Page 136 of False Flag

Did it mean anything that EarlGrey used the same terms?

Not particularly.

EarlGrey. Earl Grey. Earl Grey…

Did Gerard even drink tea?

He always had a coffee thermos when they were filming.

Why the screen name? Was it the color? The title?

Gerard certainly lived in the gray areas. And he most definitely wanted to be a lord.

Lord.

Dahlia’s words repeated in her mind. “Mustn’t keep His Lordship waiting.”

The first time she’d said it, Staci had assumed she was referring to Osborne, the lord of Letora Island. But then Dahlia had used it again, making it clear she was talking about Gerard.

His Lordship. Earl Grey.

Dahlia might have assumed Staci had been a lurker in some of the forums before being cut off from all communication. She even mentioned being in them herself. And she’d dropped the title as a hint.

Staci returned to the post where EarlGrey had said the attack was a false flag. It made no sense. This was their group. The one where they chose targets. Why deny it here?

She scrolled up, finding no mention of herself or Drew or Dr. Garrison in the days preceding the attack.

Still, she scrolled up further and felt nausea rise as she read a message posted the day she’d dumped Beau.

Bmil: Bitch fucking dumped me.

EarlGrey: Did she catch you searching her files?

Bmil: No. She doesn’t know about that. Bitch was on my computer. Spying on me. Cunt called me a Truther. Grabbed all her shit and left.

Well, wasn’t that rich? Terrible in bed and a hypocrite. She knew how to pick them. And it was next-level hypocrisy that he complained about her calling him a Truther on the actual Truther assault-planning forum.

Ace: Why leave her alone in your apartment?

Bmil: Had to. Couldn’t get her to give me her key without giving her mine.

Ace: You still have the key?

Bmil: I do, but I saw a locksmith at her place.

Staci remembered the key conversation with Beau. At the time, she’d thought it was too soon for that step, but with their history, it made sense. Their renewed relationship hadn’t felt casual, not when she’d slipped right back into her teenage fantasies of him being The One.

She’d even wondered if other relationships—like with Rand—hadn’t felt right because part of her was still in love with her high school sweetheart.

And so he’d asked for her key, and giving it to him had felt like a show of faith. Beau was all in, and she should’ve been too. But he’d been scheming. What he thought he’d get from her files, she’d never know. Proof of what Big Archaeology was hiding?

Beau had always been a true believer of all of Gerard’s lies, but there were a few people on the team—Riley, Kyle, and certainly Dahlia—who had to know Big Archaeology was a straw man fallacy. It wasn’t Gerard who’d coined the term, but he certainly ran with it and added to the Big Archaeology conspiracy when he floated the ancient bioweapon idea.

Ace: Convince her she misunderstood. Her prof is hiding something.

Bmil: Not a chance. She hates me.

Because you grabbed my arm and twisted when I reached for the drawer where you kept my apartment key.