Exclusive Access (2 page)

“
But you are here with information that could ruin not
only me this time, but all twelve of us. That doesn’t seem to even faze you.
All you want is the damn story.”

“
I love this job.”

“
I’m sure you do. I love mine, too. That’s beside the
point, isn’t it? I can’t compromise a project that might mean the end of all of
us living underground. So tell me where you heard that information, and I won’t
call your publisher.”

“
Will you give me the story, too?”

“
Only after I discuss it with the other Weathermen. I
can’t divulge anything that important without the okay of the group, and
assuming we do have secret teams, we likely can’t tell you about them in
detail. If you think about this, you’ll understand why.”

“
But that’s exactly why the world has a right to know!”

“
No, the world doesn’t have a right to know. Because if
the hackers get wind of it, they’ll mask themselves even more than they’ve
already done.”

“
So you admit they’ve done that. They’ve hidden their
identity from each of you. You’ve been searching for them.”

“
Julianne, everyone already knows we’ve been searching
for them. Everyone has been, and no one has found them in six years. It doesn’t
take a brain surgeon to figure out they’re doing something that none of us can
figure out.”

“
Dominic Greco just hired a woman named Angela Davidson
who is said to be a firewall expert. Can you confirm that much?”

He
glanced toward the bag in her lap. “If you’ve turned that recorder back on I’ll
have you arrested for trespassing.” He held out his hand. “Hand it over. Now.”

Chapter
Two

Julianne
pulled out the recorder and handed it to him. She hadn’t turned it back on, but
the urge to do so had been strong. He glanced at it, and to his credit, looked
guilty. “I owe you an apology.”

“
No, you don’t. I’d have thought the same thing if I
was you. Keep it on your desk in plain sight so we both know it’s not on.”

The
suspicious look was back. “Do you have a back-up recorder in that bag?”

She
dumped the contents of her bag on top of his polished mahogany desk. “Look for
yourself.”

He
eyed her makeup, key ring, and sunglasses, and then he glanced up with a look
of mischief in his eyes that sent her heart fluttering. “Are you wearing a
wire?”

Holy shit.
She hesitated no more than a
second or two, and then stood, holding his gaze. Julianne
undid one button on her top, and
his eyes glazed over. His jaw went slack after the second one, and after the
third, which exposed the front of her bra, he held up a hand.

“
Okay. I believe you.”

“
Are you sure?” They stared into each other’s eyes for
long moments. Julianne’s pulse raced, and her pussy grew wet. “I might have it
well hidden.”

She
saw him swallow. “You’re not going to get me to divulge classified information
by seducing me again, Julianne.” His voice belied
the words. He sounded hungry and
desperate, and her heart soared.

She
refastened her buttons but said nothing. Once she’d taken her seat again, he
pushed a button on the control panel built into his desk. “Agnes, bring me an
iced tea please.” He raised his brows and glanced toward Julianne. “Would you
like something to drink?”

“
I’ll have the same. No sugar.”

“
Make it two, Agnes.”

“
Right away, Mr. Bannerman.”

Tiny
droplets of sweat dotted his hairline, and his face was flushed. “Um … I really
do need to discuss this with the other Weathermen first.”

“
Which means there is something to discuss.”

“
Julianne, try to understand my position here. You
lived above ground for how long?”

“
Twenty-two years.”

“
I was thirty-four when I came underground. We both
remember what it was like before. I know we both want the same thing. To take
back our planet.”

“
Everyone
wants that, Kane. That’s why they
need to know there’s hope.”

He
shook his head. “They don’t need to know it in such intimate detail. It will
harm our efforts, not help them.”

“
Then find a way to let me tell the story that won’t
harm your efforts.”

“
Why should I?”

“
We’ve been through that already. I’m not the same
person. What I did to you was wrong. I apologized to you publicly, I got them
to print the retraction, and now I’m apologizing in person. How long will you
hold the same grudge?”

He
was about to speak again, but there was a soft knock on his door. Julianne
remembered Agnes from five years ago, and apparently Agnes remembered her, too,
because she gave her a stern look. “Forgive me, Mr. Bannerman. I was away from
my desk when Miss Wallis was brought up from reception or I wouldn’t have let
her into your office.”

She
plunked down the tray with a pitcher and two glasses on top of Kane’s desk, and
he tried to suppress a smile. “It’s all right. Julianne and I are discussing
our shared past. I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Once
she left the room and closed the doors, harder than she needed to, he grinned.
“How did you get past her to make the appointment? She never would have let you
do it.”

Julianne
shrugged. “I told you I made the appointment under my name and credentials. I
don’t know why she didn’t see it.”

He
poured two glasses of iced tea. “I thought you had friends who work here? Did
they bypass her, perhaps?”

“
I do have friends here, but I’m not aware of them
bypassing Agnes to get me in the door.”

He
handed her the glass, but it was obvious from the look on his face he wasn’t
sure whether to believe her. “
Friends
,
or sources?”

“
Nice try.”

He
chuckled, and then he drained his glass of tea. Was the reason he suddenly
seemed parched due to her mini striptease? She’d love to believe it. He poured
a second glass. “I’ll send an email and ask the others to commit to a meeting
so we can discuss it as a group.”

She
took a sip of tea. “When?”

“
When will I send it?”

“
No. When will you schedule the meeting?”

Kane
sighed out loud, but his obvious annoyance didn’t faze her. He clicked on his
keyboard, and then pushed the monitor around so she could see the team
calendar. “They’re very busy. The first free spot we all have is Friday
morning.”

“
Send the email now.”

He
gave her a look of incredulity. “When did you become my boss?”

“
How do I know you’re not just bullshitting me? You
promise me an email and a meeting to get me out of your office. Two weeks later
you’ll tell me you all haven’t had a chance to talk about it, but you’re going
to schedule that meeting just as soon as possible.”

“
You’re not a very trusting person.”

“
I prefer to think of it as tenacious.”

“
I have far less reason to trust you than the other way
around.”

She
smiled sweetly. “And here all this time I thought we could bury the hatchet?”

He
gave her a look that suggested he might want to bury a real hatchet, right
between her eyes. While she watched him send the email invite for the meeting,
she studied his profile. His features were a bit more angular than they’d been
five years ago, and his hair had just a touch of gray now. It made him even
sexier and gave him an air of maturity that she found irresistible. Too bad he
was such a pill.

“
Done. Anything else?”

She
pointed toward her phone, which was scattered among the objects still on his
desk that she’d dumped out of her bag. “Text
me
when
they all agree to it so I know it will take place. Give me your phone and I’ll
put my number in it for you.”

He
averted his gaze. “Um, is your number still the same?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then I still have it.”

“
You’re kidding.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

“
Don’t read anything into it.”

“
Of course not.”
Bullshit.
“Just assure me you will let me know when they all confirm.”

She
listened to five separate pings, and he frowned. “Halfway there. If you wait
long enough I might not have to text you.”

Julianne
smiled and sipped her iced tea. “I can do that.”

Two
more pings sounded. “I wasn’t serious.”

“
Were those more confirmations?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then I can wait for the final four.”

“
You’re assuming a lot.”

She
grinned. “What am I assuming? That your friends want to discuss this? That’s
obvious, isn’t it?” Two more pings sounded. “Nine confirmations in what … less
than one minute?”

“
You’re assuming they’ll agree to let me tell you anything.”

“You’re
a persuasive man. Convince them to allow it.”

Kane
laughed, and she tried to tamp down her anger. “Julianne, I swear I don’t know
what to make of you. You waltz in here, five years after seducing me during a
fake job interview, you print a story about me that was more fairytale than
truth, and now I’m supposed to simply hand you a piece on an
alleged
covert team that would, if it
got out, force the hackers into hiding more than they’re now doing? Why in the
name of all that’s holy would I do that?”

“
Because you’ve got a reputation to maintain.
UTU
has done nothing but
thought-provoking, well-written articles on you. You’re a legend over there.
Think what this would do for your company.”

“
I am thinking of it.” The last two pings came in.
“That’s exactly why this is a bad idea. Can’t you do a story on something else?
We’re working on getting more above ground shelters built for the Storm
Troopers. That’s news people want to hear, and the shelters are state of the
art. No one has anything like them.”

“
There was a story about them last month when Damien
Rivera bought the design of the original ones from Brent Easton, Ace Easton’s
father. Damien’s company is building the new ones.”

“
Yes, it is, but I’m the one who got him the funding.
The story that ran was on the construction itself, not the money behind it. Do
a story on that. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

“
It’s not as interesting as the covert teams.”

“
I’ll pretend that wasn’t an insult.”

Shit.
“It wasn’t. Honestly. I’m sorry,
Kane. What I meant is that readers would much rather read something that gives
them real hope. Not the inside scoop on how the newest, largest, most durable
storm shelters were financed. How many people do you know who actually go up to
the surface? A handful at best, right? That kind of a story doesn’t impact
readers’ day-to-day lives.”

His
grin should have angered her, but all it did was make her want to jump over the
desk and push him to the floor so she could kiss him and then fuck him. She was
in deep trouble here, and she’d best figure out how to tamp down her hormones.

“
Firstly, I know several dozen people personally who go
up to the surface routinely. Not only do a few of the Weathermen do it for
sport, but
we
each back teams of Storm Troopers. The
shelters currently in existence aren’t adequate for their needs, and there
aren’t enough of them.”

He
held up a hand as she opened her mouth. “Let me finish. Those shelters are
important to readers’ everyday lives for two reasons. One, the Storm Troopers
risk life and limb to gather valuable data that will help us take back The
Madeline Project, or kill it stone cold dead so the storms will stop one day.
Two, every time someone braves a trip to the surface to retrieve a piece of our
collective history, we’ve saved something that would have eventually been
destroyed by wind or flood waters.”

“
Points well taken, but I don’t think I can sell yet
another article on creative financing to my editor.”

He
narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”

“
Because she’s as hungry for this story as I am.”

“
So that means she knows your source, too.”

“
Maybe.”

He
leaned forward as the last two pings sounded. “Julianne, it’s very simple. I’m
not letting you ruin any covert operations we might have going simply for the
sake of getting a story. I’ve offered you a legitimate replacement piece, and
one which the readers of
UTU
would be
interested in. My friends have all confirmed now, and I will hold the meeting,
but I would be very surprised if they agreed to allow you to write this story.”

“
I’ll take my chances.”

“
Give me your source. They’ll want it.”

“
I can’t do that.”

He
sat back and shook his head. “Then be prepared for me to tell you the story
won’t go to print.”

“
Let them make that decision.”

“
They won’t override my wishes.”

She
studied his face as she finished her glass of tea. He hadn’t thrown her out so
that was on her side, but clearly he was hiding something or he wouldn’t care
if she wrote this story. The fact that he was trying so hard to get her to
change her mind was confirmation of the existence of the teams. That and the
quick meeting confirmations told her each of the Weathermen had one.

But
UTU
wasn’t
The Whole Truth
. If she wrote a half-assed story full of
speculation she’d find herself out of a job. She’d been lucky to land this one,
and Julianne knew she wouldn’t likely be given a third chance at another
reputable magazine or news site. She should take the offer of the backup story
and keep digging on her own. It was the prudent thing to do in this instance.

“
All right. How about this? You let me know what they
all say on Friday, and if they won’t allow the story I want to write, I’ll do
the one you suggested instead.”