"Well shit, Ryleigh said pouting. You could have told me. Do you know the hoops I had to go through just to get a pre-approval for one of her dogs? If she was already working with us, it might not have taken 2 years. I want one of those dogs, and you know it, Tory." Peyton found Ryleigh’s pout cute. This woman was the head of one of the leading security agencies in the nation, and she was pouting like a child because she hadn’t gotten her way by getting one of Peyton’s fur babies.
The brilliant smile at the end of her statement proved that although she was disappointed, she didn’t hold anything against Peyton or Tory. Peyton had waiting lists years’ longs for one of her dogs, and now that she was considering turning over the operation to Cathy she was sure she would as well, neither of them would cut corners for anyone.
"Whatever Ryleigh, Tory chimed in raising her eyebrow in defiance. You can’t get everything you want." Peyton watched as Tory then looked to Jacks in deference then added," well maybe you can. Damn, Chica between that big lug on your left and your very own Daddy Warbucks just maybe you can."
Peyton was kind of shocked by what Tory had just said, and she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Her handler had just basically insulted their boss, and she didn’t know how Ryleigh or for that matter Jacks was going to take the woman’s comments.
The loud laughter that erupted wasn’t at all what she expected. " Oh, like you ever cave to my wills and wants Tory. I have to get your toys from Wyatt or Bas. What’s up with that shit, we are woman hear us roar and all that jive. I could go on a waiting list for one of your tech devices, and it would be decades before you thought I was ready to play."
"Damn Skippy, Wyatt, and Bas know how to use what I make you no way you just like to play, and Jacks or even Declan would have my head if you ever blew up that base or worse. I’m not stupid." Tory replied sarcastically
"Whatever you suck." Ryleigh chided.
Before their little battle could continue Peyton chimed in, “Sorry Ryleigh it doesn’t matter who you are the wait time is still the same. I like what the Holly group stands for and all the people you help. But my dogs are my babies, and if I am going to give one up, then everyone has to jump through the same hoops. Even Bastian and he is my brother. But just so you know you may have to start jumping again. I am seriously considering turning the business over to my new assistant Cathy."
"Bas laughed, yeah she won’t even let me feed the mangy things. Said I wouldn’t do it right. So, Peyton want to tell me why after all these years you decided to just up and leave your babies?"
Damn his big brother intuition.
“Yeah, I’m sticking with Tory, not really."
Peyton like seeing all these people. Putting Bastian’s stories with the faces of the people on the feed made her feel even more a part of their group. Before they went, live Wyatt had pointed out each of them and made introductions.
The one that scared her the most was Jacks. The man seemed to have a permanent scowl of unleashed menace on his face. When his loud voice boomed over the connection, Peyton jumped. The man was potent in a scary way. Wyatt exuded dominance and power but his pretense intrigued and enticed her. Her brother was just as demanding and somewhat larger than life, a take charge, do as I say type man but never once even as a child did she fear him. Jackson Thorp was a different animal altogether. Wyatt had called him Alpha and Peyton never really put the word with a man, now she understood. He was more and kind of frightening.
"Okay since we are going to do another episode of “where the shifter turns,” does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on. First, we find out Bas has a sister who happens to be not only a hacker but a dog trainer. Then she is gone, and Wyatt has to go find her. Bas has been walking around here like a fucking grizzly with a sore tooth because Wyatt hasn’t called in two fucking days, and then when said sister decided to grace him with her presences she hangs up on his ass."
"Peyton, the sister, apparently works for both our companies and is, of course, okay. What’s the big fucking deal? Who cares who she works with, she has been vetted probably better than any of us." Jacks asked looking around the room first and then focusing on the monitor. "Rye you wanted her here to help a while back. I’m just not getting why I have been pulled away from my work to witness this little show."
"Alpha, you need to hear what Peyton has to say, there is more. Bas man you need to understand it as well she was trying to protect you and the rest of Alpha Team." Saying that really peaked the rooms interest.
For the next hour, Peyton told the group about her mother, the suits, hacking the CIA, finding out the suits were ex-military and that they now worked for Davis Defense. She even explained her cringe-worthy experience with Bas’s dad.
Ryleigh asked what she knew about her birth. Peyton told what she had heard herself and what Bastian had overheard all those years ago. She knew this was going to be a sore spot with her brother and in time she would explain herself. Now was not that time.
She stooped to watching Judy for years and even paying her which only made Bas scowl further and Peyton felt ashamed of herself. She did warn them that her mother was a consummate liar anything she said should be questioned, but she did acknowledge there was a possibility the story Bastian overheard was true. “I remember her telling me that I the biggest mark gone wrong in her life. I just assumed she meant my birth and no before you ask I haven’t delved into Judy’s or my past too much.”
"Why the hell not?" Jacks all but screamed. Shoot at least Peyton felt like he screamed the words, but Peyton was starting to wonder if it was just how he talked. "Listen maybe I have been hiding my head in the sand, but I wasn’t ready," Peyton said on the defensive.
"Jacks leave her alone, we all have our crosses to bare neither you nor anyone else can force that." Peyton appreciated the sharp look Ryleigh had given Bastian before she continued. "Give her a break she doesn’t really know you, and by the size of her eyes you're freaking her out. Sorry, Peyton, my husband doesn’t have much of a filter. He likes to blurt out exactly what he is thinking, and unfortunately, he does not reflect on how someone might take those words." Ryleigh flashed an angry look at her husband, it was comical but did the trick Jacks just shrugged his shoulders not offering any apology.
"Peyton your birth and conception could be right at the heart of the problems NAC and The Holly Group are experiencing right now. We recently stumbled a crossed information that suggests a doctor was impregnating women with eggs that had been genetically altered. I’m not going to go into all of that just yet but know by what you have said, and Bas suggested there is a good possibility that you were one of the children created from the experiment."
Peyton hugged herself closer and couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath that resulted from that little blow. Genetically altered, what the hell was Judy involved with. Peyton’s mind was reeling.
"Sorry, Peyton I know those words come as a shock, and I promise I will explain further, but for right now all we can do is compare the data and perform some tests. We have a list of conception dates on it, what is your birth date?"
"December 15, 1989. I don’t know how that would help no baby is born exactly 40 weeks after conception. You also have to take into consideration the length at which Judy would go to hide my birth if she actually was hitting up this company for a bigger payday. She changes her name like the wind who is to say that my birthdate isn’t just something she made up as well?"
"I don’t know what you are expecting by sharing this information. I mean genetic manipulation? If I was one of those children would that so-called company have tried harder to track me down? It just doesn’t jive that they would just let Judy take off with me if I was a part of some bigger conspiracy or experiment."
"Those are valid points to make, but a simple blood test will tell us all we need to know. Do you happen to know what your blood type is?" Ryleigh said attempting to ease her mind a little.
"Yeah, it's AB negative."
"Well, w
ould it surprise you to know that everyone on this call is also AB negative?"
"Ah yeah, that is statistically impossible for eight random people to have that blood type. It’s the rarest blood type around. I think 1% of Caucasian people in the population of the United States have our blood type."
It was Ryleigh turn to explain everything to Peyton, shifters, human women with shifter DNA, The Pandora Group and the Davis Defense connection. To say Peyton was blown away would be like saying sugar wasn’t sweet.
"Damn well it looks like I need a blood test. But that is going to have to wait a bit Wyatt, and I have an idea about how we can get more information and possibly take Davis Defense down. Anybody interested?"
"Hell yeahs!" were heard from every direction. The one person that stayed quiet was Bastian. Peyton had a lot of making up to do as far as her brother was concerned. She had hurt him when all she really wanted to do was protect him. Then again, he had been keeping a pretty large secret from her as well. Peyton knew two wrongs didn’t make are right she just wasn’t really sure where they were supposed to go from here.
Wyatt interrupted the enthusiasm from his teammates. " Listen people there are some huge risks involved if we get caught because of the government contracts this place holds it could mean jail time or worse. This hack could be considered an act of treason. I have all the confidence in the world that with the right approach the possibilities of being caught are slim, but that doesn’t negate the risk. We can’t implicate NAC or The Holly Group in any of this, it’s more than just our lives on the line here. "
Jacks spoke up, "Agreed, Senior will be here soon, and I will brief him. If he says it’s a no-go, then the plan needs to be squashed, and you and Peyton need to get here sooner rather than later. For now, all you Brainiac’s can discuss all the gory details and the rest of us will leave you to the planning. If you need us, we will be down the hall."
"What are you going to be doing down the hall Jacks?" Ryleigh asked. Peyton had respected Ryleigh before this call and seeing her now with her own eyes kind of shocked her. Like Tory she was a contradiction, she was small in a room filled with overly large men and didn’t even seem the tiniest bit intimidated. She too looked a bit like a fairy, maybe it was just the flaming red hair and her petite size and although she didn’t have the same snarky or cocky behavior as Tory she seemed very cable of holding her own.
"Man stuff, of course, no need to worry yourself the tough guys will be nearby if you need us." Peyton wanted to laugh at Jacks posturing, flexing his muscles and doing a few little poses all for his wife’s amusement. He seemed to only let his playful side out for his wife. It was cute, and she really wanted to see more the two of them together. She was a consummate people watcher, and these people really spiked her interest.
"Jacks, isn’t Emma down the hall with McKenna right now, she said she needed tummy time, or something is that where you tough guys are going perhaps, to protect Kenna from her tummy time?"
"Nope, just going down the hall to move some furniture and stuff Emma wanted," Jacks said. "Yeah," Ethan said hurriedly, "We promised to help we better get to it." The three brutes left the room looking a little sheepish. Ryleigh and Bas burst out laughing. "Don’t mind them" Ryleigh could not hold back her smile," they are so going to protect McKenna from tummy time. Can you imagine that poor little girls first day of school or how about her first date?"
Wyatt said, "if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it that little girl has you all wrapped up tight doesn’t she." I can’t wait to meet her and Emma, this is going to be fun to watch.
"Whatever Dude, your turn is coming Kenna is just that sweet."
Payton did not want all of the family fun to end, that is just what these people were. They might work together but just watching and listening to them Peyton could tell how close they all were. She felt like an outsider. These people were close, and Bas had kept her on the outside for so long she was afraid that he thought she lacked in some way. Why would he have kept her hidden for so long, the scene she watched brought out several of her insecurities. Why wasn’t she ever good enough.
Speaking a little more sharply than she intended Peyton said," hey it was nice to meet you all I look forward to meeting Emma and McKenna, but we really need to get to work now." Better to stick with the things she knew then deal with the hurt feeling she was having. Peyton didn’t need to look at Wyatt to know he was watching her she could feel it all the way to her bones. She also knew if she looked up into the screen and put her eyes on her brother his scowl would be back firmly in place. Damn it.
"Okay, sorry guys but you will have to excuse me I’m just a little on edge right now."
"Hey no problem Peyton, I get it you have had a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time. I like a woman that get to the brass tacks like my Dad likes to say. Let’s hear this plan of yours, Ryleigh said."
"Okay like I said we are going to do a four-pronged piggyback. I will go in first, then Wyatt, Tory will follow and then Bastian. So far, my attempts have been fruitless, their IT guys are good, really good and a have managed to shut me down within 20 seconds. What I am proposing is that three of us will act as a diversion with only one actually gathering information. We will need that information to go to a secure location for upload at another time. Trojans will not work with this system I put one of my best out there in email form, and it was dismantled before it even hit their server."
"Please keep in mind this is going to be an extremely hard hack, getting in isn’t the problem staying long enough to gather the information is. If any of you have a proven payloader, we need to test it. Best case scenario would be a power outage but unfortunately, I am not mother nature and shutting down a city block to test the theory and then again for the hack would raise red flags, we cannot afford that to happen".
Wyatt spoke up," how about a severe weather event?"
"Yeah, that would work, but unfortunately those are unreliable."
"Well it just so happens Michigan according to weather channels is going to experience one of those events by the end of the week, several smaller cells are set to hit within the next few days. The area we are targeting is known for power outages. We remotely access one of the substations and shut down the area to coincide with the storm. The real problem will be with the backup generators the company will more than likely have. Some of them can switch over in a matter of seconds. From everything that you have said Davis Defense would have one of the best."
"Damn, we would need to test how long it takes Davis to switch from local power to generator. But it could work. Even with the generators switching on taking seconds the computer systems will take longer. If we do several tests and find a weakness, we might be able to buy a little more time."
"Okay here is the tricky part. I have several untraceable satellites feeds we can use for Wi-Fi, but in order for us to be as hidden as possible, we need to be mobile targets. Harder for Davis to track. I also want everyone as far away from their current locations as possible. We don’t want a back-hack to provide these people with our locations."
Wyatt took over the planning," Bastian you need to get away from the Alpha base. Is there any way you can get Cash to fly you out to Alaska, I am going to set you up to ping through Russia? I want everyone mobile, so that means vans with complete computer set ups? Tory I would like you close to Washington, DC, I think we are going to hide our data within the CIA’s database."
"What? Wait if we get it in there we might not get it back out, what good would that do us?" Ryleigh questioned.
It was Peyton's turn to show her stuff, "Well, I have been playing with the CIA’s databases for years, and I know just where to store it for retrieval later. They will never know it was there and then gone. They have several outdated queues that only run reports on annually. If we are lucky, the data can be deleted without any trace of our information before those reports are due to run."
"I think our best bet is for me to
go to Detroit and Wyatt to go south. If we time this perfectly pinging off of multiple locations, get in and get out quickly, tracking any of us will be next to impossible."
"Oh, hell no baby, you are not going to Detroit alone. If the weather doesn’t cause you problems, then the possibility of capture at so close of a range will. You and I need to stick together." Wyatt said causing everyone in the room to raise their eyebrows, a little what's going on here without actually saying it out loud.
"Wyatt that can’t happen we need to be in different locations, pinging other sites only goes so far, that is the reason everyone including me needs to be mobile. We need eight people for this operation to work. I won’t be alone. We all need drivers."
"Fuck, I agree but how about you going to Monroe, Michigan. It is close enough for our purpose yet far enough away that it will take some time for Davis to catch up with you. Also, who do you propose will be the drivers? If Cash is taking Bas to Alaska, we are still down by three drivers?"
Tory butted in," I can get Caty to drive me she is due in from a mission within the day. If that doesn’t work how about a member from one of the other NAC teams. I’m sure Declan would agree to a loan?"
"Yeah, I think Senior would get behind this operation. The East Coast is Carter's region. I’m sure he has someone he can send to help. He has a heavy caseload, but this is short term so it should not be an issue. Tory, haven’t you already been working with them on a few of their cases?"
"Yes, in a managerial capacity only. I have been working with Delta Teams Beta, Ryder. I would trust him to be my driver and muscle. But it would take him some time to get to me and mobilize. I will need to make some calls." Replied Tory
Wyatt: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 3) Page 15
