Rich (Benson Security #5) - Janet Elizabeth Henderson Page 0,37

or to how people saw our cover story, or even how it would affect the team.” She willed him to understand the things she couldn’t say. That after spending ten years making choices to protect her family, the behavior was hard-wired into her now.

His expression softened to the one she’d grown to expect when he looked at her. The one she hadn’t known she’d miss until it was gone, and the relief on seeing it again almost made her crumble.

“You are so much trouble,” he said. “Billions of women on the planet, and you’re the one who keeps me awake at night.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t quite believe his own behavior. “You’ve got secrets piled on top of more secrets. You have layers of barbed wire wrapped around you that rip anyone to shreds if they try to get close. And you insist on hiding the best parts of you behind a wall of disdain and disinterest. Why is that, Rachel?”

“I don’t know.” And she didn’t. Part of it was nature, and the rest was just what she did to survive.

He let out a scoffing laugh. “Come on, your mom will be wondering what we’re doing in here.”

Dropping her hand from his arm, she squared her shoulders. “I can’t apologize twice in a decade, but I will make more of an effort to be part of the team.”

He took her hand and led her out of the bathroom. “Well, here’s hoping your effort doesn’t get us all killed.”

Really, there was nothing she could say to that.

It took Elle over an hour to find what they were looking for in Francesca’s office. Through it all, Rachel and her mother sat at the desk she used for paperwork, eating lunch and watching Elle like she was daytime reality TV.

Harvard would have been amused by their behavior if he hadn’t been busy hunting down his own clues. He’d scanned the room for anomalies but had found no surveillance devices. He had, however, discovered that someone had tampered with the biolock, basically rendering it ineffective. Anyone who pressed their hand to the scanner could unlock the door. How long it had been like that, he didn’t know. It wasn’t something you’d notice unless you tried to get unauthorized access in the first place.

“Hot diggity dog!” Elle shouted from under the computer desk in the corner of the room. “I’ve got it. I can’t believe how stupid I am. All this time, I’ve been looking for hi-tech answers, like hacking and server tapping, when it was a low-tech heist.” She wriggled out from under the desk with a tiny black box in her glove-clad hand. It was about the same size and shape as a chewing gum packet. They all leaned forward to examine it.

“What is it?” Francesca asked.

Elle let out a disgusted laugh. “A Wi-Fi memory card reader. It sets up a Wi-Fi hotspot, a private network essentially, between a couple of computers or phones. Its transmission range is only about twenty meters, and it’s mainly used for transferring files between devices without using a USB port or Bluetooth.” She popped open one of the little slots. “The information’s saved to a micro memory card.” When she held up the card, it was barely the size of a fingernail.

“Like the cards from our phones or cameras,” Francesca said.

“Exactly like those. Easy to hide and won’t set off a metal detector.” She glared at the box, as though it’d personally offended her. “This is seriously low-tech. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”

“How does the box thing work?” Rachel stared at it intently.

Harvard answered, drawing her gaze, and finding a softer aspect to it than he’d seen before. “Someone would have to set it up on the computer to use it. But basically, all that means is getting the computer to recognize it, then typing in the Wi-Fi password.”

Elle nodded. “It’d take five minutes at most. Especially if they were lucky enough to catch the computer while it was still running, but before the security screen kicked in. That thirty seconds to a minute or so wait time would be enough to get in there and keep the computer awake long enough to set this up.”

“And then,” Harvard said, “the box would lie dormant until someone gave it the command to save files from the computer. Triggering the Wi-Fi on the box would knock out the Wi-Fi the machine normally connects to, but it would only be for a matter