Read Online [Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013) by Nicole Ciacchella - Free Book Online

were doing, and she felt his cell was in good hands. He wasn’t a boy looking for glory or adventure, he was a man who understood the gravity of the risks he and everyone who helped him were taking.
    “Mal,” she said.
    “Do you really want tea?” Tasha asked.
    “Yes, please.”
    “Have a seat,” Raj said. Dara sat, and he sat next to her. Mal took the couch to their left.
    Tasha went to what Dara deduced was the standard bunker kitchenette: a tiny refrigerator and a hot plate. Unlike the last bunker, though, this room was obviously multi-purpose. A few cots had been pushed against one wall, and there was a small table with four chairs in the kitchen area. The living area, where Raj had invited her to sit, had four small couches grouped around a low table over which were scattered a few books, scraps of paper, and a couple of tablets.
    Raj pulled a memory stick from a tablet and handed it to her, and she tucked it in a hidden pocket in her exercise gear. She took out the stick she’d been using for the last several weeks.
    “Letizia said you insisted on meeting in person, told her it was too important for you to give her a message to relay,” Mal said. His tone told her he hoped she understood the seriousness of her request.
    “It is.” She handed the memory stick to him, and he plugged it into a tablet, flipping through the files. Studying his face, she watched his expression change from wariness to mild interest to outright surprise. “I told you it was big.”
    “What is it?” Raj asked, sounding both curious and alarmed. At the sound of his voice Tasha stopped clattering around in the kitchenette, abandoning the tea things so that she could look over her brother’s shoulder at the tablet’s screen.
    Frowning, Mal tried to angle the tablet so she couldn’t see it, but she made an impatient noise and seized it, hauling it back into her line of vision. It wasn’t the first time Dara had suspected there was some tension between the siblings, but it was now plain to her that Mal worked hard to protect his sister, and it made Dara warm to him.
    “Creators!” Tasha breathed.
    “What is it?” Raj asked again, his voice taking on a new urgency. Without a word, Mal handed the tablet over to him and Raj sat back, his eyes scanning the screen as Mal directed his attention to Dara.
    “What more can you tell me?” he asked.
    As she gave him a brief recap of the meeting between Andersen, Creator Hartley, and the other Heads, Tasha finished the tea, carrying a small tray of mugs over and giving one to each of them. Raj was so fixated on the tablet, his mouth hanging open, that Tasha set his mug down in front of him before settling next to her brother.
    “Thanks, Tasha,” Dara said, taking a grateful sip before continuing. Though she hadn’t talked much, her throat was bone dry, and her body sang with nervous tension. She’d been so distracted by her apprehensions over this meeting that she hadn’t processed what she knew about Andersen’s plan, but as she talked and witnessed their reactions, a sense of unease grew within her. “It’s not a sure thing yet, and, from what I’ve gathered, it never will be if Jasmine Shah has her way.”
    Mal sat back, tapping a finger against his lips. “We need to see if we can find out what’s going on between Shah and Andersen. I’ll get data miners on that, check with a couple of my other contacts. Whatever it is, it isn’t your concern, though. Focus on this project, gather whatever other information about it you can find.”
    “If you look closely, you’ll see there are important pieces missing, crucial details Andersen didn’t include,” Dara said. “I highlighted everything I noticed, but you should have someone else with engineering expertise look these over, preferably Letizia, if possible. She’d have more insight into how Andersen’s mind works than I do.”
    “The details must have been made available to the Creators, though. I don’t know if