Page 36 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

ELEVEN

She’d always considered herself to be smart. Above average. But jumping from a pretend date into the passenger seat of Nora’s car, especially the way she sped around the curvy mountain roads with zero fear, hadn’t been the best decision. Queasiness grew in her stomach.

But not just because of the way Nora steered her Lexus around the curves overlooking drops of hundreds of feet.

Because of Alex.

Like Mackenzie needed her head wrapped up in pretend dating Alex Knight. She’d had some fun teasing him, but what was she doing? That look in his eyes told her he was not at all opposed to something real between them. Even at the thought of it, her heart rate kicked up.

He was the exact right person at the exact wrong time. If only she could use Boolean logic—like a computer would—to make her decisions. Something was either true or it was false. Black or white. Uncertainty did not exist in that world. And Mackenzie was definitely operating in the gray haze of indecisiveness right now.

Someone had shot at her, and with Nora requesting an autopsy on their brother, the dangerous stakes had become suddenly very real. It was bad enough that Julian had been hit by a car. She couldn’t say without a doubt that the hit-and-run was deliberate, though she believed in her bones it was. She couldn’t prove it. But Rowan ... they would hold their collective breaths while they waited for the autopsy results, and at the same time continue forward.

“Are you alright?”

The nausea roiled again. Mackenzie pressed her hand against her stomach. “Do you have to drive so fast?”

“I’m not driving fast. The curves won’t let me. You’ll get used to it, Mackenzie.”

“That’s good to know, but what about now?”

“You could focus on the sunset. Isn’t it amazing?”

Mackenzie agreed. Bright pink and orange and gold burst across the clouds, reflecting sunlight on the other side of the purple mountains to the west. The downside? It was still light enough for Mackenzie to see the big drop along the road mere feet from her as Nora cut the steering wheel deep to the right, and then to the left. Again and again.

And still, the car sped much too fast. She preferred a crawl of two miles an hour around the zigzagging curves that hugged the mountain while offering stunning views for those who dared to look.

Views that Mackenzie avoided.

“Let’s talk,” Nora said. “Now’s good. No one can listen in.”

“I’m not sure I trust you to focus on the road while we talk.”

Nora chuckled. “I could drive this in my sleep. You could too if you’d stayed long enough to make this trip a thousand or more times.”

Mackenzie wanted to close her eyes again but knew better. “Okay. Tell me.”

“I thought about what you said, and I think you’re right.”

“You didn’t tell Carson, did you?”

“No. I don’t want to put him in danger if I don’t have to. You need to get into the system and stop the trouble. Do the penetration testing or whatever it is you do. We already have a cybersecurity team in place.”

Hmm. “And I suppose they’re already analyzing the data using SIEM—security information and event management. It can be used for threat detection and analysis.”

“Probably. I let them do their jobs.”

“And they haven’t seen any activity.”

“Not that has been reported.”

“He could be that good at covering his tracks. I would like to look through everything on my own. Eventually I could need help, otherwise it could take me weeks. But ... Nora ... the biggest threat, the biggest opening into your system is—”

“People.”

“Yes. Insiders.”

“Don’t you think we know this? We’ve taken every precaution. No one can even bring in cell phones past the front desk.”