Page 14 of Filthy Liar
But she never surfaced. And now I know, deep down, she’s not who she appears. “She wasn’t really there to be a waiter. Something the chef said to her just before she dodged. That she actually was helpful. I think she was there for another reason.”
“That makes two of you.” Wilson frowns. “You think she’s a spook of some kind?”
Fuck. “I don’t know. But yeah. Something like that. As soon as she made me, I knew. She’s running some kind of con.”
“Maybe she’s…” Wilson trails off. “You know what? I’m not going to speculate. Don’t do anything stupid while I dig into this, all right?”
“I’m not going to.” I wouldn’t know where to start looking for her.
“All right. I’ll dig deeper, but I need you to focus as I change the subject. I have a shortlist of potential candidates for the PRISM council seat.” He hesitates. “You’re not going to like one of the names on it.”
“I’m not going to like any of the names on it,” I reply dryly. “Let’s have it.”
He taps a button on his keyboard, and five photographs and biographies pop onto the screen. One of them is an obvious candidate—the President, who is just vain enough to think he could be the leader of the free world and a participant in the shadowy organization that is intent on destroying it for profit. But we all know that despite Victor Best’s billions made in Vegas, and the fact PRISM backed him with a slick data-driven campaign in the election, he’s not playing on their level.
Best is not the kind of billionaire who successfully fills the gaping hole left on the council by the untimely death of Amelia Dashford Reid.
Neither are three of the other names on the list, all men of a certain age who are business leaders due more to luck than intelligence.
And then there’s Jeff Mayfair.
“Fuck.”
“Uh huh.”
“Why is he on the list?” My voice slams through the silence in the room, a terse punch of words. “Why the fuck is—”
Wilson holds up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger. The algorithm likes him a lot. Forty percent chance it’s him. He’s a dual citizen between the US and the UK. He retained the nanotechnology production facility in Leeds when he forced Mayfair Enterprises to go public, against his mother’s wishes. His space program has beenspectacularlysuccessful. Recklessly so, some say. That kind of chaotic energy is right in line with PRSIM and you know it.”
This is too close to home. “It’s a red herring.”
“It might not be.” Wilson looks grim.
I shake my head. “I dunno. Let’s let it ride for a few more days, I’ll keep searching for intel. Maybe something will pop that will give your algorithm a completely different perspective. But in the meantime…let’s keep this between us. If Cole asks for an update, give him…” I make a face and point at an oil executive on the screen. “That fucker will do. Let’s pretend he’s our presumptive target.”
“Got it.” Wilson’s jaw flexes. “But if Mayfair came here with a sob story about being blackmailed in some attempt to re-focus our attention…”
Would Mayfair know that we’re watching the empty PRISM seat that closely? Would he do it personally, instead of throwing a patsy in our path? “It doesn’t make sense if he’s some kind of evil genius.”
Mayfair… He’s not like Dashford Reid. He’s not predictable, and worse, I don’t see a way to set off a controlled detonation beneath him that he would even feel.
If Mayfair is about to ascend to the PRISM council, the world as we know it is about to change in ways I cannot even begin to predict.
Well, if Wilson wanted to get my mind off Ellie, he succeeded. “I’ll be in my office.”
I don’t place the phone call right away, even though it’s morning in Geneva. I stare out the window at the dark city on the other side. Tomorrow night, I have another party to attend. Another foray into the world of power and politics that I have come to despise with every fiber of my being.
There’s nothing about this current mission that I like. The murky confusion, the reappearance of my onetime lover, and Scott Mayfair’s brother at the heart of it all.
Something isn’t right.
I cross to my desk and dial a familiar number.
6
Melinda
After a long,sleepless night, I get a text reply from Caroline’s burner.
