Page 16 of Jonas (Silver Team #4)

“Normally,” Zane started with a smirk, “I’d take time to gloat but since we don’t have time, I reserve the right to remind you all that it’s good to be me at a later time.”

“Of course you will,” Kevin said from his place down the table.

“Why are we all here?” Jonas asked as he looked around at the others.

“Derrika was right,” Kira launched in. “I found sixteen reports in the last six months of not only cargo ships but oil tankers reporting possible cyberattacks. Two were close calls; a tanker called the Betsy lost control and nearly collided with the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. She was able to resume propulsion fifteen miles from LOOP. The other was a near collision between a crude oil tanker and a cargo ship thirty miles off Galveston. Both ships were headed into the Houston Shipping Channel when the tanker sent out a mayday call and their system went down. The call went out by the ship’s captain; he reported all computers were down including navigation, geolocation, cameras, and echosounder.

At the same time the cargo ship’s generator went down, the backup came online, but shut down moments later.

The number three gen set the cargo back on track and the tanker’s shore-based IT helped get the computers back online.

Those were vessel-related attacks. I also found more than twenty cyberattacks at the port level. ”

“Test runs, or is that in the blueprint as well?” I asked. “Two gigantic ships colliding would make an impact; that collision at the mouth of a shipping channel would cause major delays or rerouting to offload.”

“I’d say both. Test the security protocols on the vessels and how quickly the auxiliary generators take to come online.

A backup is on standby, that powerplant would start automatically.

The true test would be to see how the different sized ships handle their gensets.

A smaller Panamax might be slower than the larger Neopanamax which has to run two at once—one to handle electrical systems, pumps, refrigeration, toilets, things like that, while the main engine would handle the ship’s movement.

They could also be testing which shipping line is utilizing which technology.

There are a lot of variables when it comes to ships.

“We didn’t think the blueprint for the attack would include planes or airports—it’s too obvious.

But I did find two airlines with ransomware attacks that came from internal computers, meaning it wasn’t a phishing attack.

Someone had to have had access to plant the virus.

There was also a software update that was pushed through a small regional Florida airport that took down their system, including air traffic control.

Homeland found the update contained a virus. ”

I glanced over at Jonas. That strong jaw of his was working overtime grinding.

“What now?” he asked.

“Now we wait,” Zane told Jonas, then looked at me. “You’ve got a decision to make.”

“What kind of decision?”

“The kind that means either you’re on my team and your loyalty is now to us and only us or you take your chances with Anson Sutton and whatever story the Treasury Department sold, and Myles and Gabe will drop you by the Hemingway before they go pick up Kent Rapport.”

My decision was a no brainer but still I asked, “You think the agency is pulling the strings?”

“Not all of them, but some.”

“Which ones?”

“Are you in or out?”

“In.”

Zane glanced at Layla. Once she nodded, Zane continued.

“For once it’s not the CIA who screwed the dog up the ass.”

“Actually, the phrase is screwed the pooch,” Nebraska corrected with an eye roll. “Not fuck the dog up the ass.”

“Technically,” Kira cut in. “The original saying is ‘fuck the dog and sell the pups.’ In true Zane fashion he added the up the ass part.”

Nebraska shook her head but did it with a wide smile.

It was easy to see the two women were good friends.

There was a bond, a sisterhood that regardless of the seriousness of the situation we were in, I was envious of.

I wanted to ask them if I could put in a real-life friend request or if they were even accepting applications for a third wheel.

But instead of being a weirdo I remained covetously quiet.

“Anyway, sorry for interrupting, back to who fucked the dog up the ass?” Nebraska inquired.

I didn’t understand why Zane looked like a proud poppa when he declared, “The Pentagon.”

“And that makes you happy?” I probed.

Zane shook his head at me while grinning at the women at the table—this included Layla who was sitting across from Nebraska and Kira.

“I don’t particularly give a shit who I get to blame this dumbfuckery on.”

“So…” I began on a long vowel. “What? Is it the talking about dogs or butt stuff that made you grin like that?”

Startling sapphire eyes fixed on me.

Suddenly Zane Lewis no longer looked scary. Not with the humor dancing in those blue orbs and a split-your-face-smile. And…holy spaceballs…dimples.

No, Zane Lewis wasn’t scary, he was bad-boy, bad-ass hot.

I felt Jonas nudge me with his elbow but I ignored the jab in favor of soaking in all that was Zane.

“I think I owe his wife a basket of flowers and an apology,” I whispered to no one in particular.

“Give him five minutes and you’ll change your order from an apology to a sympathy bouquet,” Kira told me.

“She’s not wrong,” Layla piped up.

“I’m offended,” Zane obviously lied.

Jonas let out a long, exaggerated sigh from beside me. Or maybe it wasn’t inflated, what did I know?

“And, once again, we’re here because?”

“Lore’s on her way,” Nebraska answered. “She didn’t want to meet in the city.”

I heard Jonas blow out a breath. When I glanced over at him he didn’t look happy about this Lore person.

“Who’s Lore?”

“She’s…” Nebraska started and stopped. “A fixer.”

“Like Oliva Pope?” I asked, referencing the baddest of bad TV heroines.

Nebraska’s lips twitched but she shook her head. “Better.”

“Well, fuck a dog up his ass, now I can’t wait to meet her.”

Zane’s head snapped in my direction so quickly I feared he’d sprained his neck.

“I wasn’t sure about you,” he said as he jabbed a finger at me. “But I think you’ll do.”

Kira gave me a wide smile and a wink.

I wasn’t sure what felt better, Zane’s approval, Kira smiling at me like she was my friend, or Jonas’s hand that was now resting on my thigh.

No, I was sure—Jonas’s hand. But Kira’s smile came in a close second.