Page 108 of Nothing to Fear

“What if I’m looking at this wrong? What if the LLC wasn’t created by the mole? Maybe Daedalus funnels money through these shell companies to our mole and perhaps to others, to hide the source,” Willow mused, drawing a circular maze, a labyrinth, with the head of a bull at the center. “We don’t need to know who owns it. We need to know where the money from the companies is going.”

“Wouldn’t the forensic accountants have caught payouts?” Maddox’s gaze swung between them.

“Not necessarily. It wouldn’t have been flagged if it was a stock distribution. Say dividends below ten thousand dollars and taxes were paid, making it look like it came from a legal source.”

“How does this help?” Gideon asked.

Willow dropped the pen and opened a second secure laptop. Her fingers clicked across the first, bringing up a different screen on the system, and typed mind-numbing lines of symbols and text. “Those corporations have tax identification numbers. I just have to hack into the most antiquated system of the federal government. The IRS. They’re at least two generations behind in the Windows operating system they use, making them vulnerable to a common hacker, much less someone with my skills.”

“That’s terrifying,” Maddox said.

“Isn’t it?” Willow nodded, her fingers tapping on the second computer. “I’ll cross-reference those tax ID numbers with the tax returns for Gray Box personnel and personal associates from our records.”

“How long will it take?” Gideon asked.

“It’s a small, narrow query—shouldn’t take too long.”

Another wet smack of flesh came from the cabin. Willow didn’t flinch this time, absorbed in her work.

Hopefully, Ares would get the intel needed to find her sister, and Gideon wouldn’t have to step in. Willow might know what he had done in theory, but he didn’t want her to see what he was truly capable of.

One laptop dinged. “I got a hit.” Willow eyed the screen with a frown. “But it’s not someone who works for the Gray Box. I don’t recognize the name. I’ll have to go back into the Gray Box records. It must be a family member.”

Gideon peered over her shoulder. The name didn’t ring a bell with him either. “Who is Mary Johnson?”

The blood drained from Maddox’s face. “That has to be a mistake. Run the query again.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the query,” Willow said. “Mary L. Johnson has two tax returns—married filing separately—showing dividends from the shell companies.”

“Who is Mary Johnson?” Gideon asked.

“It’s a mistake,” Maddox repeated, her tone and posture turning defensive.

Gideon stepped closer to her, and their eyes locked. “Who is she?”

A genuine look of confusion washed over Maddox. She just sat there, blinking, waiting so long to answer Gideon thought he’d have to ask her again.

“Amanda’s mother,” Maddox said. “Johnson is her maiden name.”

The response hit him like a sucker punch.

Maddox was right, this was some mistake. Amanda was one of them, part of the black ops inner circle. Not a traitor.

“Amanda is the mole,” Willow said softly.

“Don’t accuse her of that,” Maddox snapped, leaning forward. “This could be another decoy. A plot within a plot conspiracy to frame someone else in case the plan with you failed.”

“The money doesn’t lie,” Willow said.

“You have a million dollars sitting in a bank account. Are you saying that’s not a lie?”

“Calm down.” Gideon put his hand on Maddox’s shoulder, but she flinched away from him. “I don’t want to believe it either. We all care about Amanda.”

“I never touched the money in that bank account,” Willow said. “How do you explain regular payments to her mother over two years? Possibly longer? And why under her maiden name if not to hide it?”

Maddox’s gaze fell and she shook her head. “It can’t be her. It can’t.”

Maybe there was another explanation. Something they were overlooking. Gideon trusted Amanda. Maddox trusted her, everyone had…for years. How could she be guilty of conspiracy, espionage? How could she be the type of person they were trained to hunt? The enemy who had manipulated them all?