Page 19 of No Questions Asked

“You’ve got us someone on the inside?” That would be a critical part of his plan.

“I do,” Vihaan said. “Their instructions are to monitor and disrupt the trials, as well as report back to us. It worked out better than I expected.”

Arjun considered his brother. Despite his youth and occasional brashness, Vihaan was clever and committed—useful commodities in the cutthroat business world. “How much is this going to cost me?”

Vihaan shrugged. “A lot, but given what’s at risk, how can we not afford to do this?”

Arjun stood and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling glass window, looking out over his beloved city. “I’ll not provide a big cash payment up front. See if our new associate is willing to take a smaller initial amount with a promise of profit sharing once Vaccitex is out of the way and our vaccine is the only game in town.”

“But why?” Vihaan protested. “What if he backs out? Why would you risk our connection with the associate at this point?”

Arjun turned and gave his brother a hard, cool look. “Do noteverquestion how I run the company.Mycompany.”

Vihaan had the grace to look down at the floor. Good, it was important he understood his place. “Of course. I apologize, brother.”

Arjun let the uncomfortable moment linger before he spoke again. “I will not provide a big payout before the work is done. I need to be convinced of how committed our associate is. This arrangement will allow enough money to make it worthwhile, and the promise and lure of additional money should provide sufficient motivation to make sure Vaccitex does not succeed. If Vaccitex can be made to fail spectacularly, and in a way that makes other countries reluctant to support future local trials against different malaria strains, then it would be most advantageous to us in the long run.”

Vihaan’s cheeks were red, but he nodded. “I’ll communicate the information to our Brazilian associate.”

“Good.” Arjun sat behind his desk, resting his elbows on top of the papers scattered there. “Mr. Anand, inform me the moment you crack the firewall and have the data. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Krish said and both men stood, realizing the meeting was coming to a close.

After they left, Arjun sat down at his laptop to draft an email asking his major investors for just a little more time.

They were close. Really close. He could feel it.

Chapter Eleven

Lexi

“Ouch. My arm hurts.”

I glared at Slash, cranky and stressed. In the span of four and a half hours, I’d had to pack a bag for a few days in New York, organize my stuff at the office, make last-minute arrangements with my team, skip lunch, and swing by the doctor to receive a couple of shots. From the doctor’s office, it was straight to the airport for the short hop to New York. Short or not, it still meant flying, which I absolutely hated, so that didn’t help my mood. Added to that, I didn’t do well with change—especially not on an accelerated timeline—so I was maxed out and looking for a fight.

The most convenient target at the moment—Slash. He’d met me at the airport and immediately assessed my mood as dangerous. My eyes narrowed as we walked toward the airport exit, pulling our carry-on suitcases behind us. “It’s not fair you’ve already had all your shots.”

“One of the perks of the job.” He tried not to smile, but I saw a small one anyway, which made me crankier. “Now, let me carry your laptop bag for a bit until your arm is feeling better.”

I tried to temper my crankiness. I’d been relieved Finn had been on board with the plan to bring on Slash, and so had Hayden and Lilith. Not surprisingly, they were more than happy to accept Slash’s generous donation to the organization, and even more thrilled that a man of Slash’s qualifications and experience was volunteering his vacation time to help them out. Even though Hayden and Lilith knew Slash only as the CEO of Frisson, and not as a director at the NSA, his qualifications and work at his New York company were enough to sway them. Lilith had requested only that she could clear it with their head scientist and lab director, who was already in Brazil in the field. Apparently, the scientist was highly protective of the work and not inclined to collaborate with people she didn’t know, especially at this stage of the vaccine development. However, when she was informed of Slash’s donation and assured he would be working on information security only, she agreed, and Slash was officially brought on board.

That wasreallygood news for me. First, having Slash with me in the rainforest would go a long way to making me feel comfortable in that environment. If I was comfortable, and not too freaked out about the spiders, snakes, heat, and the little black cloud of trouble that always followed me around, I could focus my full attention on my job. It didn’t hurt that he was also one of the most accomplished hackers and keyboard wizards in the world, which was a huge bonus for the entire operation. Finally, as evidenced by my crappy attitude, I hated flying, so having him next to me on any plane would be of enormous personal comfort.

So, it was a win-win for me.

I tried to remember that as I handed him my laptop bag. That left me with just my purse and the carry-on suitcase that I rolled behind me. “Thanks. Sorry I’m out of sorts.”

Slash shifted my laptop bag from his right shoulder to his left and leaned over to kiss my forehead before murmuring, “You’ve got this.”

We exited the airport and waited in line for a taxi to our hotel near Vaccitex’s headquarters. The two of us were coming early to scope out the situation with the organization’s security setup and information infrastructure, while Finn began to assemble a long-term team for the project. The plan was to have at least two more people from X-Corp in place in New York before Slash and I left on Wednesday. While Slash had an apartment in New York, it wasn’t close to Vaccitex’s headquarters, so for convenience’s sake, we’d opted for a hotel a block away.

We arrived at the hotel, dumped our suitcases in the room, and headed out on foot with our laptop bags. The office was on the sixth floor of a shabby building, which reminded me that we were working for a nonprofit and not a high-tech company. That made me wonder what kind of antiquated equipment I’d have to deal with. A security guard inside the building stopped us, and after reviewing our identification, waved us to the elevator. We had to push a button on an intercom and state our names before we were buzzed into the office. A young woman, who was apparently expecting us, led us to the cramped office of Tim Wilson, who was currently in charge of information security for the organization.

Tim looked up from behind the monitor where he was typing madly on his keyboard when we were ushered in. He was completely bald with full, ruddy cheeks and dark eyebrows. He rose from behind his desk and walked around it, carefully avoiding toppling the stacks of books and files piled on the floor.

“Lexi Carmichael,” he said in a booming voice, vigorously pumping my hand and making the arm that had just received the shots hurt more. “I’ve heard a lot about you. That article you wrote on cyber proxy wars forCybersecurity Todaywas brilliant. It’s an honor to meet you in person. You can’t imagine my surprise and delight to hear you’d be helping us out here.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to all that, so I fell back on my failsafe, which was to say nothing.

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