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While Drake prepared Spencer’s breakfast, Nataliya handed Shawn to me, grabbed the log-in information she had decoded, and turned on the main computer monitor. “Do you work in technology now?” she asked Drake, who sat down beside me on the couch.
“Manufacturing, actually,” he said. At her look, he chuckled. “It’s a family business I’m trying to do some good with. Technology is just a hobby now.”
She looked at his system and whistled softly. “Impressive setup for a hobby.” She ran her hand over the keyboard, clearly envious.
“How long has it been since you’ve worked on a computer?” I asked. “I can’t imagine working as a waitress affords a lot of opportunity for anything tech-related.”
She looked at me, and there was a touch of…something in her eyes. Mischief, maybe. Defiance, definitely. “Do you want the legal answer or the honest one, Agent Pierce?”
“As far as the office knows, I’m on vacation.” I’d been saving up my paid leave for when it was finally time to go after Hayes—and when I heard those online whispers about Hayes’s men on Nataliya’s tail, I knew the time had come. “I’m not going to go call up the cyber division to turn you in during my ‘fishing trip,’” I said.
“I’ve done a few things,” she admitted. “You already know about one of them—creating a false identity so I could live under the radar. I appreciate you looking the other way for me.”
I was tempted to ask, but it was probably for the best that I didn’t. Nataliya had done whatever she needed to in order to survive. I wasn’t going to judge her for that. “Maybe once all this is settled, you’ll be able to get back to it.”
She clicked her teeth against her tongue and turned back to the computer monitor. “Maybe,” she mused. “I’ve got it up, and…”
Drake stood, taking Spencer with him. “Oh.”
“Neither of those sound good,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. I balanced Shawn on my shoulder and looked at the screen. “What, exactly, am I looking at?”
“Encrypted files,” Drake said.
Nataliya hummed. “A lot of them.”
My heart kicked against my ribs. We were actually getting somewhere. “Can you get them open?”
Nataliya looked at Drake. “Do you have de-encryption software on this thing?”
He nodded. “It’ll take a while, though.”
“I might be able to help with that?—”
They lapsed into quiet as she tapped at the keyboard, opening up windows with what looked like an alien language in rows. I had seen Drake do some coding before, but even after he explained things to me, it never got any less impossible to understand. While I was standing there, I heard a sound. Like an animal whimpering.
“You have a dog, Drake?” I asked. He shot me an incredulous look.
“In a house with infants? Where it could bark and wake them up? Seriously?”
I almost shrugged it off—but then I heard it again. Soft and pained. I set Shawn into a bouncer and followed that sound.
It was Elias. He was stretched out on the guest bed; his face was a rictus of agony. It looked like he was being stretched out by an invisible rope. Adrenaline spiked through my veins, and I went on high alert. I crossed the room and dropped to my knee. “Elias? Bud, you okay?” I asked. My first instinct was to reach out and touch him, but I thought better of it.His condition might include heightened sensitivity. For all I knew, touch would hurt him even more.
He tried to shake his head and grimaced. “M—Ma?—”
Of course, he wanted his mother. “Hang on just one second, okay? I’ll get her.” I turned and rushed back down the hall. “Nataliya.”
“Huh?” She didn’t look away from the screen, pointing something out to Drake, who nodded without her saying a word.
“Nataliya.”
She turned this time, annoyed. “Wha—?” When she realized I was standing near the hallway, she instantly knew what was going on. “Give me a moment,” she muttered to Drake before she got up and all but bolted past me.
I followed after her. Just in case she needs something, I reasoned. She looked tense and anxious as she reached for the door, but her whole countenance changed once she opened it. Her shoulders unbunched. Her lips curved into a comforting smile. She looked calm and in control.
“Sakharok?” she said. “It’s okay. We’ve been through this before, yes? We can get through it again.” She looked around on the floor and then at me. “Could you get my bag? I think I left it in the living room.”
I nodded and turned on my heel, crossing the apartment as swiftly as I could. I heard Drake ask a question, but I didn’t take the time to answer. I didn’t want the kid to have to spend one more second in agony if he didn’t have to.
