Page 54 of The B-Team

Elle narrowed her eyes at the perfect woman, sitting there with not a hair out of place and looking just as awake as when she arrived that morning. “I do not take meds. This place is getting to me.” She leaned forward, stretching her arms across the table toward her lawyer in supplication. “Please get me out of here. I’ll do anything. I’ll owe you anything. Just make them let me leave.”

There was a flash of sympathy in the lawyer’s eyes, but it disappeared so quickly that Elle thought she must have imagined it. “Right now, the police are petitioning for permission to hold you for questioning for up to fourteen days. They definitely won’t let you out of here tonight.”

Elle sat back in her seat with a huff. “Then at least give me a laptop to play with for an hour.” She glanced around at the empty room. “There’s no one here to see if I use one.”

Ms. Patel was unmoved. “They confiscate my devices before I walk into these rooms.”

“Is that even legal?” Elle was truly horrified. Taking away someone’s internet access was like lopping off one of their limbs.

The lawyer tapped the notepad in front of her. “Please focus. Your team needs help to find this information, and the sooner they have it, the sooner we’ll get you out of here. At least, that’sthe plan. Can you remember any incriminating information regarding the Fitzwaters? Anything at all?”

“Can I pace?” She was too antsy to sit still and thought she might scream if Patel said no.

Thankfully, the lawyer waved a hand in acquiescence. With a huff, Elle pushed back from the table and started to pace the tiny room. Wall to wall and back again. At least this room had paint on the walls and carpet underfoot. If she never saw another white tile in her lifetime, it would be too soon.

“Darian Fitzwater,” she muttered, massaging her temples. Nope, still a blank. “Fitzwater, Fitzwater, Fitz…” She tapped the wall with the toe of her Doc Martens boot before turning. “Did Rachel mention what kind of rumors are floating around about this guy? That might help narrow down where to search for any information we might have on him.”

“No. Although, she did say someone called Katy Boyle is looking into his background.”

Elle tripped over her own feet and grabbed the back of the chair to break her fall. “Katy Boyle? Megan’s cousin’s kid?”

“She didn’t elaborate,” Patel said.

“Great. My life’s in the hands of a soccer-obsessed teenager. What could possibly go wrong?” Elle resumed pacing.Think, Ellie Blue. Think.But there was nothing. She heaved an exasperated sigh. “There’s too much information on the server to narrow this down without a hint as to which direction to look in. It’s not like I’m Sherlock Holmes with a mind palace in my head where I file every piece of data we collect. That’s why we have the server. So information can stay on there instead of in here.” She tapped her temple before plopping back down onto her chair.

Ms. Patel tossed her sleek black hair over her shoulder in a gesture that reminded Elle of Rachel. “According to Katrina, there’s an unauthorized person roaming around on your serversearching for something. We need to get that information before they do.”

“No kidding.” Elle wondered if the lawyer had a degree in stating the obvious. “But unless you can give me something more to work with here, it would be best if they…” She clutched her stomach as nausea hit, brought on by the mere thought of what she was about to suggest. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry, so she picked up the water in front of her and took a few sips. There was no getting around it. There was only one thing they could do. She took a deep breath. “It would be best if they wiped the server. We can’t let the information on there get into the wrong hands. Not just the bit they’re looking for. All of it.”

Elle gagged, fighting the urge to vomit. The thought of losing all their information made her physically ill.

“That has been mentioned,” the unemotional robot said. “But only you, Evan, Lake, and Callum have the code to wipe the server. Have any of you memorized it?”

“Are you nuts?” This was the problem dealing with computer-illiterate people. They had no idea what they were talking about. “The codes are a series of numbers, letters, and symbols that are too long to memorize. They’re locked in the cyber equivalent of a secure vault for passwords and can only be accessed by someone with the right login information—which includes a face scan, answering two random personal questions, and a secure number being sent to your phone. My face is in here with me. And my phone went for a swim along with everyone else’s this morning. There’s no getting those codes with us in jail. You need to get at least one of the four code holders out of this place so we can wipe the server before it’s too late.”

“I’m doing my best. Unfortunately, the system moves slowly.”

As they fell into silence, the cold, stark reality of the situation began to sink in for Elle. There was a good chance this wouldn’t end well for her or Benson Security. If Fitzwater already had someone going through the files on their server, he’d definitely find what he was looking for. After all, he had a head start. He knew what it was. Not only that, but he’d also find out where to look for all the legally obtained evidence he’d need to bury the team in prison and throw away the key. Elle wasn’t stupid. She knew nothing on the server could be admitted as evidence in court—not without a proper warrant anyway. But having access to the information was like giving the guy a treasure map. X marking the spot where he’d find all the legitimate evidence he needed to lock them up forever.

“We’re stuffed,” Elle said, more to herself than anyone else.

It was telling that Ms. Patel didn’t disagree. “I’ll see what further information I can gather on this Darian person. In the meantime, you think hard about anything you might have seen that could help.” She stood and picked up her notepad.

With reluctance, Elle stood too. She’d rather stay in the client meeting room than return to her cell. “Not like there’s anything else to do in my tiled hellhole,” she muttered as she followed her lawyer out of the room. “At least tell me David’s free already?”

The lawyer glanced at her watch. “He’s being interviewed as we speak. I don’t expect him to be released until the morning.”

Elle perked up a little. “So they aren’t trying to keep him on terrorism charges?”

“No, it seems they’ve reserved that for only the four of you.”

“Well, I hope David gives them hell.”

Elle frowned at the officer assigned to escort her back to her cell. “This whole investigation’s bogus. It’s one petty guy out to get the rest of us, and you’d better hope Fitz doesn’t take you down with him.”

“Elle,” Ms. Patel said evenly. “Let’s not add threatening a police officer to the list of charges currently against you.”

“It wasn’t a threat. It’s a friendly warning. These guys need to look out for themselves because the captain of this ship isn’t steering straight.”