Griffin clenched his jaw, his entire upper body tensing as his aggravation increased. “You know, I won’t hesitate to kill you and the rest of your neighbors. You should realize that, which is why I don’t understand why you won’t answer my questions. You’re making this much harder than it has to be.”

“Your buyer is making this much harder than it has to be, you idiot,” Brandon shot back. “I know about the laptop because someone at the agency put it in my son’s box of personal belongings after he finished his latest intern rotation. It came home with him and sat in his room until he discovered it today. But you didn’t know that, did you?” His voice picked up steam, fighting the wind, which seemed to grow stronger as he spoke. “You know, I just now realized that I’ve been giving you too much credit all these years. You’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were, because there’s no way a smart man would get played so easily.”

He stepped closer, cutting the distance between himself and Griffin in half. A roar built in the distance, and Brandon recognized that the approaching front was nearly upon them. Time to take the plunge. Please watch over my family, God.

“Someone has an agenda, and I guarantee that it doesn’t include you. You’re just a tool to be used,” he spat. “Nothing more. You did the agency and the country a favor when you resigned. You were never going to be the director of NCS. You—don’t—have—it—in—you.”

Griffin’s eyes narrowed slightly with each verbal blow, his entire body tensing with the rage and frustration that coursed through him. His former boss’s words cut to the core of his belief that he had deserved the position, the throne that he’d actively sought, driving every decision for every moment he’d been employed at the agency. While he’d walked away from the CIA voluntarily, Brandon Harper’s admonishment transported him back to a time when he still served the master standing before him. It made him feel small and inadequate, which only enraged him further. His voice was a low hiss, barely human. “Where is the laptop?”

Brandon ignored him and played the last card he had, one that had just appeared in his head, a verbal arrow that he knew would be near fatal to Griffin’s psyche. This is going to be bad, he thought. “It’s gone. Zack Chambers left the neighborhood with it as soon as your henchmen showed up. All of this has been a delay just to give him more time, but I guess you’re not smart enough to see that either.”