Page 79

It took me a second to find my voice. “Hello. Are you…Candace Kim?”

“Yes. Who is this?”

“You don’t know me, but my name is Angel Sinclair.”

Chapter Forty

GLEN SAMPSON

Glen drummed his fingers on the steering wheel with excitement as he drove. After fourteen years of hard work, his ship was finally coming into port.

He’d made the right decision aligning himself with Isaac Remington, though it had been tough at times acting as his lapdog and keeping his mouth shut. Still, it was worth the price, as Isaac was poised to become the next director of the NSA. After that, his first step would be to assume Remington’s current position as director of research. Shortly thereafter, it would be easy for Remington to slide him into the deputy director of the NSA slot when the current director retired. Once there, he’d be directly in line to take Isaac’s place one day. Possibly sooner rather than later, if things went his way. He’d have to think that one through, but it was definitely a possibility. In the meantime, he’d continue to keep a full accounting of what had gone on so far, and secure it properly, in case that information ever became valuable.

Because blackmail was always valuable.

Now, they just had to bring in Sinclair and get their hands on that back door. The world would be theirs after that. No one had a clue how much power would be centered in their hands.

Just imagining that made him smile. And to think his father had insisted he’d turn out to be a big, fat nothing.

He took the next turn, musing that it was kind of odd that Isaac had insisted he deliver the message personally to Johnson. Hopefully, things weren’t getting hot. Isaac had seemed calm earlier, and he hadn’t sensed anything was off there. So that seemed doubtful. He wondered if Remington was trying to set him up by arranging for him to be present for the murder of Sinclair’s wife. But that didn’t make sense. Remington knew he had too much information on him if they fell out. Maybe he was afraid Johnson would screw up something. But Remington had his big meeting tomorrow, and he was operating on a very short fuse. So who knew?

Another possibility was that Johnson had gotten tired of all the waiting around. His normal method of operation was to eliminate the target and move on, so this was a bit out of his comfort zone. Isaac probably just wanted him to keep Johnson focused enough to finish off Sinclair’s wife without leaving any evidence. There were certain people, like himself, that you could trust to do things properly. Johnson, unfortunately, wasn’t always one of them. That was one of several reasons he was exceedingly careful to keep his identity concealed from Johnson. He was glad Isaac had reminded him to keep his mask and voice modulator close. He had both in his trunk, which meant he hadn’t had to make an extra trip home.

Overall, he guessed the change in plans wasn’t that big of a deal. Keeping Johnson in line would be a small price to pay for all he was getting in return—the keys to the kingdom.

Chapter Forty-One

WALLY HARRIS

Angel had just started talking on the phone when an alarm on his laptop sounded, startling him so badly he nearly knocked the computer off his lap.

Holy crap!Remington was calling Sampson right this very minute.

“What happened?” Mike hissed.

Wally glanced over at Angel, but she was still talking, her back to him. There was no time to waste. His hands flew over the keyboard as he worked to intercept Remington’s call.

“Remington is calling Sampson,” he whispered. “Right now.”

“Now?” Mike exclaimed then lowered his voice. “Shoot, shoot, shoot. What are you going to do?”

“Intercept it,” he said grimly. “The man-in-the-middle operation is now underway.” Wally declined Remington’s call and sent a text instead, pretending to be Sampson.

Can’t talk. Not secure. What’s up?

“What did you do?” Mike asked.

“I declined Remington’s call and immediately sent a text so he knows why I…well, Sampson, didn’t answer the phone.”

“How long until he responds?”

“I have no idea.” Wally hoped the response would be immediate, but seconds ticked past and nothing happened. He could hear the low murmur of Angel’s voice and caught her saying her father’s name.

“Any response yet?” Mike whispered about five seconds later.

“No.” Wally’s nerves were stretching thin. “I’ll tell you when I know something. You focus on following Sampson.”

“We got him covered,” Jax said in a low voice. “He’s leading us right where we want to go.”