Page 57 of Broken Wheels
“Can we run away?” Josh asked, only half-joking.
Dixon ran a thumb over Josh’s cheek. “If that’s what it takes, then yes, we can do that.”
Oh dear Lord, he was serious.
I never believed there’d be someone who’d give everything up to be with me.
Except Josh knew he wasn’t about to run away.
“No. No, we need to get this over with. Just…. Please, don’t go anywhere.”
Dixon snorted. “No such luck. You’re stuck with me.”
Josh was okay with that.
“So now I guess it’s time to come out of the closet?” he quipped.
Dixon laughed.
As they stepped into the meeting room, Josh noted the ice water and pastries on the table, plus the pots of coffee off to the side.
Apparently they think this is going to take a while. His stomach clenched. And they’d be right. Not that he could eat a bite right then.
Gary and Michael were already seated at the table. Josh joined them and Dixon took the chair beside him, their knees touching. Josh flashed him a grateful glance.
Michael cleared his throat. “Okay, I think we know why we’re here, so we can dispense with the niceties. You asked for a week, Josh, and we gave you that. So now it’s time to tell us everything.” Before Josh could say anything, Michael plowed ahead. “We know this isn’t going to be easy for you, but you need to understand something. Keeping secrets like this makes it harder for us to protect you.”
All Josh’s arguments for not sharing his knowledge collapsed like a house of cards at those words.
There was nothing to do but tell the truth.
He leaned forward, his hands clasped on the table.
Just as he was about to speak, Dixon cleared his throat. “One sec, Doc.” He turned to Gary and Michael. “What he has to say makes him worried. He feels that if he shares this, it puts the same target on our backs he has on his. He’s afraid of how this will affect you.”
Michael clasped hands with Gary, who gave a slight nod. “We talked about this last night. We know it’s bad, but this is CrossBow, and we never walk away from a client. Or friend. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”
Josh could have sagged in relief at those words. He took a deep, bracing breath and launched into his confession.
“You already know what I did that got me hooked up with the government.”
All three men said yes.
Josh took a deep breath. “I’ll be honest with you. When they tapped me for the job, I was excited. I mean, doing what I loved and making money from it? I could give my parents a better life. Hell, I could even win my way back into their hearts. And for the first year, everything was great. The guys I worked with taught me a lot about hacking. As good as I thought I was, they were infinitely better. In fact, they were the ones who caught me.”
Dixon stood, and Josh knew he was grabbing them coffee. He waited until Dixon rejoined him before continuing.
“I didn’t mind so much being caught, because what they showed me ensured I had several extra layers of protection moving forward. And then? The brass put us in different rooms and gave each of us a small part of a project. We’d never worked separately before, but it wasn’t all that weird. My job was to do something I’d never done before—to find out if I could hack a missile guidance system.” He chuckled. “That was heady as hell. And it wasn’t easy, let me tell you. I worked my ass off, trying different methods to get in. It was a challenge.”
“You just did it? Without asking why?” Gary asked.
Josh gave a sigh. “That was my mistake. I should have asked more questions. I should have done something. And then everything changed.”
“What happened?” Michael leaned forward.
“One night after I’d finished my work, I went to the cafeteria with the others. One of them—Luke Benning, I think—mentioned they had him doing calculations for the best spot for an explosion to spread contaminants through the atmosphere.”
Gary wheezed, “Contaminants?”