Page 65 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

Mackenzie angled her head. Smart girl. A new ally perhaps? Except she and Nora weren’t enemies. But they would be if Mackenzie lost her sister’s trust. “What’s on the lower level?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve never been down there?”

“No.”

At least she hadn’t denied the existence of a lower level.

A sound drew her attention around. Nora blew into her office like a whirlwind. “What’s going on?”

“Mackenzie asked to wait for you in your office. We were admiring the view.”

Nora’s face brightened with expectation. She thought Mackenzie had something to report.

“Thank you, Maci.”

“I’ll leave you two alone now.” Maci tossed Mackenzie a subtle smirk, then left, shutting the door behind her.

“That was a fast lunch.”

“Carson got called away. A family emergency. So you learned something?”

“We both know this isn’t about this network. It’s about the other system that you’ve been keeping from me.” That all-too-familiar fear surged in Nora’s eyes again. Acid churned in Mackenzie’s gut. “This whole time you’ve been letting me play around, knowing I wouldn’t find anything.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” Nora whispered so low Mackenzie barely heard her.

“But I am here.” In this mess with you. “Now, let me into the other system.”

Nora sighed deeply, painfully. “You need security clearance.”

Mackenzie stared at her sister for a few breaths. “You mean clearance to get into Hanstech’s restricted areas? Or do you mean federal security clearance, giving access to classified information?”

In that case, this could be about much more than Hanstech or saving her sister.

“Hanstech secured government contracts for a classified project.”

“This whole time you’ve known. Why didn’t you tell me? You wasted my time.”

Nora stepped closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I told you to go home, didn’t I?”

“And you also need my help. You want me to help. You’re sending me mixed signals.”

“My hands are tied.”

“Then get me security clearance. Get me into that other system, and I can stop this ... whatever it is, and whoever is doing this.”

“I can’t. Even with sealed records, your particular background would come up in the vetting process. It takes months anyway.”

Nodding, Mackenzie pursed her lips. “And ... we don’t have that kind of time.”

“No, we don’t.” Nora chewed on her lip. “Look, if you’re going to do this, then you have to find your own way in.”

Nora had clearly hoped Mackenzie would do that on her own without even asking about the other system. So it was like that, then. Mackenzie had thought as much, but she wanted to hear Nora say it so that she wasn’t second-guessing what her sister truly wanted from her. What Nora suggested was illegal, and Mackenzie wasn’t a criminal anymore. Though she didn’t want to go that route, she didn’t see another way. Unless...

“Then let’s go to the Feds today. Let’s get help—”

“No. We can’t. You don’t understand.”

“Then help me to understand.”

But Nora slowly shook her head. Someone had a chokehold on her. Mackenzie recognized that she wouldn’t get anything more from her terrified sister.

She took a step closer. “Okay, Nora. I’ll find my own way in. You do your thing and don’t worry about me.”

Looked like she would have to become a cybercriminal—again—to fix this.