Stolen by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t talked about it with anyone, and there was no reason for Cassidy to do so, it had to be Meredith. She’s worried about her career. She’s only a couple years from retirement; she shouldn’t have to stress over an upstart newbie agent who gets a pass on the process because of who she knows.”
    “You’re loyal to Meredith.”
    “I’m angry that the process has been perverted. As far as I’m concerned, Lucy Kincaid shouldn’t be a federal agent. I hope the instructors at Quantico see the same problems with her that we saw.” He glanced at Deanna, then motioned toward a bench across from the stone bridge that crossed the north part of the lake near 77th Street. It was quiet here under the shade of an oak tree. The few people who passed them didn’t pay any undue attention.
    “You told Meredith that you were investigating Kincaid’s boyfriend, Sean Rogan.”
    “Yes. I have been tracking him for years, but only recently have I uncovered a solid lead.”
    “Tell me about the investigation,” Juan said.
    Deanna didn’t want to share, because this was where her involvement could get dicey. Deanna’s boss knew she was looking at Colton Thayer for mortgage fraud, but she’d created that cover story so he’d give her some room to work. Technically, Thayer’s crimes would be covered under the cybercrime unit, but every time she’d tried to get back on the squad she’d been stymied—because of what happened at Stanford. So she made up a scam and her boss gave her some room to build a case.
    But there was nothing on Thayer, at least related to white-collar crime. She falsified enough reports to give a hint of something fishy without having enough evidence to turn over the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Her boss had bigger cases to manage, so her Thayer investigation slipped under the radar.
    She told Martinez, “There have been a series of thefts in Manhattan that we believe are tied to Colton Thayer, a known computer hacker. He’s hard to track—Cybercrime has been working on him for years. His M.O. is to stay clean for long stretches of time. Because I have a background in accounting, I’ve been kept in the loop.” Mostly true. “Thayer and Rogan were at MIT together and suspected of a whole host of cybercrimes, but nothing was ever proved and the statute of limitations has long since passed. However, Rogan has been in New York for the last three weeks and has been seen at Thayer’s residence.”
    “You suspect they’re working on something together? Like what?”
    “Right before Rogan moved to New York he split from his brother’s security company. The only reason I learned this is because Rogan had high-level government security, which was suspended by RCK. However, Rogan had access to top-secret projects RCK was contracted for with both our government and defense contractors.”
    Juan frowned. “I know a bit about Rogan, from our interviews with Kincaid. He doesn’t seem to be one for treason.”
    Deanna couldn’t lose Juan now, not when she was so close. “But he is one for power and money. Probably not treason, but he can use his skills and knowledge to hack into any system he wants. Without his brother to rein him in, he’s gone rogue. His involvement with Thayer proves it.” That was Deanna’s theory. “And Thayer had a recent influx of cash. It appears to be legit, but my team is going through it with a fine-toothed comb.” Meaning her. She had no team—she was in this all on her own, with Steve Gannon’s help on occasion.
    But she felt in her gut that this was it, this was her last shot. Taking down Rogan would fix her career and rebuild her reputation, which was still damaged even after all these years. She had nightmares about the continuing snickers and comments. How she’d stood on the stage at Stanford, in front of two hundred law enforcement professionals, and right after she had proclaimed that her system was foolproof, Rogan had hacked it and exposed one of