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She looked up at him and he winced at the misery on her face. “Thanks, but I sure didn’t convince the General. Though I suspect the two Colonels are rethinking things.”
It definitely wasn’t the time to tell her about General MacBride’s future plans. “I think you convinced more or less everyone but him. Though I don’t know how much he understood.”
She gave a tired grin and it struck him all at once how taxing these past hours must have been. “Explaining to him stripping the deepfake was like explaining the tax code to a dog.”
Pierce coughed to cover the unexpected laugh that blew out of him. In his teens he’d had an amazing merle border collie as smart as they came. Maisie could probably understand more than the General had.
“There’s another meeting this afternoon at seventeen hundred hours. That’s—”
“Five p.m.” She sighed. “Yes. Very familiar with the military clock.”
“Sorry.”
Riley turned a stricken face to him. “Oh! I didn’t mean to be snotty! I’m so sorry. I’m incredibly grateful to you and ASI and Black Inc. You’ve been … wonderful.” She turned a deep and very pretty shade of pink, and Pierce knew she was thinking about this morning.
He leaned low and whispered in her ear. “You were pretty wonderful yourself.”
She turned an even brighter shade of pink. Pierce liked seeing it. She was deathly pale, all this stress taking a terrible toll on her. If a little flirting and the memory of a memorable morning together could put some color in her face, great.
This was the military. Once the meeting was adjourned, the room emptied fast. One of the aides stopped by to introduce himself. Turns out he’d been at MIT several years after she had and they’d had the same professors. Pierce tuned them out once they started talking math. But it was clear that the earnest-looking aide was completely on her side.
Man. It brought back painful memories. He’d loved his time in the Navy. Being a SEAL—having been a SEAL—was embedded bone-deep in his being. He’d loved his teammates, even the scuzzier ones, and he’d grown as close to Raul as to a brother. He loved the discipline, the moving together toward a single goal. The unquestioning help at all times.
But he’d had a lot of boneheaded commanders, besides the psychopath murderer. They’d received orders that didn’t always make a lot of sense. That were dangerous, even. As the mission became fuzzier and fuzzier, the orders got crazier and crazier.
The young aide—not a day over twenty-five—was clearly caught between a hard place and a rock. Anyone who could follow what Riley said knew she was telling the truth. And understood that the rush to war was based on a lie. A pernicious, ass-covering one, too.
And then there was the equally appalling idea that some peoplewanted that war.They might not have instigated one, but by God when a perfectly acceptable war presented itself, they weren’t going to waste it. And they sure as hell weren’t going to let some girl nerd’s truth stop them.
The math talk stopped and now it was allnice to meet you, amazing program you’ve got there. The aide departed and Riley checked her cell with a frown. Jacob Black was checking a feed, too.
He stepped to Riley and Pierce. “Riley, that was an exceptional job. I’m going to see if I can advance our meeting at 1700 to 1600 and to see if we can get into the White House this evening. We need to talk to someone who can get to the President.”
“It won’t be General MacBride,” Pierce said sourly, and showed both Black and Riley the message from the HER Room. “They’re promising to dig up background info on anyone we speak to.”
“Those women are amazing,” Black said. “That is very useful intel. I don’t need to ask if they are certain?”
“No, you don’t need to ask.” Riley shook her head. “If they texted it, it’s true. And explains a lot.” She touched Black’s arm. “I have a horrible feeling this is coming to a head, and really bad things will happen before we can have them call off the dogs.”
“And before things become too far gone to call them off, even if we convince them it’s all a lie.”
Riley shut her eyes for a second and sighed.
Pierce looked at Black. “I’m going to take Riley back to the house and feed her and let her rest before the afternoon meetings. I think we’ll be testifying all night.”
Black nodded. “I’ll be in the convoy. We’ll escort you and we’ll be there when you’re ready to leave. In the meantime, I still have some people I’m going to contact.”
Getting out of the Pentagon was easier than getting in.
At the convoy, Black slapped the roof of the SUV. “Okay, my guys will be at the safe house at 15.00.” He bent a little to address Riley in the shotgun seat. “Riley, be loaded for bear. I think we’re getting traction, which means the pushback will be hard.”
She nodded and Black stepped away and got into one of the SUVs.
Pierce was ready to roll out when Riley touched him. “Wait.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have a way to communicate with the other two vehicles?”
