Page 108 of Hard Wired

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sylvie had never been questioned by the FBI before.

They took her to a local police station, where the agents asked if she wanted a lawyer. Shooting Aaron Sandford had to be a clear case of self-defense, but her hacking activities were gray area, at best. And then there was the part where she’d helped Dominic evade bail. So, she said yes.

The agents called someone, who consulted with her. Sylvie answered a few of their questions before the interviewers seemed to lose interest. They said they might bring her in for further information later on.

After they were finished, the agents told her she could leave. She insisted on speaking to Dominic but was still surprised when they actually allowed it.

He was sitting in an interview room, looking like hell. Bandages crisscrossed his face. “Sylvie.” He stood up from his chair, and she ran into his arms. He pulled her against his chest.

“I’m so sorry.” His voice was hoarse.

“I know. Are you okay?”

He paused, like he was trying to think. “No.”

Paramedics had treated him and Raymond at the scene for their injuries. Everything had been so chaotic. Ambulances, SWAT, FBI, and police—it all blurred into shouts and lights and sirens in her mind.

“Do you need a doctor?”

“No, that’s…” Dominic seemed listless, his eyes unfocused. Was he on pain meds?

Raymond limped in wearing a fresh pair of pants. According to the medic at the scene, the bullet had gone through his calf muscle, missing the bone or anything vital. He’d been lucky.

“Nic. Jeez, they wouldn’t let me out of there ’til now.” The brothers embraced. Raymond asked the same questions—was he okay, was he hurting—but Dominic’s answers were equally disjointed. They all sat down.

“What are they going to do with you?” Sylvie asked Dominic.

“Keep me here, then they’re going to transfer me back to West Oaks. No more bail. I don’t know why they haven’t stuck me in a holding cell yet.”

“One of the FBI guys is a friend,” Raymond explained. “He told me he’d wait on that as long as possible, so we could talk. Given the circumstances.”

Dominic touched his injured ear. The paramedic had said hearing loss was probably temporary, but Sylvie didn’t know if it was bothering him.

“At least I’ll get a new lawyer,” Dominic said. “When are you two leaving?”

“I just spoke to Max. He’s sending cars for us.” Sylvie had borrowed a phone to call Bennett Security. She’d lost her device in the chaos of the last twenty-four hours. Max had confirmed that Tanner was safe and recovering at the hospital. He had a concussion, and the doctors were keeping him there for further monitoring.

“And you’re going to Max’s safe house?” Dominic asked her.

“Raymond is. I’m just going back to headquarters, but I’ll be fine there. I’m still trying to understand how all this happened, though.” She turned to Dominic’s brother. “Were you trying to get the Syndicate and those Russian mobsters to kill each other?”

“Not exactly. Not at first.” Raymond wiped a hand over his eyes. “I told you that Charles contacted me after Dominic got arrested, asking me to help him unite the warring factions of the Syndicate. That’s when I went to the FBI. But I didn’t want to seem too enthusiastic. I had to be careful, build up my uncle’s trust. And I didn’t want to leave school yet, either. There was a lot I had to get ready for. But the deeper I got, the clearer it was to me that bringing down the Syndicate was the only way to save Nic.”

Dominic walked away from them, hands on his hips, cursing under his breath. Raymond sat down at the small table, resting his elbows on its surface.

“From the beginning, Charles was dropping hints about how Nic would be better out of the way completely. I kept hoping I’d get enough evidence that I could nail him, but in order to do that, I had to officially join. But that would just make Charles want to get rid of Nic even more, because he wouldn’t need Nic’s endorsement. So I was kind of stuck. Charles made friends with the Russians and took power on his own. He kept pressuring me to join and solidify his claim, but he wanted to keep Nic in his back pocket, too.”

“But then we called you,” Sylvie said. “About going to the Bennett Security safe house.”

“Exactly. You told me Charles wanted Dominic to come in. I panicked. I figured there were two possible outcomes. One, Uncle Charles was going to get rid of Nic, just like he’d threatened to do. The other possibility? That the Russians would figure out about your whole hacking plan, and they’d send people to torture you to death. I knew I had to do something, and it wasn’t going to be bringing the FBI into the loop, because there was no way they’d act fast enough. I had a few hours to work with. That was it.”

“Then what did you do?”

“Because of hanging around Charles, I’d already met some of the guys who work for the Russians. Like Victor. I called up Victor and said I had information for him. I told him Charles was planning to hack their computer experts. That Charles intended to betray them. And I already knew they’d be able to find the evidence—that program you’d uploaded. I didn’t want to tell them about your plan, Sylvie, but I had to give them something to make them trust me. That was all I could come up with.”

“No, I get it. But what did you say to Charles? He said you called him, too.”

---