Page 83 of Nixon’s Promise

“No.”

“Why not? You felt strongly enough to seek out Nixon and the guys after this man repeatedly tried to blow you off when you expressed your concerns. Why wouldn’t you look into him? See if he has a connection to any of the players.”

Nixon smiling at me took me off guard. So did the chuckles I got from the other four men.

“Because he’s my boss. There’s a pucker factor. If I’m wrong, and he finds out I crawled up his ass, I’d be out on mine. And I kinda like my job. I need more than a hunch and a feeling to accuse a high-ranking member of Homeland of being involved in a terrorist plot.”

“Well, I don’t,” I started. “The message was obviously real. The three places explosives were found were mentioned in the note, even said they needed attention. I’d bet there’s a bomb planted in Carpenter’s Hall and the bomb squad missed it. I can look into your boss while you guys try and find that last bomb.”

“What else do you think, McKenna?” Holden queried with his lips twitching.

Instead of being embarrassed that I may’ve stepped over a line, I flipped him off.

“No, I’m seriously asking. We’re a team. We talk shit out. We throw out opinions and theories and work together. You’re a part of the team. Legit, I’m asking, what else do you think?”

Damn, that felt good.

“I don’t think this has anything to do with homegrown extremists wanting to blow up National Park buildings and fuck the government. I think that’s all a decoy.”

“Why do you think that?” Nixon asked, still smiling.

And damn, that felt good, too. He looked like he was proud of me for speaking up.

“Because the forum is so easy it’s obvious. Even me, if I was planning on blowing up buildings, causing mass casualties, I wouldn’t put my plans on an open forum. I wouldn’t go on the internet and talk about building bombs. Hell, I wouldn’t even Google it. Okay, I would do that, because I know ways to mask my electronic footprint. But bottom line, these idiots are waving their left hand while the right is flying under the radar. I’d look to the right, and to the right is the bomb.”

“I agree,” Nixon announced. “Do you have the physical location from the IP address the admins are using?”

“Yep. Vinny’s Pizzeria on South Third Street. Old City district,” I answered.

“Looks like we’re headed to Vinny’s,” Nixon announced. “McKenna, can you hack into the computer that’s updating the forum?”

“Sure can. As soon as one of them logs into the public WiFi at the pizza place, I’ll be in.”

“And if it’s a phone or tablet?”

“Even better if it’s phone. I’ll use it as a tracking device.”

“Perfect. You work on that and look into Alec’s boss. I don’t think I need to explain to you what I’m asking is illegal and not in the scope of work the government has contracted, so be careful.”

“I will.”

“Alec? Anything else you’d like to add?”

“My boss is Don Miller.”

“Don Miller? As in the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Cyber and Security? That Don Miller?” Nixon gaped.

“One in the same.”

“Fuck, brother, that’s not a pucker factor, that’s a clusterfuck.” Nixon turned to me. “Babe, please don’t take offense, but how good are you?”

I didn’t take offense—Nixon was trying to protect me. I knew who Don Miller was, I’d seen him on TV enough times standing next to the Secretary of Homeland.

“I’m that good, Nixon. He’ll never know I was in.”

Nix stared at me a beat, then jerked his chin. “Good. Dig as deep as you can.”

That didn’t feel good—that felt freaking awesome. He trusted me. I gave him what I hoped was a smile that conveyed my appreciation and started to close down my laptop. The work I needed to do couldn’t be done on this computer. I needed one of my other machines to run the searches.