Nic decided that Carter might be onto something and turned his attention from choke points and ingress and egress possibilities to the conversation at hand.

“Carter’s right,” he said. “What’s their endgame? And how in the hell does the CIA fit into this? Why are you here?”

“GoBox is a strategic partner with the United States government,” Yoshida said, “and that’s all I’m at liberty to say.”

Carter laughed. “So the CIA is hiding funds in the private vaults of GoBox and probably using it for a hundred things that a Senate subcommittee would frown upon.”

Loria’s face turned red as his blinking increased and his Italian-American accent grew more pronounced. “Those are baseless accusations, and if you ever—”

Nic raised his fingers to his lips and whistled to get everyone’s attention. When all eyes were on him, he said, “Let’s not get our panties twisted, ladies. We all know the CIA does a lot of shady shit. Why don’t we all remember that we’re on the same team, and that the goal is getting those hostages out alive. Now, are you sure that there is no way that they can access the vault or any of the boxes?”

Loria regarded Nic with his arrogant, tilted-back gaze. “It’s easier just to show you. We have a video that will provide more information, but first, you will all have to sign ironclad nondisclosure agreements.”

For the first time since the conversation began, Burke made a sound, and it startled Nic. He had almost forgotten that the kid was still there.

The sound Burke made was a little chuckle.

Both Yoshida and Loria narrowed their eyes at the young doctor. “Is something amusing, Dr. Burke?” Yoshida asked.

Burke smiled and said, “Yeah, I just find it so funny that you bureaucratic bozos think that there’s such a thing as private information in this day and age.”

Loria’s lip curled up in a snarl of disgust. Nic prepared himself to step in just in case half the stories he had heard about Tivoli Loria’s temper were true. The executive said, “Young man, I suggest you watch your tone, and around here, we take information security very seriously.”

Burke nodded and then flipped his iPad around, pulled out the device’s stand, and started playing a video.

“What the hell is this?” Yoshida said.

The video showed the GoBox logo and faded from black to an image of Ty Loria himself.

The digital Loria said, “Potential investors, in this video, I’m going to be showing in detail how our revolutionary vault works …”

“Son of a bitch,” the real Loria said. “Where did you get this?”

Burke rolled his eyes. “YouTube. Anyway, you guys watch it. I already saw it earlier, and I need to take a piss before we’re all floating out of here in canoes.” He then headed toward the back door, bumping into Loria as he went and saying, “Sorry, I’m clumsy sometimes.”

Chapter 32

Sam Carter supposed that he was just getting ornery in his old age, but he took great pleasure every time he watched August Burke work his magic and put someone in his or her place. Especially when the recipient was an arrogant peacock of a man like Ty Loria.