Free Until It's You by C.B. Salem

project.”
    “Why?”
    “The leaks were too fast. The DoD knew about it before it had even been unveiled.”
    “Doesn’t that say ‘willing customer?’”
    He shook his head. "It says leak. The security we have around a project like that is the highest we can afford. Which is basically the highest there is in the private sector."
    "But it wasn't enough."
    "Somehow, it wasn't enough. So once that happened I realized I had a real problem." He grimaced. “I didn’t put the protocol development into motion until I came home to a fruit basket on my kitchen counter. It had a note: ‘Can't wait anymore.’”
    "Can't wait?"
    “It means whoever sent it wants me to stop dragging my feet on the deployment of the Phobos project. They know I know.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    “I had the fruit in the basket tested. Call it paranoia. Anyway, it wasn’t just tainted. It was tainted with one of the most recent experimental batches of our Phobos work. If I'd have eaten it, I would have had a problem.”
    Her eyes opened wide. “So they could get to you.”
    “They could get to me. But they wanted to show me they knew before . . .”
    "Right. And it may have been at least partly the government, so . . ."
    "So I didn't go to the police. Right."
    “What did you do?”
    "Made sure my apartment was as secure as I could make it, then took the rest of the day off and thought about my options. In the morning I called your firm and had the protocol drafted as a kind of safety net. In case I had to disappear.”
    “Why not go to the police with the break-in, at least? It can't be that widespread, can it?"
    “I don't know how widespread it is, and I didn’t want to give them any information about how I was reacting. Mostly because I was pretty sure they expected me to react. I knew I had at least one leak somewhere high up in the development of Phobos, but I didn’t have any idea where it was.” He shook his head. “I could have fired the whole development team, of course. Literally everyone who knew about it. Then fired my corporate security team, IT, maybe even Ms. Bruman. That’s what Oliver would have told me to do.”
    “But you didn’t.”
    “I still might. But I'm trying this first. Same kind of courtesy they extended me with the note, I guess."
    "So far this isn't going so hot."
    His nostrils flared slightly before he could rein in his reaction. That was some cheek .
    But her expression was light. So light, that if he took actual offense it would be inappropriate. He forced a weak smile back.
    Maybe this meant she was getting more comfortable, so that she could make fun of him. That was a good thing, right?
    “So what made you decide to run at The Velvet?" she asked.
    "Right, your original question." He took a deep, steadying breath. “After a few weeks I put out some feelers as quietly as I could about whether anyone in the development team was unhappy. I got a message that said they would do a handoff of the info if I attended this birthday party.”
    “And you went?”
    “I went, but I knew it might be bad so I was ready to bolt if anything looked off. Eventually I got uncomfortable with the way this Roy character was looking at me and I decided to make a break for it.”
    Kristina nodded. “Sounds like you did something really stupid and nearly got yourself killed.”
    He choked out a chuckle. “Perhaps, but I didn’t.”
    ***
    Kristina sorted through the information Landon had just given her. Some of it—especially the timeline for his working with Fordelli, Bruman, and her firm—lined up with things she had just learned. Other parts were fresh.
    This whole ordeal might amount to one person. Or it might be all of them. Tough to say, especially with the possibility of someone in Washington at the very top.
    “So,” she said, feeling it was time for her to take charge. “Let’s just be clear here. You were suspicious because some of the developments in your project were getting leaked. Then when