Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(98)

Benson stared her down and resorted to bullying. “Liar.”

Gabe stifled the rising need to knock this guy on his ass. No need.

Ember could hold her own. Despite the nasty insult, she didn’t miss a beat. “Excuse me? Why would I lie to the FBI? You’re here, aren’t you? And if you’re here, you’ve already got someone inside my server, digging into anything and everything. What could I possibly have to hide and how would I do it?”

Gabe steeled his expression, sure her tapping fingertips were doing just that, securing The TEAM server before the Bureau’s finest hackers got in too deep. Damn. They didn’t stand a chance. If they were good, she was ten times better, and she looked good doing it.

“I’ll tell you what,” she offered. “Why don’t you have a chair while I copy all files activated since the date of Mr. Stewart’s murder. It will probably be just on the pipe bombing, though. Will that make you happy? That way you can tell your boss you got exactly what you came for.”

“Paper copies.”

She frowned. “Sorry, but no. We only work with digital. You’ll have to kill your own trees when you get back to your office.”


“Paper,” he demanded, his badge tapping the counter with sharp staccato emphasis. “I want both paper and digital copies, and I want them now.”

She folded her arms over her ample bosom, covering her cleavage and the red ruby. “Just because you Feds are digitally challenged, doesn’t mean we are. You’ll make do with what I give you or nothing at all.”

He puckered his lips, as if he wanted to argue. “Fine. Make it quick.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied as cheerfully as if he were the pizza delivery guy. “Gabe. Can you and Shelby help me? I know David has some files on his computer. Steven and Mark, too. Let’s give this guy what he wants so he can L. E. A. V. E.”

Gabe nearly smiled at her insolence. He pulled Shelby to her feet and followed Ember to Mark’s office, the one that used to belong to Alex.

“Shit,” Ember murmured the moment they cleared the office doorjamb. “Fallon’s built a dirty bomb and it’s in D.C. The revolution begins tonight. That’s why Benson’s here. He wants all of our intel, including what we know about his buddy, Becker. Leave the door open. Let him watch. We don’t want to give him a reason to come back.”

“Are you sure?” Gabe sat at Mark’s desk while Shelby hovered over his shoulder. “A dirty bomb?”

Ember inserted a USB drive into the port on the side of the keyboard. “Oh, sure. Sixty-four gig’s big enough to keep our FBI friends happy. While you download these files, I’ll take care of everyone else’s. Move all files onto this USB drive. Can you do that for me?”

She ducked closer to Gabe, her face hidden by the curtain of her hair. “Yes, and it’s supposed to go off somewhere on Constitution Avenue. Mark thinks Benson is after Zack and Kelsey. I’ll give him what we know about Chaos Now, but nothing on Alex, Kelsey, or Becker,” she whispered.

Gabe complied, keeping his head low and an eye on Agent Benson, who now stood outside Mark’s office door and looking impatient to be off. Gabe brought Mark’s document files on the pipe bombing to screen, sorted them by date and performed a mass copy while Ember strolled past Benson and into the work bay. More like sashayed. The woman definitely had confidence and she knew how to distract a guy.

Benson’s cocky head swiveled to watch her backside. The elevator pinged and he turned his back to Gabe. “Mr. Houston. How nice.”

Gabe completed the transfer. Good. Mark had returned. Connor and Rory were back, too. Sounded like Taylor, Maverick, Izza, and Steven, too.

“Senior Agent Houston,” Mark corrected. “What do you want?”

“It’s about time.” Benson nodded at Gabe. “Your office is occupied. Is there some place we could chat?”

“Here’s fine.” Mark planted his feet, his hands on his hips while the other agents went to their desks.

Chat? An interesting euphemism for browbeating.

Gabe nodded to acknowledge his boss. Mark nodded back.

One of the smartest things Alex did when he’d designed the work bay was to locate Mother and Ember’s workstation and customer service desk dead center of everyone else’s. The wagon wheel layout served a purpose. Every agent was now acutely focused on the unfolding power struggle between federal agents and private contractor. If there ever was a need to show these men and women exactly where Mark stood, it was now.

Give ’em hell, Boss.

“I’d prefer a more private—”

“Here’s fine.” Mark cut the FBI agent off. “You want to chat? Chat.”

“Have it your way.” Agent Benson glanced around the office. “Might as well let everyone know what happens when guys like you break the law.”

Mark didn’t respond to the implied threat, but Gabe wanted to knock Benson down and out. Guys like you? He lifted out of Mark’s chair and went to stand with his boss, transferring the USB drive to Ember’s waiting fingers.

“When did you become aware of Mr. Fallon’s association with Chaos Now?” Benson snapped.

Ah ha, so he suspects one of us has been inside the FBI’s server, but maybe he can’t prove it. Gabe’s eyes scrolled to Ember. Had to be her. Good girl.