Page 114 of These White Lies

The air in the room sharpens. Finn cross-references the names on the second laptop, sharing his screen with one of the smaller monitors on the wall. Vincent sits straight in his chair, shoulders squared like a man ready for a fight. The more names I voice, the more evident it becomes that that is exactly what’s coming. Sera paces back and forth before finally dropping into the chair across from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looks around at our expressions and frowns. “Okay, what am I missing?”

Sera glares at me. “Yeah. What’s going on?”

Vincent sits back, arms crossed, expression grim. “The names. They’re not just rich assholes.”

Elizabeth angles toward him. “Who are they then?”

Finn highlights several of the cross-referenced results, and headshots pop up on the monitor. “We’ve got the CEO of a defense contractor that supplies weapon system components to half of NATO, two suspected war criminals from Eastern Europe, and a known Russian dissident who went off-grid in 2015. And this…” He points at the screen. “This guy’s been tied to more than one domestic terror case. All on different sides of the spectrum.”

“Hold on,” Elizabeth’s face is pale. “Those people shouldn’t be in the same room, much less in the same group.”

“No,” I agree. “They shouldn’t.”

She blinks. “Are you saying this is a… membership list?”

Rhodes looks up from his screen. “Looks like it.”

Vincent crosses his arms. “If this list got out? There’s no spinning it. Government-funded weapons ending up in the hands of enemies? You’re getting fired, and that’s before you get brought up for treason. The odd thing is some of these names are enemies of each other. It doesn’t make sense.”

“They all worship the almighty dollar.” Finn shrugs.

Rhodes adds quietly, “This is really fucking bad. There are the heads of tech and communications companies here. The damage they could cause…”

Elizabeth stares at the screen, then at me. “Keith knew.”

“Or they thought he knew. The engravings aren’t visible to the naked eye, but the second he took that necklace to get appraised, I’m sure they would have told him.”

“And as connected as this list is,” Finn points out. “It’s possible whoever did the appraising tipped off the bad guys that they’d lost one of their lists.”

“That’s exactly what Carrow said. Except the appraiser just assumed it was stolen,” I confirm.

The energy in the room sizzles. And for the first time in days, I don’t feel like we are on defense.

“Pull up images.” I nod at Finn. “Start with the names that are based in the States. For proximity purposes, they are our most likely targets for who is behind this. Look for events, parties, security conferences, galas. Anything public-facing.”

I can tell he’s swallowing a snarky response, but his tattooed fingers are flying across the keyboard.

Elizabeth leans forward, arms braced on the table. “There’s going to be overlap,” she observes. “Powerful, wealthy people tend to end up at the same dinners and fundraising events. Being in the same places won’t prove a conspiracy. Just that a certain status gets you invited to the same events.”

I glance over at her. “You’re right. But we’re not looking to convict anyone here. We’re looking for an angle.”

“An angle for what?”

Rhodes’s voice is matter-of-fact. “An angle to keep you alive.”

Elizabeth flinches, and her shoulders pull in. I growl at Rhodes before I can stop myself and push my chair back so that I can pivot toward her. Spinning her chair to face me, I pull her closer until her knees are between mine. I cup her face. “Nothing’s happening to you while I’m here.”

Her breath shudders, but some of the fear leaves her expression. When she gives me a little nod, I lower my hands and squeeze her knees.

I know every set of eyes in the room is on us. I can feel Sera’s hot stare drilling into the side of my face, but I don’t look at her. I don’t care who knows anymore.

My hands move to cover hers where they are clutched tightly together, my thumb stroking across her knuckles. “You’re safe,”I murmur, keeping my gaze locked on hers. “That’s never changing.”

She swallows hard, and when she nods, the enormity of her trust settles in my chest, making me smile. When she gives me a smile back, the vise around my lungs loosens a little.

“You mean an angle to keep all of us alive,” Sera snaps. “They know she came to us, so we are going to be collateral damage.”