Page 57 of Ground Zero

“If we go official and we’re wrong about who to trust, the mole tips off Sigma and they accelerate the timeline,” Sheridan finally said, pulling off a piece of sourdough crust. “People die before we can stop it.”

“If we stay dark and try to handle this ourselves, we might fail simply because we don’t have the resources,” Maverick continued. “People die because we couldn’t do enough.”

“And if we trust the wrong person—your friend Trey or anyone else—we’ve just handed Sigma another advantage.”

The heavy weight of the situation hung between them.

Maverick leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “There are no perfect options.”

“Nosafeoptions,” Sheridan corrected. “But maybe that’s the point. Sigma’s counting on us being paralyzed by mistrust. They’ve sewn so much doubt that we can’t act decisively.”

She thought about Danny, about how he’d died investigating these same people. He’d trusted someone, and doing so had gotten him killed. But he’d also taught her that sometimes you had to take calculated risks in order to do the right thing.

She drew in a deep breath before turning back to Maverick. “I never told you everything about Danny and his death.”

He turned toward her, his expression sober and serious. “Go ahead.”

“Maverick, Danny wasn’t just killed because he was investigating the cyberattacks. He found something bigger—multiple threads that all led back to you. But it’s not in the way everyone thinks.”

Maverick shifted, his gaze hooded and cautious. “What do you mean?”

“Danny was supposed to meet someone who was going to turn over some evidence so we could put out an arrest warrant for you.”

“And?”

“When he got there, he was shot and left for dead.”

He blinked at her. “And you thought I did that?”

She hesitated before nodding. “I did. At first, at least. You were the one who had the most reason to want to stop this meeting.”

“I had no idea that meeting was even taking place.”

Her gaze met his. “I believe you.”

“Thank you,” Maverick murmured, his shoulders softening. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

“Me too.”

Silence stretched for a moment.

“Listen, I don’t want to change the subject, but we have to make a decision,” Maverick finally said.

“What does your gut tell you?”

He remained quiet, his gaze twitching as he stared into space. “My gut says Trey is solid. He’s career military, third-generation Navy. His grandfather survived Pearl Harbor, his father served in Vietnam. Protecting Naval Station Norfolk isn’t just his job—it’s personal.”

“Then we start there.” Sheridan made the decision, knowing they couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer. “But we’re smart about it. We don’t tell him everything, just enough to raise security alerts.”

Sheridan watched as Maverick sent a text message to Trey.

Need your help. Something big going down at the base tomorrow morning. Can you help?

She prayed this worked.

“There,” Maverick announced. “Sent. Now we wait for him to respond.”

As a few seconds of silence passed between them, Sheridan’s thoughts continued to race. She prayed they were doing the right thing, that they were making a wise decision. But everything felt muddled.