Excerpt of Wired by Julie Garwood

Allison looked at the wall of agents behind her. She had
had enough of Phillips’s patronizing attitude and wanted
to get out of there, but it was apparent she wasn’t being
given a choice in the matter, so she reluctantly
followed. They proceeded down a hallway where the
walls were clear glass. There was so much activity she
didn’t know where to look first. They passed a huge room
filled with computers and techs, all men dressed in suits
and ties, but with their jackets off. Allison stopped to
watch. They were typing furiously and watching their
screens. Against the far wall facing her was a giant
world map. Dots of light appeared with lines curving
from relay station to relay station, bouncing off
satellites around the globe. It was obvious to Allison
that they were trying to pinpoint the exact location
where a cyberattack originated, but the person or persons
at the source had put up barricades. The screen was
filling up with more dots, indicating the techs weren’t
getting anywhere.

When Phillips noticed Allison wasn’t behind him, he came
back for her. “What are you doing?”

She didn’t answer for a couple of minutes. As she
watched the lights jump across the screen, she began to
recognize the pattern. It was one she had seen before.
“Is that a training session?”

“No, of course not. This isn’t a training facility.
These are all professionals.”

“Then why is it taking them so long to…” She paused.
Trying to be more diplomatic, she revised her question so
that it wouldn’t sound antagonistic. “How long do you
think it will take before one of them pinpoints the
location?”

“It could take a day or two, sometimes longer, and
sometimes the location disappears before we can locate
the point of origin.” He stared at her while she
continued to study the map, then offered a challenge.
“You think you can do better?”

There it was again, that smartass attitude in his tone
and expression. She decided she wouldn’t let him
irritate her, but then he said, “I didn’t think so.”

Oh, it was so on. She brushed past him, opened the door,
and walked into the room. The air smelled clean but with
a hint of aftershave. Every male in the room looked up
at her and froze. She smiled, hoping to put them at ease
as she walked over to a tech in the back row and said,
“Would you mind if I have a try?”

All heads turned in the direction of Phillips, who was
still outside the glass. He nodded.

Another tech nearly knocked his chair over when he stood.
“Here,” he said, “You can use the station next to Stan.”
He rushed to the back row, inserted his card into a slot,
then pulled out the chair. “Here you go. All set.”

He introduced himself. Then eleven others followed suit.
They wanted to know why she was there, but she didn’t
explain. She sat, adjusted the chair, stared at the
screen for several seconds, and started typing. Her mind
was so focused on the task at hand, she no longer was
aware of her surroundings.

Phillips stayed outside feeling annoyed. He had a lot of
work to get done, and this exercise with Allison seemed a
waste of time to him, but orders were orders, and he
would, of course, acquiesce. His instructions were to
show her the unit before the evaluation; however, her
sudden focus on this cyber problem might just produce the
results he expected. If that happened, he could bid Ms.
Trent good-bye sooner than later.

“Sir, how long do you think it will take before she gives
up?” one of the agents asked.

Phillips didn’t answer him.

Another agent said, “She doesn’t need to know her way
around a computer. Not with looks like that.”

“Do you realize how sexist you sound, Pierce?” the first
agent chided.

Phillips kept checking the time. Fifteen minutes passed
before Allison stopped typing. She reached for a small
Post-it, picked up a pen, and wrote something. Then she
stood and thanked the techs for letting her join them.

“Give up?” Phillips asked what he thought was the
obvious question when she came through the door.

Smiling, she slapped the Post-it on the lapel of his
jacket, turned, and walked down the hall to find Jordan.

He pulled the piece of paper from his lapel to see what
she had written. It was an address in San Francisco,
California. “What the…”

“Sir?” Agent Pierce standing next to him motioned to the
map on the wall. Every tech had stood and was watching
as dot after dot and the connecting lines disappeared.
In less than a minute only one dot remained. Above it
was an address, the same address Allison had written on
the Post-it.

“Did she do that?” the agent asked.

Phillips was frowning as he handed him the Post-it and
answered. “Yes.”

“How…how did she do it?” Pierce wondered.

“I don’t know,” Phillips admitted.

“Do you think it’s the right address?”

“I do. Roberts, call the San Francisco office. Tell
them to get a SWAT team out there.”

“Yes, sir,” Roberts replied, rushing into the nearest
office.

The three remaining agents glanced at each other. “What
if we’re wrong?” Pierce asked.

“Then we’re wrong.” Phillips was looking up at the empty
screen when he said, “Healy, you better go get him.
He’ll want to see this.” And gloat, he silently added.

“He was right, wasn’t he?” Healy asked.

Phillips sighed. “Apparently so. Go get him,” he
ordered again. “And, Norton, you bring Miss Trent to my
office. Where did she go?”

“She’s in the encryption room with Mrs. Clayborne. I’ll
get her.”

Pierce spoke up. “I’ll get her.”

“No, I’ve got this,” Norton insisted, hurrying away.

He found Jordan and Allison surrounded by men who were
all trying to explain what their job was. When Norton
told Allison that Phillips wanted to see her, Jordan
offered to go with her, but Allison told her to stay.

Phillips was on the phone when she entered his office.
He motioned for her to sit, but she continued to stand in
front of his desk. The second he disconnected the call,
she blurted, “Aren’t there any women working here?”

Detecting annoyance in her question, he retorted, “As a
matter of fact, there are women working here.”

“I haven’t seen any,” she replied.

“We’re just filling positions for this new office, but we
already have many women on our support staff. And if
you’d gone into other departments you would have seen a
couple of women who are analysts and…”

Allison didn’t hear the rest of his answer. Out of the
corner of her eye she saw a man walking toward the
office. There was something familiar about him. She
lost her train of thought, and, although it was rude, she
turned her back on Phillips and watched as the man came
closer. The gun told her he was an agent. A tall,
attractive agent, she corrected, with sandy blond hair
and the physique of a Roman gladiator.

He came into the office, his expression serious. He
looked at Phillips for a brief second before turning his
gaze to her.

“You were on the mark,” Phillips told him with a hint of
reluctance.

“Yes, I heard,” he replied.

Allison looked up at him in amazement and recognition.
“It’s you,” she said. “You were at the seminar when
Jordan spoke. You were watching.”

“Yes, I was there. That was a while ago.” He seemed
surprised that she would remember.

“What is this all about? What’s going on?” She didn’t
give him time to answer before adding, “Who are you?”

The agent just smiled and held out his hand. “My name is
Liam Scott. And I am very

happy to finally meet you, Allison.”