23
Alex had never worked with someone before, and certainly not someone more talented than he was. He knew enough to know someone like Crew wouldn’t like it. It would be a blow to his ego. However, Alex found it so sexy when Roxie bit down on her lip as she did the seemingly impossible with ease.
She would ask him his ideas, and together they found a way through CBL’s firewall and into their network from where they sat parked in front of the hotel. Even though the signal was weak, they were able to hop onto CBL’s Wi-Fi and into their network.
“That’s fab,” Roxie gasped as she followed Alex’s idea on how to gain access to Locke’s computer once isolating it on the network. “I’m in.” Roxie’s fingers flew and her eyes didn’t move from the screen as she read. Alex waved off the valet once again and waited to hear what she’d found. He was going to take her upstairs to meet the rest of the team, but Roxie was onto something. Once she was onto something, she didn’t stop until she’d found it.
Alex pushed his chair back and pulled out his own laptop. “How’d you get into that chat room?”
“Here,” Roxie said, grabbing his laptop and showing him. “All done.” She handed it back and went back to work.
Alex dug for the old posts. There hadn’t been five people, there had been seven in the group. Two were no longer active. “Who are you?”
“What?” Roxie asked.
“Sorry, I talk to myself when I work. I found two other people in the group who have been inactive for the past week. I’m following up on them.”
“Good. I didn’t have time to find the identities of everyone. I’m into Locke’s personal files. He’s not a good person, Alex. In fact, he’s very dangerous.”
“I figured . . .” Alex trailed off as his eyes narrowed. A few more threads and then he was in the rabbit hole. And when he finally came to the end, he just stared. “Oh crap.”
Dalton stepped back from the window of their penthouse overlooking CBL. There had been no sign of Locke. While there was a back entrance, they’d confirmed with the local food truck that Locke’s car service dropped him off at the front door most days. He looked at his watch. “Dude, it’s nine-forty. I thought Lizzy and Valeria would be back by now.” Grant punched Dalton hard in the shoulder. “What the fuck?”
“You just said dude. You’ve been around Alex too long. I thought to break you of the habit because I can’t be part of the group if two of you are duding it up. Speaking of Alex, I thought he should be back by now as well.”
Dalton heard the electric lock slide open on the front door. He and Grant turned to see who was back when the door was flung open and the sexiest little woman stumbled in with Alex practically falling over her. The two held open laptops and white faces.
“What is it?” Dalton asked as the familiar sense of dread hit him hard.
“We found the bombs,” Alex said quickly. “There were seven, now there are five. One bomb was confiscated in a soft run at the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the man killed. The other one was already used in DC to target Birch. The guy who had the bomb is the same CIA agent who tried to take Tate right after the bombing. He went silent after the bombing. Not because he was successful, but because he was dead,” Alex said so quickly Dalton didn’t have time to process it before the girl spoke.
“And Locke has one of the Russian suitcase bombs. Along with a combination of military, former military, and government agents in London, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Zurich.”
“Fuck,” Grant said softly. It was the same sentiment Dalton had.
“What are their targets?” Dalton asked.
“I think it’s the financial institutions,” Alex said with a little less confidence. “Roxie . . . um, this is Roxie. This is Dalton and Grant.”
“I know,” she smiled. “I read your records when I hacked Alex’s private message board you all use. Sorry,” she grinned in a proud way that Dalton knew meant she wasn’t the least bit sorry.
“Well, then I guess Alex has some work to do to make it more private.” Dalton glared at Alex.
“I already took care of it.” Roxie smiled tightly at the group as she looked back at her laptop.
“You are so awesome.” Alex sighed before his face went back to a look of deadly seriousness. “The report Thurmond made on the New York Stock Exchange combined with the failed attempt in China and the attempted hacking of the London Stock Exchange led us to look into it. Here are the men carrying the weapons. All of them are in a city with an international exchange. It can’t be a coincidence.”
“Alex, send everything to Birch and Humphrey. Text a picture of Locke to us as well. Grant, get hold of Lizzy and Valeria to fill them in. I’ll let Jason know. But when are they going to strike?”
“Fourteen hundred hours, but I don’t know what time zone,” Roxie said, nerves causing her voice to sound slightly strangled and her British accent thicker.
“Everyone is hitting at once?” Grant asked as he sent a text to Lizzy and Valeria.
“Yes,” Roxie answered. “They said they were going to move into position.”
“UTC,” Grant said tightly as he and Dalton cursed.
“What?” Alex asked.
“Coordinated universal time. Dammit, they’re attacking in seventeen minutes.”
Chaos ensued, but you would never know it. Grant and Dalton were two of a kind. The worse things got, the calmer they appeared. It was how they made life-and-death decisions. Grant sent follow-up texts before checking his weapons while Dalton tossed him a Kevlar vest and strapped one on as he filled Jason in.
“What can I do?” Roxie asked in near panic.
“Call in a bomb threat. Have your friends call them in at every exchange. Anything to get as many people out of the buildings as possible,” Dalton ordered as he strapped on his vest and guns.
“Can you freeze trading for the exchanges that are open?” Grant asked as he slipped his phone into his back pocket of his jeans.
“We’ll get the word out,” Alex told him as he and Roxie stood at the bar top with their laptops open and fingers flying.
“Wall Street is five blocks away. We need to move,” Dalton barked as he and Grant ran out the door with an extra gun and vest for Jason in hand.
Valeria was amazed at how much talking Lizzy could do without saying a single thing. She had Bertie eating out of her hand about what was going on at SA Tech while never disclosing any important trade secret, not that they knew any.
One thing was clear though, Bertie loved power as much as Sebastian did, and he hated that Sebastian was nipping at his heels. Valeria kept an eye on Rue as he stared at her. Someone was holding a grudge.
Val’s phone vibrated, and she looked at her watch. Nine forty-four. This was taking forever and Valeria had already decided Bertie was exactly the same as Sebastian. She didn’t know what Lizzy was looking for. Either man would do anything, legal or not, to defeat the other.
Valeria’s phone buzzed again. Grant knew they were busy. It buzzed again and Valeria slowly pulled it from the front pocket of her jeans and casually looked down. Shit. Her heart sped up so fast she was sure she was flushed, but instead of leaping up, Valeria rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.
“Look. I got things to do. We’ve given you enough to know we’re legit. Wire us a million dollars now and my girl here will get you some more information. Here’s the account.” Valeria leaned forward as Lizzy looked at her. She tapped her phone with her left pointer finger as she used the right to write down an account number. Valeria slouched back in the chair and crossed her arms and resumed looking bored.
“That would be good,” Lizzy smiled, encouraging Bertie to pick up the phone. In less than a minute, the wire had been placed, hands had been shaken, and they were out the door.
“What the hell is going on?” Lizzy asked as she headed for the elevator. The door opened instantly and Valeria pushed the button for the lobby.
“I’ll tell you in a second.” She looked up at the video camera and flicked it off.
The elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened. Turning away from the lobby, Valeria led them out the back door, setting off the fire alarm. “Mollia Domini is going to try to blow up the world’s biggest stock exchanges.”
“When?”
Valeria looked at her watch. “In thirteen minutes.”
“What time is it?” Tate asked as she and Humphrey walked toward the Oval Office. “I know our meeting was for 9:45, but I’m moving so slow on these stupid crutches. I thought I was ready for them, but it’s irritating my shoulder wound a bit.”
“It’s just now time for the meeting. Somehow I don’t think Birch will care if we’re a few minutes late,” Humphrey said as they headed through the office full of secretaries, staff, and various people waiting for meetings.
The door to the oval office flung open and a white-faced Birch stood, pain radiating from his face as he held his broken ribs. “Get me the head of the SEC and the president of the New York Stock Exchange!” Birch yelled at his secretary. “And Jess, get me the heads of the New York offices of the FBI, police, and Homeland.” Birch looked up and saw them. “We’re under attack.”
Birch disappeared back into the Oval Office as Humphrey ran and Tate hobbled so fast the pain of the crutches slamming against her upper ribs would make a normal person cry.
“Freeze the markets now! We have credible intelligence there is an imminent terrorist attack ready to strike the exchange in thirteen minutes,” Tate heard Birch order into the phone when she got there. “Evacuate the building immediately.”
“New York police commissioner, FBI, and Homeland on conference line three,” Jessica shouted out.
“Jess, I need the British and Australian prime ministers, the Federal Council of Switzerland, and the chief executive of Hong Kong,” Birch shouted back as he picked up the phone.
Birch looked at them then. His face was hardened in the midst of potential disaster. “Tate, Humphrey, be ready to take over any calls. It’s Mollia Domini. They’re taking out the markets with suitcase bombers. Looks like New York is the main target. They’re hitting it at peak trading time. If any of these exchanges are damaged, it’ll be enough to send the world’s markets into chaos.” Birch trailed off, imagining a result that would be incomprehensible in terms of damage. “I have pictures and am sending them now to the heads of state and our agents in New York. They’re in your inbox.”
Tate nodded as she pulled up the files. Locke. Son of a bitch. He was going to hit New York.
“Now!” Birch yelled. “And don’t you fucking dare give me that jurisdiction shit. Everyone clear the area and look for Brandon Locke and his men. The bomb will be in a bag of some sort.”
“I have London and Switzerland on two,” Jessica called out.
“Here, talk to my chief of staff for the rest of my orders.” Birch handed the phone to Humphrey and picked up the secure line. “You need to close your exchanges immediately. We have credible intelligence of a terrorist attack and have sent the names and pictures of the men with the suitcase bombs. Freeze trading and evacuate. The attack it set for twelve minutes from now.”
“I’ve woken up Hong Kong and Australia and have them on a line out here!” Jessica yelled, standing with a phone in her hand and the cord stretched as far as it could.
Birch tossed the phone to Tate as he ran. “Finish it!”
“This is Tate Carlisle, press secretary to the president.” Tate answered the questions as fast as they came. Oh God. They had thought they had been prepared for whatever Mollia Domini had planned.