Gabrielle took a step back.
Carlos hated to watch her in terror, backing away like an animal expecting attack. She knew they were going to lock her up somewhere with no contact to the outside world. But it sounded as if even with the information she could supply, they had only a slim chance of gaining access to the school.
She planted her feet. "There is one way."
He wanted to hug her for coming up a bargaining chip, until she added, "I have to go with you."
TWELVE
CARLOS UNCROSSED HIS arms. "No."
He couldn't help this crazy woman if she was determined to keep digging herself deeper into this mess. Joe would use any resource, even Gabrielle, to get closer to the Fratelli.
And Tee would...better not to consider the limitless ways she'd use a resource who landed in their camp. The whole team was committed to taking down the Fratelli, and Carlos would gladly lead the charge, but putting this woman in the middle of a mission was not going to happen.
"Then as they say here in the States," Gabrielle said with assured finality, "you're screwed."
"You would let another young girl be hurt?" Carlos pressed.
"No, but undoubtedly you would by not at least entertaining my plan." Gabrielle wiped her eyes with graceful hands, the action feminine and gentle, which translated as vulnerable in Carlos's book. "You should at least consider-"
"Why?" Hunter asked.
Gabrielle set her jaw in a way that said she was tired of Hunter cutting her off.
"Let's hear your plan," Joe told her, ending all debate.
"Merci." Gabrielle looked at Carlos with unsure eyes. She licked her lips in a dainty way as if she'd been taught how to do so properly in a Miss Manners class. Waves of brunette hair fell in tousled strands, tumbling with no real direction other than down to brush her shoulder.
Too soft-looking to be dangerous.
Too tired to be a threat.
The urge to bundle her off to a room where she could lie down and rest swamped him. He'd watched her go from fear to outrage to fear again. She definitely wasn't trained for this.
What was he going to do with her?
A confidence he hadn't seen before blossomed in her face.
"In addition to the school's accounting systems being in severe need of upgrading," Gabrielle started. "The books are opened to outside auditing firms during a break in early November each year for the fiscal report to all the investors."
"Hold it," Hunter interrupted. "I thought you said no one from the outside could get in. But they let auditors in?"
Gabrielle sighed and narrowed weary eyes at him.
Carlos couldn't wait to see how this one played out. He'd noticed the more tired and hungry Gabrielle became, the testier she got.
"How very observant of you to recall my precise words," Gabrielle told Hunter in a cultured voice that could snap the royal guard into line. "If, however, you'll allow me to actually finish a thought, I'll explain why even if you could gain entry as an auditor, it would be a useless endeavor."
"All-righty then." Rae twisted her mouth in a half attempt to hide a laugh.
Gabrielle picked up where she'd left off. "An outside accounting firm has to go through the same vetting gauntlet, a more difficult one in fact, for no less than six months prior to being chosen. If your phony auditing firm was chosen, which would be a miracle, you wouldn't have access for another month at the soonest. And if you passed that test, your team would be under constant scrutiny, confined to the accounting department. This would undoubtedly handcuff anyone hoping to covertly investigate other areas, thereby making the entire mission a waste of time. I hope I've satisfied your fruitless inquisition."
Hunter answered her with a mild roll of his eyes and waved his hands dismissively. "Continue."
"The audit occurs between November twelfth and fifteenth, but the Board of Regents requires a pre-audit the last weekend before the outside auditors are given access."
"This weekend?" Gotthard asked.
Gabrielle nodded.
"So what's your idea?" Joe showed no sign of leaning one way or another, so far.
She folded her hands neatly at her waist as though she were speaking to the principal. "Their computer systems are in dire need of upgrading that they've been fighting. They are loath to deal with the problem since it would mean allowing someone access to their records."
"How does this help us?" Korbin sounded unconvinced.
Gabrielle explained, "I've been discussing a software program with the school for the past year that allows one person to sync all electronic files within a day or two. If a virus was introduced to the system in a careful way, their computers would shut down and react as though the entire system had been crashed, when in truth it would be a managed crash."
Korbin drummed his fingers on the table surface, dark eyes fixed in concentration. "If they run as tight a ship as you say, there's no telling how many weeks it would take to find a way into that system without detection to set up this crash."
"Actually, I know exactly how long it will take," Gabrielle answered without hesitation.
Carlos noted the confidence in her voice. This was her territory, but she'd still have to convince Gotthard and Hunter that the school systems could be breached. Even he knew the complexity of what she was suggesting.
"They want the program I wrote specifically for them," she added. "The only possible way to gain quick entrance to the school would be to throw a kink into their accounting program since everything in an audit revolves around money. Once that happens, I believe they'll contact me since I have history with the school and prior clearance."
"We can throw a kink into their systems," Gotthard confirmed. "If we can get into their systems."
"That's a big if," Hunter muttered.
Carlos didn't see this as a viable option if Hunter and Gotthard doubted they could gain entry into the school's computers. And there was no way they could insert someone who hadn't been cleared if what she described about the school's vetting of outsiders was true.
"There is no if. This can be done." Gabrielle nodded, then turned to Joe. "But only if you make me a deal."
"What deal?" Joe asked.
"I'll help you access the school's records if you assure me you won't turn me over to Interpol or any other country and you try to find Linette."
Carlos ground his back teeth. She had no idea what she was doing. He'd gag her if he could do it right now to prevent Gabrielle from getting herself in any deeper. Did she really think Joe would let her walk out of here with an agreement that she'd gain access to the school's computers for them?
Joe asked, "How do we know you really can do any of this?"
"Think I have that for you," Gotthard chipped in. "You were in classes with Linette, right, Gabrielle?"
"Yes." She sounded tired and out of patience.
Gotthard looked up at Joe. "Linette was brilliant. Her profile indicates she was in the top ten percent of Mensa. Genius." Gotthard cut his eyes at Gabrielle. "Your IQ?"
"Two points higher."
When she raised those beautiful eyes in challenge to Carlos, he saw only a woman.
Not an informant. Not a threat to the world.
Just a woman who could bleed and die.
He would not put her in danger.
Joe spoke up. "I'm convinced and your plan has merit, but only if my people can go in."
That was more like it, but Carlos doubted Gabrielle would give in so easily and she didn't.
"Won't happen with as little time as you have," Gabrielle countered. "I can get you inside the campus because I'm an alumni they know, but more importantly, the reason I can help you get inside their computers is because when I wrote the current programs, I incorporated a back door into the system. Without me, you don't have a chance."
That did it. How would Carlos talk Joe out of using her now? "And you think we'll just let you go do this alone?"
"No," she admitted.
"So we
're back to this plan not working." Carlos expected her to admit defeat, not lift her chin a notch in defiance.
"I can get someone inside with me as a bodyguard," Gabrielle suggested, confidence in her voice picking up speed.
"Has to be someone with electronic capability," Hunter pointed out.
"No, it doesn't," she replied quickly.
Hunter opened his mouth to protest, but Carlos cut him off. "Let her explain."
The look of thanks Gabrielle sent him curled soft fingers around his heart.
"I need someone who looks like a bodyguard and isn't well-known in aristocracy, such as yourself, I would assume," she told Hunter.
Carlos smiled. She had him there. Part of Hunter's use to BAD as an agent was his social contacts and ability to gain access to the criminally rich.
Hunter growled, then inclined his head, conceding the point.
"If no one knows about your secret life as Mirage, why would the school believe you need protection?" Korbin asked.
"I can answer that, too," Gotthard said without looking up from his laptop as he typed. "Because...she's not just Gabrielle Saxe. Just got a full report on her prints."
She covered her face with her hands and groaned.
Gotthard read from his monitor, "She's Gabrielle Tynte Saxe, heir to the Tynte dynasty, and she's had two attacks on her life before she disappeared following her divorce."
Carlos blinked. He'd known something was not just average about her, but her entire family was imperial lineage?
She was way up the freakin' royal food chain.
"You told me there was nothing different or special about you." Carlos waited until she uncovered her face to add, "When you tell a lie, it's a whopper. Now we have even more reason to keep you here in protective custody."
"No!" Her eyes rounded in panic. She jerked toward Joe. "I can get inside with one of your people...by tomorrow."
"We'd be sending a civilian into danger and risking our people while doing it," Carlos argued, not liking the way Joe was considering her offer.
"You'll waste the best chance you have to get answers on Mandy and the other teens...and finding out who the Fratelli are," she threw right back.
"Hard to argue with that," Joe finally said.
"But I won't help unless you make me a deal." Gabrielle's sable eyebrows lowered over a stubborn gaze. She rushed ahead before Carlos could shut her down. "I'll do whatever is necessary to help you if you promise to look for Linette and free me once I'm through and you see that I'm not a criminal."
Joe didn't hesitate. "Deal."
THIRTEEN
CARLOS STOOD IN the kitchen with his back to the rolling mountains beyond the cabin and leaned against the sink counter. He'd run out of arguments to prevent Gabrielle from going. The mission should be his only concern, but she had no one else to watch out for her.
"She walked into this." Joe paced along the opposite side of the island as he justified the decision. "We're just doing what BAD does best-capitalizing on resources and assets wherever we can find them."
"Baby Face considered himself a white-collar criminal who didn't dirty his hands and had never worked with Durand before. Makes me wonder why he was picking up Gabrielle on his own, and how did he find her?"
"All good questions, but Baby Face is dead so he can't help us, and we can't pass up this opportunity." Joe paused and rocked back on his heels, arms crossed, thinking.
Carlos finished his coffee and placed the cup in the sink. He'd issued orders to the team, dispersing Rae and Korbin in one direction to get ready to leave and Hunter back to the IT to start processing information on the school.
Joe glanced over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps and voices coming up the stairs from the basement.
Gotthard appeared with Gabrielle right behind him, saying something about a secondary retrieval something or other. When they both entered the room, she fell silent.
"We've breeched the school programs." The smile Gotthard rarely sported underlined the significance of their success.
"I need my laptop to check for messages from the school." Gabrielle's excitement flashed in her eyes, not as tired now that she'd eaten a sandwich.
"Why can't you use ours?" Joe had put her with Gotthard to monitor her moves.
"My e-mail system is complicated and all my passwords are loaded into my laptop." Embarrassment flushed her cheeks with rosy color before her lips curved. That's when she glanced at Carlos and dimples showed up with the fairy smile.
Her eyes reflected a deep loneliness when her guard was down. Unremarkable in so many ways, but the dimples and smile rearranged her nondescript features into adorable.
Carlos breathed out a long, miserable sigh.
She was not adorable, dammit. When was he going to get it straight in his mind that she was a potential threat to American security? And people he cared about?
This woman had a connection to the Anguis she'd yet to explain to his satisfaction. Just as she'd been told earlier, Gabrielle was the enemy until proven otherwise. One who could be a danger to others.
Right. And he was the Easter Bunny.
Joe nodded at Gotthard. "Let her boot up."
When she turned to follow Gotthard downstairs, Carlos said, "Gabrielle?"
She swung back wide-eyed with a look of fear as if she thought something had changed. "What?"
"We're leaving as soon as you get an invitation from the school."
Her relief reached out and touched Carlos. She moved as if to take a step toward him and caught herself, making him wonder what had been on her mind. She grinned. "Gotthard came up with a particularly nasty way to fubar the computers so they should be looking for me now."
She hurried from the room before Carlos raised his eyebrows at her last comment. Did Miss Priss even know what the acronym fubar stood for?
Joe lifted his phone, which must have buzzed, and answered it, paused, then muttered something low that sounded like a curse and hung up. "Based on all the information you sent yesterday, we managed to track down the helicopter."
"You found Turga's pilot?"
"We caught up with him in South America. He made a fuel stop near Caracas and disappeared while the chopper was being serviced. The station belongs to one of Durand's legitimate companies, and the pilot's flight plan indicated Durand's compound as his last stop. He may be lost to us."
Carlos drummed his fingers on the counter, thinking. "That doesn't fit Durand's MO."
"Why not?"
"At least it wouldn't have fit at one time." Carlos scratched his jaw. Joe and Retter, BAD's top agent, knew he was Anguis, but not that he was related by blood. Sad to remember more about the ways his family killed people than anything else. "Durand wouldn't kill or kidnap someone with a trail like that to his compound. He liked everything kept low profile, unless he really wanted to make a statement." Like bombing the vehicle of a competitor trying to move into his territory. The explosion sixteen years ago took out a van full of female teachers just trying to help South America's underprivileged.
Durand tried to explain the deaths on the bus as an unintentional accident.
Carlos disagreed, but in the end the teachers were just four more deaths he felt to his soul.
"So you think...?" Joe prompted.
"Whoever took the pilot might have been snatching him away from Durand." Carlos scratched his chin, thinking.
"Another player in the mix." The grim set of Joe's jaw crept into his words.
"I'm betting the Fratelli are involved, maybe payback for losing Mandy, but that almost doesn't fit either. Why the pilot? Why not have someone shadow Baby Face and grab Gabrielle if they knew about Durand's plans? I wonder if whoever grabbed the pilot knows that Gabrielle is the informant?"
"Don't know, but that pilot can finger you and Gabrielle."
Carlos chewed on that, considering the implications and risks. "Maybe Gabrielle would be safer with someone else." He'd tried to sound all business, to hide his lack of convicti
on. The idea of sending her out with anyone else dug under his skin and irritated him more than it should have.
"She won't be any safer with someone else, but you're going to be exposed with no immediate backup on-site, but I'd rather have you on this just because of your knowledge of the Anguis."
"I realize that." Carlos met Joe's gaze that shared nothing. Guilt almost pushed him to tell Joe just how well he knew the Anguis, but Joe and Retter knew as much as BAD needed to know. He'd told them years ago about how the Anguis soldiers were tattooed like him.
He just hadn't explained the significance of the scar.
"The closest we can get anyone to that school is going to be half a kilometer away, which might as well be a continent away if things go to shit." Joe drummed his fingers on the counter. "I could send Retter, but I had other plans for him."
Carlos shook his head. "She'd never listen to Retter." And the idea of Retter alone with her didn't sit well at all.
"Not listen to him?" Joe smiled in disbelief. He clearly couldn't imagine anyone denying his top gun and one of the most intimidating agents to come out of BAD. "Retter's pretty intimidating."
"That's why she'd never listen to him," Carlos explained. "Gabrielle runs hot and cold. One minute she'll bite your head off and the next she's terrified. If you snap at her at the wrong time, she'll just freeze up." It surprised Carlos that he was beginning to understand her fluctuating personality so well, but he did. She developed more backbone and attitude when she was exhausted, but catch her rested or just after eating and she was gentle as a kitten.
"I've got orders to cover a media event in a congressional hearing room that's been on the books for the past five months. Basically, it's a media blitz for the two presidential parties." Joe's long sigh telegraphed how much he hated expending trained agents he desperately needed in less threatened places right now. "We're going to be stretched thin on manpower. Retter's pulling together a team to take into Venezuela. I need him to find out who's attacking their oil minister and fingering the U.S. as the money behind the hits before this oil crisis turns into an international conflict."
Carlos held up his hand. "I'm on board. We'll leave as soon as I can get Gabrielle packed and out of here."
What had Turga's pilot told Durand about him and Gabrielle? Carlos had to keep her safe, which was going to be a trick if Durand sent his guns after them. One more thing came to mind.