Chapter 43

CHAPTER 43

"Jesus, MoMo," Brunelle exclaimed as she looked at her screen. "What the hell did you unlock?"

"Pretty messed-up, right?"

Normally, she wouldn't have allowed anyone from work to come to her apartment, but MoMo had insisted. Emphatically. And now she understood why. He had done so with very good reason.

"Has anyone else seen these?" she asked.

"Only my friend Amir. But he's okay. He used to be with ANSSI."

Brunelle immediately reached for her phone. "Auberge 71322," she said when her call was answered. "I need a button and fade from the following location."

Looking at MoMo, she stated, "Give me the name, address, and a physical description of your friend."

Unnerved, but understanding the urgency, MoMo complied.

"Do you know if he's armed?"

MoMo shook his head. "I don't know."

"Full tactical team," Brunelle said into her phone. "They have priority. Make sure we get his laptop and any digital storage devices. I don't care how messy it gets. If anyone steps in your way, flatten them."

MoMo was aghast. Brunelle didn't care. "He accessed his company cloud?" she asked. "While in control of the flash drive?"

"Yes," the young man admitted, "but I didn't think this was going to—"

Brunelle cut him off as she continued to relay information over the phone. "We're also going to need to do a full lockdown on the subject's place of business. Shut off the power and kill their generators. I want all internet access disabled. This is going to be a political firestorm, so call in every single one of our lawyers. I'll be in the command center as soon as I can get there."

"Don't do this," MoMo implored. "I grew up with Amir. He's a good person."

"He could be a great person for all I care. Right now, none of that matters. All I'm concerned with is containing what may have leapt out of the Pandora's box you just opened."

"Wasn't opening it my job?"

"For fuck's sake, MoMo," Brunelle replied. "Your job was to unlock it. Not to read through all of it. You know that. Opening it was my job."

He was ashamed. "You're right," he admitted. "I'd hit a wall on the flash drive and thought that this might help move us forward."

"It's a huge breakthrough," she said, softening her tone. "But in the future, things need to be contained within DGSI. When sensitive material escapes into the wild, recovery efforts can get quite feral."

"Will Amir be okay?" he asked. "He was only doing me a favor. He didn't intend to do anything wrong."

Brunelle was about to respond when she heard the sharp chirp chirp of a police Klaxon downstairs announcing that her ride had arrived.

"Your friend's going to be fine," she ended up saying. Gathering what she needed, she herded MoMo toward the door.

"What about me?" he asked as she kept pushing him toward the stairwell.

"Keep your mouth shut. Don't touch your phone until I call you. And if you reach out to your friend Amir and tell him we're coming," Brunelle warned, "I'll kill you myself."