be allowed admittance once they are accepted. Instructors go through a twelve-month evaluation phase. Most of the staff has been there for over twenty years, and new staff must go through the same twelve-month vetting period. They have their own maintenance people. Visitors must be invited, and no one comes to visit, not even family, with less than a two-week notice.”
Boots pounded down the stairs, each thump sounding as menacing as a death knell.
“So there’s no way to get inside unnoticed?” Carlos asked.
Two men dressed in black gear similar to that of SWAT teams trudged into the room. The only identifying mark on their clothing was a bold SECURITY written across the front of their jackets.
Gabrielle took a step back.
Carlos hated to watch her in terror, backing away like an animal expecting attack. She knew they were going to lock her up somewhere with no contact to the outside world. But it sounded as if even with the information she could supply, they had only a slim chance of gaining access to the school.
She planted her feet. “There is one way.”
He wanted to hug her for coming up a bargaining chip, until she added, “I have to go with you.”
TWELVE
CARLOS UNCROSSED HIS arms. “No.”
He couldn’t help this crazy woman if she was determined to keep digging herself deeper into this mess. Joe would use any resource, even Gabrielle, to get closer to the Fratelli.
And Tee would…better not to consider the limitless ways she’d use a resource who landed in their camp. The whole team was committed to taking down the Fratelli, and Carlos would gladly lead the charge, but putting this woman in the middle of a mission was not going to happen.
“Then as they say here in the States,” Gabrielle said with assured finality, “you’re screwed.”
“You would let another young girl be hurt?” Carlos pressed.
“No, but undoubtedly you would by not at least entertaining my plan.” Gabrielle wiped her eyes with graceful hands, the action feminine and gentle, which translated as vulnerable in Carlos’s book. “You should at least consider-”
“Why?” Hunter asked.
Gabrielle set her jaw in a way that said she was tired of Hunter cutting her off.
“Let’s hear your plan,” Joe told her, ending all debate.
“Merci.” Gabrielle looked at Carlos with unsure eyes. She licked her lips in a dainty way as if she’d been taught how to do so properly in a Miss Manners class. Waves of brunette hair fell in tousled strands, tumbling with no real direction other than down to brush her shoulder.
Too soft-looking to be dangerous.
Too tired to be a threat.
The urge to bundle her off to a room where she could lie down and rest swamped him. He’d watched her go from fear to outrage to fear again. She definitely wasn’t trained for this.
What was he going to do with her?
A confidence he hadn’t seen before blossomed in her face.
“In addition to the school’s accounting systems being in severe need of upgrading,” Gabrielle started. “The books are opened to outside auditing firms during a break in early November each year for the fiscal report to all the investors.”
“Hold it,” Hunter interrupted. “I thought you said no one from the outside could get in. But they let auditors in?”
Gabrielle sighed and narrowed weary eyes at him.
Carlos couldn’t wait to see how this one played out. He’d noticed the more tired and hungry Gabrielle became, the testier she got.
“How very observant of you to recall my precise words,” Gabrielle told Hunter in a cultured voice that could snap the royal guard into line. “If, however, you’ll allow me to actually finish a thought, I’ll explain why even if you could gain entry as an auditor, it would be a useless endeavor.”
“All-righty then.” Rae twisted her mouth in a half attempt to hide a laugh.
Gabrielle picked up where she’d left off. “An outside accounting firm has to go through the same vetting gauntlet, a more difficult one in fact, for no less than six months prior to being chosen. If your phony auditing firm was chosen, which would be a miracle, you wouldn’t have access for another month at the soonest. And if you passed that test, your team would be under constant scrutiny, confined to the accounting department. This would undoubtedly handcuff anyone hoping to covertly investigate other areas, thereby making the entire mission a waste of time. I hope I’ve satisfied your fruitless inquisition.”
Hunter answered her with a mild roll of his eyes and waved his hands dismissively. “Continue.”
“The audit occurs between November twelfth and fifteenth, but the Board of Regents requires a pre-audit the last weekend before the outside auditors are given access.”
“This weekend?” Gotthard asked.
Gabrielle nodded.
“So what’s your idea?” Joe showed no sign of leaning one way or another, so far.
She folded her hands neatly at her waist as though she were speaking to the principal. “Their computer systems are in dire need of upgrading that they’ve been fighting. They are loath to deal with the problem since it would mean allowing someone access to their records.”
“How does this help us?” Korbin sounded unconvinced.
Gabrielle explained, “I’ve been discussing a software program with the school for the past year that allows one person to sync all electronic files within a day or two. If a virus was introduced to the system in a careful way, their computers would shut down and react as though the entire system had been crashed, when in truth it would be a managed crash.”
Korbin drummed his fingers on the table surface, dark eyes fixed in concentration. “If they run as tight a ship as you say, there’s no telling how many weeks it would take to find a way into that system without detection to set up this crash.”
“Actually, I know exactly how long it will take,” Gabrielle answered without hesitation.
Carlos noted the confidence in her voice. This was her territory, but she’d still have to convince Gotthard and Hunter that the school systems could be breached. Even he knew the complexity of what she was suggesting.
“They want the program I wrote specifically for them,” she added. “The only possible way to gain quick entrance to the school would be to throw a kink into their accounting program since everything in an audit revolves around money. Once that happens, I believe they’ll contact me since I have history with the school and prior clearance.”
“We can throw a kink into their systems,” Gotthard confirmed. “If we can get into their systems.”
“That’s a big if,” Hunter muttered.
Carlos didn’t see this as a viable option if Hunter and Gotthard doubted they could gain entry into the school’s computers. And there was no way they could insert someone who hadn’t been cleared if what she described about the school’s vetting of outsiders was true.
“There is no if. This can be done.” Gabrielle nodded, then turned to Joe. “But only if you make me a deal.”
“What deal?” Joe asked.
“I’ll help you access the school’s records if you assure me you won’t turn me over to Interpol or any other country and you try to find Linette.”
Carlos ground his back teeth. She had no idea what she was doing. He’d gag her if he could do it right now to prevent Gabrielle from getting herself in any deeper. Did she really think Joe would let her walk out of here with an agreement that she’d gain access to the school’s computers for them?
Joe asked, “How do we know you really can do any of this?”
“Think I have that for you,” Gotthard chipped in. “You were in classes with Linette, right, Gabrielle?”
“Yes.” She sounded tired and out of patience.
