Gunner: The Hacker's Code

by Michelle C. Reilly

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  Gunner parked, removed his helmet, and stared up at the house. He’d stopped by the complex to pick up some weapons. While there, he’d strapped his Hisshou Tanto blade to his calf and hid his favorite SIG Sauer P226 between his jeans and back. He always had some type of weapon on him, but he wanted to make sure he had enough coverage if things didn’t go the way he wanted them to during their excursion tonight. Gunner only planned on getting a feel for the area and to ask a few questions. If they found anything remotely suspicious, he would return with Nico and take care of it.

  He’d also made a quick scan of Rick’s computer, but hadn’t found much. The guy was a newb in Vargas’ operation, which was probably why he broke so easily under their interrogation earlier.

  He climbed off the bike and unstrapped the bag from the end of the seat. Scents of chow mein and sweet and sour chicken wafted from the containers hidden within the paper and his stomach growled. After knocking twice, he opened the door. The place was empty.

  Guess there was another hackathon tonight.

  He tromped up the stairs and tapped on the closed door before entering. Gunner found Nay right where he knew he would: on the floor in front of her computer. Her music blared full blast from her headphones. He sighed and closed the door. When he stood behind her, he watched her code.

  She is so good.

  He tapped her shoulder and she squealed and jumped, her glasses tilting on her nose. Nay yanked the headphones and glasses free. “Jesus Christ, how do you always scare the crap out of me?”

  Gunner checked over his shoulder. “You mean me? Because I’m pretty sure I’m not Jesus Christ. Though I’ve heard he was a pretty cool guy, I’m not so sure I fit into that bracket.”

  She shook her head and the corner of her mouth raised.

  He plopped to the floor and made a show of taking out the containers from the paper bag. “What are you working on?”

  “Just messing with the cloud app that was recently hacked,” she shrugged. “Trying to see if I can improve on the security.”

  Gunner shook his head. “Nay, why are you still here? You should be in San Jose living the life.”

  Her face turned into stone and Gunner knew he’d stepped in it. She wasn’t going anywhere until her sister was safe.

  The sound of her gurgling stomach reached his ears. “Time to eat,” he said and handed her one of the cartons along with some chopsticks.

  He stuffed a large bite in his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed while eyeing the band t-shirt she wore. Memories of her light, soft skin, and the cries of her orgasm echoed through his head. His other head began to stand at attention. “When are the guys coming back?”

  Nay glanced at the time on the monitor and swallowed her food. “Soon. Probably the next half hour.”

  He gave an internal sigh. Guess not.

  “We’ll leave after we finish eating.”

  She nodded her head and scooped up a mouthful of chow mein.

  The front door opened downstairs and the sound of multiple footfalls on the steps made their way to them. “Sounds like the crew is back early,” he said.

  He stood and made his way to the door. “They’re gonna be pissed I didn’t bring any Chinese for them.”

  Gunner reached for the door when it burst inward, bashing him in the forehead. He flew backward, landing on his back, his arm hitting Nadine in the back. Her dinner container fell to the ground and she gasped.

  Four men with Uzis filled the room. “Don’t move!” a loud voice said.

  Gunner forced down the immediate surge of his powers. The glow of his eyes, along with his Designation, would give him away as being something other than human. His first instinct was to rip the men apart into tiny pieces, but he didn’t think that would help convince Nay he was just a normal kind of guy.

  Nadine froze. Gunner had to give her credit for not screaming like a girl, as she’d done earlier. He glanced up at her to see the distention of her jawline giving evidence of her clenched teeth.

  Gunner returned his gaze to the perpetrators, slowly sitting up and maneuvering his body so he could better protect Nay. “What do you want?”

  The leader, a Hispanic man with a high and tight haircut and a good grip on his weapon, stood over him, the barrel aimed at Gunner’s head. He thought the man was stupid for standing so close to him. It’d be easy work for Gunner to take him out, even without his powers. The only thing stopping him was the man to Gunner’s left, who aimed his weapon at Nay’s torso with his twitching trigger finger. Nervous sweat glistened over the man’s neck where a snake tattoo peeked over the white collar of his business shirt.

  The two goons standing by the door held their guns pointed at the ceiling, ready to back up the men in front. Gunner opened his senses and increased his hearing. He could make out two more people downstairs.

  “You’re both coming with us,” the leader said.

  “And why would we want to come with you?” Gunner asked.

  The snake man switched his safety off. A small squeak came from Nay.

  “All right, all right, ya don’t need to go and get all huffy,” Gunner said.

  The leader tilted his head and one of the men behind him marched forward to step around Nay. He slammed the lid shut on her computer, yanked out the power supply, and gathered the equipment under his arm. When he returned to his original position, the leader took two steps back.

  Gunner watched them intently from beneath his lashes, determining their weaknesses, seeing who did or did not hold their weapons with confidence. The leader was pretty good, but the thug with the Uzi trained on Nay was nothing but show. The two against the wall were newbs.

  “You,” the leader lifted his chin at Gunner. “Put your hands behind your head and stand up real slow. Any fast moves and the girl loses a kneecap, understood?”

  Gunner stared the man in the eye and sensed no hint of a bluff. “Sure thing.” He lifted his hands behind his head and laced them together over the bill of his ball cap. Gunner forced himself to take slow and deliberate actions as he hefted himself to his knees and then into a stand.

  He towered over the leader and the man, having finally sensed Gunner could be more of a threat than he originally thought, slid back a few more steps. “Juan, take his phone. Then you and Marcel take him to the truck,” he said over his shoulder.

  One of the men in back nodded. “Si, Jorge.”

  Jorge turned to Gunner. “If you make even one wrong move, the girl won’t be able to use her computer again. You got me?”

  Gunner nodded. “I got ya.”

  Juan slid up next to him, and Gunner glared at him. The man’s eyes shifted sideways, betraying his nervousness. He reached into Gunner’s jean pocket and withdrew his phone. Gunner chuckled internally. There was no way any of them would be able to access it. In fact, if it wasn’t back in Gunner’s possession within twenty-four hours, a signal would be sent to the complex. Gunner imagined Auden, Nico, Marcus, and the rest of the Anathergian warriors picking these men apart, and sucked in his lips to stop his grin.

  Juan slipped the phone into the inside pocket of his jacket and then pushed Gunner forward with the business end of his Uzi. Gunner ambled toward the door, wondering why they hadn’t checked him for weapons. And then he remembered where he was. A geek house. Of course, he was one of those geeks, but it didn’t mean he didn’t know how to handle a weapon or even have one for that matter.

  Well, you know what they say about people who assume. Dumb asses.

  Juan and Marcel closed in behind him. At the doorway, he glanced over his shoulder at Nay and gave her a reassuring smile. Then he scowled at the leader.

  If the bastard lays a hand on her, I’m going full out. Fuck not letting anyone know what I am.

  That’d mean he’d have to kill all of them. Except Nay, of course. Protecting humans is what the Anathergians do, and they try their damndest to follow that motto. But there were exceptions to every rule. However, he wouldn’t break tha
t rule and kill any humans until he had to.

  As he trudged down the stairs, taking his time so there was less of a gap between him and Nay, he wondered why the men had targeted the hack house. What was it that had drawn them there?

  “Let’s go,” Jorge said from the room. Nay gasped and Gunner tensed, ready to bolt up the stairs. A small node of burning began in the pit of his stomach, and shards of flames ricocheted through his veins, as his powers ramped up. He breathed in through his nose and out of his mouth to make himself cool down.

  Nay’s stumbling feet on the landing came to him, then he heard her taking the stairs.

  As they exited the front door, Gunner turned with a sly smile to his two escorts.

  “Any idea what we’re doing for our date tonight, fellas?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Juan said as he opened a side door to a black van. A silver chained bracelet on the man’s wrist gleamed in the bluish LED street light. “Fried geek, with a side of pussy.”

  Gunner narrowed his eyes at the man, his blood freezing, and then he smiled.

  He is so going to regret saying that.

  He climbed in and the man grabbed his arm and pushed him onto the last row. The Mexican sat beside him with his gun trained on his stomach. The two men he’d heard earlier took up the front seats.

  Nay wasn’t far behind. They partially dragged her across the yard as she fought against them, cursing them under hear breath. The street lamps shined off the tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Gunner’s gut exploded with fire and he lowered his lids to hide his glowing eyes and put his chin down to obscure his Designation. He inhaled deep breaths, forcing himself to control the reaction. When the sensation eased, he lifted his lids to see Nay on the bench in front of him with Jorge next to her. The last two men took the first bench, and then the van started up and took off down the road.

  He glanced sideways at the man sitting beside him. “So, who sent you fellas?”

  The man smirked. “Why don’t you ask your girlfriend?”

  Gunner frowned and studied the back of Nay’s dark head. Her shoulders heaved up and down with her jerky breaths as she turned her head, revealing her profile outlined against the glow of the headlights. “Vargas,” she whispered.

  He blinked.

  Shit.