Stolen Read online

  Noah scowled, but Rick almost cracked a smile. The assistant director continued, “I listened to his suspicions, and because I had additional information regarding the suspect, I decided we had more than enough to warrant an investigation. But the problem is information channels. The investigation needs to be quiet.”

  “Meaning you’re investigating someone internally and you don’t want them to find out. Got it. But don’t you guys have a federal IA or something?”

  “I decided to keep this completely out of our system. The director approved my operating plan, and he and Dr. Hans Vigo are the only other people who know who we’re investigating and why. The director has given me blanket authority to run it as I see fit.”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “We’re looking at two people, one we know and a mole in the FBI that we’ve narrowed down to someone in the New York City regional office.” He paused. “We’re investigating Senator Jonathan Paxton.”

  Sean almost laughed. “It’s about time.”

  Paxton was someone Sean would love to make disappear, if he did those kinds of things.

  Rick motioned for Noah to explain. “Last January, after we arrested Fran Buckley, a white-collar and cybercrime task force was created who went through all the records of her organization, Women and Children First. She claimed during her plea agreement that all activities were funded through legitimate contributions made by law-abiding citizens who wanted to help stop violent crime—that none of their donors knew what they were doing with the money. There were enough legal successes with their program that everyone was deceived until Lucy found the connection to the vigilante ring.

  “There’s nothing in the financial records that screams murder for hire. But I interviewed Senator Paxton because he was the de facto head of WCF and he had been raising money for them around the country. I got the feeling that he was holding back. He was definitely angry, but it didn’t seem directed at Buckley. I started looking into some of the donors who had given to both Paxton’s senatorial campaign and WCF and realized that many had lost a loved one to violence. The donations were all across the board, from a hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. I don’t think that any of the donors hired WCF to specifically target a killer, but I suspected that Paxton had his own hit list, created from people he’d met—people he might have bonded with because they shared a tragedy.”

  Sean didn’t say a word. Noah was very close to the truth, but Sean had never been able to prove it. Knowing someone was guilty and having the evidence to prove it in a court of law were very different. And while Lucy had cut ties with Paxton, she had suspected he’d been involved as well. Had Noah talked to her? Had she fueled these suspicions?

  Noah was watching Sean closely, and Sean kept his face as blank as possible, though talking about Paxton angered him.

  “But I couldn’t find anything substantive,” Noah said. “I put my suspicions aside until the senator put himself in the middle of the Wendy James investigation.”

  Sean knew far more about that investigation than Noah thought he did, so he kept to the minimal facts. “Lucy said he was the one who turned the photos of Wendy and the congressman over to the media.”

  “He started the ball rolling, though I think he was far more involved in manipulating events. I don’t have a good grasp on his psychology, but Hans is writing up a profile for me.”

  “I can tell you exactly who Paxton is,” Sean said. “He’s a narcissist with a god complex.” He almost said more but cut himself off.

  Rick said, “That’s pretty much what Hans has already told us. He found out more about Paxton when he interviewed Lucy.”

  Sean leaned forward. “You brought Lucy in?”

  “Not into this investigation. But as part of her pre-Quantico interview, Hans talked to her about what happened at WCF and got her to talk about her relationship with Senator Paxton, without letting on that he was the subject of an investigation.”

  “She doesn’t have a relationship with him.”

  “But she did—she worked for him as an intern for a year; then he got her the job at WCF. They had been friends. I know you’re angry—”

  “You don’t know half of it.” Sean stopped himself. Again. He was only going to dig himself into a hole. Unless … unless Rick and Noah already knew what Paxton had on him. Unless they already knew that Paxton had blackmailed Sean.

  Noah said, “We needed more insight into what motivates Paxton. It’s easy to say ‘money and power’ because he’s a politician, but it’s more than that. You know that Lucy looks like his dead daughter.”

  Sean nodded once. He didn’t trust himself to speak.

  “Hans thinks that Paxton has a driving need to protect Lucy like he couldn’t protect his daughter, and also that he sees himself as some sort of superhero, a violent Robin Hood who, instead of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, kills the guilty to protect the innocent.”

  “I wouldn’t put such a noble cause on his head,” Sean couldn’t resist saying.

  “Nor would I,” Rick said. “But as you know, it’s important in criminal psychology to understand the suspect’s motivations so that we can figure out his next move. That’s why we’re here.”

  Sean knew what was coming before Noah said it. He was already thinking of ways to get out of it.

  “We need your help.”

  Sean delayed by saying, “It probably kills you to say that.”

  “It does.”

  Honest. Sean admired that.

  “There’s nothing I would like more than to take down Paxton, but I don’t see how I can help.”

  Noah walked over to Sean’s desk and handed him a thin file. “Over the last few weeks, since I shared my suspicions with Rick, we’ve learned that Senator Paxton paid your old friend Colton Thayer a large sum of money for ‘security consulting.’ We know that Thayer has been under suspicion in the past for cybercrimes—generally hacking, but instead of stealing information he exposes company corruption. Proving it has been far more difficult. He’s never been indicted.”

  Colton was good. He wouldn’t be caught. But that he was under suspicion wasn’t good.

  “Paxton is up to something,” Noah continued. “He’s taken more trips to his home state of New York this year than he has in past years.”

  Rick said, “When Noah came to me with information about Paxton’s involvement in the vigilante group, it took some digging, but it became clear that someone in the FBI was feeding him information about our investigations. He was able to steer clear of sex offenders who were already on our radar, and target only those who no one was tracking.”

  “Why do you think the mole is in the New York office instead of D.C.?”

  “Paxton is extremely careful, but we traced some suspicious communications to the main Manhattan office. We can’t dig deeper electronically without bringing in more people, and right now I don’t know who I trust to do it.”

  “Because a lot of cops don’t think that there’s anything wrong with knocking off child molesters and rapists,” Sean said.

  “It’s more than that. This isn’t just about vigilantes anymore. Thayer has no ties to violent or organized crime. He’s a hacktivist. Why would Paxton hire him?”

  “I don’t know.” But Sean had been thinking about it since they mentioned Colton’s name. Now Sean knew where Paxton got the information he used to blackmail him. He’d suspected, but now it was practically proven. Would his closest friend do that to him? What was Sean even thinking? He hadn’t seen Colton in nearly ten years. People change.

  “That’s why we need your help,” Rick said. “We want you to go undercover for us.”

  “You want me to spy on my old friend.”

  “We want to know what he’s doing for Senator Paxton. And Sean, we know he’s been calling you.”

  Sean slammed his fist on his desk. “You’ve been investigating me?”

  “No. We’ve been investigating Thayer. He’s called you m
ultiple times. But you’ve never called him.”

  Even if Sean had, they wouldn’t see the record. Sean would have used a secure phone. That Colton hadn’t done the same made Sean wonder if he had grown overly confident or sloppy. “I haven’t seen Colton in nine years. Not since I graduated MIT. Don’t you think it’s kind of suspicious that I just waltz back into his life?”

  “Why was he calling you?” Noah asked quietly.

  Sean had to deflect them. Distract them. “He’s been trying to get me to work for him.” That was the truth.

  “Why haven’t you?”

  “Duke. When I starting working for RCK, Duke said I had to cut ties with Colton. So I did.”

  “But he still talks to you.”

  “What do you want from me?” Sean asked. “Colton was my best friend during a really shitty time in my life. Yeah, he wants me to work for him. I always tell him no.”

  “Tell him yes.”

  “Absolutely not. You’re asking me to betray a friend.”

  Noah said, “You want to take down Paxton as much as I do. Why won’t you help?”

  Rick said, “You justifiably have reservations about infiltrating your friend’s group. I can give him limited immunity if he cooperates.”

  “You want me to convince him to turn on Paxton? You don’t even know why he’s working for him.”

  “Even after the fact.”

  Sean rubbed his face. “I can’t.”

  “Why?” Noah said.

  Noah was staring at him. Sean said, “You said this conversation is completely off-the-record. Is anything I tell you off-the-record as well?”

  “Yes,” Rick said without hesitation.

  Shit. Sean didn’t know how to avoid this conversation. He couldn’t do what they wanted; he would lose everything. “Paxton has information about my past that could land me in prison. Last month he blackmailed me into retrieving an item that was stolen from his office.”

  That information was a surprise to both of them. Sean didn’t want to tell them, especially Noah, but he felt that he was stuck in a corner. Paxton needed to be destroyed, but Sean couldn’t be the one to do it. No matter how much he wanted to.

  Sean continued, “There’s a crime with a ten-year statute of limitations that is currently nine and a half years old. Paxton knows about it. I don’t know what proof he has, if anything, but I can’t risk it. As soon as the statute is up, I’ll do anything you want to take down that bastard. But until March? I’m steering clear of him.”

  “I never pegged you as a coward,” Noah said.

  “Fuck you, Armstrong.”

  “We don’t have until March! This is happening now.”

  Rick said, “I can give you full immunity.”

  “Pardon me from being skeptical, but I’ve been lied to in the past.”

  “You know me better than that.”

  “Yeah, well, I also know that promises mean shit when someone higher up the ladder wants to screw you.”

  “This isn’t Stanford,” Rick said.

  “Do you know what happened there? Really know?”

  “Duke told me—”

  “Well, Duke has a selective memory. I was told by the FBI that nothing would happen to me if I told them how I hacked into their system. I walked them through the back door I’d uncovered and how I’d mirrored the pedophile’s account over their system, and then how I controlled it remotely. It was pretty damn brilliant, especially twelve years ago. I trusted them, but dammit, I should have had a lawyer write up something ironclad, because the next thing I knew, all my computers were confiscated, I was arrested, and then expelled and put on probation.”

  “The charges were dropped.”

  “I was in jail for three days. I was kicked out of school. I was threatened by Boston FBI agents for years just because I was on their radar as a hacker.”

  “You were a hacker,” Noah said.

  “See why I don’t believe you?” Sean said. “My brother Kane doesn’t trust many people, but he trusts you, Rick, and that means something to me. But I don’t trust the system. I don’t trust your boss. You can’t protect me if this all gets out.”

  Noah said, “Rick, can I have a minute with Sean?”

  “No,” Sean said, but Rick left. “Shit.” He rubbed his face again.

  Noah sat on the edge of the seat Rick had vacated. He picked up the picture of Sean and Lucy that sat on Sean’s desk. Sean grabbed it from Noah’s hands and put it out of reach. “Don’t go there,” Sean said.

  “You say you love her, but you have this shit hanging over your head. Paxton blackmailed you? That means he can get to you again.”

  “He can’t. I have something he wants.”

  Noah shook his head. “It’s a game for you; I get it.”

  “My freedom isn’t a game.”

  “If Paxton can blackmail you now, he’ll do it again. And again. When the statute runs out, he’ll still hold it over you because he’ll threaten to tell Lucy. Or release the intel and embarrass RCK. How many people does RCK employ? Dozens? Not to mention freelance contractors? As soon as Paxton knows your weakness, he’ll exploit it until he has you under his thumb permanently.”

  “Do you know this because of personal experience?” Sean was trying to deflect Noah, but it didn’t work.

  Noah rolled his eyes. “I know men like Paxton, and I know men like you. Don’t give him the power. You’re better than this.”

  “I’m not going to prison. But you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Give you a free road to Lucy.”

  Noah stared at him. “You think I’m trying to get you out of the way so I can have Lucy?”

  “Yes.” There. He’d said it. Put it out in the open.

  Noah leaned back and stared at him. “The thought’s crossed my mind.”

  Sean’s fists clenched. He wanted to hit Noah in the worst way.

  “But Lucy loves you. I’m not even on her radar. I care for her enough to respect her decision, including keeping you in her life. But if you really loved her—”

  “Don’t ever doubt my feelings for Lucy.”

  “You would clean the slate. She’s going to be a sworn FBI agent in four months. What if someone else finds out this information? What if they tell her? What if she does or doesn’t do something because she thinks she’s protecting you? Secrets kill, Sean. You know it. I’m the one who wanted to bring you into this operation. For all the shit you pull, you’re one of the smartest guys I know, and you’re loyal. I can’t do this without you.”

  If Noah had planned on guilting him into going along with this insane plan, it was working. Noah was right about one thing—that Paxton knew what happened nine and a half years ago meant that someone else knew about it, and there might be proof. Proof that could hurt not only Sean but also Lucy.

  “You don’t even know what I did.”

  “Trust Rick to do everything in his power to protect you.” Noah paused. “This isn’t going to be easy. You’ll have to make Colton believe you quit RCK.”

  “That isn’t the hard part,” Sean said. “I simply need to quit.”

  Noah looked surprised. “You want to read Duke into the plan?”

  “No. You don’t want Duke to know. He won’t like it, and I don’t want him looking over my shoulder. But I know what to do to set Duke off and give me a reason to quit.” Sean pushed a button on his desk and his voice came out through a house-wide intercom. He hadn’t realized that he’d already decided to help until now. But Noah was right. He didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t let Lucy pay for his past crimes. “Rick, you can return.”

  When Rick stepped back in, Sean said, “The hard part is that Paxton knows what I did. He won’t want me working with Colton on anything, but we’re at a standstill. If Paxton pushes, I’ll push back. I never gave him back what he hired me to steal. It’s my leverage on him, and it’s all I have.”

  “What does Paxton specifically know?”

  “I don’t think he has proof, but he knows enough tha
t I’m nervous that someone has proof.” Sean took a deep breath. He hadn’t spoken about Robert Martin or Martin Holdings to anyone since he left MIT. It was still a black cloud over him.

  “When I was at MIT, Colton and I created a group called Net. We were primarily an activist group that hacked into secure computer systems to expose the weaknesses and embarrass the companies and governments.”

  Rick said, “Much like what you do for RCK now.”

  Sean smiled. “Except now I get paid for it, we fix the security problems without publicly exposing the weakness, and they don’t call it hacking.”

  “Hacking is usually a five-to-seven-year sentence.”

  “We also needed money to buy and build the best computer systems. It’s not just skill, but equipment, that made us good. We took a few jobs that weren’t exactly kosher—usually stealing from crooks.”

  “You’re going to have to elaborate.”

  Sean had a lot of examples, but he didn’t feel the need to share everything with the feds. He gave them one. “There was a guy the FBI was investigating for insider trading. He was really good; you never would have caught him, not until he was drinking daiquiris on some island in the Caribbean.”

  “Who?”

  “Cyrus Block.”

  “If I recall correctly, we did catch him. He was given ten to twenty.”

  Sean smirked. “You’re welcome.”

  Rick didn’t comment. But Noah let out a short laugh. He knew what was coming. Maybe Noah wasn’t all that bad of a guy.

  Sean said, “You wouldn’t have caught him if we didn’t set him up. We learned about him after he hosted a seminar at MIT on the security of finance systems. He seduced a freshman—he was in his forties; she was eighteen—and she tried to kill herself when she found out she was pregnant. Her parents had sacrificed everything for her to go to MIT; she had a partial scholarship, but they took out a second mortgage on their house to get her there. She was in the same sorority as my girlfriend.” Sean stared at Rick and Noah. “He was a fucking asshole.”

  “Sounds like,” Noah said.

  “Skye Jansen, my girlfriend at the time, knew everything about finances. Sharp girl. She did some legal research and suspected that Block was involved in insider trading, but there was no proof without breaking some laws. My friends and I came up with a plan to take him down. We hacked into his computer and left a trail of bread crumbs so the FBI would be able to figure it out.”