Whispered Lies

“They want the program I wrote specifically for them,” she added. “The only possible way to gain quick entrance to the school would be to throw a kink into their accounting program since everything in an audit revolves around money. Once that happens, I believe they’ll contact me since I have history with the school and prior clearance.”

“We can throw a kink into their systems,” Gotthard confirmed. “If we can get into their systems.”

“That’s a big if,” Hunter muttered.

Carlos didn’t see this as a viable option if Hunter and Gotthard doubted they could gain entry into the school’s computers. And there was no way they could insert someone who hadn’t been cleared if what she described about the school’s vetting of outsiders was true.

“There is no if. This can be done.” Gabrielle nodded, then turned to Joe. “But only if you make me a deal.”

“What deal?” Joe asked.

“I’ll help you access the school’s records if you assure me you won’t turn me over to Interpol or any other country and you try to find Linette.”

Carlos ground his back teeth. She had no idea what she was doing. He’d gag her if he could do it right now to prevent Gabrielle from getting herself in any deeper. Did she really think Joe would let her walk out of here with an agreement that she’d gain access to the school’s computers for them?

Joe asked, “How do we know you really can do any of this?”

“Think I have that for you,” Gotthard chipped in. “You were in classes with Linette, right, Gabrielle?”

“Yes.” She sounded tired and out of patience.

Gotthard looked up at Joe. “Linette was brilliant. Her profile indicates she was in the top ten percent of Mensa. Genius.” Gotthard cut his eyes at Gabrielle. “Your IQ?”

“Two points higher.”

When she raised those beautiful eyes in challenge to Carlos, he saw only a woman.

Not an informant. Not a threat to the world.

Just a woman who could bleed and die.

He would not put her in danger.

Joe spoke up. “I’m convinced and your plan has merit, but only if my people can go in.”

That was more like it, but Carlos doubted Gabrielle would give in so easily and she didn’t.

“Won’t happen with as little time as you have,” Gabrielle countered. “I can get you inside the campus because I’m an alumni they know, but more importantly, the reason I can help you get inside their computers is because when I wrote the current programs, I incorporated a back door into the system. Without me, you don’t have a chance.”

That did it. How would Carlos talk Joe out of using her now? “And you think we’ll just let you go do this alone?”

“No,” she admitted.

“So we’re back to this plan not working.” Carlos expected her to admit defeat, not lift her chin a notch in defiance.

“I can get someone inside with me as a bodyguard,” Gabrielle suggested, confidence in her voice picking up speed.

“Has to be someone with electronic capability,” Hunter pointed out.

“No, it doesn’t,” she replied quickly.

Hunter opened his mouth to protest, but Carlos cut him off. “Let her explain.”

The look of thanks Gabrielle sent him curled soft fingers around his heart.

“I need someone who looks like a bodyguard and isn’t well-known in aristocracy, such as yourself, I would assume,” she told Hunter.

Carlos smiled. She had him there. Part of Hunter’s use to BAD as an agent was his social contacts and ability to gain access to the criminally rich.

Hunter growled, then inclined his head, conceding the point.

“If no one knows about your secret life as Mirage, why would the school believe you need protection?” Korbin asked.

“I can answer that, too,” Gotthard said without looking up from his laptop as he typed. “Because…she’s not just Gabrielle Saxe. Just got a full report on her prints.”

She covered her face with her hands and groaned.

Gotthard read from his monitor, “She’s Gabrielle Tynte Saxe, heir to the Tynte dynasty, and she’s had two attacks on her life before she disappeared following her divorce.”

Carlos blinked. He’d known something was not just average about her, but her entire family was imperial lineage?

She was way up the freakin’ royal food chain.

“You told me there was nothing different or special about you.” Carlos waited until she uncovered her face to add, “When you tell a lie, it’s a whopper. Now we have even more reason to keep you here in protective custody.”

“No!” Her eyes rounded in panic. She jerked toward Joe. “I can get inside with one of your people…by tomorrow.”

“We’d be sending a civilian into danger and risking our people while doing it,” Carlos argued, not liking the way Joe was considering her offer.

“You’ll waste the best chance you have to get answers on Mandy and the other teens…and finding out who the Fratelli are,” she threw right back.

“Hard to argue with that,” Joe finally said.

“But I won’t help unless you make me a deal.” Gabrielle’s sable eyebrows lowered over a stubborn gaze. She rushed ahead before Carlos could shut her down. “I’ll do whatever is necessary to help you if you promise to look for Linette and free me once I’m through and you see that I’m not a criminal.”

Joe didn’t hesitate. “Deal.”

THIRTEEN

CARLOS STOOD IN the kitchen with his back to the rolling mountains beyond the cabin and leaned against the sink counter. He’d run out of arguments to prevent Gabrielle from going. The mission should be his only concern, but she had no one else to watch out for her.

“She walked into this.” Joe paced along the opposite side of the island as he justified the decision. “We’re just doing what BAD does best-capitalizing on resources and assets wherever we can find them.”

“Baby Face considered himself a white-collar criminal who didn’t dirty his hands and had never worked with Durand before. Makes me wonder why he was picking up Gabrielle on his own, and how did he find her?”

“All good questions, but Baby Face is dead so he can’t help us, and we can’t pass up this opportunity.” Joe paused and rocked back on his heels, arms crossed, thinking.

Carlos finished his coffee and placed the cup in the sink. He’d issued orders to the team, dispersing Rae and Korbin in one direction to get ready to leave and Hunter back to the IT to start processing information on the school.

Joe glanced over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps and voices coming up the stairs from the basement.

Gotthard appeared with Gabrielle right behind him, saying something about a secondary retrieval something or other. When they both entered the room, she fell silent.

“We’ve breeched the school programs.” The smile Gotthard rarely sported underlined the significance of their success.

“I need my laptop to check for messages from the school.” Gabrielle’s excitement flashed in her eyes, not as tired now that she’d eaten a sandwich.

“Why can’t you use ours?” Joe had put her with Gotthard to monitor her moves.

“My e-mail system is complicated and all my passwords are loaded into my laptop.” Embarrassment flushed her cheeks with rosy color before her lips curved. That’s when she glanced at Carlos and dimples showed up with the fairy smile.

Her eyes reflected a deep loneliness when her guard was down. Unremarkable in so many ways, but the dimples and smile rearranged her nondescript features into adorable.

Carlos breathed out a long, miserable sigh.

She was not adorable, dammit. When was he going to get it straight in his mind that she was a potential threat to American security? And people he cared about?

This woman had a co