Caustic (The Seraphim Network - Everyday Series Book 1)

by Yasmin Hawken

  “I have a friend’s life at stake. I can’t not do this,” Venom responded. She turned to Fenric, NexusReaper, and Vara. “Look, this is getting tougher and riskier, so if you guys want to leave, I understand, but I’m going ahead.”

  “I told you once before, I’m with you, CB,” Fenric insisted.

  “Me, too,” Vara added.

  “I have nothing better to do on a Saturday night, so why not?” NexusReaper declared.

  With no more discussion, Venom stepped up to the first of the firewalls. It looked like a red weathered door, but in actuality, it was a small firewall made to prevent access into a specific file. ‘First of sixteen,’ she thought to herself as she started her highest level exploit program. With a touch, the door started to melt.

  Beyond the red door was a room with a green door, then another with blue door. Firewall, after firewall. It was slow going. Vara pointed them in the right direction while Fenric kept them shielded, and NexusReaper kept the sniffers away. She was glad he had come now. The more jobs a single had to achieve, the more likely they were to miss something important.

  It took until the fifteenth door for Venom to hit her first real obstacle. As soon as she started the program, the door shimmered. Originally, it looked like weathered wood, but now it had been replaced by solid and shining metal.

  “Fuck,” Venom swore as it resisted the program she had been using. That was the best she had. She flicked through the other tools in her arsenal, but there was nothing she could see that would break through this level of security.

  “We need to find a way around,” NexusReaper said to the others.

  “No… I can break it,” Venom insisted. There was no way she wanted to let the rest of the group down; she was better than this.

  “Don’t. With the hive system and a hardline door program like that, any attempt to break it is going to alert security,” NexusReaper said strictly, looking around the group. “Vara, see if you can find a different route through the system.”

  As soon as Vara summoned the data search program, the silence was broken by an intense foghorn. Bright lights beamed through the thin veiled net curtains. Instinctively, the four hackers pressed against the walls or dropped to the floor, hiding from the lights. Security had been triggered.

  “Was that the data search?” Vara asked quickly, panic rising in the young woman’s voice.

  “Fuck knows. Caustic, break that damn door and break it quickly. The alarm is triggered already. I’m going to throw down a load of chaff to hopefully throw the security off our trail,” NexusReaper explained quickly. All the joking was lost, which showed how serious the situation was.

  The exploit program was no good against the door. That meant there was only one thing to do. She needed a code breaker. A hardcore program that would simply break the firewall. It would make a lot of noise, and the security would know about it. Activating the program, a large chainsaw appeared in her hand. Glancing over, Fenric approached her with the same tool.

  “Let’s go together. Mouse, Reaper… get some shielding ready,” Fenric instructed.

  As the two started summoning protective shields, she turned her attention back to the door. With a nod to Fenric, they stepped in unison, placing the destructive teeth of the chainsaw against the metal-looking door. The tool cut through the obstacle like a knife through butter. The further they cut, the louder the siren became. Drones filled the air outside the windows, attack programs waiting for their command. Hopefully, this would be over quickly.

  Suddenly, there was a scream of pain over their chat channel. It was Vara. Venom glanced back and saw some kind of squid-like tentacles emerging through the last door they entered. Long green feelers wrapped around Vara, constricting like a vice. There was no way she would escape Neural Feedback after a hit like that. Venom wanted to change to her attack program and help, but there was no way she could split focus until this firewall was destroyed.

  “Jack out,” Fenric shouted, glancing back to Vara. “We have it from here, jack the fuck out… Venom, why isn’t she listening?”

  “It’s a hold program,” Venom shouted as her stomach dropped. It would hold her avatar, and therefore her mind, in cyberspace until security could trace her or even kill her from Neural Shock.

  The NexusReaper charged into action, launching at the creature, his scythe materializing as the combat program was activated. The blade tore through the flesh of the tentacle, leaving it flopping about on the floor of the room. Vara was dropped, and before she could hit the floor, her avatar disappeared. She had jacked out; hopefully, she was alright on the other side. More tentacles started appearing from the doorway.

  “When you break through that door, I want you two to get through and keep going. I’m going to hold their attentions,” NexusReaper said as he danced around the room, his attack program making short work of the offensive hold program.

  “We aren’t leaving you,” Venom shouted back; they were nearly through.

  “You need to, else these things are just going to chase us. I’ve got this… trust me,” NexusReaper said cockily. She wanted to argue about them staying to help, but he was right, not that she would ever tell him. His ego was large enough.

  “Alright, thank you,” Venom said with a glance to him as the chainsaw cut through the last bit of metal.

  “Just remember this next time we’re in the sack,” NexusReaper replied with a cheeky smirk.

  Venom didn’t have time to be embarrassed, she needed to save Xander. Turning her back to NexusReaper, she stepped through the firewall. This time they were in a different style of room. Instead of the shanty looking home, this was a huge office gleaming with gold and expensive fabric. Fenric came through seconds later, and the doorway instantly vanished behind them.

  “You slept with that guy?” Fenric asked, bringing the stealth shroud quickly over them.

  “Yes… but let's focus on the job at hand,” Venom said with a shake of her head.

  Activating her own datasearch program, she prepared some defense against sniffers, but it seemed unlikely that she would find them here. She walked around the room, analyzing the new and strange system. This is where the hive was most obvious; the code had changed so drastically.

  “I think I found our final firewall,” Fenric said. Venom glanced around in time to see the werewolf tear down a fabric wall covering to reveal a large safe behind it. She quickly moved to his side and activated her exploit program. Hopefully NexusReaper could keep the security occupied until they had snatched the information.

  Moments later, the safe door clunked open. The room beyond was a records room; rows and rows of filing cabinets filled the space. The datasearch snake sped off, darting erratically around until it found what it needed. The filing cabinet was locked. Using the necessary program, she broke the password and started sifting through file names. Finding the one she required, she downloaded it and wiped the original from the system. With the job complete, she turned back to find Fenric opening other cases. A typical hacker; couldn’t stay out of other people's business.

  “Curiosity killed the cat y’know,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Good thing I’m a canine then,” he responded, shoving a few files into his own pockets, “ready to jack?”

  “Sure thing,” Venom said happily.

  “See you on the mundane plain,” he said and disappeared.

  Venom went to activate her own jack out procedures when a pain shot through her, causing her to scream out. What had just happened? As she tried to jack out again, she found it wasn’t working. Her avatar glanced down at herself; a large purple tentacle was wrapped around her chest.

  Panic started rising within her as she saw the familiar markings of a hold program, and unlike Vara, she had no one to help. Opening the menus, she summoned her attack program. The large anaconda wrapped around her shoulders came to life and started constricting the tentacle. She brought up her program list and closed those she didn’t need, using their processing power t
o increase the strength of the snake.

  Pain started in her head, sharp flashes indicating the heavy lashes of Neural Feedback. She couldn't die here. Not after what she had been through. Closing the final open program, she brought the snake into full attack. The brilliant green anaconda sank its pearly white fangs into its opponent. The tentacle recoiled, and the snake fell to the ground. The hold program was defeated, but it had destroyed her attack program. She didn’t have time to investigate. Quickly, she activated her jack out procedure, and soon she was opening her eyes in her chair.

  There was a throbbing pain in her head caused by the Neural Feedback, but that was something she could deal with. She sat up, and the symptoms of her detox rushed back to her. The effects of the shower had worn off and she was back to being unfocused, nauseous, shaky, and really fucking cold. Pushing herself from the gateway, she quickly messaged Fenric, Vara and NexusReaper, making sure they all got out safely. She was glad to get prompt replies, letting her know they were alright. She couldn’t deal with another person getting hurt for her.

  She opened her downloads and looked at the most recent file, a file that had caused her nothing but heartache this week. With a few simple presses, the file was sent to the unnamed contact that had messaged her a couple days previously. Venom now had to wait.

  When there wasn’t an instant reply, she felt the worry start to churn in the depth of her stomach, or it could have just been the detox. A minute passed, then two and three. She was watching the digital clock tick over, ten minutes, fifteen. She found her feet and started to pace; that was, until the pangs of the detox returned, and she was forced to go fetal on her bed as the pain consumed her.

  After what felt like hours of pain she forced her aching, complaining body to her feet to check her messages again. There was one. Disappointingly, it was from Fenric, asking if everything was sorted. She replied quickly and resumed her pacing. Three hours passed before there was a chime of an incoming message. Summoning the AR display, she opened the message.

  ::Open your door CausticBitch, before the security sees him. We hope to never have to do business again::

  Venom ran for the door. All caution was lost in the moment. She didn’t bother to check what was outside; she just tore the door open. There on the floor in front of her was Xander, his eyes covered and hands bound. Venom panicked. Dropping to her knees, she ripped off the blindfold he wore before turning to the ropes that bound him.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…,” she kept repeating over and over again as she pulled the ropes free.

  “Hey… Venom... ,” Xander said as he tried to get her attention. Her hands were all over his face, checking for injury. “....RILEY…”

  The sound of her real name snapped her from the panic haze that had taken over her. She hadn’t even realized how fast she was breathing. Before she could say anything else, Xander’s large arms were thrown around her, and she was pulled flush to him. The feeling of her best friend hugging her caused her to weep. She thought she would never see him again.

  “I’m ok… calm down… I’m ok,” he whispered in her ear as his hands ran through her hair. Venom didn’t understand how he could be so calm.

  “I’m sorry… this is my fault,” Venom sobbed against him.

  “I know,” he said simply with no sound of malice in his tone. Just soft and calm. “I really need to see my wife, so how about you drive me home and we can talk on the way over”.

  Venom didn’t stop to ask anything else. In this moment, she would do anything she could to make it up to him. She stopped in the apartment to grab a hoodie and her keys, and as she stepped back out, she saw the heavy look of concern in his eyes.

  “Venom… is this the drugs?” he asked, cupping her face, his eyes searching every inch of her skin. She pushed herself away from him, raising her hood to hide her features.

  “No… it’s the detox. I really don’t want to talk about it,” she said as she locked the door and led him down to her car.

  “One day I’m going to ask you, and you’re going to explain what happened with those drugs, but I won’t push you today,” Xander said as he took her car keys and indicated for her to climb into the passenger seat.

  Venom gave a sigh. No matter how much she didn't want to, she owed him. As they drove across the city to Xander’s house, she started to tell him the tale, from the competition to the threat, and finally, the hack they had completed mere hours ago. She left out Fenric’s name, worrying that maybe Xander would have something to say to the man about his involvement, but other than that, she came clean about it all. He sat there and listened. She had been expecting anger, but there was none. In the end, she couldn’t help but ask.

  “Why aren’t you mad at me?” Venom questioned as she turned to him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Xander hadn’t expected the question that was thrown at him. He looked back to his friend, studying her for a moment. In the time since he had seen her last, she looked like she’d aged five years. Her hair was ragged like straw, her skin pale, and her eyes lacking their usual fire. How could he be mad at her when she had obviously been dragged through hell and back? He knew he couldn’t tell her that; having someone take pity on her was never well received.

  “Venom, you’re one of my best friends. If this had been intentional, then I would be mad. You were trying to help another friend, and accidents happen. I love you,” he said sincerely as he reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He meant everything he said. His love for her was never romantic, but that didn’t make it any less.

  “Did they hurt you?” she asked weakly, this time keeping her eyes focused on the road ahead.

  “When they took me, there was a bit of a fight, and I had a headache for a couple hours. Other than that, no. It was the calmest hostage situation I’ve ever heard of,” he said, unable to help the chuckle that came from him. “I have a feeling I was their first.”

  Xander watched the way her eyebrows dropped in confusion before she gave a small laugh. He joined her, and before he knew it, they were both belly laughing in the car. Most people would think he should be traumatized by the event. At first, he had been, but the chilled time with Eris and the fear the organization seemed to have with actually harming him had caused it to quickly wear off. In a job like the one they worked, there was always the worry of what could happen on the next mission. There was a time when Caitlyn had shot him on a job, and he still loved her. What was a little kidnapping between friends? The laughter died down, and a guilty look appeared over Venom’s face.

  “I’m not sure Caitlyn is going to see the humor in this,” Venom said, her fingers playing nervously with her sleeves.

  “How did she take it when you told her?” Xander asked as he thought of the multitude of ways Caitlyn could have reacted to this.

  “I didn’t tell her,” Venom replied bluntly. Xander’s jaw dropped; she had not told Caitlyn what had happened to him. As he opened his mouth to speak, she interjected, “I know I should have, but I couldn’t have her mad at me… not when I was trying to fix things. I’ll own up to it now, tell her it was my fault, but if I’d had that interaction… I would have broken, I know it.”

  Venom’s voice quivered slightly. It was almost as if she was close to tears, but he couldn’t see past her hood. He was a little annoyed that she hadn’t told Caitlyn, but not enough to say anything. Now he worried about the reaction he was going to get when he reached home.

  “Alright, V… we’ll sort this,” he said, once again placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. With the precarious emotional state that she was obviously in, he didn’t want to push her back to taking that fucking drug again.

  It wasn’t long until they were pulling into his street. The series of buildings was broken into apartments that framed the reasonably kept road on both sides. It was a relief to see the familiar sight after his confinement. The only real difference was, the graffiti smeared on the walls was NexusCore instead of the CorpDeath log
os it had been a few days before. He pulled into his designated spot, and they both stepped out of the car.

  “V, if you want, you can go home. I can face Caitlyn alone,” he said with a sad smile. His wife was an amazing person, but at the end of the day, she was a ball buster, and today his were likely on the block.

  “Nah. I need to tell her; I need to apologize. I messed up a lot this week, and I need to make it right,” she explained. The soft sigh made it sound like it was something she had been saying a lot.

  Without pushing the subject, they made their way up the stairs to his place. The closer he got to the door, the more desperate he was to see his wife and daughter, so much so that he threw the front door open. A huge smile stretched over his face as he saw Caitlyn nestled in the chair with Keira in her lap.

  Caitlyn got to her feet as he quickly made his way toward her. Outstretching his arms for an embrace, he was greeted with the sharp stinging pain of a slap to his cheek.

  “Motherbitch!” Xander exclaimed loudly as he stumbled a little, cupping his suddenly burning cheek.

  “Xander fucking James, where the hell have you been?” Caitlyn demanded. The fact his middle name was a swear word meant he was truly in the shit.

  “Cait, it’s not his fault… it’s mine. Please hear me out,” Venom said, quickly moving between husband and wife to prevent another attack.

  Xander rubbed his cheek as his listened to Venom recount the story again. He found himself watching the emotions that ran over his wife’s face. The anger faded to confusion, then to concern, and as the story came to the end, she had an arm wrapped around him, their daughter held between them. They stood there embracing for a moment. When Caitlyn stepped away, he was left holding the baby as she turned to look to Venom.

  “How could you not tell me? Everything we have been through, and you hid this from me,” Caitlyn said, not bothering to hide the hurt she so evidently felt. Venom shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, her eyes unable to meet of either of her friends.