Page 161 of Secrets and Lies
I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
“So there’s nothing on it that tells us where it came from or who recorded the files?” Rath asks Hazen when he finishes giving us a quick breakdown of Liam’s report on what he found when he analyzed the flash drive.
Hazen shakes his head. “Nothing, But he said he intercepted some chatter from the Rebels about some files they’ve been looking at and some sort of issue with them, but Carter makes codes for his codes and uses actual cryptography in his encryptions, so it’ll take a while to fully decode his messages.”
“So what are we supposed to do with it?” Connor asks. “We have no context for anything that’s on it, so we don’t know what it is or why it’s important enough for all the secrecy and clandestine meetings.”
“I think we need to talk to the Rebels,” I say.
All three of my friends whip their heads toward me.
“I beg your finest pardon,” Connor says. “I thought you just suggested that we go to the Rebels about this.”
“I did.”
“Ah, so you’re the crazy one, not me,” he says. “Got it.”
“It’s not crazy,” I say. “It’s smart.”
“How is going to our rivals the smart move here?” Hazen asks. “Explain it to me like I’m five.”
“This is one of those keep your friends close and your enemies closer situations,” I tell them. “The Rebels obviously know something about what’s going on here, and they have a copy of the drive. This is the perfect opportunity to leverage what we know about Xave to get them to share their intel.”
“But then we’ll look weak,” Connor says.
“Using the tools at your disposal isn’t weak,” Rath cuts in. “And Ant has a point. Whatever is going on is obviously bigger than any one house, and we have enough leverage over Xave that we won’t have to worry about them turning on us.”
“And it’s not a bad idea to lock in an alliance now instead of waiting until we’re all in our new positions next year,” Hazen says, warming up to the idea. “Out of all the houses, the Rebels are probably the last ones we should trust, but they’re the only ones I’d even consider trusting, if that makes sense.”
“No, but I still understood,” Connor says helpfully.
“So you think we should do it?” Rath asks, looking between us one by one. “Use a little mutually assured destruction and actually trust the Hawthornes?”
“I think so,” Hazen says, being uncharacteristically serious.
“Yeah, I agree,” Connor says, also being weirdly serious.
Rath flicks his gaze to me. “I’m assuming you’re not changing your vote.”
“Not changing it,” I confirm.
“Then I guess we’re doing this.” He sits back against the couch. “Now how do we go about doing it, exactly?”
“I’ll talk to Damon about setting up a meeting with Xave,” I say. “But I think it would be best if we talked to him, Killian, the twins, and Shane. See all their reactions when we tell them what we know. This way they won’t have a chance to get their stories straight or coordinate things.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Connor says.
“Same,” Hazen chimes in at the same time Rath nods.
I pull my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll text Damon and get the ball rolling.”
Anthony: I need to cash in one of my favors
I’m not expecting an answer right away, and I’m just putting my phone back on the coffee table when it pings and the screen lights up with a notification.
Damon: what do you need?
Anthony: Can you set up a meeting with Xave, his cousins, and Shane?
