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curt nod and the officer jerked on her cuffs, leading her out of the conference room.
    “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand?”
    “Yes,” she bit off.
    Humiliation swam through her as she took the walk of shame down the hall. Her colleagues shook their heads and watched openly as the officer dragged her into the elevator and down into the lobby.
    They believed she was guilty. All of them. She’d worked beside these people for years and not one of them stuck up for her.
    She tamped down the urge to cry. What good had crying ever done her? She ducked her head so she wouldn’t have to see the censure in anyone else’s eyes.
    Flashbulbs burst in front of her face. Someone shoved a microphone under her mouth.
    She flinched, but met the gaze of a reporter.
    “Carol Marsh from KPHO Channel Five news. Dr. McCain, how do you feel about these accusations being lobbied against you?”
    Acid clawed its way up Audra’s throat. God, even the media grabbed hold of her guilt. “The accusations are completely unfounded.”
    “Dr. McCain—”
    “I have no further comments.”
    “But, Dr. McCain—”
    They reached the police cruiser at the curb. The cop opened the door and pushed her inside, a hand to her head. He slammed the door, narrowly missing her foot. She shifted on the seat, her wrists already starting to go numb from the cuffs.
    The stuffy car smelled of sweat. She gagged on the stale air and clenched her mouth shut. The car lurched, then zoomed away from the curb.
    Charlie believed she was guilty.
    The cops believed she was guilty.
    Even the reporters spread the accusations.
    Who was left to believe in her innocence? No one. The two words whispered across her mind in a faint, scratchy hiss. No one. That’s right. She had only herself to count on and couldn’t fall apart.
    She clenched her hands, her fingernails digging into her palms. She wouldn’t fall apart. Her mouth clamped shut. She tightened her jaw and her molars ground against each other.
    She never fell apart.
    A shudder rippled across her stomach. Echoing waves heaved up her throat and into her limbs. Her entire body started to quake and she hunched into a tight ball as her resolve crumbled at her feet.

    ***

    He’d screwed up, big time.
    Cam clenched his teeth, the bitter taste of a botched job filling his mouth. He should’ve planned better—reacted smarter—when Dr. McCain intercepted him in her lab. Now he had to find a way to salvage the contract with Nanodyne before Danvers called Cam on the fact that he’d made an unauthorized decision to breach the facility.
    You failed to get the job done, son. There’s no reward for losers.
    His father’s voice snarled in his head until he dug his fingers into his scarred knee and caused a shaft of real pain to wipe out the phantom one.
    Who was this new Cameron Scott? The one who consistently found himself at the bottom of the heap? At thirty-three it was an unfamiliar position. He could handle the shattered knee; not the identity crisis that came with it.
    Leather creaked underneath him as he leaned back in his recliner; his favorite piece of furniture in the living room of his sparsely decorated adobe ranch house. The soft sounds of the television buzzed around him, but his focus was riveted on the laptop he dragged across his knees. Nanodyne was in serious jeopardy. His fish-o-meter rose off the charts on this one, and he planned to deliver the rotten offender to Danvers. Maybe then all would be forgiven and he’d be deemed brilliant instead of a fuck-up.
    But he was running out of time. His meeting with Danvers was scheduled for tomorrow and he’d already dodged several calls from Nanodyne’s CEO.
    He tapped out a series of codes on his keyboard. Though Nanodyne had invested in top of the line cyber security, Cam was confident that he could figure out a way to gain remote access to their mainframe network. After all, he’d never met a code he