“It’s important for us to determine everything that happened as soon and in as much detail as possible. I promise you that we’ll get you to your husband as soon as we’re finished.”
“Mr. Boyle—” began Jenny.
“Mom,” interrupted Alex, touching her arm, “it’s fine. Let’s just do this and be done with it.”
Jenny sighed. “I suppose that would be all right, if you feel up to it,” she said uneasily. “Let’s go, then.”
“I’m afraid you can’t be together for this,” he said. “We need to interview you separately. It will give us a more accurate picture of what happened.”
“Frankly, Mr. Boyle, I don’t care what picture you get. My daughter is a minor, and I’m not leaving her side,” she said, instinctively moving between him and Alex.
“What if we were to take her directly to see your husband?” said Boyle. “I will personally see to it that your daughter gets there safely. You have the word of the director of the NCS.”
“With all due respect,” said Jenny, “I don’t think your word is worth very much to me right now.”
“Mom,” Alex interjected, “it’s okay. I’ll go with him.”
“But, Alex—”
“I appreciate it, Mom, but I’ll be fine.” Jenny looked at her daughter, her forehead lined with concern. “Really. Let’s just get it over with, okay?”
“You are a brave young woman,” said Boyle. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that she gets to your husband right away. I will go personally, as a small token of apology. We do appreciate your cooperation, Mrs. Morgan. Now please, Miss Morgan, if you would come with me, I’ll take you to your father, myself. Hopefully it will help me make amends to him.”
As Jenny made her way through security, Boyle escorted Alex out of the building, into the chilly, bright sunshine outside.
“Is it just you?” she asked. “No . . . guards or anyone?”
He chuckled. “Of course not. You’re not my prisoner, are you?”
They walked in silence for a few seconds, and then Boyle spoke again, asking tentatively, “How are you feeling, Miss Morgan? Eager to see your father, I’m sure.”
“Yeah,” she said sullenly, looking away. Boyle glared at her, unseen. In another situation, he might be tempted to teach her a lesson in manners.
“He’s certainly eager to see you.”
“I know he is,” she said.
“It must be difficult for you,” he said. “This whole situation. How your father’s work put you into danger.”
“You put me into danger,” she said.
The cheek! “And I can only apologize for that. This is the car here,” said Boyle, stopping at a navy blue Mercedes. He unlocked it with the remote on his key chain and held open the passenger door for her. “But still,” he continued, as he got into the driver’s seat and buckled in. “I can’t imagine it’s easy for you, finding out about his secret life like this.”
“My father loves me,” she said stiffly.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” he said, and he turned the ignition key.
She shifted uncomfortably in the passenger’s seat as the car rolled out.
After he finally received the required clearance to walk around freely, Morgan joined Lowry in his office, where the analyst was huddled in a chair, his face inches from the screen.
“Sit down, Cobra,” he said, without looking away from the monitor. “I haven’t started the brute-force decryption yet, but so far, this isn’t presenting any challenges beyond what I expected. I suspect the protections on this thing go a little beyond encryption, but it’s nothing we can’t get around.”
“It’s all Greek to me,” said Morgan. “But I’ll trust that everything you’re saying makes sense.”
“God, I need an energy drink,” said Lowry. “Something for you, Cobra?”
“Nah,” he said distractedly, “I’m good.”
“Okay, then, I’ll be right back. You, behave. Oh, also, the bigwigs said they might need you soon, and they know you’re out here. So if the phone rings, pick it up. It might be for you.”
Morgan waited to sit at the computer until Lowry’s footsteps faded away. He had been hoping for some time alone with this thing ever since he was brought to headquarters. Lowry had left the code-cracking program open and ready to begin. But Morgan had a hunch. It didn’t take long for him to find a field labeled ENTER PASSWORD. His hands hovered over the keyboard.