Page 109 of Crash Course
She shook it off.Can’t go back.Only forward. If Dad won’t get out of his own way, she’d do it for him.
"I have a contact at the EPA." Kayla slid her phone from her purse and started typing. "Let’s have her look into past investigations. See if they found any violations. I'm fighting these battles on behalf of environmental groups. Fines don’t scare large companies. Compared to the profits they make, it’s pennies on the dollar. They can afford the fines easier than losing their profits."
"Well, that’s a sad situation."
Kayla set her phone down. "I made a note to call my friend. If she can’t help, she’ll find someone at the state level who can. They’re probably the ones who investigated anyway."
"Thank you."
"Protecting society from men like Darren Randolph is sort of my thing." Kayla tilted her head, assessing Cilla. "You’re a brave woman. Many people in your position would look the other way."
Cilla met Kayla’s eye. "I’m about to wreck my personal life." Not to mention make an enemy of her father, who’d already shown his willingness to blow up her career. "But there’s a ten-year-old in Morgan with cancer. There may be more. For me, that’s worse than my discomfort."
"Amen to that. My concern with the EPA is that if investigations show Randolph Industries’ improper handling of chemicals contaminated Morgan and the EPA did nothing, they’ll look like idiots."
In the Doomsday thinking Cilla had done, in all the scenarios she’d conjured, she hadn’t considered that little fact. "And no one wants to look like an idiot."
Cilla sat back, thought about their options. Maybe she could log in again as Dad and search for EPA reports. Rohan had found those e-mails about the sludge. Maybe . . .
"Oh!" Cilla said.
"What?"
"Stay here. You may not want to hear this."
"Terrific."
Cilla pushed out of her chair and hustled to the door, swinging it open and then closing it again. Cruz and Phin sat at the conference table, both with their feet up while debating some football trade. She charged straight for them.
Cruz met her gaze, his eyebrows hitching.
"You okay?"
"I’m fine. I have an idea, but can’t say it in front of Kayla. Not without an NDA."
"Ho-kay," Phin said. "This should be interesting."
Cilla gave them the summary of her conversation with Kayla. "So," she said, "suppose Kayla’s contact can help us, what if the EPA closes ranks? What then?"
Phin shrugged. "We pressure them. Get the environmental lobby on it. Kayla can whip up a good protest in minutes."
"Forget that," Cruz said. "It’ll take too long."
Cilla snapped her fingers. "Exactly. How would Rohan feel about hacking into the EPA?"
18
Cruz swung to Phin,giving some hard eye contact. "I’ll say this, the lady has guts."
Phin snorted. "She sure does."
Cilla scrunched her nose. "Too aggressive?"
"Depends," Cruz said casually. "If he gets caught, will you represent him for the litany of charges housed under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act? He’ll rattle them off."
"Yes," Phin said. "He’ll start with unauthorized access into a protected computer."
"Obtaining confidential national information," Cruz added.
