Jude snaps his fingers and nods at me. “Exactly.” He pushes away from the table and stands. “Trigg.”
“Yeah?”
“That ring.” He points, and Trigg holds up the signet ring that Jude and I gave him after he saved our asses outside Kahmard. “What would have happened if you obeyed my order that day and evacuated your sniper’s nest?”
His response is immediate. “We wouldn’t be sitting here today.”
“Damn right,” Jude replies. “And we’re here together today because you didn’t listen to me. Because you saw what needed done, despite what you were told. Because you didn’t give up. You took the fire, and you stuck with us, even when it looked like everything was stacked against us. We need to do the same now, for Emma.”
The man has my full attention. I close the pepperoni pizza box and push it away. “Damn straight,” I nod. “Fuck the odds. If there’s the smallest chance of getting her back, we have to try.”
“Agreed. Guys, we need a game plan to bring Emma home.” Jude is transforming back into the leader we’ve so desperately needed.
“Fuck, yeah.” I stand up, even though all the muscles in my legs and back are screaming at me to stay in my chair. I still haven’t recovered from my brutal workout. “We can do this.”
Trigg twists his ring around his pinky and nods, but there’s nervousness in his expression. “I want her home, too. But before we get all gung-ho, I think we need to acknowledge what we’re really talking about here.”
Jude lifts an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“We all know where we’re at, separately, regarding what’s happened with Emma,” Trigg says, his words slow and careful. “But this isn’t an individual thing anymore, is it?”
All eyes are on Jude. He shifts from one foot to the other. “I didn’t say we were bringing her home for me, Trigg.”
“Then who?” Trigg asks, eyeing the Chief. “Me? Daniel?”
“What am I? Chopped liver?” I huff, flipping them all a finger.
Jude straightens and takes a moment to find the right words. “I’m saying,” he starts, pausing to look each of us in the eye, “we figure out how to get her back, for all of us.”
A long silence passes as we all look around at each other, a silent assessment.
“So, we’re all on board? We’re doing this?” Daniel finally asks.
“Fuck, yes,” I say, bringing my fist down on the table for emphasis.
Jude slaps me hard on the back with approval, and I grunt, my sore as fuck muscles quivering to keep me upright. I look at Daniel and Trigg. “What about you guys?”
“I’m all in.” Trigg’s out of his chair now, too.
“Yes,” Daniel says, nodding adamantly. “I want Emma back here with us just as much as any of you, so of course I’ll do anything I can — as long as we’re not talking about storming down doors and dragging Emma back here like a bunch of cavemen.”
“Hey, you have a better idea? That’s the fastest way to get it done,” I protest. Daniel’s eyes go wide as he turns to me, and I let him blink several times in surprise before giving him a wide grin. “Your face...” I say, breaking into laughter for the first time in days.
“Alright, it’s time to focus,” Jude says, clapping his hands together with determination. “Daniel, I need you to walk me through some stuff about her program and help me research a few things. Trigg, Gunner — find Jax and get his ass back here. I don’t care what hellhole he’s buried in, we need him here. All five of us. Let’s figure out how to get our girl back.”
19
Jude
“Are you sure I can’t just blow something up?”
“No, Gunner.” He’s as anxious as me. “This isn’t the desert. You can’t create a distraction like that in the middle of the city without hurting someone.”
He must be recovering from his marathon workouts as well, because he’s finally not wincing every time he reaches for something. “How about pulling a fire alarm or something? It always works in movies. Hell, it worked when BHC activated our fire alarms — got everyone out of the building fast, didn’t it?”
“This isn’t the movies,” Jax says. “And if the fire alarm goes off, it’ll probably trigger a lockdown of some kind to prevent a breach, just in case. They would have thought of something like that and accounted for it. So, we’d be shit out of luck.”
“Look, I don’t like having to ask her to do this any more than you do,” I tell him.
“I’m just glad she answered your call,” Daniel says. “That’s something, right?”
“Not sure,” I admit. “She was a little too even-keeled about meeting us, if you know what I mean.”
We’ve taken up a table instead of a booth at my favorite pub, and we’ve already had to kindly tell a couple guys that we’re expecting someone for a meeting, including Sergeant Roth. But, that blonde of his that he was here with last time has arrived, and now he’s well occupied at the bar. Seeing a guy like that happy with a woman does something to me. It makes me feel good, but it also makes me long for that, for myself.
Back in our military days, Roth was just as deep in the shit as I was. We did some pretty fucked up stuff for our country. Someone had to do it. We never got any credit for saving lives or taking out genocidal maniacs — hell, we were told to keep our mouths shut. And we have, even though keeping it all inside in some dark corner can fuck a guy up even more.
But looking at his smile when she laughs — the way his eyes light up with joy and the peacefulness in his body as he wraps an arm around her waist — I know he’s found his way out of that dark corner. I pray to whatever God or gods run this fucked up planet that what we’re about to do helps me find it, too — that it helps all of us find the kind of happiness Roth has.
I feel my brother’s attention on me, and I twist to return his gaze. He knows what that darkness feels like. We’ve both been trying to atone for years of sin — in our own way. Christ, he looks like shit. He hasn’t shaved in a week, and I’m pretty sure the first time he showered was when Gunner tossed him into the stall after retrieving him from an honest to God macabre carnival tent. Said he was learning how to breathe fire. His breath held enough liquor, I’m sure he could have done it.
But, as soon as he sobered up enough to get the rundown on the plan, the dullness started to fade from his eyes. He’s one-hundred percent in, alright. And now he’s here with the rest of us, anxiously awaiting Emma’s arrival — if she actually shows up. I’ve spotted a couple members of her security team at the bar. They’ve been there for the past thirty minutes, advance guard most likely, but I’m still not convinced she’s coming. I’ll believe it when I see it.
I don’t have to wait long. A second later, Daniel’s eyes shoot from the table, and he stands. I follow his direction, and sure as shit, there’s our girl, making her way toward our table. God, I’ve missed her. Not usually the chivalrous type, I stand from the table as well, which triggers the rest of the guys to rise and greet Emma.
Daniel pulls a chair out when she’s a few feet away. “Hi, Emma. You look beautiful, as always. Thank you for agreeing to meet us.”
“Thank you for asking,” she says as she sits down.
Her words surprise the shit out of me, and I try to hide a shocked expression, but Trigg looks visibly relieved. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he says.
She nods. “I’m curious to hear what you have to say.”
I breathe easier. Maybe she won’t dismiss us out of hand. I open my mouth to begin, but a thousand words rush into my mind — we’re so sorry, please forgive us, we’ve been complete idiots, we’ll do anything to make it up to you — but that’s not the approach we agreed on.
It was Jax who said we needed to show her what she means to us, even if that means risking everything we have. And then Gunner said we need to come up with a plan that benefits her, not our own interests. Trigg jumped in to add that whatever we decide to do, we have to put her first and not just bombard her with pleas
for forgiveness. And then Daniel, of all people — the die-hard romantic among us — pointed out that appealing to Emma’s logic was the best way to go, rather than getting all emotional about it.
I felt the first strum of pride I’d felt in a long time, standing there with my guys as we worked out what to do. Usually, formulating the game plan falls to me, but this time, it was truly a team effort. They were all right on the money. And once we established the goals, everything else fell into place. So that’s where I start.
“We’re going to make sure this bullshit with BHC stops, for good,” I tell her. “Then you can be free to sell the code to whoever you want, or bury it at the bottom of the ocean — that’s completely up to you. But we’re going to end this.”
Her eyes narrow, but there’s curiosity there. “What on earth are you talking about, Jude?”
“BHC is very thorough and organized with their… persuasion techniques and the way they acquire new software—”
“I’ve noticed,” she says, cutting me off, her tone dry.
“Yes, of course… unfortunately,” I say with a heavy sigh. “But you know what it takes to be that organized.”
“Do I?” She narrows her eyes further without replying, and I can see that she’s trying to figure out where I’m going with this.
“What I mean is,” I say quickly, “they have to have files. Hundreds of them, probably. There has to be some kind of digital paper trail. It would all be encrypted, of course, given how shady they operate, to make them as hack-proof as possible.”
The sentence is out of my mouth before I even realize my choice of words just cast a giant spotlight on Jax. I do my best not to give my twin a side-glance, hoping maybe the moment will just pass, but Emma is already staring at him.
“You’re growing a beard?” she asks, her head tilted sideways and an expression on her face that I can’t quite read.
Jax grunts, scratching at his jaw. “Not sure if I’m going to keep it.”
“I like it,” she says after a moment. “It suits you.”
Emma gives Jax a small but kind smile, and it makes my heart pound with hope. Across from me, Jax keeps a straight face — I know he’s still fighting the demons that make him feel unworthy of any kindness from Emma, but I see that glint in his eyes as he soaks in her smile. Great. Now, Jax is going to grow that damn beard down to his boots.
Emma turns her attention back to me. “These files you think BHC has — what about them?”
“There should be more than enough incriminating evidence to put the entire company behind bars, permanently.”
“No doubt. I can’t begin to imagine the depths of shit the files would reveal.” She shrugs and shakes her head. “But it doesn’t matter what’s in them. Not even the best hacker on earth would be able to get those,” she says, her eyes darting back to Jax. “They wouldn’t have them stored on a drive or server that’s publicly accessible, not even if it were hidden behind firewalls and encrypted security keys. They’re too damn smart for that. The kind of files you’re talking about would only be on their own intranet.”
“Actually, think even smaller — more restrictively than a company intranet,” Daniel pipes up.”
“What do you mean?” Emma asks.
Daniel leans forward, his elbows on the table as he talks with his hands. “I doubt they’d keep those files anywhere their regular employees would be able to stumble across. Most tech companies working with proprietary security software or classified government projects have safeguards in place. I don’t think BHC would be any different, especially since they have so much to hide.”
“So then, what? You’re saying they have a second-tier intranet?”
I nod. “Kind of. We suspect they have something like what we implemented when we started working with a certain government agency.” My eyes automatically dart over to Jax again before I can help it, but I quickly refocus them on Emma. I don’t know what Jax plans to tell her about his work for the NSA, or if he’ll even get the chance — if any of us will get a chance to explain ourselves. She might not want to hear it, and I wouldn’t blame her.
Daniel notices my nervous glances and takes over. “We call it The Vault,” he says, pulling our attention back to the topic at hand. “It’s a hard-wired, closed-loop system for highly sensitive material. It requires physical access using a fingerprint scanner to open the program, and everything written to the drive is stored with end-to-end crypto keys, so even if someone else were able to intercept data during transmission, it would just be garbled gibberish.”
“Okay…” Emma looks around at us, her expression puzzled. “So how are you going to bypass that?”
“We can’t,” I say. “We have to physically access their system from inside the building as though we’re an authorized user. We’ll have to get the right set of fingerprints, too. And we also need all the major players out of their offices so that none of them notice there’s activity occurring on the system. Then we need to buy enough time for Jax to copy what we need and relay it to Daniel through a mesh network we’ll deploy — as a failsafe — in case he’s stopped on the way out and they confiscate any physical devices.”
“Uh… that’s a lot of potential complications.” She blinks, looking around the table. “But, even if it were possible, you’re talking about breaking and entering — and stealing.”
“So be it,” Gunner speaks up for the first time, spreading his arms in a big shrug. “BHC doesn’t play fair. We need to fight fire with fire.”
“Yeah, we’ve gone around about this a hundred times,” Trigg adds. “Tried to think of every possible angle. It’s the only option.”
Daniel nods. “We haven’t been able to ascertain a way to take BHC down by legal means. They’re too well protected, and they’ve covered their tracks.”
“The only ones who get caught are the contractors they hire off the books. And those people never have any actual evidence to offer for a plea deal. They’re the ones who get time.”
Our eyes all dart to Jax again, including Emma’s. “Which is exactly what you’ll be getting if you’re caught,” she says bluntly. “It’s a really risky gamble.”
“Who gives a fuck?” Gunner says loudly. Heads in the bar turn our direction, and he lowers his voice. “I don’t care. A couple years in prison would be worth it to take those assholes down.”
“I’m doing it,” Jax says firmly. “I’ll be the one inside the building. If I get caught, so be it. I’ve been in prison before. I can handle it.”
She stares at Jax for a long time before covering her face with one hand and mumbling into it, “You guys are insane.”
Gunner shrugs. “Maybe. But I can live with that.”
“There’s just one catch,” Trigg says.
Emma raises both eyebrows and nearly laughs. “Just one? Really?”
“Well, one that we aren’t comfortable with,” I explain.
“What’s that?”
“For this to work,” I start, but falter and pause to take a deep breath. I really fucking hate this part of the plan, but it’s critical. “We have to have the bigwigs at BHC out of their offices.”
“Okay…” Emma says, her tone wary. Her eyes fly around the table, trying to read the situation.
“We need you to call Jeremy,” Daniel says with a grimace on his face. I know the distaste it must leave in his mouth, just merely mentioning that asshole.
Emma has a similar reaction, a flash of rage in her eyes at the sound of his name. She crosses her arms. “And do what?”
“Tell him you need to meet. Make up some kind of bullshit that will get their panties in a twist. We’ll help you come up with something. But it has to be concerning enough that they send the cavalry to meet with you.”
Emma opens her mouth to reply, anger flashing in her eyes again, but Daniel jumps in first. “We tried to think of alternatives. And we all hate even asking you to do this.”
Gunner nods emphatically. “I offered to blow the damn pl
ace up.”
I shake my head. “We don’t know of another way to do this without raising suspicion or having the building go into some kind of emergency lockdown protocol.”
“We’d never, ever ask you to do this if there were any other way,” Daniel reiterates. “You’re the only one with the power to get them out of the building. Right now, they want that code more than anything, so they’ll come running if they think there’s an issue.”
Daniel reaches out a hand and lays it on hers. She stiffens, and I think every one of us hold our breath for what feels like eons, bracing for her reaction to Daniel’s touch. But after a moment, she quietly presses her lips together and nods slowly.
“I, uh…” She blinks a few times and rubs her forehead, trying to process all the information we’ve just laid on her. “It’s crazy — this whole plan is, like, batshit crazy, you all realize that, right?”
She looks at us, checking each of our faces, but we all just nod solemnly. We won’t disagree, because it is pretty insane, what we’re talking about doing.
“We know. And we wish we could do it without involving you in this mess,” I tell her.
“I’m already swimming in the mess,” she reminds us with a pointed look. “Listen… this plan… well, I guess it makes sense, somehow, even though it’s crazy.” Emma shakes her head as though she can’t believe the words came out of her mouth. “But I need time to think about it.”
We all nod. “Of course, we understand,” Daniel tells her.
Before I can blink, she scoots her chair back and stands up. “Alright, well, thanks for sharing your ideas with me.”
Noooo, don’t go! I want to yell. I’m not ready for her to leave. I can feel the tension at the table rise as the other guys have similar reactions, but we keep them to ourselves. There’s an awkward pause as she straightens her clothes, as though giving us time to ask her to stay, but there’s a damn good chance I’m reading too much into a few tugs of her shirt. She’s already stayed longer than I thought she would, and she’s been much more receptive than I could have hoped.
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