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Peter,

Do not open this on any government machines. I tried to strip out anything that would trigger an alarm, but it’s better to be safe. Make sure Carrie Davenport gets it and opens it on an air gapped computer. She’ll know what to do once she sees it. This could be my last delivery for a while. I need to go underground for the safety of everyone involved.

RIP

“I wish I knew why there were telling us to rest in peace,” Carrie said as she read. When a shudder shook her, he slid his chair closer and slipped an arm around her.

“Could R I P be initials?” Peter asked.

“I’ve been thinking that but so far I can’t come up with anyone with those initials.” Looking up at him, she said. “You’re pretty sure this person has to know you?”

Peter had been going over and over that same question and so far, hadn’t come up with anyone even remotely close to those initials. But it had to mean something. So far, everything this person had done was very deliberate. The signature would be significant just like everything else.

“We need an air gapped computer,” Carrie said, almost to herself. “Have any cash lying around? I can get a cheap machine for a couple hundred bucks.”

“I do actually. I keep a grand in the safe for emergencies, but why cash?”

Carrie’s eyebrows rose. “Really? You’re former CIA. If we use a card, the name on the card will get tagged to that machine in records. With cash, no names have to be given, so if it does accidentally get connected to the Internet, it’s harder to tell who bought it or who accessed the files.”

Peter tapped her nose. “Smart girl. Maybe I don’t need to worry about you so much.”

She stuck her tongue out and then her hand flew to her mouth before Peter could even frown. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“You’re lucky we need to go to the store,” Peter said. “I’ll have to give you your spanking later.”

“Or you could just not,” Carrie suggested. Peter shook his head and laughed.

“Nope. We both know you want me to spank you. You’re not getting out of this one, little girl. Let’s go. There’s an electronics store that should be open for another hour just up the road.”

Forty-five minutes later, Carrie set up the new laptop, being careful to keep it from connecting to the Wi-Fi in Peter’s apartment. He watched her shift into work mode; her legs crossed underneath her, and her hair pulled up into a ponytail. After she finished the setup, she held her hand out for the flash drive. Peter settled onto the couch next to her while she plugged it in. At first, it made little sense to either of them. It was a single folder filled with spreadsheet documents.

“God, I hate spreadsheets,” Carrie muttered as she scrolled through line after line of data. Peter agreed, and he was glad the anonymous tipster had told him to pass the information on to Carrie. Soon, she was lost in her work, mumbling to herself as she opened each document.

“Could you get me some coffee?” she asked without looking up from the screen.

Wanting to see if she was actually paying attention to him, he said, “I can, but if I do, you get a harder spanking later.”

Tapping the space bar twice, Carrie waved her hand dismissively. “Fine. Lots of sugar, please.”

Peter pursed his lips but walked to the kitchen for her coffee, anyway. When he returned with the steaming mug, she had a hand over her mouth.

“What’s wrong? Did you just realize you agreed to let me spank you harder?” he teased.

Her brows crinkled together. “What? No. I think I just figured out what this shit is. I won’t be able to tell for sure until I go into the office and get some files we have, but I think this is a portion of the God damned black budget.”

Thoughts of spanking Carrie’s ass temporarily left him as he set the coffee on the end table.

“Explain.”

Carrie held up a hand, indicating he should wait while she swallowed half of the coffee.

“OK. When Tom told me to stop investigating Upwood, he randomly suggested I work on the black budget piece. It’s supposed to be the follow up to the piece UNN produced after that big document leak first happened a few years ago. I didn’t really put a lot of stock into it because budgets are boring, but he handed me some printed sheets that look a little like this. Some of this is looking familiar and a lot more detailed.” She picked up the coffee cup again.

Peter sat on the arm of the couch. “So, what does the black budget have to do with human trafficking?”

“I can’t say for sure. I’m going to need a few days to sort through all of this, but based on what I’m seeing here, our friend is trying to tell us that a part of the black budget is actually being used to fund a trafficking ring.”

Peter whistled. “That’s some crazy conspiracy shit. Do you think there’s any merit to it?”

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