Page 46 of Ground Zero
“Some leads, but nothing concrete yet.”
“I see,” Ty murmured.
Did Ty know more than he let on? Was he playing her?
She had no idea who she could trust.
They led her to the same conference room where they’d met yesterday, and Sheridan took the same seat.
She opened her Bureau-issued computer, ready to get started. “Thank you for accommodating me.”
“We’re just as anxious to find some answers as you are,” Colton said. “Whatever we can do to help.”
“I need to examine Adams’s workspace, his computer, his personal effects,” she told them. “Sometimes you can learn more about a suspect from their environment than from their digital trail.”
Ty and Colton exchanged a glance before nodding at each other.
“Of course,” Ty said. “Whatever you need.”
They’d already checked his office, if she had to guess. But she couldn’t blame them.
“You really think our colleague is behind this?” The question came from Colton, and there was something in his voice—hurt, disappointment, disbelief.
Should she fake it and ask them if they’d heard from him?
Sheridan contemplated her answer. If she was too quick to condemn Maverick, they might become suspicious. If she was too defensive of him, they’d wonder why.
“That’s what the evidence looks like,” she said finally. “The digital forensics, the timing, the access he had to sensitive systems.”
“He wouldn’t do something like this.” Colton’s voice held steadfast conviction. “I haven’t worked with him long, but he’s one of the most patriotic people I know. He bleeds red, white, and blue.”
Sheridan studied both men’s faces.
She saw genuine concern and real loyalty to their teammate.
Either they were both excellent actors or neither of them was the traitor.
“If not Maverick, then someone else in your organization is responsible for these attacks,” she told them. “The level of access required and the intimate knowledge of your systems—it has to be an inside job.”
She paused, letting that sink in.
The men showed no reaction—which meant they probably suspected the same.
“Any idea who?” Sheridan finally asked.
Ty and Colton glanced at each other again, and this time the look carried weight. A silent conversation passed between them—the kind that happened between people who’d worked together long enough to communicate without words.
Sheridan waited, keeping her expression neutral while her heartrate accelerated.
This was it.
This was where she might finally get a lead on the mole.
Silence stretched between them like a wire about to snap as she waited for their response.
Maverick had been staring at the laptop screen for the past hour, trying to make sense of the remaining encrypted files, when the sound of car doors slamming broke the morning silence.
He moved quickly to the front window, staying low and to the side as he peered through a gap in the curtains.
