His gut clenched as the truth hit him. They’d always been ready to use Noelle. They’d simply been looking for the leverage to force her to do it. “They want someone to hack Genedyne’s systems.”
“Of course they do,” Ian replied. “So this is your call. You want to blow it up, let’s do it. You want to try to give Noelle as much cover as possible by making a deal with the feds, we can do that, too. It’s up to you.”
“What about Kyle?”
“Kyle is my problem,” Ian replied. “And I have to figure out how much time I have to solve it before I’m the one who has to blow up my brother’s whole world.”
Noelle wanted to work late tonight. Kyle would be working late, too, because Jessica Layne had a date. If he did his job properly, he could have Noelle out of this in a matter of a couple of hours. “I want it in writing that if I do this, they won’t prosecute Noelle for anything they find.”
He knew she wasn’t guilty, but a good prosecutor could twist things to suit the investigation. He wanted Noelle out of this.
Cara stepped back to the table. “All right. I’m ready to lay everything on the line.”
Chris held her chair out, a seemingly habitual move. Hutch didn’t miss the way the detective glanced down at her as he moved to his own seat. “I’ve convinced her you’re trustworthy. Please don’t make me a liar.”
The door came open and Mitch Bradford strode in, a fierce frown on his face as he pointed at the detective and special agent. “I’m going to have both of your freaking badges. You arrested my client falsely and in front of his teenaged daughters’ school? I’m going to sue the fuck out of this department and the two of you personally.”
“Mitch, don’t have a heart attack.” Tag had his cell in his hand. “We’re making a deal to keep Noelle safe. You hungry?”
Mitch set his briefcase on the table. “Noelle? My sister-in-law’s stepdaughter? What the hell is Noelle into?”
“Nothing, but our friends here dragged her into some fairly wretched business,” Hutch complained. “So I’m going to get her out. And tell Charlotte I need something sweet.”
He did think better when he wasn’t hungry.
Tag leaned over and whispered. “Dude, you should have taken a shower. You smell like sex.”
He groaned and sat back as Mitch started to do his thing and prayed Noelle would forgive him for what he was about to do.
Chapter Fourteen
Noelle stared at the computer in front of her and sighed. She was close. So damn close to being done with this assignment that it seemed stupid to stop work and go back to Hutch’s place where she would sit around and think about work.
Well, after he’d blown her mind because he would definitely do that. She was already considering how hot she could get him in the car ride home. Traffic didn’t have to be boring, and one of their assignments was to push each other’s limits.
But then she would worry about this damn report all weekend. He said he would let her come up to work tomorrow, but she could finish tonight, have that report on Jessica’s desk, and then take the whole weekend off.
“Dr. LaVigne?”
She glanced up and a woman with dark hair stood at the front of her desk. She had a cart in front of her filled with envelopes of all sizes. She was probably in her late twenties and the pitch-black color of her hair was obviously not her natural color. The woman had fair skin that would have gone well with a blonde tone, but the stark makeup she had on marked her as a goth girl. She reminded Noelle the slightest bit of MaeBe, but without the other woman’s infectious smile. “Yes?”
“I’m from the mailroom,” the woman said. “I was stopping by to see if you have anything you need to send out.”
“We have a mailroom?” She thought almost everyone used email and texts these days.
The woman smiled. “Oh, yes. Though it’s almost exclusively used by the business floors. Snail mail is still a thing. I was told not to bother coming to the labs, but I had a couple of minutes before we close up and saw you in here. You had some tech journals.”
She started to hand them over to Noelle when they slipped out of her hands and to the floor.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said.
They’d landed far closer to Noelle. She leaned over to pick them up, one hand on her cane.
“I can be such a klutz.” The woman maneuvered the cart so it wasn’t between them. She held a hand out to help Noelle up.
“I’m good.” She stood back up, her copy of the latest chemistry journal in her hand. “Thanks for this. I needed some light reading for the weekend. I usually get this delivered at home.”