Blood & Thunder by Charlie Cochet Page A

deepened before he wiped his hand on his pants and shook his head at Dex who was still grinning. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”
    With a laugh, Dex dropped down onto his seat behind his desk. “I love you too.”
    An unintelligible growl later, Maddock nodded for Sloane to continue.
    “As I was saying, Dex was looking over Morelli’s file, and noticed Morelli was registered at the same CDC registration office where Isaac planted the bomb. Before today, it wouldn’t have meant much, but now….”
    “Now, it means he chose that office for a reason.” Maddock rubbed a hand over his stubble as he considered this new information. “Isaac planted the bomb in the elevator because he knew it didn’t have cameras. Could he have done something else while in there?”
    Sloane brought up the footage of Isaac at the registration office. They watched him get into the elevator and emerge a few minutes later. “I know it’d take a while to get to the seventh floor, but either this elevator is really slow, or he stopped it.”
    “Well, we know he was planting the bomb,” Dex offered.
    Something still seemed off. “True, but considering the explosive he used, all he had to do was open the access panel, plant the bomb, and flip the switch. Sarge, you might be onto something. What if he’d been doing something else? We don’t even know he planted the bomb when he rode the elevator. There’s no security in there. For all we know, he could have planted the bomb earlier, or had someone else plant it, and then activated it. Or maybe he had time to plant it and do whatever else he went there to do.”
    “Okay, all good theories,” Maddock said. “So now what? Hold on a second.” Maddock tapped the desk’s surface, pausing the video. “What’s he doing there on that tablet?”
    “Cael already tried zooming in, but it’s too fuzzy. We can’t tell what he’s doing,” Dex replied with a frown. “Whatever it is, he removed the tablet from his bag after he got off from the elevator.”
    Sloane tapped his earpiece. “Cael?”
    “Yeah?”
    “We need Allan Jeffrey to grant Themis access to their security system. I want an algorithm set up to see if there’s any additional footage of Isaac Pearce entering that building before today or anyone acting suspicious. It’s possible the bomb could have been planted beforehand, and if not, I want to know what else Isaac was doing in that elevator. I also want Themis to run a scan on their network for any unauthorized access to their files. If Isaac didn’t get what he wanted from Morelli’s file, and he was registered at that office, he might have been looking for something there. Find out if Morelli has a file at that CDC office.”
    “Copy that.”
    Maddock looked thoughtful. “You think Isaac went in there looking for more information on Morelli?”
    Right now, they didn’t know much of anything, only that Morelli was somehow connected to all this. “We know he didn’t get anything from Morelli’s THIRDS file, and the guy was registered at that office. I don’t understand his obsession with Morelli.”
    Cael’s voice came in over their earpieces. “Sloane? Dex?”
    “Go ahead, Cael.”
    “Allan says he’ll get right on it, but he won’t have anything before tomorrow morning. The place is crawling with CDC bigwigs. They’re freaking out about security after what happened today. Obviously, they’re looking to put someone’s head on the chopping block.”
    “I appreciate that, but we really need him to get that info over to us as soon as he can, or at least grant us access so Intel can do it. If the bureaucrats are getting in the way, tell him to let us know, and I’ll send Ash down there to throw his weight around.”
    “Will do.”
    “In the meantime….” Sloane gave Maddock his most charming smile. “Can you send over a glowing letter of appreciation to Allan and his security team for their exceptional and invaluable help during today’s