Max waved her back. His fingers clicked on the keyboard until another screen opened up. "I think that someone stole your information and sold it. People can buy profiles and use them to do whatever, then sell them again."
Max cleared his throat. "This site is where hot profiles go to be sold."
"Hot profiles?" Kam asked.
"Ones that might have authorities already looking into them. Some people use them as tools to enhance their reputation for cruelty, leading them to do worse. Think of it as lying on your resume for bad guys. It could also explain the hit."
Kam fisted his hands at his side. "If she's dead, that profile gets even better because now she's a ghost."
Taylor glanced at Kam, and in his eyes burned a silent vow — he looked like he’d take on the whole world if it meant keeping her safe. "So they are cleaning up loose ends, but we already knew that."
"That's not all I found."
Taylor watched as Max continued to type. "Your profile was already bought before."
"Can you figure out who bought it?"
"I'm still working on that." Max turned back to the screen. "But if I track that sale, then I can't track what they did with your profile."
"I can track that." Taylor wheeled toward the work station. "Send me what you have on my fake profile. Let's see what I was up to on the dark web."
Kam paced to the door. "I'm going to get us ready to move. We can't stay in one place too long."
Taylor spun the chair to face the door. "Could you find me a secure phone? I need to check in with Schulz."
"There are some phones and SAT phones in the closet with the guns. Down here is a large Faraday cage, so you'll have to go upstairs to use it," Max said without pausing his typing.
Taylor looked at Kam one more time before he disappeared out the door. It was irrational, but now that she had him back, she didn't want him out of her sight. He might not come back.
"He'll always come back for you." Max stopped typing and faced her.
"How do I know they won't make him disappear again?"
"We can't know the future, but Kam says his God has a bigger plan than we can understand. That the pain we go through, He can use for good."
"Do you believe that?"
Max looked toward the door, then back to her. "I know that Kam and you are different than the rest of the world that I knew. My wife believed, and she made sure that my son did too."
Max swallowed hard. "Someday, maybe I could ask you more about it, but right now, we need to set you free."
Taylor rolled toward Max. "As much as I want to live a long life with Kam now that I have found him, if I don't make it, I know that I'll be free forever." She rested her hand on his arm, letting her own words settle peace inside of her. "Just as your wife and son are."
Max turned away from her. "Yes, well. Let's get hacking. Kam deserves a bit of happiness in this life."
Taylor listened to Kam's footsteps carry him down the hall. She needed to get answers like Max said, then she could explore where their relationship would take them. Of course, she would be cleared and return to the FBI, but that wouldn't be the end of the world, right?
Kam's words echoed in her mind.I don't want to put you in a position where you have to arrest me or live with the knowledge that you should have.
One step at a time. For now, she was not technically an agent, even though her clearance was probably now suspended.
Taylor cracked her knuckles and started searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
She knew that her skills were better than most, but this wasn't like testing a system for weak spots; this was where criminals came to hide and do their business without the eyes of the world's authorities watching. She would need to be the person her professor warned her that she could become.
Is this what Kam felt like? Knowing that he was doing good, even if it was technically breaking so many international laws. She looked over her shoulder, where Kam had disappeared down the hall.
She took a deep breath and embraced a part of her she shut down many years ago. This was to stop an international incident and a possible world war. It sounded dramatic, but if the enemies of the US got those missiles, the destruction to follow would cost many innocent lives. This is where Max was wrong. This wasn't just about her. It was about saving millions of others. Even if she were never an agent again, she wouldn't stop until these people were stopped.
