Flee the Night by Susan May Warren Read Free Book Online Page A

thing. That you’re not planning to steal Ex-6 and sell it to the highest bidder,” Berg said.
    Lacey was hardly able to digest his words.
    “Here’s the deal,” Berg continued as if he hadn’t just accused her of industrial treason, the very crime she was trying to prevent. “You hand over the Ex-6 program now, we’ll finish it, and we’ll make sure you’re sentenced to minimum security instead of lost in the labyrinth of DOJ maximum security dungeons.”
    Lacey looked at his hazel eyes, at any traces of duplicity found there, and scrambled to make sense of his request. Where was her laptop? Surely it survived the crash. Where was the Ex-6 program? The thought of it in Shavik’s hands sent a chill into her belly.
    “I know you were nearly finished. Did you fix the glitches that still remained—like encrypting the transmission signal?” Berg’s question sliced through the scenarios of terrorism waging through her brain.
    “The fact that I’m even answering this question should give you some pause as to my traitorous plans,” Lacey said, unflinching. “Yes. I just need to test it with the hardware a final time; then it will be ready for production.”
    Director Berg nodded like all this wasn’t completely over his head. But developing the Department of Defense’s most advanced on-field encryption/decryption system pushed even Lacey’s PhD in mathematics to the limit. “Then faking its destruction now would be advantageous to your selling it into enemy hands.”
    “Hardly. I’ve never hidden my agenda from you, Berg. I want nothing more than to put this program in the hands of our field agents and retire quietly with my daughter in some safe place, with a nice white-picket fence and a pack of Dobermans. Selling Ex-6 would betray everything John and I fought for and everything he died for. How dare you accuse me of treason after everything I’ve given to you and my country.” She started to shake.
    Was that a smirk on Brower’s face? How she longed for two minutes alone with the creep, even if she had only one good arm.
    “I am not a traitor,” she told Berg. “I have full intentions of handing over the program to the NSA as soon as it is finished. Just like I promised.”
    “Then I trust you have a copy?” The deputy director’s voice held the urgency that should have been reserved for younger, less experienced men.
    Lacey studied him. Berg understood as well as she the importance of Ex-6. Hadn’t he looked at her with the same gleam when she’d come to him shortly after Em’s birth, with the plans for a quantum-based encryption system? He knew the price she’d paid in Kazakhstan seven years ago, the price too many agents paid in the age of electronic communication. She’d felt his excitement burn behind her heart. Maybe she wasn’t quite as vulnerable as it might seem.
    She gathered her courage and produced an even, flat voice. “Yes, I have a copy.” She took a breath. “You’ll get the encryption system when I find my daughter.” She would have gotten less of a response if she’d slapped him. How he’d ever been John’s handler baffled her. Even she had a better game face. She remembered when Omar Al-Akim had stood toe to toe with her and told her that he would some-day send her home to Kentucky, one body part at a time. She hadn’t even flinched.
    “You’re not in a position to bargain with us, Lacey. You hardly have a stellar reputation for loyalty. A few well-placed suggestions in the right ear and you won’t just serve time for murder; you’ll be walking the green mile for high treason.”
    Lacey didn’t respond. The fact that Berg waved her past before her eyes like a red flag should have had her swallowing, blinking back ugly scenarios, and protesting. But Emily was still out there, and past experience told her that her best ally was her own wits.
    Except … well, maybe now she also had Jim Micah. Still, he hadn’t exactly jumped for joy at seeing her. He might be