by Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne
“Care to explain?” he asked simply.
“No.” She toyed with the leather strings on her wrist.
Shadow would read into that and would be right. Nothing had changed, at least not for the better.
The lines around his eyes tightened. “You ready for Monarch?”
“Absolutely.” The website hack that exploited the social media site was her best work to date. Flawless maybe, definitely untraceable. Program had been absurdly complicated to put together, but it was a beautiful work of code.
Monarch’s social media site had a security hole. Lexi had mapped out and rewritten the code to access and/or fix that hole. It would go to auction if the company didn’t want to purchase the program. Shadow had made the offer privately, but they’d declined, as expected.
That was how those things worked. When Shadow put the code—which she generally just referred to by the site’s name, Monarch—on the auction block, it would likely sell in a hotly bid contest. Her cyber creation would give its new owner access to all of the data the social media site housed: names, ages, credit cards, family, locations, and more.
Everywhere she went, Lexi wondered how many people around her plugged their information in Monarch. It was just as popular as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but offered a slightly more niche focus for military families. Every time she caught a glance of someone in the real world using Monarch, she wanted to tell them not to post that picture, not to notify the world of where their significant others were stationed, details on their kids, or when they left on vacations. Just stop with the oversharing.
She almost wished Monarch bought the program just to be safe. But even had she given it to them, they might not have touched it. So typical of a mega-corporation. Most of those companies didn’t buy the fixes to their website problem on the zero day market. It was cheaper to let a malicious, black-hat hacker steal consumer data than it was to fix mistakes. A public apology and a year’s worth of credit monitoring, and they were out of trouble in the public eye.
Lexi wasn’t malicious, but she did earn a living in that shadowy area between right and wrong. Exploit sales were huge business. Governments bought various hacker programs like they were equipping an army—because they were. She was a manufacturer of cyber bullets. Every country with an intelligence agency bought them to spy on everyone. Their own people. Foreigners. Governments. Allies. Enemies. Whoever.
The auctions were as legal as buying a can of mace, and Lexi happened to be really good at creating products for Shadow to sell.
He bent to her ear to fight off the loud music. “I put out some whispers. Everyone’s curious. Uncle Sam is salivating. They want Monarch in a bad way.”
No surprise. That was almost the clichéd response. Even though she’d known it was a good patch, hearing potential bidders respond was a boost to her confidence. And here Matt thought she played on her computer for shits and giggles. Nope. She was aiding in cyber spy craft. Too bad sometimes she wasn’t strong enough to protect herself.
She sighed, fidgeting with the long, skinny, metal-and-leather necklaces draped over her chest. “I have a couple more weeks of work. But yeah, let’s start looking at the calendar for Monarch’s auction.” She released the jewelry and took a sip of her drink, noting that Shadow had had the bartender go heavy on the ginger ale in her bourbon soda mix.
“I’ll want you there in person, Silver.”
She nodded. She loved any excuse to get out of the house, but he would expect her to sit on a hard chair all day, bored, just in case there were questions. “Sure.”
“Sure? How about a hell yeah. A sale this big? It’ll move fast, lots of intel flying. It’ll be exciting.”
Placating him, she nodded. “I love in-person, but I love even more that you love handling the business side.”
Shadow stepped even closer and dropped his chin to give her a fatherly stare. “I’m telling you, this one will be off the charts.”
“Off the chart. Got it.” She nodded, giving his stare right back. “I said I’d be there.”
“But you’re not appreciating it, Silver. Fast and furious. Split-second decisions, immediate approval and counters. Exciting stuff.”
Lexi groaned. “Got it. Super exciting. Where are you thinking?”
“Probably DC this time.”
“So close to home.” She chewed the inside of her mouth, wishing she had another excuse to get away. “Couldn’t we do Maui? I heard there are tons of tourists to steal cell signals from.”
He smirked. “Looking for a reason to get out of the house?”
Her stomach jumped as he called her out. “No.”
“You and Bacon could always come stay with me for a while.”
“Where’s home these days? Canada?” She and Bacon Byte didn’t handle the cold well in Virginia, even with all of Bacon’s padding. “Think we’ll pass.”
“That little roll of pudge would keep you warm. I’ll throw in a couple T-bones, and the pooch would be sitting pretty.”
She tried to hide her grin in her drink. “Aw, leave Bacon alone.”
“Alright.” His face sobered. “If you want to talk….” He shook his head as though he couldn’t believe this conversation was still required. “I get where your head is.”
The base dropped on a new beat, and Lexi embraced the living, breathing energy that pulsed around her. “Ha. You have no idea where my head is, Shadow.”
“I know where you’re from. I know you. But—”
“Enough.” The strobe spun, and she tried to let a streaming jet of red lights blind her. A headache from that would be preferable to making eye contact with Shadow. “Please don’t give me the I’m-worried-about-you conversation.”
“I am.” His voice rose over the beat then dropped along with the bass. “And I’m also worried about this sale.”
“Why?”
“It’s going to be epic. Third-world dictators and freakin’ who knows who else will want it. It’s getting a lot of attention.”
“They always do.”
He sipped his drink slowly and sighed. “Not like Monarch.”
“So… what do we do differently?” Shadow was at her level: elite. There were very few salesmen out there like him, so she trusted his suggestions.
“I might see if we can get eyes and ears on the deal, just as an added layer of security. Someone to watch all the modes of communication for anything sketch.”
“Have anyone in mind?” she asked. She could think of a few contacts he’d use. A couple of them were in the room, and she’d heard one of them once claim SilverChaos’s accomplishments. So not out of ego but more annoyance, she wanted to be part of the decision-making process.
Shadow tilted his head. “Maybe your partner-in-crime?”
Wait… no. Shadow couldn’t mean…? “I don’t know if we’re thinking about the same guy.”
BlackDawn wasn’t even on her short list, though he was actually more talented than anyone she had initially thought about. Combined. The request seemed a little novice to ask of him, but who else would be considered her partner-in-crime?
She’d never met him in person but chatted with him almost every week. Years ago, they’d formed an alliance because sometimes hacks needed more than one set of hands. Sometimes code needed another mind mulling it over. BlackDawn was one of the very few hackers who could hold their own at the highest echelons. But she and he were also slightly competitive.
He wasn’t one for these parties, never came to the hacker events—not that people knew who she was when she showed. So maybe he was in the room. Her eyes skimmed the crowd.
“Silver?” Shadow asked. “Scowling at a party?”
“Just thinking…”
His eyes narrowed. “About?”
“No. Not him.”
“Have a reason?” he asked, leaning in for whatever she would divulge.
Which wouldn’t be much. Black was a talented hacker somewhere in the world—US-based, she presumed, because they’
d worked on what she could only assume were American military cyber offenses. That was his specialty. But still, he was her competition, and while they might play allies in the field—occasionally butting heads in heated discussions over who was right and wrong on things that had no right and wrong—business was a whole other world. She didn’t want him helping when it came to securing her sales.
Lexi shook her head, wrapping the long string of necklaces around her fingers again. “Not particularly.”
Shadow chuckled as if he could read her mind. “Alright, Silver, get out there and enjoy your party.”
With a nod, he melted into the night, leaving her to survey the scene. The place rocked out—lights bouncing, bass dropping, and bodies dancing and drinking. Phreaks, gamers, hackers, and groupies. Matt would hate it. The people—the geeks, the nerds—he’d blame for ruining his night out. Didn’t he see she was one of them? Didn’t he see anything about her? She looked at her engagement ring. It wasn’t even a style that she ever would have chosen. But she wasn’t the girl who pined over the perfect ring or the perfect dress. She wanted a perfect love who held her tight, promised security, cherished her, appreciated who she wanted to be more than who he could put on display.
Shifting her gaze from the ring to her drink, she wondered if maybe there was more alcohol in that glass than she realized. Growing up the way she had, she knew just how lucky she was to have a man who’d promised to never ever leave… right?
Still, surrounded by hundreds of people who didn’t know her given name, she was more comfortable there than at home. They accepted her. Respected what she did. They didn’t hurt her.
Not that most times she’d even admit that to herself.
* * *
Phiber kept his eyes on the waif of a woman. She was blond, confident, and watched the crowd of dancing bodies under the makeshift strobe lights as if they were her people. His gut said they were—she was in the know, dropping his handle and chatting with the likes of Shadow, who was almost infamous for the amount of deals he’d brokered and connections he had.
After weeks of crawling into every dark corner, trying to pin down SilverChaos through all of the hacks attributed to that handle, Phiber had wormed his way into enough intel that said the woman who’d declined his drink offer was Silver. How about that? Silver was a woman. Not that he was sexist. He didn’t care who Silver actually was as long as the bank transfers from his mysterious Taskmaster continued to arrive, along with the codex message for his new tasks.
Each request from the unknown sender had grown in difficulty, almost as though the first ones were tests. As he completed each challenge, Phiber became more interested in what the end goal was. Though by now, he had a guess. Whoever had contracted him wanted the Monarch exploit. They wanted to worm into Monarch’s website and siphon data about its users. Their intent had malicious undertones, and their means were obviously sketchy. No way was his employer legit—otherwise they would just bid in the upcoming auction. SilverChaos was one of those hack snobs who cared who bought their—her—product. She wanted good people, which wasn’t Phiber or Taskmaster.
At this point, he guessed Taskmaster was positioning him to steal Monarch’s zero day patch, either online or in person. Lifting a laptop or hacking her system? Both would be simple. He was elite enough, even if his peers hadn’t yet given his handle that designation. The most concerning thing would be if she kept her creation in pieces until the auction was complete.
He watched Silver continue her conversation with Shadow. That guy had some secrets and a vat of industry knowledge.
Rubbing his hands together, Phiber itched for the opportunity to find all the parts of Silver’s program, in both hard copy and hidden in the crevices of the cyber world. A physical file extraction wouldn’t be problem; breaking and entering was almost a hobby for him, as his rap sheet showed.
He pulled out his phone and tapped out a quick message. Silver identified. Send bank transfer and next job.
CHAPTER TWO
The unmanned aerial vehicle—the UAV—bore down on the blip on the screen, chasing what Parker knew was the team he worked with, and he couldn’t disarm the damn thing. He couldn’t hack it, couldn’t do shit with it, and if he didn’t crash it in the next five minutes, three of his favorite people would be smears on a mountainside.
“Parker, what the fuck.” Jared Westin slapped the wall of the shit-motel room they’d bunkered down in.
They were working off a crappy signal in eastern Europe with a few laptops networked together. Not his normal equipment and not what he needed to keep the boys alive. They’d lost all their hardware in an explosion, and this relatively simple job would have been so much easier had he been in Titan’s nerve center. Hell, even in a satellite office. But there’d been no time for that.
“Parker,” Boss Man snapped again.
“Give me a second. Fuck.” Sweat beaded on the back of his neck while his hands flew on the keyboard. Every screen, every angle he tried, and nothing. He couldn’t hack the operating system, and his boys were about to die. “Damn it.”
Jared paced the room. The tension was enough to kill them both. Had Parker known this was what the guys were walking into, he’d have been prepared. But no. They’d gone rogue, adding on to the mission objective on their way back to their rendezvous point. Now Parker was trying to keep them alive with no resources on an operation that should have been fast, furious, and simple. Fuck.
“Swear to Christ…” Jared cracked one knuckle at the time.
“Give me a minute.”
They didn’t have that. The monitors showed that they were clearly being outplayed by someone and needed another set of hands and better technology—exactly. More computing power and another set of hands.
He switched laptops, dialing into a network, and sent out an SOS to one of a very few elite hacks that he’d worked with on the regular. Crucial seconds ticked by, then Silver lit up the screen. Parker’s breathing calmed because now he could get back to work. A few keystrokes later, providing Silver all the info needed, Parker switched back to the other laptop. They had worked enough jobs that they knew how to play off one another. Code raced across the screen. His fingers banged the keyboard as he glanced at what Silver was throwing up too. All good stuff. This could be enough to save the guys.
“Damn it, Parker,” Jared growled, staring at the screen with the footage of the team failing to outmaneuver the UAV that Parker had only managed to slow down. “What’s the problem?”
The guys had next to no cover, and even though their vehicle was armored, they couldn’t withstand a direct hit from above. Jared cursed from across the room. Time was slipping away, along with the possibility of success.
A new code sequence ran across his screen. He read it, fed off it, and manipulated the lines to further attack their enemy. His fingers flew on the keyboard, their coding seamlessly integrated on an offensive attack. Screen after screen showed that partnering with Silver had given him the needed speed and data. The anticipation of their impending accomplishment gave him a burst of energy, like Red Bull for the soul. There was no doubt they’d found the right sequence.
“There! That’ll do it.” Parker froze over the keyboard, and his head lifted to watch the screen. The live feed showed their men as hunted prey. Nothing changed. “Dive, fucker, dive.”
He glared at the UAV. His eyes dropped to the screen, confirming that they had done what was needed to take out the drone. The pressure in the room intensified. Whoever was on the other side of the remote’s navigation system was top-notch, but he was better—partnered with Silver, he couldn’t be stopped. So what was the problem? It should be game over.
Come… the fuck… on…
“Gimme an update.” Jared paced.
“Wait a second.” Because Parker couldn’t doubt what was on screen. Black and white intel. Straight fact. They’d disarmed and disorganized the drone. Time would send it to its death.
“Parker…” Boss Man crossed his
arms as though he needed to restrain himself. If the guy could rip the drone out of the sky and crush it in his fist, he would. “End this. Now.”
Parker knew that, but he didn’t have time to tell Jared all the hows and whys it would work, because then he’d also have to go into the reasons it might not, and no one wanted a risk analysis of the team’s survival likelihood. His chest cranked tight. If the men in that vehicle—Winters, Roman, and Cash—died, Parker might as well join them. Titan for life. He gnawed his bottom lip, holding an uncertain breath.
Another second clocked by.
The UAV suddenly nosedived, exploding behind their vehicle. Jared punched his arms into the air. Parker’s head dropped down, and he let out a ragged gasp. Even if he’d known it would happen, waiting was still the worst.
Pacing again, Jared looked on the upswing of that adrenaline rush as he dialed the satellite phone. “You fuckers stay on course next time.” Then he threw it onto the motel room bed. “Too fuckin’ close.”
“Agreed,” Parker mumbled, aware that his nervous system was coming down from his own adrenaline high. He loved the rush. Every time. Whoever said computer shit was boring certainly hadn’t seen what Titan could do with a few laptops and a piss-poor foreign internet connection in some pay-by-the-hour motel room.
Boss Man rubbed the back of his neck. “If I smoked, I’d fucking need a light. Shit.”
Parker leaned back in the chair, wanting to shut down the operation, inventory their loss from the explosion earlier, and get back to the States. A flash on one screen caught his attention, and he swiveled his head.
Silver: Almost got your ass burned on that one, buddy.
No kidding, asshole. He smiled, but before he could agree, another message popped up.
Silver: But I needed the distraction. Shitty day.
Black: Almost just had one of those.
