Third Hour

by Lisa Phillips

  The woman wasn’t old enough for… “She—”

  “Was barely eighteen. I know,” Stanton said. “Seems like she was some kind of child prodigy, and they snapped her up. Evidently that’s the case every once in a while when they can’t afford to let someone slip through their fingers. Right out of school. Fresh from that California science, poly-technical, whatever-it’s-called college. She signed right on with them.”

  “And her team now?” She’d made mention enough he knew there was something unusual about it.

  Stanton nodded. “The Northwest Counter-Terrorism Task Force.”

  Was that what she’d called it? Mason had forgotten in the confusion…and the footrace. He was still angry the guy had gotten away, but he’d been assured their techs were on it. Hot on the surveillance trail. Running his ID, locating him from ATM and traffic cameras.

  He couldn’t hide forever.

  “I’ve never heard of it,” Mason said.

  Stanton nodded. “And that’s apparently the way they like it. The Director, Victoria Bramlyn, keeps it that way, though she’s managed to build herself a reputation. She’s well known as a maverick. Once they mentioned her name, I put it together. Word has it she’s been working on a team that stays under the radar.”

  “She has an agenda?”

  “The team is legitimate enough, and they’ve closed some big cases lately.” Stanton shrugged. “Whatever her goal is, though, isn’t known. She’s been running her team for about five years, and Ms. Matrice is part of that. The rest of the group are from different agencies. Homeland, the Marshals service. Even NCIS.”

  Mason shook his head. Agents from different federal branches working together? That made no sense.

  “It’s an interesting model, but I can’t say I have enough information to assess whether it’s effective.” Stanton motioned to the conference room. “Maybe she can tell you.”

  He thought about that. Now he’d concluded Talia had gone through something that made her jumpy and nervous, he’d figured the bank incidents were a result of her being targeted. Now that he knew more about this task force, he was even more certain she was hiding something.

  His boss wandered off, and Mason checked his email again even though his smart watch would notify him if a new message came in from the technicians, or other agents still combing through the events of that morning.

  Then he poured two fresh cups of coffee.

  When he moved back to the conference room, he saw she clutched her big gold purse on her lap. The phone and tablet she’d used at the bank were part of what the techs were working on. Going through her devices and looking for evidence that would either indicate what she’d done, or clear her of any suspicion.

  He was nearly at the door when a rush of feet startled him.

  “Special Agent Anderson!”

  Mason spun around. The tech nearly ran straight into the coffees. Mason took a step back, and some splashed on his shoes. “What is it?”

  The tech sputtered, then swiped back a chunk of hair that had come loose from his bun. The guy had skinny jeans, a T-shirt ripped on his left hip, and he wore boating shoes with no socks. Why the assistant director let them dress like that, Mason had no idea.

  “Speak.”

  The guy took a breath, then said, “I need to talk to her.” He jabbed a finger over Mason’s shoulder, in Talia’s direction.

  “Yes?”

  Mason turned to see if her expression matched her tone. His lips pressed together. “What’s going on?”

  Before the guy could answer, Talia said, “I’m guessing they’re having some…problems with my devices.”

  “It happened the moment we connected them to our system,” the tech said.

  Mason turned to Talia. “Whoever hacked the bank and transferred that money can get into our system here?”

  Her eyebrows rose. “You think he used my device to access the bank’s internal network?”

  “I don’t know. Do I?”

  She glanced from him to the technician. “Well?”

  Apparently she didn’t want to talk about what Mason thought.

  The guy flushed. “Your devices triggered some kind of fail-safe we think is designed to keep us from accessing anything.”

  “She unlocked it.” Mason had personally requested that she unlock the device and allow them access. He’d taken the passcode off before he handed it over to the techs, just so it didn’t lock again before they got the chance to plug it into their system.

  The tech shook his head. “Ms. Matrice.” He sounded nervous. “We know who you are. We’d like to respectfully request that you come down to the lab and allow us to disconnect your tablet from our system in a way that doesn’t delete everything on our system permanently.”

  Talia shook her head while a wry smile played at her lips. “Of course you tried just unplugging it.”

  “The whole thing is…ingenious.” The tech looked like he was about to bow to her.

  Mason had to wonder if this was some kind of nerd ritual, or meeting of the minds. He turned to Talia. “What did you do?”

  She lifted her chin. “You asked me to hand over my device. You also asked me to unlock it.”

  “On the understanding that we use the access to help you provide evidence which will back up your statement.”

  She scoffed. “We both know you’re only trying to get to the bottom of it all. Not that you’re trying to help me. And I’m not going to give access to my system to just anyone, am I? There’s no way I’d be that stupid.”

  Mason shut his mouth. But he was stupid, because he’d assumed just that? He folded his arms. “Let’s go.” He tugged her toward the elevator while the tech trotted behind them. “You can fix what you did, and then I have more questions for you.”

  “Joy.” She sounded anything but happy.

  They were almost to the elevator when the doors opened and a slender blonde woman stepped out wearing heels and a skirt suit, a purse hanging from one elbow. Her eyes narrowed on his hold on Talia’s arm. “Not so fast.”

  Mason could have sworn he heard Talia chuckle under her breath.

  Chapter 6

  Victoria was here. Talia’s whole body relaxed, though she didn’t move. Mason’s hand on her back imparted warmth where she still shivered inside. Behind Talia’s boss,—the woman was tiny, but assuming that small stature implied weakness was a mistake—their friend Welvern stepped out of the elevator.

  Talia grinned. “Gang’s all here.”

  Mark Welvern wasn’t even part of their team, he was an FBI assistant director she figured had a major crush on Victoria, though he’d never done anything about it. Together they were like a page from a fashion magazine. The perfect young upwardly-mobile couple.

  Welvern grinned. “Talia.”

  She held up her fist, which he touched with his.

  “Causing trouble?”

  She flipped her hand, palm up. “Would I do that?”

  Both Victoria and Welvern said, “Yes.”

  They glanced at each other. Victoria actually flushed. Which, if you’d asked Talia an hour ago, she would have said was impossible.

  Talia introduced them both to Mason and the technician, then faced the fact she had to tell them what was going on right now. She sighed. “We were just headed down to the lab. They plugged my tablet into their system.”

  Victoria winced. “Please tell me there isn’t going to be permanent damage.”

  Welvern laughed aloud. “If there is, I’m sure it’s justified. No one messes with our girl.”

  And no one missed the look on Victoria’s face. A war between not liking what he’d said—at all—and being blown away that he seemed to have inserted himself in as part of their team. Victoria was…flustered. Talia could hardly believe it, even though she was looking at her boss and watching the whole thing.

  Victoria recovered quickly enough, turning to face Welvern. “I’m sure Assistant Director Stanton wants to speak with you.”

&nb
sp; It was clear from Welvern’s face that he knew exactly what she was doing. He glanced at Mason and stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

  The Secret Service agent said, “Sure.” Like this whole thing was utterly confusing, and he had no idea who these people were.

  Welvern wandered off toward the assistant director’s office. Victoria watched him go, her face void of expression. She chose now to not give anything away? The director motioned to the elevator she’d just stepped out of with a polite smile. “Going down?”

  Mason said, “Yes.”

  She hit the button. When the doors slid open, the four of them stepped inside. Victoria, her and Mason, and the lab tech.

  They rode the whole way down in silence. No one pulled out their phone or looked at their watch. Talia didn’t even tap the toe of her shoe on the floor. Her mother would have been very proud.

  Victoria wasn’t about to start a conversation that would lead to them speaking about task force matters in front of non-task-force personnel. Mason wasn’t who worried her, though his loyalty was to the Secret Service. She didn’t think he’d be the type of agent to get into a turf war. She also didn’t know how far into this he wanted to get.

  He would participate in the case, but she wasn’t sure he’d want to get into her case with Victoria calling the shots.

  When the doors slid open, they all stepped forward. Mason put his arm out to waylay the tech, so she and Victoria stepped into the hallway first. Talia’s boss shot a sideways glance at her. An entire exchange occurred there in that one long look.

  Talia smiled, and Victoria reached over to touch her elbow.

  Behind them, Mason said, “It’s this way.”

  Victoria turned to him. Surely her boss knew she’d just made Talia feel better than she had all week. But she still acted nonchalant about it. “Lead on.” She spoke as if she was some refined lady, and the manservant had just announced appetizers were to be served in the casual parlor.

  Talia coughed to cover her laugh. The tech glanced over. The two men led them into the lab, and she let out a low whistle. “This place is nice.”

  The tech bounced on the balls of his feet. “You like? We just got it.” He walked over to the huge table in the middle and swiped on the surface of it. He sent a file to a TV screen hung on the wall. Behind the document was an image, one that she’d bought from a stock photo site. She loved cute cat pictures.

  “It’s pretty sweet.” She circled the room. Most of her setup at the task force office was what she’d cobbled together from pieces bought through private online sales. This was the best the government would purchase for its techs.

  “Do you want one of these?” Victoria peered at the computer table screen, then looked at Talia. “I could get you one.”

  Talia had been kidnapped from her lab in their last office. Although she’d set up the new one, she hadn’t spent much time there. “Not super portable.” The way their task force was going, it’d be a few months before they would move again.

  “We’re done relocating.”

  Talia lifted her brows. “Really?” That worried more than intrigued her.

  Victoria nodded. “We’re in Seattle for good now.”

  But didn’t that just mean every month spent here made it more and more likely he would find her again?

  Maybe he already had.

  Fear raced through her like nanites rushing to stop a heart.

  “Talia.” Victoria laid a hand on her arm. “They need you to disconnect your tablet from their system.”

  She pushed aside the fear and the questions, leaned forward and swiped between the cat’s eyes. So cute.

  “That’s it?” The tech handed over her tablet.

  Talia shrugged. “Not everything in life has to be difficult.” She swiped the screen of her device and sent them the image she’d taken of the bank robber.

  The tech saw it pop up on his screen. “Thanks.”

  “If I have anything else, I’ll get that to you as well.” She glanced between the tech and Mason. “Did you get access to his device, the one he said he was hacking the bank with?” He’d confirmed what she thought. The man hadn’t been hacking at all, but there could’ve been something else they’d learned.

  The tech said, “We pulled prints from it. We’re running them through our database now.”

  “Great.”

  Victoria’s phone rang, so she stepped into the hallway.

  Mason said to Talia, “Ready to go back upstairs?”

  That was it? “I’ll need my cell phone as well.”

  The tech handed her an evidence bag containing her device.

  Talia ripped the bag open and took her phone back, then initialed on the bag. It was her phone. Nothing on it was going to tell them anything about the money sent to her account—money she’d put back, like, two seconds later. She wasn’t a thief.

  “Let’s go back upstairs.”

  He almost seemed…disappointed. Because of her reactions?

  She was going to have to tell him what was going on. This was probably bigger than an attempted bank robbery. When he filed his report and they both went their separate ways, she’d feel the loss. The missing piece of what she wondered could be.

  Mason would go back to work, and so would she.

  Back to her fear. Back to trying to figure this out herself.

  Talia wasn’t all that sure she was ready.

  . . .

  He led her from the lab the same way they’d entered it, with his hand on the small of her back. Mason didn’t want to think about why it felt like the right thing to do. He’d never been this way with a woman before. Probably it was just because she’d so clearly had something happen to her. Who wouldn’t want to help, or support a person so clearly upset? There was nothing unusual about that.

  They waited for the elevator while Victoria paced behind them on her phone.

  “No.” The director gestured widely with a slender arm, her fingers splayed. “Tell the governor that’s unacceptable.”

  Mason glanced at Talia, his eyes wide. She smiled and leaned her face close to his to whisper, “She’s just getting warmed up.”

  Mason locked gazes with her. She didn’t move back straight away and instead gifted him with an up-close view as she bit her lip.

  Victoria said, “Yes, you relay that message for me.”

  Talia started, and the moment was broken.

  “I’ll be waiting for his call.”

  She moved away, and he glanced back to see Victoria hang up on whoever she’d been talking to.

  The director stowed her phone in a leather purse his daughter had told him was the color “blush.” As though that information would help him live a fuller life.

  Mason glanced between them. He could see that they wanted to speak, probably without him present. They were clearly friends as well as having a boss/employee relationship. Still, they needed to get through the debrief of events at the bank this morning. Reports would be filed, and they would all go back to their regular life. This day of crossing paths nothing but an anomaly in their lives.

  His phone buzzed before he could even think how he felt about that.

  Two texts from Rayna, who should be in fourth period about now—she might be late for dinner with him tonight. He sent back a Bitmoji of him giving two thumbs up, so she’d see it on her smart watch screen and wouldn’t have to get her phone out during class. The third notification was from his assistant director, who wanted Mason in his office to speak with Welvern.

  He replied to Stanton that he’d be right there, and the elevator doors slid open.

  “If I had a dollar for every hour of my life I’ve spent in the elevator of a federal building,” Victoria said.

  Talia shifted her weight. “Right?”

  The women shared a smile. Two very different ladies, but it was plain they were close. He wasn’t sure he was all right with Talia walking away, though soon enough it would happen. “It would be good to coordinate our hunt
for this bank robber.”

  Victoria said, “Will the FBI attempt to relieve you of the case?”

  Mason shrugged. “They’ll probably try. But if your team is working with us, then we can unequivocally argue we don’t need their help on it.”

  “True.” Though, Victoria didn’t commit.

  Talia tensed. What was that about? Close enough to touch, though they weren’t. The elevator doors opened and they stepped out.

  “I need to speak with my boss,” he said. “The two of you can take the conference room.”

  Talia nodded.

  He walked away without any more emotionally-charged glances. The whole office was observing the three of them, interested in the woman who’d co-opted the whole computer system with her tablet. Then there was Victoria, who would turn heads even if you didn’t know she was a State Department Director.

  Mason knocked on his boss’s glass door. Welvern opened it. They shook hands again, and Stanton said, “Both of you can sit.”

  Mason blew out a breath as his weight compressed the chair.

  “Long morning?” Welvern grinned.

  Mason made a face. “Wrong shoes to chase a suspect on foot.”

  The FBI assistant director chuckled. He seemed to find humor readily. A good characteristic, especially for someone who’d been an agent for years. He didn’t seem to have allowed the job to make him cynical, or jaded.

  Since his boss’s attention was on his computer screen, Mason said, “Have you worked with them for long?” He motioned toward the conference room over his shoulder.

  “The ladies, or their task force?”

  Mason shrugged.

  “I’ve known Victoria for a few years. The task force works somewhat closely with my office, as our cases occasionally overlap, and they don’t have the personnel to do a huge takedown. We’re the largest armed-response team that’s usually close enough to help.”

  “How many agents in the group?”

  “Used to be five. They lost a guy to medical retirement about a year ago, I heard he’s up in Alaska now. Recently, they took on a new office manager and an additional agent, plus his dog.” Welvern counted off on his fingers. “Talia, who you know is NSA. Niall is an NCIS special agent. Haley used to be a Navy petty officer. Alvarez is a US Marshal, a legend actually. Dakota is Homeland Security, and her fiancé Josh is DEA. The dog is USMC, retired.”