Page 132 of Smith

Too late, Cash was already comfortable and reaching for a Danish from a perfectly arranged assortment of breakfast pastries.

The man was getting soft in his old age, or maybe it was civilian life.

Never take food or drink from an unknown.

And Amy Hart was an unknown. She didn’t look like she worked for the Treasury Department. She certainly didn’t look comfortable in her smart, boring business dress and sensible high heels. She’d pulled at the necklace around her neck twice in the two minutes I’d been in her presence. Beyond all that she did not look like an Amy. Not with her wavy blonde hair and big blue eyes.

Further, this woman didn’t sit behind a desk in a dress and jewelry, but if she had to she’d do it in jeans and boots.

She worked in the field.

All of this was bullshit.

A farce.

A game.

Three things I excelled at, the last I always won.

“Information in exchange for protection.”

Zane gave the team a dip of his chin and pulled out his chair.

Guess we’re staying.

“What kind of information?”

“The kind you and your team were looking for in Virginia.”

Nope, this woman didn’t work for the Treasury.

“What kind of information do you think we were looking for?”

Amy’s gaze didn’t waver from Zane’s. She didn’t show any signs of intimidation even though Zane’s tone had turned aggressive.

Impressive.

“Delcon has a security issue. Your contact has reported it to management, management is sitting on his warning. He went up the chain, reported it there, and is now being told to shut up or he’ll be terminated.”

“Let me see if I have this right. The US Treasury Department is concerned about a possible security issue at a data center. And this concern runs so deep they dug into it and found information I might want? That’s the story your selling? Why the hell would Treasury care about the cooling systems at a data center that does not house any of their data?”

“They don’t.”

Theydon’t.

And there it was, I was right.

Amy Hart was a bullshitter.

Then she went on with an attempt to fix her faux pas but it was too late, we’d all caught it.

“We care about the large sums of money being paid to SimpCo in the form of thousands of small transactions.”

“Why would Treasury care about that? And if you tell me taxes I’m calling bullshit.”

“SimpCo is owned by Bolin Chen. He’s on the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned list. This went unknown until very recently. Now that it’s known, OFAC has an interest.”

Plausible, but bullshit.

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