Page 31 of The B-Team

Elle leaned into the mic again. “Yes.”

His lips tightened, reminding her of the constipated look a bullfrog got just before eating its prey. It wasn’t reassuring. “Have you ever accessed a government database without permission?”

She leaned forward, her eyes still on him. Even though she knew the mic could pick her up perfectly well without her getting so close, it annoyed the commander enough to make her keep doing it.

“Yes,” she said.

He got the same “ah-ha!” look evil villains got just before revealing their dastardly plan to the poor, trapped heroine. “So, you don’t deny hacking into government servers?”

“No.” She sat back in her chair and folded her arms over Princess Leia’s face.

Ms. Patel reached for a folder in front of her, attracting the police officers’ attention. She produced a piece of paper and slid it across the table to the commander.

“You’ll find that while Ms. Roberts-Knight worked with Harry Boyle’s security company, she was often tasked with attacking UK government servers to help her employer better understand any gaps in security.” She smiled coldly. “As you’re aware, Mr. Boyle wrote the program the government now uses to secure its information.” She gestured almost negligently at Elle. “My client helped him to do that.”

Elle smiled and silently repeated Ryan’sBooya, bitches!

Fitzwater’s jaw clenched and unclenched a couple of times before he continued: “Have you ever hacked into secure serverswithoutthe knowledge or permission of any company tasked to do so by the British government?”

Ms. Patel shifted in her seat. “Do you have any proof that my client has done any illegal hacking of the UK government?”

Fitzwater nodded tersely to his subordinate, who quickly opened a folder in front of him.

He cleared his throat. “We’ve recorded several occasions in which Ms. Roberts-Knight was able to provide information to Benson Security staff or their business partners that she could not have unless she illegally accessed secure databases. We also have witness testimony that Ms. Roberts-Knight has bragged about her hacking ability, shared code with other hackers, and also maliciously attacked individuals online by rescinding their right to fly or blocking their bank account access.”

Elle snorted, making Ms. Patel put a hand on her arm to stop her from saying anything.

“Do you have any evidence that my client hacked into government databases?” she repeated.

“She had the information?—”

Ms. Patel held up a hand to stop the detective. “Do you have any evidence that specifically shows how my client got that information?”

The detective glanced at the commander, whose eyes were blazing. The junior cop cleared his throat again. “Benefiting from illegally obtained information is a crime,” he said weakly.

The lawyer’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Do you haveanyevidence that my client has illegally accessed government servers?” It seemed she intended to keep repeating herself until someone listened. Elle liked how she worked.

Commander Fitzwater slapped a hand on the table in front of him, making everyone but Ms. Patel jump. “That’s not the point. We have witnesses who will testify that your client has been in possession of classified information on several occasions. It doesn’t take a genius to make the connection between her having that information and her having the skills to get it.”

“But you’ve no evidence of her hacking.” It wasn’t a question. The lawyer leaned forward to read a page in front of her, although Elle suspected she already knew what it said. “The charges are cybercrimes in relation to accessing secure government files. Which means you’ve no evidence to support this inquiry. Would that be correct? And if you have no evidence that my client has hacked anything, you certainly don’t have evidence that she did it for terrorist reasons. Do you?” She arched an eyebrow at the detective, who squirmed before shaking his head.

Elle changed her mind. She didn’t want to be Rachel when she grew up; she wanted to be Ms. Patel.

Fitzwater drew back his shoulders. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of evidence once our cybercrime team has had a chance to go through the Benson Security computers.”

Elle leaned forward and spoke into the mic. “No, you won’t.”

Any incriminating stuff was offshore on a secure server far away from London, in a country that didn’t recognize UK warrants. Benson Security’s information was locked up tighterthan Batman’s lair. She smiled. This was going so much better than she’d thought it would.

“Our tech team also has the Benson Security phones,” the detective reminded her.

Elle said nothing. Once those phones dried out and were powered on, it would trigger a piece of code she’d written, ordering them to wipe themselves clean. And even if the code didn’t work, there would be little evidence of anything on the phones. Benson Security staff were professionals, and she’d spent years drumming online security into all of them.

“There is still the matter of our witness.” The commander glared at Elle.

This time, she didn’t bother leaning into the microphone. “Let me guess, Freddy K? Calls himself The Nightmare On Line? Which is a very bad movie reference and not catchy at all.” She glanced at her lawyer. “And it’s grammatically incorrect.”

The commander’s jaw twitched, confirming Elle’s guess. She wasn’t surprised. Only that little weasel would agree to talk to the cops. Now that she thought about it, Freddy and Fitzwater had a lot in common—they were both petty grudge-holders.