Page 84 of Code Name: Atticus
The lead agent knocked with authority. “FBI. Open the door.”
Shuffling sounds from inside. Then Luke’s voice, confused but not panicked. “What’s going on? Is there a problem in the building?”
“Sir, we need you to open the door. Now.”
The lock clicked. The door opened. Luke stood there, in track pants and an old Air Force Academy T-shirt, faded now from too many washes. His hair was mussed from sleep, his laptop open on the desk behind him, showing a presentation titled “Redpoint Q3 Projections” with charts and graphs I couldn’t process. His expression shifted from confusion to shock as agents flooded into the room like water through a broken dam.
“Luke Austen, you’re under arrest for violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and theft of classified government property.”
“What—” His words cut off as they pulled his hands behind his back, the handcuffs clicking with horrible finality, a sound that would echo in my nightmares.
They read him his rights while Luke’s eyes swept the room wildly, trying to understand what was happening, trying to make sense of the impossible. His gaze landed on Atticus standing in the doorway, with the FBI team, and the betrayal that crossed his face made me want to wretch.
“Mason? What the hell is this? What are you doing here?”
Then his gaze found me, hovering behind Atticus, trying to make myself invisible, and the anger drained away. Something infinitely worse replaced it. Hurt so deep it made my knees buckle. Emma caught my arm, keeping me upright.
“Bug?” His voice broke on my childhood nickname, the one he’d given me when I was three and obsessed with ladybugs. “You think I—? You actually believe?—?”
“Luke, please—” I started forward, but Emma held me back.
“No.” He straightened despite the cuffs, drawing on the military bearing that had never quite left him even years after his service ended. His shoulders squared, his chin lifted, the same posture he’d had in his dress blues at military events. “I did nothing wrong. I have never accessed classified systems illegally. I have never sold information to anyone. I have never betrayed my country.”
“The evidence suggests otherwise,” Admiral said quietly from behind me.
“I don’t care what evidence you think you have. It’s wrong.” Luke’s eyes never left mine, boring into me with desperate intensity. “Bug, you know me. You know I would never do this. Not to our country. Not to our family. Not to you.”
“We saw you,” I whispered. “Last night. With Liu. We heard you talking about access codes and system architecture.”
His face paled, then he looked confused. “Liu? At Valley Ridge?” He nodded slowly. “Yes. Yes, I was there. But not for what you’re thinking. The access codes were for our demo environment for investor due diligence. And the system architecture is for our federal grant platform documentation.”
I felt a flicker of hope. “See? There’s an explanation.”
“It was just a meeting with a potential investor. Trevor set it up. He said Liu had deep pockets for our Series B expansion. Said he was interested in our federal contract management systems. The ten million was his proposed investment in Redpoint.”
“Liu is a known intelligence broker,” said Atticus when Luke looked from me to him.
“I had no idea. Trevor told me it was a tech investor retreat. High-net-worth individuals interested in gov-tech companies.” Luke’s gaze found mine again, pleading. “Bug, I swear on Mom’s and Dad’s lives?—”
The words knocked the air from my lungs. Luke never invoked our parents lightly. Never. Not since Dad’s heart attack when we’d almost lost him, when Luke had held my hand in the hospital hallway and promised everything would be okay.
“—I am not guilty of what you’re accusing me of. Yes, I was at Valley Ridge. Yes, I met with Liu. But I thought I was pitching Redpoint to a venture capitalist. I would never—” His voice broke completely when his eyes met mine. “I would never betray you.”
The room went silent except for the distant sound of radios crackling in the hallway.
“I need you to believe me,” Luke said as the agents began moving him toward the door. “Someone is setting me up. Theevidence is fake, or planted, or—I don’t know. But you have to believe me.”
“Luke, until counsel can be arranged, you shouldn’t say more,” Atticus suggested.
“Fuck, no. I’m not going to stay quiet.” My brother’s gaze returned to mine. “Brenna, please. You know me. You know who I am. You know what I’d never do.”
They were guiding him past me now. He twisted to maintain eye contact, desperation radiating from every line of his body.
“Check everything. Check the evidence again. Someone’s doing this to me.” His voice rose with desperation. “Please, Bug. Please believe me.”
I started to move toward him, but someone from the FBI stepped in front of me.
Then he was gone, agents flanking him, leading him down the hallway toward the elevator. I stood frozen, watching my brother disappear around the corner in federal custody, his pleas still echoing in the empty space he’d left behind.
