. “This isn’t about RICO charges anymore. National security threats supersede RICO crimes. SNAP Global has jurisdiction now.”
I look between her and Athena. “What do you mean?”
“Our agency is going to work with the FBI,” Athena says, “but we have the green light to neutralize the threat with or without
your help.”
I stiffen. “So we cooperate or get benched.”
Katherine nods. “Exactly.”
There’s a beat of silence before Athena adds, “But Cybil will stay.”
I watch Cybil. There’s a flicker of nerves behind her resolve, the way she presses her thumb against her father’s ring like
it’s armor. She’s ready to do this. Of course she is. But she isn’t going to do it alone.
I exhale, my jaw tight. “Fine.” I glance at both Katherine and Athena. “But let me be clear—if anything feels off, if I even
suspect her life is in danger, I’ll pull her out myself. I don’t care whose jurisdiction this falls within.” My voice sharpens.
“She’s not disposable. And if protecting her costs me my badge, then so be it.”
Athena studies me, unreadable. Katherine doesn’t blink. Cybil’s trying to look steady, but I can see it—the flicker of emotion
behind her eyes. She meets my gaze, and I nod. Just once. Not approval. Not agreement. A promise.
We don’t say much after we leave the farmhouse. Cybil spoke with Athena for a few minutes after we were told we needed to
get back to Dallas this afternoon. We’re going to miss Buddy’s birthday party, but the fact that Cybil didn’t argue tells
me she’s taking this seriously. She doesn’t want any trouble coming to find her or her family. So we’re going to it instead.
We’re halfway down the winding back road leading back to the ranch, tires humming beneath us, Texas sunlight pouring gold
across the dashboard, when she looks over at me.
I look over at her. “So you spy on powerful criminals in your free time.”
“Mostly corrupt CEOs, the occasional smuggler with a yacht fetish, or an ex-boyfriend who lies about what he does for a living.” She tilts her head. “My résumé is very versatile.”
“Anything else you want to confess?”
Cybil stares out the windshield, unbothered. “Define ‘confess.’”
I let out a sharp breath. “Let’s start with something simple. Do you hate chocolate?”
A pause.
“Open my glove box.”