Page 6 of Under Her Protection

"Statistically, the sequel is better."

"Shut up."

Blackthorn Security occupied three floors of an unmarked stone building in the eighth. You could walk past it fifty times and never know what it was, which was the point. You entered through an unsigned lobby, you presented a palm to a scanner that was not obviously a scanner, and you were let up by an elevator that had no buttons until it decided you were allowed to use them.

The elevator opened onto a floor that smelled like coffee and paper and, faintly, gun oil. The lights were low. Three analysts were at their screens at this hour because at Blackthorn there were always three analysts at their screens. No one looked up when Leo and Avery crossed the floor.

Dominique's office was at the end.

She was behind her desk when they entered. Dark hair low, grey suit, sleeves pushed to the wrist. She did not stand. She gestured them to the two chairs across from her and they sat, and the door closed behind them without anyone having touched it.

"Thank you for coming," Dominique said.

"You are welcome," Leo said.

The corner of Dominique's mouth lifted once, briefly, which was the Dominique version of a smile. She slid a folder across the desk. Matte black cover. No name on it. One red tag at the corner, which at Blackthorn meant two things: principal of public interest, and engagement not yet accepted.

"Vivienne Strauss," Dominique said.

Leo did not touch the folder yet. "The CEO."

"Yes."

"Strauss Industrie?"

"Yes."

"She has internal security."

"She does."

"She does not use outside operatives."

"She does not."

Leo waited.

Dominique folded her hands. "Her deal collapsed three hours ago. The Bellini acquisition. You will not have read about it yet. You will tomorrow. Internal pricing data, leaked to a named competitor, at a level of detail that was held by fewer than a dozen people in her organization."

Avery's head tilted a fraction. "Insider."

"Almost certainly."

"How clean is the intel?"

"Clean enough that I am prepared to say it on the record in this room. Not clean enough that we have a name." Dominique's eyes moved from Avery to Leo and stayed there. "This is the second breach in eleven days. The first was also internal. The first cost her an auction-level bid on a logistics network in Rotterdam. No public notice. She ate it."

Leo opened the folder.

Vivienne Strauss, fifty-two. Photo at the top, professional, slightly out of date. Tall, dark hair swept back, grey suit, grey-blue eyes, a face that did not volunteer anything. The kind of photo a CEO put on the annual report because it was the photo she had approved. Leo spent three seconds on it and moved on.

Beneath the photo: a company structure chart, a list of properties, a short list of close associates. Three names were redacted. The redactions were in a particular style Leo had learned to recognize over the years she had worked for Dominique. Those were Circle names.

She looked up.

“The Velvet Circle?" she said referring to the secret network of the most powerful women in the world.

"Yes."