Page 144 of False Flag

Dahlia shrugged. Then she gave Staci a sly smile. “You think it’s true that Jake was coming back?”

“No idea.”

“What’s the deal with you two? Is there a chance for me after all?”

Now it was Staci’s turn to shrug. “He left without a word after I was there for him. That doesn’t leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.”

“Fair. I might have to reconsider my crush.” She sighed. “But damn. He’s hot. What a waste.”

Staci nodded, but in her mind, she remembered how he’d held her as they made love. Those muscles were definitely not a waste.

“Did Gerard provide any instructions for tomorrow? What am I supposed to do today?”

“Work on the research design?”

“Not possible when he hasn’t given me the locations he wants to investigate. I’m so sick of this tired game. We all know I’m just a prop. It would serve him right if I left the island to go to the bill signing as a show of support for the governor.”

“He left explicit orders that you are not to have access to any of the boats.”

“So this is a prison?”

Dahlia shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, I’m not allowed to leave either.”

“What did you do to piss him off?”

Dahlia gave a tight smile. “Left you alone in the booth.”

Staci wanted to tell the woman she was sorry, except they’d both know it was a lie.

Chapter Fifty-Two

The text came at three a.m., a photo of Fezzik stretched out, taking up fully half of a queen-sized bed. It could only mean one thing: the signal blockers had been disabled without alerting Casper’s tech team.

Let the data heist begin.

Staci liked the photo and quickly sent Vicki her notes from the last two days, including identifying Walt Costner as Crash and the man who sat next to her at the dinner, along with her suspicion he’d been one of her attackers.

With the signal blockers down, her plan to livestream the fieldwork with Gerard was a go as long as Gerard didn’t cancel again. She let Vicki know to look for the livestream around eleven a.m., then waited a moment to be certain everything was sent before deleting the photo of Fezzik and shutting down the phone.

She wasn’t taking any chances until after she had Gerard alone in the woods. She’d check her messages again in the morning before they set out, just in case, but she needed to keep her internet traffic to the bare minimum.

The real work was out of her hands, up to Vicki and Freya, who had been working nonstop to dig into Casper’s files.

The island wasn’t home to Casper’s business data centers. No, the North American data centers were in Oklahoma and Tennessee. But Casper’s full-time tech team on Letora Island and intense security raised a lot of questions. This had to be where his very private business was run.

Banking business. Crypto and official currencies. And FMV had backdoor access to his servers.

There was no going back to sleep after that, but there was also nothing Staci could do to help. Her job was to corner Gerard. Jake and the others would be at the signing, in place to stop whatever disruption his followers planned.

She lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She would not use her laptop or do anything that might alert the tech team she had access. Later, she’d go to her office and try to visit a harmless site she’d attempted to access dozens of times and then submit her daily request for approval.

She wouldn’t be meek, but she would act as if defeated.

Vicki stared at the computer screen, hardly able to believe her eyes. “Freya. I need you.”

Yesterday, she’d moved to FMV’s offices. It was more efficient and without Teague’s help—damn him for being useful—she needed backup.

Freya might not have Vicki’s hacking skills, but she understood the financial data in ways Vicki didn’t, and she’d just unlocked the mother lode.