Page 14 of Ground Zero

Right now, he needed to concentrate on survival, and until he knew who he could trust, he would remain radio silent.

The only person he would be talking to was Sheridan . . . a federal agent who had the power to arrest him and effectively end his life as he knew it.

CHAPTER 7

Sheridan stared at the closed bedroom door, listening to the sound of movement from the other side.

Every instinct she’d developed over her years in federal law enforcement screamed at her to maintain visual contact with her suspect.

Because that’s what Maverick Adams still was—a suspect.

No matter how convincing his story about being framed. No matter how genuine his shock had seemed when those fake agents started shooting. And no matter how her pulse had kicked up when he’d looked at her with those intense green eyes.

This man could be a genius terrorist who only wanted to survive and was using her to do so.

Down the hall in the living room, the computer screen glowed, practically beckoning her.

She took one more glance at the door Maverick had disappeared behind before creeping closer to the desk.

As she stared at the screen, the cursor blinked.

She shouldn’t be thinking about accessing Maverick’s accounts. That would require a warrant under normal circumstances.

But these weren’t normal circumstances.

She and her FBI colleagues were investigating a terrorist attack. Imminent loss of life was a real possibility.

Danny’s voice echoed in her memory from their last conversation.Trust your gut, Sher. The book doesn’t always have the right answers.

Her gut told her that either Maverick Adams was the most convincing liar she’d ever encountered or someone had gone to extraordinary lengths to destroy his life.

The sound of running water came from down the hall—probably a shower. That would give her a few minutes.

She couldn’t waste this opportunity.

Sheridan noticed that Maverick had left several browser windows open that displayed folders labeled with various project names.

Had he left these open on purpose?

He seemed too careful to have done this accidentally.

Or maybe he had nothing to hide.

Either way, she hesitated, her finger hovering over the mouse.

This felt like a violation.

But Danny’s killer was still out there somewhere. If there was even a chance Maverick was involved . . .

She clicked on a folder marked “Sigma.”

Her breath caught as dozens of files appeared on screen. Communications logs. Encrypted message fragments.

Then a chat box opened at the bottom of the screen. Several older messages were there, saved from an earlier time.

Her blood ran cold as she read the words there.

Unknown User: The FBI is getting too close. We need to accelerate the timeline.