Page 16 of Ground Zero (Lantern Beach Blackout: Detonation #3)
M averick took his first bite of pizza and realized he hadn’t eaten anything substantial since before his early morning surf session. The combination of stress, adrenaline, and hours of computer work had left him running on empty.
“This is really good.” He gestured with his slice. “Where did you find pizza on Lantern Beach that doesn’t taste like cardboard?”
“Tony’s. It’s about two miles from here. The guy behind the counter said they only opened a few weeks ago.” Sheridan smiled—the first genuine smile he’d seen from her. “I have a weakness for good pizza. Danny always said I was too picky about it, but life’s too short for bad food.”
“You have good taste. I’m the same way.” Maverick found himself relaxing, despite their circumstances. “What’s your go-to order?”
“Pepperoni and mushroom, extra cheese. Simple but perfect.” She took another bite. “You?”
“Veggie lovers with hummus is my favorite. But I’ll eat pretty much anything except anchovies.” He paused. “It’s weird, talking about normal stuff like pizza preferences when people are trying to kill us.”
“Normal is good,” Sheridan said. “Normal reminds us of what we’re fighting for.”
They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Maverick fully enjoying the pizza. He was hungrier than he’d realized.
Finally, Sheridan brought up the elephant in the room. “Tell me about your colleagues. I mean, really tell me—not just some surface-level stuff. If one of them is feeding information to Sigma, we need to figure out who.”
Maverick set down his slice, his appetite diminishing as they shifted back to darker territory. “I’ve worked with certain members of my team for years. They’re like family.”
“But one of them might be trying to destroy you.”
“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair, unable to ignore that possibility. “I’ve only worked for Ty Chambers and Colton Locke for a few months. They started Blackout. They were both Navy SEALs and served with distinction. They’re both straightforward—what you see is what you get.”
“That could be an act.”
He leaned back in his seat. “It could be, but I don’t think so.”
“They both clearly have access to classified systems.”
“Extensive access.”
Sheridan nodded thoughtfully. “What about Jake Laudner?”
“Jake’s . . . complicated.” Maverick chose his words carefully. “He’s our team leader, and I just can’t see him doing something like this. He loves his country, and he loves his job.”
“Who else?” She took another bite of her pizza as she waited for his answer.
“There’s Atlas, but if he wanted to ruin Blackout he had the opportunity a couple of months ago when Sigma tried to lasso a hurricane.”
She frowned. “I heard about that. It was some crazy stuff happening.”
“Tell me about it.” His eyes widened at the memories.
Sigma had come so close to actually succeeding and manipulating a storm, turning it into a monster that would have killed thousands. Thankfully, they’d been stopped.
“Keep going,” Sheridan said.
He paused, picking up his half-eaten piece of pizza. “Then there are Hudson and Kyle.”
“Anything suspicious about them?”
Maverick blew out a breath. “Nothing major, but I suppose there have been little things. Hudson has been late for briefings more than once. Kyle has forgotten to file a couple of reports—the kinds of things that suggest their heads aren’t fully in the game.”
“Or that suggests one of them could be distracted by outside obligations,” Sheridan pointed out. “Like working for a terrorist organization.”
Maverick wanted to deny her words but couldn’t.
“Are any of them capable of creating digital bombs? Of hacking into the system to make you look guilty?”
“Not that they’ve ever indicated. If I had to pick someone . . . I guess it would have to be Jake. He would be the most knowledgeable about technology. But I just can’t see him doing this. Like I said—I can’t see any of them doing this.”
“Who are you closest to out of the group?” she asked.
He blew out another breath. “Probably Hudson and Kyle. We spend the most time together outside work. I taught them to surf—tried to, at least. Neither were very good at it.”
He smiled at the memory. Both men were generally so capable. But trying to surf had humbled them. However, they’d both taken their failure in stride.
It was nothing a good hearty meal at The Crazy Chefette afterward couldn’t make better.
They finished eating while discussing each team member’s background, access levels, and recent behavior patterns.
By the time they cleared away the empty pizza box, Maverick felt like they’d dissected his entire professional life.
“There’s something else.” He moved to the laptop. “I’ve been working on those encrypted messages I found. I think I’m close to cracking them.”
He opened the computer and pulled up the Ground Zero communications folder.
“Want to take a look?” he asked. “Fresh eyes might help.”
A grin spread across Sheridan’s face as she ate her last bite of crust. “Do I ever.”
Sheridan sat at the kitchen table and studied the encrypted messages on Maverick’s laptop screen, trying to work through the patterns in the jumbled text. She had enough exposure to recognize certain signatures.
“This encryption method.” She pointed to a string of characters. “I’ve seen something similar before.”
Maverick glanced back at her from his seat at the table. “Where?”
“Internal FBI communications. Not the standard stuff—the high-security channels used for counterterrorism operations.” She looked at him with growing alarm. “Maverick, I’m nearly certain that whoever wrote these messages has access to federal encryption protocols.”
He leaned closer, his shoulder brushing against hers as he studied the screen. “Are you saying . . . ?”
“I’m saying that, just as we suspected earlier, someone at the FBI is working with Sigma.” The words felt like poison in her mouth. “And they’re using our own security methods against us.”
Maverick’s fingers flew across the keyboard, applying decryption algorithms with increasing urgency. “If we can crack these messages, we might finally have proof of who’s been feeding them information.”
Sheridan watched the code scroll past, and fragments of readable text slowly began to emerge from the encrypted chaos.
GROUND ZERO TIMELINE ACCELERATED
FBI INVESTIGATION CONTAINED
CAMERON ELIMINATION SUCCESSFUL
Her blood turned to ice as more messages became clear.
BLACKOUT COMPROMISE ACHIEVED
PENTAGON DISTRACTION UNLEASHED
PHASE THREE INITIATION: 72 HOURS