“If you can give me some names, I’ll start doing my thing,” Zahra said, setting her laptop in her lap.
Briar shrugged and looked at Alex. “You’ve probably got a better idea of names than I do. I reported directly to Janaia. I never got to see the paperwork and never knew who had sanctioned the ops.”
“We’ll work from the bottom up to the top of the food chain. My bet is we’re looking at a big fish here.”
While she was extremely aware that people were messed up, Briar found it abhorrent that someone high up in The Company would abuse their authority to this extent. “Could be a network of people. Would be hard for one person to keep this all under wraps.”
“I don’t think so,” Matt said. “Way harder to keep others quiet. I think we’re dealing with a lone wolf. We need to find out who, and why.”
“Let’s start with Janaia then,” Alex said to Zahra as the pilot taxied the jet to the end of the runway. “We’ll have about four and a half hours in the air to work on this.”
Zahra smiled at her. “Can you give me her phone numbers and e-mail accounts? I can start there and see if anything turns up that’s worth looking into further.”
Briar had no clue how the woman knew how to do all this, but she was NSA, so there was probably a whole arsenal of software on that innocuous-looking laptop. She gave her Janaia’s cell and landline numbers, and the two e-mail accounts she knew. There were bound to be others though.
“What’s the plan for you two?” Alex asked as Zahra started working.
“We lie low until we know who we’re targeting,” Matt answered. Briar glanced at him, running her gaze over his face as the jet’s engines roared and the plane shot forward down the runway. The light coming through the small window illuminated the thick growth of whiskers on his face, showing golden highlights in the dark hair. He had his Chargers cap pulled low on his forehead and was leaning toward her so that they touched from shoulder to elbow.
She knew it wasn’t accidental and she liked knowing that a lot, which was crazy. The more time they spent together, the more he went out of his way to help her, the harder it was to keep her emotional distance from him. Every day she fell a little more for him. She was already dreading the day when this was over and she had to walk away from him.
The plane lifted off and soared skyward. “Once we have a name and enough evidence to get a conviction, we’ll get the warrants in place and move in for an arrest. I want my guys to do it,” Matt said.
“I’m going in with them,” Briar announced. In a case like this they had the jurisdiction and they certainly had the expertise, but she was going no matter what.
The others all looked at her but she stared back at Matt, letting him see her resolve. Whoever was behind this, she was going to be there to see them brought down, and to be part of it.
“We’ll see,” was all he said. She opened her mouth to argue but he switched his attention to Zahra. “What are you looking for?”
“I’m starting with phone records to see who she’d been in contact with the day before and the day of her murder.” Her green gaze flashed up to Briar’s. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right. It’s the truth.” The fucked-up, horrible truth.
Zahra went back to searching through her program. The jet broke through the clouds and sunlight streamed in the windows. Zahra reached one hand over and lowered the shade so she could see her screen better. “There are lots of incoming calls to her cell phone from southern Michigan.”
“She lived there with her family. Her parents and siblings are there too.” And God, what they must be going through right now. It weighed heavy on Briar that she couldn’t be there to help with the funeral arrangements, give comfort to Barry and the kids. Would they ever know how Janaia had died? The CIA would no doubt make up some kind of cover story to conceal the truth and keep the story from going public. They’d probably tell Barry she’d had a severe asthma attack that led to a heart attack, might not even mention the cyanide.
“There are two other calls from two different numbers the night before.” Zahra typed some more commands in, a slight frown creasing her brow. Everyone was silent as she investigated more.
The jet leveled off as it reached cruising altitude above the clouds, a ding from overhead signaling that they were free to get up and move around the cabin. “They’re definitely burner phones,” Zahra added. More typing. “Calls were made from northern Virginia.”
CIA headquarters were there, at Langley. And it was close to D.C.. Briar’s hands tightened on the armrests. “Can you tell from where?”