Page 42 of False Flag

He didn’t say it like that, of course. He was the last person to recognize he was in a cult, but his actions made it obvious. His words contained not-so-veiled threats as he demanded she renounce her chosen profession. Give up Morgan and her grad school friends. He didn’t know about the Valkyries and their covert missions, thank goodness.

She responded by grabbing her belongings and fleeing his apartment.

Two weeks later, she, another grad student, and her advisor had been on campus, leaving the anthropology building together to have lunch, when they were ambushed by two men who wore facemasks with what was now known as the symbol that represented Archaeology Truthers, a domestic terrorist group that used the darknet to coordinate attacks on archaeologists.

The assault, which sent her into the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and a four-inch gash on her side, was the third attack on a college campus in as many months. Philadelphia had been the first. Atlanta the second.

In spite of receiving immediate and excellent medical care, her wound got infected—MRSA—and she would always wonder if her attacker had made certain the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria was on the blade when he cut her.

While she was certain Beau was not one of the two attackers, the timing and targeting of her and her friends couldn’t be ignored. Police got a warrant to search his apartment and seize his computer, and while they didn’t find anything that tied him to the attack, they did find evidence he’d committed multiple counts of revealing classified Army data to his conspiracy theorist pals.

She wasn’t involved with his court-martial, as the charges had nothing to do with her and she wasn’t a witness to his crimes. But she did know the result—one year confinement and a bad-conduct discharge.

She had little doubt that he blamed her for his downfall.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Beau? How are you even here? Canada doesn’t allow felons to enter the country.”

Beau’s lip curled. “Think you have leverage over me? Not a chance. I know why you’re here. I knew the minute I saw you at the fundraiser in December that you were going to try to get on the project.”

All the blood drained from her extremities and went straight to her heart, which pounded furiously. “You were there.” The words were a choked whisper, but even as she said them, she knew she was a fool for never considering the possibility. Except—he should have been locked up in December. He should still be locked up now.

“Pure luck that I spotted you before you saw me.”

From the moment she’d met Casper Osborne, she’d been aware Gerard could know more about her than he had a right to know, but now she knew he knew everything. And he’d hired her anyway, which was, quite frankly, scary. She turned to Lloyd. “Call the ferry back. I’m leaving.”

“Oh no. You’re here to stay,” Beau said. “I happen to know you’ve signed over your left tit if you break your contract now. Plus, the boat will not be coming back tonight. Nor tomorrow. You’re stuck here.”

She swallowed her fear and reminded herself Freya knew where she was. She wasn’t trapped, per se.

Beau took a step toward her and reached for her laptop bag. Staci stepped back. “You aren’t touching my computer.”

“What are you hiding? You been doing bad things again, Staci? Framing innocent men for crimes?”

“There was nothing innocent about you. And it was stupid of you to sic your Archaeology Truther goons on me when there was a record of you sharing classified data with your friends on your computer. Did you really think I wouldn’t connect the dots?”

Beau raised his hand as if to strike. Staci’s hand shot up, deflecting before he could.

One thing she’d learned in her private hand-to-hand combat lessons with Chase Johnston at Raptor was not to wait for the blow. Not when she knew he could and would hurt her. She was half Beau’s size, but she could defend herself.

Now.

She wouldn’t be caught off guard again.

“Bitch. What happened to you had nothing to do with me.”

“Right.”

“Hey, man,” Lloyd said. “Back the fuck off.”

At least I don’t have to defend myself from both men.

“She’s got you wrapped around her finger already? Don’t forget, she’s the enemy.”

“Gerard hired her to give us legitimacy. This doesn’t work without her. We’re on the same side.”

Beau shook his head. “No. She was hired because Gerard knows to keep friends close and enemies closer.” He turned to face her. “You violate any part of the NDA and Gerard owns you.”

“I have no intention of violating it. I’m here to do a job. Why are you here?”