Page 41 of The B-Team

“Yeah,” Harvard replied from where he sprawled on a dining room chair, watching Rachel pace. “One of the reasons the place is so secure is that you need onsite access to hack it.”

“And they have that now,” Belinda said. “But surely someone will monitor them to ensure they don’t stray beyond the offending server?”

“There are literally hundreds of servers there,” Julia said. “I’m not familiar with the setup of the place, but I imagine itwould be difficult to monitor what everyone’s doing for every single minute they’re there.”

“It’s still a stretch,” Ryan said. “What makes you think this is a possibility?”

She turned her laptop so the screen faced the team and pointed to a paragraph she’d enlarged. The text was easy to read. “They only have access for fourteen days.”

Beast let out a low whistle. “I’ll be damned. With Elle and Evan on a fourteen-day lockdown, there’s nobody to monitor our server for a breach.”

“But why keep Callum and Lake too?” Isobel said. “Callum couldn’t hack his way out of a paper bag.”

“Because”—Rachel stopped pacing long enough to glare at everyone—“apart from Elle and Evan, they’re the only ones with the authority to wipe our server.”

“You don’t have that too?” Claire looked stunned.

Rachel waved a dismissive hand and started pacing again. “I only bought back into Benson Security a few months ago. We never got around to setting me up with that kind of access.” She frowned. “I should have pushed it up my list of priorities.”

“I can’t believe this.” Ryan clasped his hands on top of his head. “I assumed this was a vendetta story but turns out it’s a heist. The commander’s ripping us off.”

“You can’t be sure of that,” Belinda said. “He could be looking for evidence to back up the terrorism charges.”

“Nope.” Ryan dropped his hands and shook his head. “Anything he finds on our server is inadmissible in court. He doesn’t have a warrant for any of it. This is totally a heist.” He looked at Harvard for confirmation.

The big man folded his arms over his blue sweater. “Definitely a heist,” he said grimly. “Though I’m pretty sure if the commander can make something stick on Lake, that would be an added bonus.”

“Another corrupt commanding officer,” Rachel snapped. “Next time I have dinner with the prime minister, I’m going to point out that there’s a valid reason people are losing faith in the police.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “I’m surprised you aren’t bringing it up with the king.”

“Don’t be foolish,” Rachel said. “He has no influence in these matters.”

“How silly of me,” Claire muttered.

“If he’s out to steal information,” Ryan said, “what’s he after? I mean, he can’t download everything because somebody would notice, so he’s got to be looking for something in particular. Any ideas?”

There was silence.

“This makes no sense,” Belinda said. “Apart from a decades-old grudge against Lake, the commander doesn’t have any other issues.” She gestured to the whiteboard containing his background information. “He’s had a squeaky-clean reputation since joining the police. There are no criminal associates, no ties to any dodgy organizations, no dubious interests. Everything about him screams he’s a stickler for the rules, so much so that he annoys the people around him.”

“That’s true,” Julia said. “I’ve found four interviews with his subordinates where they mention he insists on the correct uniform at all times. Someone who’s so picky about something that trivial, to the point where his staff comment on it, is not someone who’d throw away his career. So why break the law now? He’s risking everything—his reputation, his career, the family name. I don’t understand his motivation.”

“He has a huge sense of entitlement,” Harvard said. “People like that get bitter. They tend to think they deserve more than they have. Wouldn’t take much for someone with that mentality to just take what they feel is rightfully theirs.”

Ryan started pacing alongside Rachel, who glared at him. He ignored her. His brain was working hard, and his body needed to move to catch up.

“So, maybe we aren’t talking about something he can use as evidence,” he said. “Perhaps it’s something he can use to further his career. To give him the status and recognition he believes he deserves.” He glanced around the room. “Blackmail material? Or information on some bad dude he can take down and get the credit for?”

“Again,” Julia said, “our server is full of data that meets that criteria.”

“We need to talk to somebody who knows him well,” Beast said. “See if he has any obsessions that can help narrow down what he’s looking for. Maybe a criminal who got away that he’s eager to prosecute, or someone he feels is mocking him just by being free.”

Isobel perked up. “His ex-wife! I bet she’d love to talk to us and spill every one of his dark little obsessions.”

“His ex-wife lives in Kensington,” Julia said.

“That’s not far. We can go see her.” Isobel looked ready to run from the room.