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But he was a dangerous man on their side, so she kept her expression neutral. But there was no doubt that he was enraged. “There are some who are happy, and they are being encouraged by Adrian Sommers, who has several contracts in the bag. He’s built up assets in the East, and he’s spoiling for a fight. These assholes are convinced we can keep conflict from scaling up, while degrading China’s military. It’s crazy. We’re talking the Cuban Missile Crisis on steroids, and there is a good chance this will blow up into a shooting war, very soon. Even nuclear capability is not off the table.”
Riley turned, appalled, to Pierce. Everyone’s worst nightmare. Nuclear warfare. But apparently not everyone’s worst nightmare.
“No one wins a nuclear exchange,” Pierce said soberly.
Black’s jaws clenched as if he were chewing something bitter. “Tell that to the decision-makers who have never been to war. For them it’s blips on a computer screen. Not dead men, women and children.”
Riley saw Jacob Black and Pierce exchange hard looks through the screens. Both of them knew all too well what war meant.
“There’s more.” Black’s eyes narrowed.
“More than possible war with a nuclear power?” Riley asked.
He blew out a breath. “They’re saying that your proof has been reverse engineered. It’s quickly becoming the accepted narrative.”
Riley sat back, hoping against hope she misunderstood. “What?”
“Yes. They are saying that you took the original video of Chinese troops attacking American scientists and clumsily tried to turn it into a fake video, casting blame on the blameless operators of the Sommers Group. As a cover-up. Paid for by the Chinese.”
Her heart began to hammer. “That would be treason. Sir.”
Jacob Black’s head bowed. “It would be, indeed. Punishable by imprisonment for life. If it goes to a shooting war, punishable by death.”
“Hey!” Next to her Pierce bristled. “What the fuck? That’s ridiculous, no one who knows Riley—”
She held up a finger and Pierce stopped midsentence.
“There would be the time stamps,” she said evenly. “Showing Sommers Group operators andthenthe Chinese.”
“They’re going to say that if you can create a deepfake, you can fake the time stamps, too.”
“Actually, I can’t, because the time stamps are recorded in-house and the data cached—” she stopped. “No one would care.”
“Exactly. No one would listen to that. Though you and I know the truth, the truth is harder to explain. Hard to comprehend. Their version is easier, makes more sense, superficially.”
Riley ran it through her mind. “Sommers has it tied up into a neat little narrative that is simply made for soundbites. Henry Yu was a sleeper agent for the Chinese. When he saw an incriminating video come in from one of our satellites, he doctored the video. He had the skills for it and the opportunity. He called in his young lover—me—to help him do it, then blew his brains out in remorse. Or I blew his brains out, take your pick. Either way, I am complicit.”
Riley breathed out her stress, her hand on Pierce’s. He turned his hand and laced it with hers and it grounded her. His hand was warm and strong. He was warm and strong. His company was behind her, Jacob Black’s company was behind her. Her besties, the Queens of IT, were behind her. She wasn’t alone, she had smart strong people behind her.
She felt rage rising up. Riley rarely felt angry. Putting her mother to bed high, seeing her father drive away without looking back, knowing she’d never see him again—those things hadn’t made her mad, they’d made her sad.
The Boss from Hell at NSA had made her want to retreat from the world. Getting mad would have gained her nothing. All four of them—Felicity, Hope, Emma, Riley—had realized that the only thing they could do was quit, because he held all the power.
So anger wasn’t really a big part of her life.
But now? Now, every cell in her body was suffused with rage, red-hot and pulsing. She knew, academically, that there were bad people in the world. All you had to do was open the newspapers and voilà. There they were. But now there were people willing torisk warfor their own personal gain. Or to advance in a career. Or not to lose face. God only knew what kinds of justifications they were finding. Quite willing to tear up her life just for telling the truth, and not at all afraid of ruining millions, maybe billions, of lives in a war.
War was slippery. She was sure there were people planning on a ‘splendid little war.’ One that would test new weaponry, make some people a lot of money, shake things up. But war could escape their grasp and grow. Become World War III. End civilization. And they didn’t care.
It made her a little crazy with rage, and that is when the idea came to her.
She looked at Pierce, sober and attentive. Willing—more than willing—to protect her with his life. Then she looked at Jacob Black on the screen, undoubtedly one of the good guys. He was working hard to stop this, for no reason other than it was the right thing to do.
“Guys,” she said, and both sharpened their attention. “Let’s fight back.”
14
“No!” Pierce jumped up, the office chair skittering away. He thrust his hands in his hair, eyes wild. “Absolutely not! Don’t even think about it! This is crazy! Black, you talk some sense into her.”
