Page 42 of Lethal Sins
The room erupted into chaos. Tai lunged towards Cody, his face contorted with rage. Mason and Graham reacted instantly, their strong arms restraining the furious agent.
“Let me go!” Tai’s voice was a low growl. “I’ll knock that lying jerk out myself.”
Bridger’s calm voice cut through the commotion. “Everyone, settle down. We need to approach this rationally.”
Tai’s head whipped around, his eyes narrowing at Bridger. “Who are you? Why aren’t you more upset about this?”
Paige’s gaze darted between Bridger and Cody, her mind whirling. The confusion on her face mirrored Tai’s words. She felt as if the ground beneath her feet had suddenly become quicksand, every certainty sinking away.
Hurt, anger, and a deep, unsettling confusion roiled her insides. But beneath it all, a traitorous part of her mind had that kiss on replay. Cody. The guy she’d harbored a secret crush on since college. Even after his betrayal. How pathetic was that?
She shook her head, trying to dislodge the conflicting thoughts. The lingering feelings had never been an issue, until he just had to bust back into her life, dragging her whole, painful past back with him.
Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. She couldn’t wait for him to be gone. And he would be, soon. All they had to do was deactivate the virus and contact Jason. Then they could regroup and go after the Consortium together.
Cody’s voice cut through the chaos, firm and unyielding. “Enough! I am Tanner. But Tanner doesn’t really exist. It’s more of a … borrowed … identity.”
The room fell silent, confusion replacing anger on the team’s faces.
Cody continued, his words tumbling out. “Paige’s father, Atticus, and I created the persona a long time ago. We needed a verifiable alter ego to fool Consortium security if necessary. Andsomeone to blame if the Consortium ever caught wind of our spying.”
Paige’s eyes widened as understanding dawned. “Like a back door in a software program,” she explained to the team. “It gives the program’s coder a secret way back into the code, if they need it.”
The team exchanged glances, comprehension slowly spreading across their faces.
Mason’s brow furrowed. “Tanner assassinated people. His victims didn’t fake die.”
Cody nodded, his expression grim. “You’re right, they didn’t. But Tanner didn’t kill them. Atticus and I made sure Tanner was credited with kills that weren’t verifiably attributable to other Consortium assassins.”
Skepticism clouded the team’s faces, but Bridger stepped forward. “That’s legit,” he told the team. “We’re talking about high-value targets here. Who’s to say they weren’t killed by other interests besides the Consortium?”
“Exactly,” Cody agreed. “I can show you proof. I have records of how we constructed the Tanner persona, but it’ll take time to access them without drawing the Consortium straight to us.”
The tension in the room slowly ebbed as Bridger’s calm logic prevailed. Paige watched as her teammates’ faces shifted from anger to reluctant acceptance. The air still crackled with unspoken accusations, but the immediate threat of violence had passed.
Bridger’s voice cut through the uneasy silence. “We need to focus on the task at hand. Cody’s expertise could be crucial in understanding and neutralizing this virus.”
Fenn’s jaw clenched, but he nodded. “Fine. But he doesn’t leave our sight.”
“Agreed,” Tai grumbled, his eyes still locked on Cody with suspicion.
Kate sighed, rubbing her temples. “Let’s get to work then. The sooner we deal with this virus, the better.”
As the team grudgingly began to set up their equipment, Paige found her gaze drawn to Cody. He moved with a careful precision, aware of the team tracking his every movement. The memory of his kiss flashed unbidden through her mind, sending a jolt of electricity down her spine.
She turned away, busying herself with unpacking the briefcase. But even as she worked, she could feel the phantom pressure of his lips on hers, the memory refusing to fade.
At some point, she was going to think about it. After Cody/Tanner/whoever rode off into the sunset.
26
Cody triedto shrug off the chill in the air as Paige and Tai started studying the virus hard drive, plugging it into a safe laptop that was disconnected from the internet. He hovered behind them, aware that Mason and Graham were keeping him in view. The feeling of camaraderie had evaporated quickly, replaced by a palpable tension.
Not that he blamed these folks. Even if they bought his Tanner explanation, they’d need time to digest this.
The plain fact was, he did work for the enemy, right up until he contacted Paige in Croatia. Going undercover meant pretending to play along. Only, he never killed anyone. Even before his religious awakening, he’d shied away from murder. He spent his time sabotaging Consortium plans and building his knowledge about the organization’s inner workings, biding his time until he had enough intel to take them down. But Paige and her team wouldn’t believe any of it. They might think he had a change of heart and wanted to defect, but they’d never believe he hadn’t been a willing participant from the start.
Not that he needed their blessing. All he needed was for them to let him help end the Consortium. So far, that part was going according to plan.