Nathaniel was at the door in less than two minutes.
Olivia let him in without hesitation. She'd been expecting two people—or maybe she'd stopped being surprised by anything. Her face was pale, her hands steady, but her eyes had the hollow look of someone who hadn't slept in weeks.
"You're Nathaniel Cross," Olivia said.
"Yes."
"I've seen your picture. In Richard's files." She walked back to the whiteboard. "He thought you were a good man. Flawed, but good. He said you didn't know what Webb was doing."
"I didn't."
"I believe you." Olivia picked up a marker and drew a circle around Webb's name. "Richard didn't tell you because he wanted to protect you. If you didn't know, you couldn't be charged. You couldn't be killed."
"Richard was wrong about that last part."
Olivia's hand stopped. She set down the marker. "Yes. He was."
---
Victoria stood by the window, watching the street below. No unfamiliar cars. No figures loitering on the sidewalk. But she knew better than to trust silence.
"Olivia," Victoria said, "we need to know everything. Every name. Every transaction. Every person who helped Webb steal money and bury evidence."
Olivia nodded. She walked to her desk, pulled out a laptop, and set it on the coffee table.
"Richard started keeping his own records five years ago," she said. "He didn't trust Webb's people. He didn't trust the banks. He didn't even trust the encrypted servers Webb provided. So he built his own system."
"Where is it?"
"Here." Olivia typed a password—long, complex, thirty characters at least. The screen flickered. A file directory appeared, hundreds of folders, each labeled with a date and a code.
"I helped him organize it," Olivia continued. "He paid me under the table. Cash. No receipts. He said if anyone asked, I was just a friend helping him with a personal project."
"But you knew what it really was."
"I knew Richard was scared. I didn't know why until after he died." She opened a folder labeled "Project Chimera." Inside were subfolders for each of the twelve names on the list—plus three more Victoria hadn't seen before.
"Three more names," Victoria said.
"I found them after Richard died. He hadn't had time to add them to the official list. They're the ones who actually killed him."
Nathaniel stepped closer. "Who?"
Olivia opened the first new folder. A photograph appeared—a man in his fifties, clean-shaven, wearing a military uniform.
"General Mark Hollis. Retired. He runs a private security firm that does off-the-books work for Webb. He's the one who arranged Richard's 'heart attack.'"
She opened the second folder. A woman, mid-forties, with short blonde hair and cold eyes.
"Dr. Lena Petrova. She's a chemist. She designed the drug that killed Richard. It mimics a heart attack perfectly. No traces. No witnesses."
The third folder. A man Victoria recognized from the news.
"Senator James Kincaid. He's not just on Webb's payroll. He's the one who ordered Richard's death. Because Richard had proof that Kincaid was taking bribes from a foreign government."
Victoria felt the room tilt. "A senator?"
"The same senator who sits on the Intelligence Committee. The same senator who oversees the FBI. The same senator who's been protecting Webb for years."
Nathaniel's face was white. "If Kincaid finds out we have this—"
"He already knows," Olivia said. "That's why Diana is dead. That's why Elena's house was broken into. That's why I've been sleeping with a gun under my pillow."
She pulled a drawer open and took out a small revolver. Victoria hadn't noticed it before.
"You're ready to fight," Victoria said.
"I'm ready to die. There's a difference."
---
They spent the next two hours copying files.
Olivia had three external drives. Victoria took one, Nathaniel took another, Olivia kept the third. They worked in silence, the only sounds the hum of the laptop and the occasional car passing on the street below.
Victoria watched Olivia as she worked. The woman was efficient, methodical, her fingers moving across the keyboard without hesitation. She'd done this before. Many times.
"How long have you been planning this?" Victoria asked.
"Since Richard's funeral." Olivia didn't look up from the screen. "I stood in the back. I watched Elena cry. I watched her children hold each other. And I knew Richard had been murdered. I just didn't know who did it."
"So you started digging."
"I started with the files Richard had given me. Then I started following the money. Then I started following the people." She glanced at Victoria. "You're not the only one who's been running. I've been running for three years. But I'm tired of running."
"So am I."
Olivia nodded. She finished copying the last file and ejected the drive.
"We need to get these to someone who can use them," Olivia said. "Someone not on Webb's payroll. Someone who can't be bought."
"Martin Rhodes was supposed to be that person," Nathaniel said. "Now he's gone."
"Rhodes was never the answer. He was a career politician. He would have leaked the files to the press and taken credit." Olivia stood up. "I have another contact. Someone Webb doesn't know about."
"Who?"
"Someone you've already met." She walked to the window and pointed across the street. "Look."
Victoria looked. A black SUV was parked at the curb. She hadn't noticed it before. The windows were tinted. The engine was running.
"Cole Vinson," Olivia said.
Victoria's blood went cold. "You're working with Vinson?"
"I'm not working with him. He's working for me." Olivia turned to face them. "Vinson has been feeding me information for two years. He's the one who told me about the drug. He's the one who told me about Kincaid. He's the one who's been keeping me alive."
"He's Webb's fixer," Nathaniel said.
"He was Webb's fixer. Now he's Webb's executioner. He just doesn't know it yet."
Victoria shook her head. "We can't trust him."
"You don't have to trust him. You just have to use him."
Olivia walked to the door and opened it. Vinson was standing in the hallway, exactly where he'd been when Victoria first arrived. She hadn't heard him come up.
"Ms. Hart," Vinson said. "We meet again."
"Last time you gave us seventy-two hours."
"I lied. Webb already knows about Olivia. He's sending a team tonight."
"Then why are you here?"
Vinson stepped into the apartment. He looked at the whiteboard, at the stacks of paper, at the laptop on the coffee table.
"Because I want to be on the winning side," he said. "And Webb is going to lose."
---
Vinson sat down on the couch, uninvited. Olivia handed him a cup of coffee. He took it without thanking her.
"There's a safe house in Virginia," he said. "A farm. Remote. No neighbors. I've been stocking it for months. Food, water, weapons, satellite internet. It's off the grid."
"You want us to hide," Victoria said.
"I want you to work. From somewhere Webb can't find you." He looked at Nathaniel. "You're a target. Ms. Hart is a target. Olivia is a target. Together, you're a nuclear bomb. Webb knows that. That's why he's coming."
"How do we get to this farm?"
"I drive you."
"And why should we trust you?"
Vinson set down his coffee. His cold eyes met hers.
"Because I killed Richard Chan," he said. "I injected him with the drug. I watched him die. And I've regretted it every day since."
The room was silent.
"You murdered him," Nathaniel said. His voice was flat.
"I followed orders. That's what I did. That's who I was." Vinson looked down at his hands. "Then I met Nora. And Nora showed me what kind of man I'd become."
"Nora was your niece."
"She was the only family I had left. Webb took her from me. I'm going to take everything from him."
Victoria looked at Nathaniel. His face was unreadable, but his hands were clenched into fists.
"We go to the farm," Victoria said. "We work from there. We finish this."
Nathaniel nodded slowly.
"One condition," he said to Vinson. "You don't touch the files.
You don't touch Olivia. And you stay away from Victoria."
Vinson stood up. "Agreed."
He walked to the door.
"We leave in ten minutes," he said. "Pack everything."