Sharpshooter (Shadow Agents #3)(35)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Pulled it, but not scanned any information?

If their hacker wanted intel on Gunner, why not look longer? The hacker had been given access to her file for three minutes. He’d viewed all the Guerrero files for five minutes.

And it wasn’t that the hacker had been interrupted. According to the report she was generating, he’d viewed Gunner’s file first.

“Why?” Sydney whispered as she stared at the screen. He hadn’t gotten any data from Gunner’s file, so he’d gone there to what…lead a false trail? Gunner wasn’t the target, just her?

“Sydney, we found the pass code that was used to get into the system,” Hal West told her as he slid his chair toward hers. Hal was the lead systems administrator for the EOD.

She glanced up at him. A pass code would be needed to open the system, but their hacker had put a virus in place after he’d gotten access, and that pass code signature had been all but erased.

All but…

“It’s an old code, one that was initiated over two years ago.” Hal’s face looked strained. Considering that she knew the guy had been working the computers for most of the night—while she’d been escaping from the blaze—that strain was to be expected. “The agent we originally assigned the code to was given a new access number a year ago.” He shook his head. “Someone screwed up. When he got a new code, all privileges associated with the previous access should have been revoked. Someone didn’t terminate the code authorization and—”

“Hal!” she snapped out. “Which agent had that code?”

“Uh…right,” he said as his bleary blue gaze cut away from her and back to the nearby computer monitor. “Gunner Ortez.”

She shook her head, an instinctive denial. “Gunner wasn’t here when the files were accessed.” She didn’t even know why she said the words. Just—not Gunner.

But Hal was tapping on his keyboard and nodding. “He wasn’t, or at least, the system says he didn’t gain entry until 0500, but…that’s his code.”

“Then someone has access to our archived codes. We need a complete wipe on the system. Even if you think those codes are clear, we’re purging them.” Her heart was beating faster. It could be a setup. She’d sure seen setups before. Poor Cale. Evidence had been planted left and right to frame him. She knew better than to jump hungrily at the first bone that was tossed her way.

But maybe their hacker didn’t know about the case with Cale. Maybe he didn’t realize the lesson that all of the Shadow Agents had learned then.

And maybe he didn’t fully realize…we don’t turn on our own.

She hunched her shoulders and started tapping on her keyboard. This was an inside job, she didn’t doubt that, but it wasn’t Gunner. It wasn’t Logan. It wasn’t Cale. She trusted the other Shadow Agents with her life.

But she wouldn’t overlook any possibility. Logan had assigned her to gather intel, so she would. She’d start by going back through the personnel and access files of every agent and support staff member who’d entered the EOD in the past six months.

She wasn’t going to stop until she found more than just a red flag. She’d find hard evidence.

* * *

GUNNER STARED AT the charred remains of Sydney’s house. Only a shell remained, blackened, gutted. When he thought of Sydney in that fire, fear knifed into him.

“Good thing you were here.”

He glanced over to see Logan heading toward him. When Gunner had arrived moments before, Logan had been talking to the arson investigators.

Gunner remembered the brush of the fire on his skin as he ran up the stairs. “Yeah. Very good thing.” If he hadn’t been there…

“They actually found one of her smoke detectors. Fried, warped, but…” Logan glanced toward the house. “They managed to pry it open. The battery was missing.”

What?

“It’s definitely arson, of course. The chief says the point of origin was downstairs—actually, he says there were three points of origin. The guy wanted to make sure the house burned fast.”

“He wanted to kill Sydney.” Gunner’s rage darkened the world for a moment.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Logan give a grim nod. “Yes, he did. The perp used gasoline as the accelerant. Disabled the alarms, waited until she went to bed…” He glanced over his shoulder at the woods that lined her property. “Probably waited out here, watching her, and when he thought he had the perfect moment to attack, he went to work.”

The SOB.

“Why were you out here?” Logan’s question was quiet, tense. “I mean, you and Sydney seemed to be staying away from each other at first, and now—”

I won’t stay away from her again. He’d only come out there to do some on-site investigating. She was nestled inside the EOD office. With all the agents there, with Cale pulling extra guard duty, she should be safe.

Gunner rolled his shoulders, trying to push some of the tension from his body. “I came last night because Slade wanted to talk to her. I came out here to try to convince her to go see him.”

Logan’s eyebrows climbed. “You think that’s a good idea?” He turned to fully face Gunner. “It’s just you and me, man. So cut the bull. I’ve seen the way you watch her. What are you thinking? That you’ll just step aside so he can have a shot with her again?”

Had he thought that? Or had he just felt so much guilt that he’d wanted to make amends? I didn’t know he was alive. But for two years, Slade had suffered. Two years.

“You’ve been a captive, too, Gunner. The things they did to you…” Logan shook his head. “Most men never would have come back from that.”

Logan had seen him, after he’d crawled from that jungle. With his body stitched everywhere, looking like Frankenstein’s monster.

“You’ve been through your own hell,” Logan continued. “Don’t you think you deserve some happiness, too?”

His hands clenched. “I wanted Sydney to have what—who—she wanted.”

“And you think that’s your brother? Uh, you might want to check that again. You’re the one she’s always watching. The way you watch her? With that too-intent gaze? Buddy, she watches you with the same stare.”

“She’s pregnant.” The words slipped from him. Not deliberate, or, maybe they were. Because he wanted to tell someone. He had to share the news with someone, and Logan had always been a good friend.