"It was," she said as she fastened her seatbelt. "Brooke is learning the hard way that the people she loves might not be who she thinks they are." She glanced at him. "It makes me wonder how well we ever really know anyone."
"It probably depends on how much you want to know someone. Or whether the surface stuff looks so good, you don't want to dig deeper. Maybe Landon getting attention from a very pretty girl was just too much to resist. He didn't want to see that she had an ulterior motive. Who would?"
"You're right. But that's not me. I'm always suspicious of motives. I have a hard time trusting anyone after the way I grew up. Love has always looked deceptive, painful, and fleeting."
Understanding filled his gaze. "I've felt the same way. That love is always a risk, maybe one I don't need to take."
As their gazes clung together, she felt the connection between them deepen even more.
"But maybe it is worth the risk," he said, surprising her with his words. "If it's with the right person."
Her heart skipped a beat as they moved into dangerous territory. "Maybe," she agreed. "If it's with the right person."
He smiled as he started the engine. "Let's go home."
It was strange to think of a safehouse as a home, but anywhere with Matt was starting to feel that way. Words ran through her head that she couldn't yet say, because maybe Matt was the right person for her, and she was the right person for him. But she wasn't sure when or if either of them would have the courage to say that out loud.
When they entered the safehouse, Matt headed into the office while Haley grabbed drinks from the refrigerator. While Brooke's information about Henry made him eager to see what dirt he could build on him, he wondered if that wouldn't take too long. They were running out of time, and Henry would be a tough nut to crack. Maybe they should focus first on a weaker player.
Haley came back a moment later with two bottles of water and handed him one. "I'm ready to find some dirt on Henry."
"I've been thinking about that. As much as I want to take Henry down, I'm leaning toward squeezing Trent Adler a little tighter. By now, he probably thinks he's being set up, either by the FBI or someone else. Maybe we tighten the screws."
"That's a good point. Brooke said that Trent Adler and Drew are on the outs, so maybe Trent would flip on Drew."
"I'm sure Trent will lawyer up quickly, but maybe we can get him into a more casual setting, take him by surprise." The phone rang, startling them both. "Lawson," he said, putting the phone on speaker.
"It's Jason. I've got good news. Derek opened Landon's drive."
His pulse jumped. "Excellent. What did you find?"
"Hang on a second; I'm going to move us to video so you can hear from Derek directly."
"Haley is also here," he said.
"Good. I'm sure she'd like to hear what her brother created."
"I would," Haley quickly agreed as the call moved to the computer monitor, and Derek's face appeared.
"Hello," Derek said. "I'll get right into it. Landon Kenton developed an algorithm that was originally designed to protect investors. It could identify and counter all the ways markets could be manipulated. But in order to protect against market manipulation, Landon had to map out every possible way to cause it. Every vulnerability, every trigger point, every domino that could be pushed."
"And if someone reversed the algorithm, they could crash the market?" Matt asked.
"Exactly," Derek replied. "Instead of protecting investors, his algorithm could become the perfect weapon to destroy some people while enriching others. It could trigger automated trading systems to create a domino effect that would crash multiple markets simultaneously while positioning certain players to profit massively from the chaos." Derek paused, letting that sink in before adding, "We've been studying market fluctuations over the past two years, and it looks like there have been test runs, four separate incidents, each one perfectly timed, perfectly positioned to maximize profits for those in the know, while devastating others. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you probably wouldn't see anything suspicious to the dips, but when you take into account manufactured news reports or misleading reports, it appears that someone deployed the algorithm to see how it would work or not work and then refined it."
"Can we trace who's doing it?" Matt asked.
"Not so far, but our guess, based on the incidents we've flagged so far, is that they're building toward something bigger, and it might be tied to the upcoming election in three weeks. A market crash before the vote would create massive instability and could influence the outcome of the election, possibly even shutting down the market." Derek paused. "Flynn has contacts at the SEC. We're going to see if we can put our heads together to track down which companies benefited most from the possible test runs."
"This is much, much bigger than we thought," he muttered, exchanging a quick glance with Haley.
"I can't believe my brother designed something so powerful," she said, shaking her head in bemusement. "Or that what he built for something good could be used in such a negative way."
"Unfortunately, that's the story of a lot of tools, weapons, and drugs," Derek said. "If they fall into the wrong hands…"
"Then all hell breaks loose," she finished. "It's hard to believe that Landon's fraternity friends could do something so diabolical."
"I'm going to give you back to Jason," Derek said. "I still have some files to go through."
