“You know. The one in his office. It’s like he’s training a dog.”
Liam put his arm on her shoulder, leaned toward the screen, and began to read the damning messages, examining each carefully as she scrolled through one and then another. He was so engrossed in what he was seeing he didn’t realize he was absentmindedly stroking her upper arm.
“The e-mails came from Detroit,” he said.
“Yes.”
She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His expression wasn’t revealing anything, but when the muscle in his cheek flexed once, then again, she knew he was keeping his temper under control. When he finished reading, he looked at her intensely, which immediately messed with her ability to concentrate. How could one man have such a powerful effect on her?
“You did it, Allison. You got to the source. You should be proud of yourself.”
Uncomfortable with praise, probably because she’d gotten so little of it in her life, she immediately downplayed her role. “It took much longer than I had anticipated, and I’m sure others wouldn’t have taken as long.”
“Don’t underrate yourself,” he argued. “This was not a job just anyone with computer skills could have done.”
“What happens now?”
“Alec and I take it from here.” He pushed his chair back and hurried out of the room, saying, “Sit tight while I talk to Phillips. Then I’ll take you home.”
Allison foolishly thought Phillips would want to wait until Monday to question her, but Phillips, being Phillips, felt compelled to get some answers now. He called her into his office, pointed to the chair, and proceeded to question her for two full hours. Liam was there the entire time, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, watching her.
Phillips didn’t care how late the hour was. He wanted to know some of the searches she’d done, and he was having difficulty understanding how she had arrived at what he called point zero so quickly. She gave Liam the “get me out of here” look several times, which he completely ignored. Phillips didn’t stop his inquisition until eight o’clock. By then she was ready to pull out her hair . . . and his. Six months working under his thumb was going to be an eternity.
THIRTEEN
By the time they left the office, neither Liam nor Allison was in the mood to talk. He offered to take her to dinner, but she declined. She was too tired to eat and only wanted a hot shower and ten hours of sleep.
What she didn’t want was to say good-bye to Liam for the last time.
Just a couple of blocks away from her apartment, Liam finally broke the silence. “What are you thinking about? You look so . . . worried.”
She wasn’t about to tell him the truth, that she was going to miss him. Instead she turned to him and said, “You completely ignored my signals.”
“What signals?”
“I was giving you the look, letting you know I wanted to get out of there.”
He flashed a smile. “Ah, you mean the glares.”
“Okay, the glares,” she conceded.
“You shouldn’t be frowning now. You should be happy and damn proud of yourself. You found the proof Alec and I needed.”
“I am happy,” she insisted, sounding ridiculously defensive. “Maybe now you and Alec won’t think I’m such a horrible person.”
“No one thinks you’re horrible,” he said, his exasperation apparent in his tone. “And why do you care what anyone thinks?”
If she was to give him an honest answer, she would sound pitiful, though at times that was exactly how she felt. The truth was, she had never had a close relationship with anyone but her sister. She had kept most people at a safe distance, and that was the way she liked it. She was an intensely private person. At least, that was her excuse for being so introverted. She didn’t want anyone to look too closely into her background, because she was embarrassed and a little ashamed. The less others knew about her, the safer she felt. Every time she stepped outside her comfort zone, she felt vulnerable.
Odd, she was so cautious about her private life and yet she was able to set aside her inhibitions when she modeled for Giovanni. She couldn’t really explain the contradiction, but when Giovanni and his team transformed her with their makeup and clothes, it was almost as though she became another person wearing a mask no one could see behind.
She loved and trusted Giovanni with all her heart, and although it had taken time, she had grown to care for and trust her housemate Dan. And yet neither one knew what she could do with a computer. During Phillips’s long interrogation, he had actually referred to her as a master criminal. She wondered what Giovanni or Dan would think about that. They probably wouldn’t believe him, and if they did, they would have been shocked.
Her friendship with Jordan was different. She knew that Allison was a hacker and had broken several laws, yet she still remained her friend. She also knew a little about how dysfunctional Allison’s home life had been and wasn’t deterred. If Allison was ever sent to prison, she wasn’t positive Jordan would bring her a cake with a file in it, but she had a strong feeling Jordan might try.
“I asked you a question,” Liam reminded her, bringing her back from her musings.
“I don’t like people thinking I’m a criminal.”
Before he could comment she rushed on. “Oh, I know what you’re going to say. ‘You are a criminal.’ Okay, yes, I guess you could look at it that way. That’s all in the past, though. Haven’t you ever heard of second chances, for Pete’s sake?”
“Allison—”
She interrupted to finish her thought. “And that’s why I insisted that, along with immunity, you and Alec both give me your word that only a select few would know what I’ve done.”
“I remember what I promised.”
“You know what would happen if it got out that I took millions of dollars. Even though I gave it to the FBI, I’d be added to a list, and every time a government agency was hacked, I’d be dragged in and interrogated. Being on that list would follow me for the rest of my life.”
“I’m not going to let that happen,” he said, his tone emphatic. He pulled up in front of her apartment building, put the car in park, and turned to her. “Why are you worrying about this now?”
“Because you’ll be leaving, and I wanted to make sure . . .”
“You wanted to make sure I’ll keep my word.”
She knew she had insulted him. His clenched jaw was a big indicator. Should she apologize? She’d probably make it worse if she did. He seemed so serious, as though he had something troubling on his mind.
“I guess this is the last time you’ll be driving me to and from the cyber unit,” she said. “Good luck on your next assignment.”
The doorman, a retired car salesman named Stamos, unbolted the glass door from within and opened it wide. Allison smiled at him before turning back to Liam. “You don’t need to go up with me.” She was involved in a tug-of-war with her tote bag. She was pulling on it, but he wasn’t letting go.
Liam finally released his hold on the bag and followed her up the steps and into the foyer without saying a word. Allison couldn’t tell what was going through his mind, but the way he was looking at her, as though searching for the answer to some pressing question, was making her feel very uneasy.
She wanted to find out how long he would be staying in Boston without being too intrusive. Subtle, she decided. She would be subtle. “Will you and Alec be leaving to follow up on the leak? I imagine you’ve already taken another assignment after this one. Or is it too soon? Are you waiting to decide, or are you going to take a few days off? That’s what you should do. Take some time to relax.” She couldn’t seem to slow down. So much for being subtle. Her words were fairly tripping over one another. Why she was suddenly feeling so nervous was beyond her. Perhaps it was because it was doubtful she would ever see him again. Maybe once she was away from him, she would come to her senses and figure it all out. It was impossible to distance herself now.
The doorman gained their attention. “Miss Trent, there was an incident you should know about.” Stamos’s usually booming voice was hesitant. He kept glancing at Liam.