“That’s why we were supposed to have a room on the top floor,” Pyro said through his teeth. He wasn’t directly accusing Dara of being incompetent, but Teddy assumed she got the message.
“I know that,” she said, her voice rising. “That’s why I booked a room on the top floor.”
“Wait a minute.” Teddy’s throat went dry. Weeks of planning undermined by a reservation glitch? “Does that mean this won’t work?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Molly said, her fingers flying over her keyboard. “It just means I need to recalibrate some of my numbers to compensate for our current position. If I could actually focus while I do that, it would be a huge help. So, hey, everybody? Shut up.”
Molly would hook in to the hotel Wi-Fi. From there, she would download malware from the Darknet onto a flash drive.
“I’ve got it,” Molly said. She passed the drive to Teddy. “You remember what to do?”
Teddy would surreptitiously slip the flash drive into Nick’s computer, which was hardwired in to the FBI’s main air-gapped server. The flash drive would then upload a virus that would turn on the computer’s FM-radio frequencies. As Teddy’s smartphone was equipped with a built-in FM radio, all she had to do was leave her phone near Nick’s computer. That would let Molly use the FM frequencies to remotely hack in to Nick’s computer, directly access the air-gapped server, and grab the video file.
“And if I need more time?” Molly said.
“Dara will text me,” Teddy said. “I’ll keep an eye on my phone.”
Molly nodded. “Remember, agents in that building routinely monitor the main server. We won’t be able to hide what we’re doing for long. Once we signal you that we have the video file, get the hell out of there.”
“I will.” It couldn’t happen fast enough.
“And while all that’s going on,” Dara added, motioning to the window, “I’ll keep an eye on Nick’s office. Jillian and Pyro will be on the street level, patrolling the exterior of the building. If anything looks weird, we’ll text you.”
“It’s time,” Pyro said. “Nick’s probably waiting.”
Teddy looked at her watch: 3:54 p.m. She smoothed down her crisp white blouse and navy slacks, which she had worn instead of her usual jeans, T-shirt, and combat boots. She had wanted to avoid detection on security footage if it came to that (which she hoped it wouldn’t). But there was a small part of her that also wanted to, well, look nice. For Nick. When the thought had formed in her mind, Teddy had tried to push it away. She was a lot of things—but nice? She wasn’t nice. She didn’t want to be nice. So why did she want Nick to think she was?
“Can I talk to you for second?” Dara said.
“Is this still about the room thing? Molly says she has it handled.” Teddy brushed some lint from her blouse.
“Um, not quite.” Dara looked at Teddy’s shirt and then said in a louder voice, “Teddy, you ripped your shirt. I’ll loan you mine. Come change in the bathroom.”
“I didn’t—” Teddy began, but Dara was pulling her into the small hotel bathroom.
“I didn’t want to freak out in front of everyone,” she said. “I think I had a death warning.”
“You think?” Teddy said. The list of what-ifs grew by one: What if I’m putting someone’s life in danger?
Dara played with the silver bracelets on her wrist. “I’m not sure. I just saw a rope snapping. But we don’t have any rope. That’s not a part of the plan. I’m sorry, Teddy. It’s not a science. I don’t understand until it’s happening. Maybe it’s about someone two thousand miles away.”
“If it’s someone two thousand miles away, then why are you telling me?”
Dara continued to fumble with the bracelets. “Because I saw you standing over the body.”
Teddy would have thought that with news like this, her heart would go into overdrive; instead, it stopped. “Are you saying that someone will die?” How far would she go to get this information? She had bent a few rules, but would she—could she—take that risk? She looked around the small, yellowing hotel bathroom. It felt like a cell. “But just because you see it doesn’t mean it happens. You’ve seen things before that didn’t happen.”
“But I couldn’t not tell you.”
There was banging on the door and Pyro’s voice. “Okay, ladies, time’s up.”
Teddy’s heart kicked in again. She opened the door. Another item on the checklist, Teddy thought. Make sure no one dies.
“You’re still wearing your shirt,” Pyro said.
“Oh, yeah,” Teddy said. Pyro raised one eyebrow. She added, “I fixed it.” She slipped the flash drive and the cell phone into a small black clutch. It wasn’t too late to back out.
“Remember. We got you, Teddy,” Jillian said. “If what Yates said about his organization coming for you next is right, then we have to do this. Someone’s coming for one of us. That means they’re coming for us all.”
Teddy knew the plan. But that didn’t mean she was ready. She hadn’t had enough time to practice mental influence. Hadn’t had enough time to come to terms with the fact that she was lying to Nick once again. No, not lying to him, tricking him. Putting his job on the line. And Dara’s vision. The bile rose in Teddy’s throat. She hadn’t even tried to influence anyone and she already felt sick. But as she looked around at her friends and realized what they were risking for her, she knew there was only one thing she could say, even if she wasn’t sure she believed it herself: “I’m ready.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
TEDDY WIPED HER HANDS ON her slacks and walked through the doors of the San Francisco FBI headquarters. The building was a monument to concrete and glass. There were no flashing lights,
