Third Hour

by Lisa Phillips

  Bare feet. Not dressed. If her mother knew a man had seen Talia in this state, she’d have been horrified. Talia would’ve had to suffer—again—her hour-long lecture on what a “lady” should and shouldn’t do. She could practically recite the speech verbatim at this point.

  “Take your time.” His smile wasn’t quite honest.

  Talia didn’t turn and go back to the bathroom. She walked to where Mason stood, still clutching a fistful of window drapes. She peered past his shoulder and gaped at the scene outside. “What are all those federal agents doing in the parking lot?”

  They looked to be surrounding a vehicle that had crashed into the car Mason drove her here in. Not his SUV, but the vehicle Welvern had loaned him.

  Mason sighed. “They’re arresting the hacker.”

  “Outside my apartment?” He was here? Fear rushed back, even after she’d worked so hard during her shower to push it aside and focus. Dakota was on her way. Talia didn’t like the idea of Dakota being in danger, but between her gun, her fiancé and their dog, she didn’t figure anything could get through. Mason, however, had no protection. Because he was the protection. He was fully determined to stop any bullets fired at her.

  Then where would his daughter be?

  She couldn’t even think about that.

  Mason moved toward her, reaching out like he was going to comfort her.

  She took a step back and shook her head. “You weren’t planning on telling me the hacker was outside my place, were you?”

  He said nothing.

  “I was the bait.” Maybe they were both the bait, but she didn’t waste time saying that. “They were lying in wait for him to show up so they could take him down.”

  “What do you want me to say?” His voice was soft, but not remorseful.

  “How about, ‘hey, Talia. We’re going to arrest the bank robber while you’re in the shower’.” She probably looked like a crazy old washer woman, yelling at him in a bathrobe and a shower cap. He could deal, though.

  The muscle in his jaw shifted.

  “That’s what I thought.” She strode back to the bathroom and got dressed.

  He’d seriously thought that being with her while she drew the bank robber’s attention—and possibly his gunfire—was a good idea? She hated to think he didn’t consider Rayna, or what would happen to her after he was gone. But seriously, hadn’t he thought about that? The girl could wind up fatherless. All because Mason insisted on being the one to drive her here.

  He should have gone home. She should’ve called Dakota hours ago. God, I keep putting him at risk. Tears gathered in her eyes. She couldn’t be responsible for whether or not someone lived or died. Her heart couldn’t handle that. Not now, and not ever again.

  Talia slipped the dress over her head. She’d pulled it out of the “thin” side of her closet. Given how much weight she’d lost in the past few weeks, it was worth a try. The dress fell to her knees, no longer tight in the places it used to be. Looking at herself in the mirror, she had to admit she felt more confident than she had in weeks. Too bad the reason why.

  All the better for Mason to watch her walk away.

  She added enough makeup so she didn’t look like she’d slept in a chair and spritzed herself with perfume. She slid her feet into a pair of nude Louboutin’s and headed down the hall to the kitchen where she swiped her purse off the counter. She was halfway out the front door before Mason even turned around.

  “Talia!”

  She left the door open, though closing it in his face would have been satisfying. Talia trotted down the sidewalk to the crowd of federal agents. Welvern was there, but she didn’t see Alvarez. The agents all seemed to be FBI.

  In the center was a man with his back to her. Hands on his head, leaned over the hood of a car.

  She didn’t particularly want to study him so she allowed her gaze to move over him to Welvern. Just to prove that fear didn’t have that much power over her.

  The tablet in her purse chimed a few times. She hadn’t looked at it since her shower. What was coming in now? News about the arrest, or something else?

  She pulled it out. Victoria had a call coming in to her phone from the department at the NSA where Talia used to work, and Niall needed to check his email because there was a DEA agent trying to contact him, and she was mad.

  There were several other notifications, ones for her and not the team. Stanton still hadn’t given the techs at the Secret Service permission to get that Prometheus file opened. Why was he taking so long? They all needed to know what the hacker had been trying to access.

  Welvern got done talking to the agent he’d been speaking with.

  “Hey.” He turned at the sound of her voice. “Can you give me a ride to the office?”

  “I’ll take you.”

  Welvern glanced over her shoulder.

  Talia twisted to see Mason behind her but ignored the unhappy look on his face. Why was he dragging this out? She turned back to Welvern, not prepared to respond to Mason’s offer. “I’d like someone else to take me.”

  “I can do it.” Welvern frowned, but his word was good. He would take her because she’d asked. “Just as soon as this guy is processed.” Welvern showed her a cell phone and android tablet. “He had these in the car with him.”

  She shot Mason a pointed look. “Are these going to tell us what Prometheus is? Because at this rate we’ll be waiting years for Stanton to get around to giving us access to the file the hacker got into.”

  They could hardly do damage control on the breach of information if they didn’t know what it was about.

  Mason’s eyebrows rose. “Are you seriously trying to pick a fight with me right now, just because you’re mad I didn’t tell you these guys were following us?” He waved at the agents surrounding them.

  The bank robber was patted down by an FBI agent, cuffs secured on his wrists.

  “You think that’s why I’m mad?”

  Welvern said, “Dude, you didn’t tell—?” He shifted before he could finish the question. All the agents moved. Spurred into action. Welvern yelled, “Everyone down!”

  But it was too late.

  Sniper rounds smacked huge holes in the hood of the closest car. Each round moved closer and closer in Talia’s direction. The bank robber got hit. He and the agent holding him went down.

  Talia couldn’t move.

  And then two hundred pounds of California redwood slammed into her and she was tackled to the ground.

  . . .

  “That isn’t the bank robber.” It was the first thought to go through Mason’s head. The moment they hit the ground, it came out of his mouth.

  The shots continued.

  Beneath him, Talia shifted. “No, it isn’t him.”

  Mason figured she didn’t need to see a dead guy. But before he could tell her to turn away, she shoved at him. “Get off me.”

  “Not until we’re clear.”

  “You’re not my bodyguard.” She kept shoving. “Now get off.”

  The shots stopped. Still, he said, “Not yet.” They weren’t going anywhere until he knew for sure they were in the clear. “We’ve got two guys down over here,” he called out to the personnel around him. “Someone get a headcount.”

  Welvern shifted and looked around. Mason saw the blood over his shoulder. The FBI assistant director tugged his right arm to lay it across his stomach and sat up behind the cover of the closest car. Then he keyed his radio. “Control, this is Welvern. I’ve got an agent and a suspect down.” He paused a second, then added, “And I want all positions to sound off.”

  Talia’s shoving got annoying, so Mason shifted off her. She tugged her purse across the asphalt and pulled out her phone. She tapped the screen, then held the home button down and held it close to her mouth. “Alvarez, you read me?”

  She was using her phone like a walkie-talkie.

  The phone screen lit up. “I copy. In pursuit of sniper. He’s on the run on the north side of the complex, headed west
.” Alvarez’s voice was breathy, like he was racing after someone just as he’d said.

  Welvern nodded in Talia’s direction, then called out, “All available agents to the north side, suspect is headed west on foot. US Marshal in pursuit.”

  Then the FBI assistant director’s face flushed pale, and he laid back.

  “Mark!”

  Mason glanced over. Welvern had been hit?

  Talia crouched and moved over to him, waddling on her heels, trying to stay low. She sank down beside him. Blood covered his side, low and close to his hip.

  She turned back. “I need something to put on this wound.” She looked at Mason, pleading with her expression. She needed his help.

  Mason wanted to point out that a few minutes ago she’d been insistent on not needing his help. But Welvern was bleeding on the asphalt, so he didn’t bring that up. Mason unbuttoned his shirt and handed it over. Underneath he had a T-shirt on, since his father had instilled in him the importance of an undershirt before every Sunday church service. Old habits were hard to break.

  Like protecting a woman, even if that wasn’t what she wanted. And why not? It was bizarre. As though she didn’t want his help at all.

  The ambulance arrived, and EMTs started treating the injured. There were three agents wounded, Welvern being the worst. One was dead, as was the man they’d arrested from the car. The man who hadn’t been the bank robber.

  Mason went through the guy’s pockets and found his wallet. Tucked in the front of his jeans was a wad of folded twenties. Four, maybe five hundred bucks. An agent held out an evidence bag. Mason dropped it all inside.

  The agent said, “You think he was paid to hit the car?” motioning to the wreck.

  “Maybe.”

  Talia stood close by, where the EMTs were working on getting Welvern patched up. Her elbow was scratched, bad enough that blood dripped onto the pavement beside her foot. Mason pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, mentally thanking his father for instilling that in him as well. He moved to her side, going slow, but she jumped anyway. He touched the cloth to her elbow.

  She sniffed.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  Her voice was soft. He lifted his gaze. “You okay?” Even though they both knew she wasn’t.

  Her phone broke in before either of them could say anything else. Alvarez’s voice. “Suspect is in custody.” The marshal let out a frustrated grunt. “Don’t even try it.” He paused, long enough for Mason to realize he was wrestling with the suspect. “We’re headed for the Secret Service office. Stanton called first dibs on questioning him.”

  Talia lifted her gaze, and one eyebrow.

  Mason shrugged. “The bank connection, and the transfer to you, make it a financial crime. Which is the Secret Service’s jurisdiction.”

  “I didn’t even know you guys investigated stuff like that.”

  Most people didn’t, which was the way they liked it. The FBI had their thing, and the Secret Service had theirs. Turf wars weren’t fun for anyone, and rare, but adding in the Northwest Counter-Terrorism Task Force was certainly proving interesting.

  Welvern was taken away, though not before he gave Mason a new set of keys and told him which car belonged to him. Talia called Victoria to tell her what had happened before Mason could even tell her that Victoria was here somewhere.

  The boss told Talia that she was going to head to the hospital, then she’d go to the Secret Service office for an update. Everyone was looking to interrogate the bank robber, but that was going to be down to Stanton.

  Talia said, “Do we know for sure the man Alvarez caught is the actual bank robber this time?”

  “We’ll know soon enough.” He led her to where Welvern had told them he left his car. About half a mile away from the apartment.

  “Being out here is giving me the willies.” She even shuddered.

  Mason wasn’t sure she would accept it, but he slid his arm across her shoulders, giving her the chance to pull away.

  Talia leaned into his side as they approached the car. “Thanks for driving me.”

  “I wasn’t sure if you’d appreciate it.”

  She didn’t say anything, just got in, probably because the answer to that was the fact she hadn’t had anyone else here to do it.

  Half an hour later, he had her all signed in through Secret Service security check-in. This could go badly if Stanton decided to throw his weight around about the breach. Mason intended to talk to him first thing. Get a read on where he was at with it.

  He couldn’t believe this was all related to a file on Prometheus. That couldn’t mean anything good.

  They took the elevator to his office. He glanced over as it rose. “How’s your arm?”

  She had the handkerchief balled in her hand and bent her elbow to see. “Stings.”

  “I’ll find the first aid kit for you.” The doors slid open, and he turned.

  Stanton stood there. “Security said you were headed up.” He glanced at Talia. “If you’d come with me, Ms. Matrice. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  She didn’t exit the elevator. “For a chat between colleagues, or an interrogation?”

  Mason had to hold the doors open.

  Stanton said, “That will be entirely up to you, I think. But this department requires an explanation of why you let a hacker breach our system and obtain highly classified information.”

  She strode out, chin high. Stanton wasn’t the type of guy to suffer a woman’s attitude for long. Not a good characteristic, that lack of patience. He was old school. In this case, that meant a strong woman was unexpected, and he didn’t consider it a positive trait. Mason had heard him say more than once that the female analyst from the second floor was “brash” just because her voice was louder than it needed to be.

  Stanton said, “Let’s head to the conference room.”

  “At least it’s not a cell.”

  Mason followed them. “You aren’t under arrest.” He didn’t really know what else to say. Should he tell his boss that he wanted to go with Talia? She likely didn’t feel she needed him there. “Sir…”

  Stanton said, “You have work to do, Agent Armstrong.”

  Mason opened his mouth to ask what, but Stanton beat him to it. “I want Prometheus shored up.”

  Talia glanced between them. “This is bad, isn’t it?”

  Once they’d all laid their cards on the table—assuming Talia was granted clearance to know—then she would understand Stanton’s issue. This was so much more than a breach of security. It was a leak of classified intelligence.

  And the reason they’d set up that take down outside Talia’s apartment.

  “Yes,” he told her. “This is very bad.”

  Chapter 14

  Two hours later, Talia lifted her head from the conference room table. Wasn’t it lunchtime yet? She was actually hungry. This momentous occasion should probably be celebrated. “You don’t think my skills would be better put to use trying to find out who this guy is?”

  She was thinking entirely too much about a huge meatball sub.

  Stanton sat back in his chair, his face completely impassive. “I think you should answer the question.”

  Talia sighed.

  “After all,” he said, “you haven’t managed to ascertain his identity thus far. Despite allowing him access to our network.”

  Which was what Sarah Palmer had done with the bank. When she’d plugged a flash drive into her computer before leaving for the day…and was then murdered.

  Did that mean Talia was next?

  As it was, Welvern currently lay in a hospital bed in who-knew-what condition. No one had told her anything. She’d been in here with Stanton for hours now. Answering stupid questions over and over again. If she had more information to add, she would have offered it to him already.

  Beyond the glass windows, Mason worked at his computer. Alvarez sat in a chair at an empty desk. Sipping coffee. She’d been counting, and he was up to
his third cup. Waiting for what, she didn’t know. The bank robber was in custody, and yet she was the one being interrogated.

  Talia looked down at her hands. She’d canceled the standing appointment she had to get her nails done every two weeks. Why had she done that? She was enough of a mess without her nails making that completely obvious.

  Stanton gave her a measured look. “What do you know about this person that you didn’t know two days ago?”

  She ignored the fact he’d assessed her and evidently found her lacking. “How about what he looks like?”

  Not that it had helped, considering they hadn’t found the bank robber in any database. Or online. Who in the world didn’t have their picture on some site somewhere these days? He clearly had something to hide. Like his identity.

  “He’s just that good,” she said. “But now he’s in custody, because Alvarez caught him. So maybe you should go ask him all these questions.”

  “Am I bothering you, Ms. Matrice?”

  He didn’t want to know the answer to that.

  Talia said, “Look, I’m sorry I saved Mason’s life by allowing the hacker to have monitored access to your network. Now we have him in custody. Your agent is safe, and we know what he wanted considering the hacker went directly to a particular file and accessed it.”

  “My techs tell me you can’t know for sure he purposely accessed the details of Prometheus,” Stanton said. “There’s no reason to believe he knew about it before Special Agent Armstrong was abducted. Could be he simply found the most restricted file and figured there was something good in it, so he got into it assuming the contents would be juicy.”

  “He knew what he was looking for. And he knew it would take me to get it for him.” She’d thought about this a lot over the last few hours. “The hacker knew that without someone inside to access the network and allow him in—just like he did at the bank with Sarah Palmer—there was no way he would be able to get the details of Prometheus.”

  “So I should applaud my people on a job well done?” He waved a hand, then let it drop back to his lap. “Because that means the only vulnerability to our security here…is you.”