“Then you’re set.” Liam motioned for her to fill her plate. He let silence fill the space. No reason to make small talk. If she were like him, he required a few minutes of quiet to ground himself in the day. That and a bucket full of coffee.
Snacking on the food as she held her plate and strode into the living room, Raven lowered onto the chair in front of the laptop they’d designated as hers.
Rafe glanced up from his computer. “Hey, Raven. Feel better?”
“A bit. I think it’ll take a while to recover. Especially my ribs. But I’m not lying in bed when I can help.” She brushed her hands together, dusting off any crumbs from her midnight meal.
Liam and Rafe grinned at each other.
“That sounds like the determined Raven we know.” Liam placed his hands on her shoulders, wondering how she’d react. If the guys were wrong…
Raven tipped her head back and smiled at him.
Her smile wrapped his heart. Okay, so maybe the guys were on to something.
“This.” She pointed to her computer. “I know. It’s my comfort zone.”
“Then I’ll let you get to it.” He squeezed her shoulders and released her.
Almost as if on a silent cue, Raven and Rafe’s heads lowered, and the clack of keys filled the space. Liam had a gut feeling that whatever they uncovered wasn’t going to be about a contractor’sdaughter. It was going to be about someone setting up Raven. But to what end?
Liam left them to their work and checked in with the others. A little while later, he returned. “Raven, I have a gift for you.” He held out a small black box. The skeptical look she gave him made him laugh. “Go on. It won’t bite.”
She opened the container and peeked in. A squeal met his ears. “Oh, thank you! I’ve felt left out.”
He laughed, and so did Rafe.
She extracted the earpiece and slipped it in. “Charlie Team, Raven. I’m back.”
“Yay.” “Hallelujah.” “It’s about time.” The other three men chimed in.
Raven reached out and clasped his hand. “Seriously, Liam, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The relaxed expression on her face had him smacking himself for not thinking of it sooner. He slid onto a seat beside her and logged into his laptop. “Shoot me the file of the threatening emails you received, and I’ll analyze those.”
Raven’s fingers flew on the keyboard. “There ya go.”
His inbox pinged. “Got it.” Now, to see if any of the threats warranted a full-blown investigation.
An hour later, Raven froze mid-keystroke. “Liam.”
“What’s up?” He stood from his spot at the table, grateful for the opportunity to stand and stretch, and circled behind her.
A buried, archived request from an unknown FBI agent with areview pendingstatus glowed on her screen. Beneath it sat an administrative closure for the evaluation, timestamped the day of her abduction. Raven leaned closer. “They didn’t just stall my request for a review of the leaked codes. They shut it down the day they took me.”
“Erasing all evidence,” Liam whispered. His heart dropped at the realization. “If we figure out who buried your review request,I’d bet it will point us in the direction of the person or people after you.”
Several clicks of her mouse later, she expanded the metadata and pointed at the screen. “Look. This isn’t random. The agent who filed the request had clearance… but the trail dead-ends in Deputy Director Karen Walsh’s office. Someone high up killed the review before it could reach the chain of command. Or Walsh squashed it herself.”
“Maybe.” Liam scratched the stubble on his jaw. “But from what I’ve witnessed, Walsh has always appeared competent and concerned. She cleaned up the good ol’ boys network when she took over.”
“She did. I don’t think it’s her, but we can’t deny that the review stopped at or right before her office.”
“We’ll keep her on the list. Who else had access?”
Raven sighed. “There are more than enough people who had access.”
“Ugh. How do you do the research thing and keep your sanity? I’d rather be kicking down the proverbial doors.”
