Page 116 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

“Like that means anything to me. Where is this?”

Mackenzie released a slow, even breath to slow her pounding heart. “Indianapolis.”

Nora frowned and stared at the paper. Mackenzie hoped she wouldn’t have to spell it out for her sister, but if she didn’t see what Mackenzie saw, then she was definitely in denial.

Nora looked at the door. Then she looked back at Mackenzie and held her gaze for a few long seconds.

“How do you know this?”

“My source.”

“Your hacker friend? I’m not sure he’s trustworthy.”

“He has no reason to lie. So we need to look for the drone at these coordinates—or better, just send the Feds in to get it.”

Her sister stumbled back against the desk, clearly shaken, then pushed away to stand taller. “I get it now. You’re saying you think Carson is involved somehow.”

What do you know about him? Where did he come from? How long have you been seeing him?

“I haven’t said anything. You know what I know.”

“Which is nothing. You don’t know that it’s there. You only have the word of a criminal.”

And Mackenzie couldn’t tell her sister that Julian was working for the Feds. She didn’t know exactly what that meant, though she had assumed it meant he was a Fed, but maybe he was an informant for them instead. Either way, a sliver of jealousy slipped into her heart that he was working for them. That had been her dream, but she’d been rejected because of her past.

But Julian hadn’t.

“We need to see if it’s there, all the same. And ... we have to be careful. Carson could be the cybercriminal stalking you.”

“Why would he want to destroy his own company? I’m not buying your accusations.”

“That’s a fair point, but if he sells the tech to the black market, he stands to significantly increase his personal finances and destroy us at the same time.” He would destroy Nora in one of the most painful ways possible—by shattering her heart. “I wish we weren’t having this conversation. But we’ve known someone has been on the inside all along.”

“Maybe he isn’t the cybercriminal but has been pressured or threatened, like Rowan was. Traumatized like I’ve been, only he kept it from me the way I kept it from him, never letting on because I didn’t want to put him in danger. Maybe he has been protecting me, Mackenzie!” Nora bit her lip as tears spilled over. She was searching for a way that Carson could be innocent.

“We’ll find out, Nora. I hope for your sake, you’re right.” Mackenzie sat at the desk and opened her laptop, wishing it would all be so easy. “Let me show you.” Mackenzie pulled up the forbidden servers. “I’ve deployed anti-malware algorithms to take down his cyberattack. It was scheduled to crash the entire system, but I’ll stop it before it happens. I need to make sure that wasn’t the only attack—and knowing Nebulous 2.0, it wasn’t.” Wait a minute.

All the windows from her previous session popped up, including the window to show the amplitude of nearby access points. Mackenzie stood and shared a look with Nora. “Something’s not right.”

“What are you talking about?” Nora said. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“There’s a rogue access point. A router here in your office.” Mackenzie glanced around her sister’s office. Could it be her sister? Her heart had jumped to her throat, threatening to choke her. She pushed down the rising emotions and searched the room.

“You’re saying I’m the insider? Why would I give someone access to hack into my own company?”

Had Alex been right about Nora? No ... “Not you, personally.” Lord, please don’t let it be so. “Are you sure that you haven’t been threatened to cooperate? I would understand, Nora.” And that made sense. All the threats and the fear to keep her in line.

Nora shook her head. “I swear, it’s not me.”

And something in Nora’s eyes told Mackenzie she spoke the truth.

“Okay. Search your office for a device that shouldn’t be here. Anything out of place.”

Mackenzie stepped out of the office with her laptop, and the amplitude grew. Relief washed through her. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? Mackenzie set her laptop on Maci’s desk. She tried the drawers, but they were locked. The inbox held a stack of papers. Mackenzie rifled through them and found a phone beneath the stack.

“Maci!”

Nora stepped out of her office. “You found something?”