Cybil pushes off the wall. “What do you need me to do?”
For the first time, Athena’s confident posture shifts. “Earl Edmond has been invited to the auction. You’ll go with him as expected. We need you to get close enough to Ramirez’s laptop to access the evidence for the mineral deal.”
“You expect her to break into his laptop?” I say, my voice wavering with incredulity and anger. Frustration slices through me. This is my fault. This was my mission and because I failed, Cybil’s life is on the line. “Ramirez is already suspicious of her. If she gets anywhere near his laptop, you might as well hand him the gun and tell him to shoot.”
“We need the proof,” Katherine says calmly. “If Cybil disappears now, it confirms Ramirez’s suspicion and accelerates his response. But if she reappears as expected, acting as if nothing has changed, it creates doubt. He’ll question whether he misread her, whether he overreacted. That uncertainty works in our favor. Her presence is the variable that destabilizes him.” She looks at Ruby. “And she only needs to get close enough for the PhantomKey to extract the information, right?”
“Yes.” Ruby slides a matte-black case out of her pocket and opens it with a quiet click. Nestled inside is a sleek, dime-sized disc the color of gunmetal, with a faint ring of light pulsing at its center. “This is a PhantomKey. It’s a zero-latency proximity breach device. Think of it like a Trojan horse, but sexy. Get it close enough to Ramirez’s laptop and it hijacks the laptop’s biometric input—fingerprint, face ID, retinal scan, whatever he uses—and creates a synthetic credential that unlocks the system long enough for us to access the encrypted directories.”
Cybil blinks. “So I just walk up to his laptop with this in my pocket?”
“No.” Ruby snaps the case closed. “It’ll be embedded in custom housing to look like a brooch. To anyone else, it’s jewelry, but it’s goingto require you to get close. We’re talking elbow-on-the-table, lean-in-for-a-whisper close. It’s the only way to bypass the YubiKey encryption.”
“So get within kissing distance of a laptop owned by a war criminal and pray he doesn’t notice my jewelry is cloning his hard drive. Honestly”—Cybil swallows—“still not the worst date I’ve ever been on.”
“Sure, because nothing screams subtle espionage like leaning in close to a paranoid crime boss with a weaponized brooch.” I don’t know if her nonchalance is covering nerves, but I’m not okay with this. “Why not give her a pair of exploding earrings too?”
“It’s the only shot we have.” Ruby gives me a look that readstrust me. And I want to, but this is Cybil we’re talking about. “She doesn’t have to get close to Ramirez. Just his laptop—within ten inches to activate.” Ruby looks at Cybil. “Once it locks onto his laptop, you’ll feel a single vibration. That means the device has found a viable connection. It’ll take about twenty seconds. When you feel a double vibration, that means the scan’s complete and the data has been transmitted to our secure server.” Ruby meets Cybil’s gaze. “You’ll only get one shot. Once the scan completes, the device disables itself.”
“Twenty seconds.” Cybil nods. “I can do that.”
“You say it like it’ll be easy.” I cross my arms. “Ramirez is spooked. His suspicion is already directed at Edmond and everyone”—I glance at Cybil—“working with him. He’ll belookingfor any abnormal behavior. You so much as blink wrong, and he won’t ask questions before reacting. Not only are we putting her in danger, but we’re also putting the entire operation in danger.”
“Well, guess I’d better practice my blinking then.” She gives a little laugh. “Wouldn’t want to accidentally launch World War III with a side-eye.”
I exhale sharply through my nose. “That’s not funny.”
“Maybe not.” She shrugs. “But if I don’t laugh, I’ll start panicking. And then I’ll blink weird. And we’re back to a nuclear fallout.”
Ruby snorts. “I like you.”
“Listen.” Katherine’s focus turns to me. “This isn’t about RICOcharges anymore. National security threats supersede RICO crimes. SNAP Global has jurisdiction now.”
I look between her and Athena. “What do you mean?”
“Our agency is going to work with the FBI,” Athena says, “but we have the green light to neutralize the threat with or without your help.”
I stiffen. “So we cooperate or get benched.”
Katherine nods. “Exactly.”
There’s a beat of silence before Athena adds, “But Cybil will stay.”
I watch Cybil. There’s a flicker of nerves behind her resolve, the way she presses her thumb against her father’s ring like it’s armor. She’s ready to do this. Of course she is. But she isn’t going to do it alone.
I exhale, my jaw tight. “Fine.” I glance at both Katherine and Athena. “But let me be clear—if anything feels off, if I even suspect her life is in danger, I’ll pull her out myself. I don’t care whose jurisdiction this falls within.” My voice sharpens. “She’s not disposable. And if protecting her costs me my badge, then so be it.”
Athena studies me, unreadable. Katherine doesn’t blink. Cybil’s trying to look steady, but I can see it—the flicker of emotion behind her eyes. She meets my gaze, and I nod. Just once. Not approval. Not agreement. A promise.
We don’t say much after we leave the farmhouse. Cybil spoke with Athena for a few minutes after we were told we needed to get back to Dallas this afternoon. We’re going to miss Buddy’s birthday party, but the fact that Cybil didn’t argue tells me she’s taking this seriously. She doesn’t want any trouble coming to find her or her family. So we’re going to it instead.
We’re halfway down the winding back road leading back to the ranch, tires humming beneath us, Texas sunlight pouring gold across the dashboard, when she looks over at me.
I look over at her. “So you spy on powerful criminals in your free time.”
“Mostly corrupt CEOs, the occasional smuggler with a yacht fetish, or an ex-boyfriend who lies about what he does for a living.” She tilts her head. “My résumé is very versatile.”
“Anything else you want to confess?”
