Reagan Through the Looking Glass (Hacking Wonderland, #1)

by Allyson Lindt

  The way he scrubbed his face elongated the shadows under his eyes. “I was there to extract you. When you were seen with Hare, the decision changed. When Jabberwock took you under his wing, the decision changed again. Like I said before—they thought he was moving heaven and earth for you.”

  “Joke’s on them.” She laughed bitterly.

  Silence descended over the car except for discussion about their travel plans. They could head north, but while he had other passports, Reagan didn’t. They headed southeast instead.

  A few hours later, they pulled into a gas station. He set the car to fill up, then poked his head in her window. “I’m going to grab us some snacks.”

  She gave him a tired smile. “I’ll be in the restroom. Give me a few minutes.” She watched him walk inside, and sick confusion swirled in her. She hated what she was about to do, but she didn’t trust him.

  Maybe that was on her, and maybe it was on him, but it didn’t change how she felt. She grabbed the registration from the glove box, wrapped it around most of the money he’d given her, and set it on the driver’s seat. She couldn’t take all his cash, but she needed something. A couple hundred dollars would work.

  She glanced at the gas station one last time, to make sure he was still occupied, then left the car and walked toward the rows of trucks on the other side of the lot. She scanned the faces of the smattering of drivers until she found someone who looked mostly harmless. Not that she was a good judge of what that meant, but she had to trust herself or she wouldn’t be able to do this.

  “Excuse me.” She raced up to a woman climbing into the cab. “I’m...” She glanced over her shoulder, to make sure Blake wasn’t following. “Can I get a ride?”

  The older woman eyed her with concern. “You okay, hon?”

  “I just need to get out of here. Please?”

  “Sure. Hop on in.”

  “Thank you.” Reagan scrambled into the passenger seat.

  She watched in the rear-view mirror as the gas station grew smaller and finally vanished. Was she doing the right thing? She was going to be asking that a lot, over the next few years. If she started off doubting herself now, she’d never survive.

  She swallowed past the lump in her throat and looked at the road in front of them.

  “I’m Tina. What’s your name, hon?” The drive extended her hand in greeting.

  Reagan accepted the handshake. “Alice.”

  “Where are you heading?”

  “Anywhere that’s not here.”

  Epilogue

  Alice pushed back from the blackjack table and tossed the dealer a couple of chips. “I’m done. Thanks for the game.” She was up about five grand. Easy to do on the high-roller tables. She’d had bigger wins, but the trick was to never get greedy when she counted cards. Lose a little, win a little, and spend enough on other games to keep her free suite and not be asked to leave.

  She looked at the ceiling, spotted the nearest camera, and smiled, then headed for the cashiers’ station. The simple action felt like ants crawling under her skin. She’d worked so hard to hide, and now she was exposing herself on purpose. To Jabberwock. Please let him be in the mood for a game. She said a second prayer that game would be letting her keep going, rather than some sort of psychological torment.

  She handed her chips to a cashier. As she received her money, she looked up at the closest security camera. The elevators were her next stop.

  It had been six months since she left Blake. Thinking about him still gnawed at her chest, but only if she let herself fall into that past. The first few weeks after, she struggled to get by. Two-hundred dollars didn’t go far.

  It was easier to stay off the grid than she thought, though. With no credit cards or ID, as long as she kept her head down and was nice to the right people, she could accomplish a lot.

  She glanced at the camera on the lift ride up. It was nice to not have to wear the prosthetics today. They itched, but they made her face look like it had a different bone structure. The comfort didn’t make up for the ill-ease clawing at her veins, begging her to stop this now.

  Today, she needed to display her identity. The rational part of her mind hated being back in this world, but fury and the need to be the person in charge of her life overrode that. The time she spent in lockdown, and before that with Hare, she let someone else dictate the rules. And they didn’t hesitate to manipulate and use her.

  They’d done the same to Alex and Wayne, and fuck it if she refused to let that stand. Maybe some of Hare’s madness had rubbed off on her, but she didn’t care if that contributed to her motivation, as long as she saw this through.

  The hallway to her room was empty. There were only a few suites up here. She strolled toward her door and pulled her card from her purse.

  Someone wrapped their arms around her waist, and she recognized Hare’s scent immediately. She hovered on a knife’s edge between fear and revulsion. It took all her willpower not to jerk from his touch.

  He brushed her ear with his lips and whispered, “The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown. The Lion chased the Unicorn all around town.”

  “Lion?” She turned to face him but didn’t pull away. Her body molded to his, increasing her disgust another notch. “Another name?” she said. “How are you keeping track of them all?”

  “You tell me, Alice.”

  She licked her bottom lip and gave him what she hoped was a wicked smile. “I’m glad you were here today.”

  “You’re not very well hidden if you go places you expect to find me. And fleecing a casino owned by a business acquaintance of mine doesn’t really live up to that threat you made last time we spoke.”

  “No. It really doesn’t.” She shifted against him, and nausea flickered inside when his cock hardened against her hip. She ignored her reaction. This was the game now.

  She wouldn’t have found him if it weren’t for Alex’s information. The photos Jabberwock himself made her take a second look at. The embedded code Alex left for her eyes only, that gave her insight into some of the organizations best kept secrets.

  Jabberwock trailed his nose up the side of her neck. “I missed you.” His phone buzzed.

  “I can tell. You’re vibrating with excitement.”

  He rolled his eyes, stepped back, and scanned his screen. “It’s Queen of Hearts,” he said without looking up.

  “I thought you were the only royalty.” She didn’t know why he shared, and the note certainly wasn’t from the person she expected.

  “I’ve tightened ranks, and Dormouse earned a promotion.”

  “Ah.” Who she expected, after all. “Then we all have new names. What am I calling you?”

  “It’s not a secret anymore. I’m Jabberwock. Fuck.” He looked at her. “Apparently, there’s a virus on one of our servers. Only one. It’s publishing a series of my IP addresses to the internet.”

  She widened her eyes and poured fake shock into her voice. “Oh my God. How horrible for you.” She didn’t expect him to flinch when he got the news of her first step toward her promise, but she did want to see his face. Mission accomplished. Thank you for the tip from beyond the grave, big brother.

  “It’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” He leaned in. He hovered his mouth over her lips. “Until next time.” His breath fell across her skin.

  She didn’t miss that he dropped something in her purse, before he left.

  She watched him walk away, then turned and headed in the other direction. Everything in her room could be replaced. Anything she needed, she carried on her. It was time to move to her next stop.

  The Story Continues in The Hatter and the Hare...

  Keep reading for a free sneak peek of the first two chapters

  If you’re enjoying Allyson Lindt’s suspenseful stories with a techno-twist, and enjoy demons and angels, check out the Ubiquity series, starting with Uriel’s Descent.

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  The Hatter and The Hare Chapter One

  Sometimes Sawyer Brolin got tired of the game that went with his persona. Not of games in general, but there were days a guy just wasn’t in the mood to be Jabberwock. It was one reason he played the role of one of his own generals for so long—for a change in managerial scenery.

  This meeting was a necessity, though. Whispers that someone near the top of his organization was a Fed caused ripples of distrust through his client base. This was damage control. Staying a mysterious name with no face was only effective until people asked if the absentee boss truly had control of his organization.

  Jabberwock did. So now he had a face, to prove his grip was as tight as ever. That and it took away a hint of Alice’s power. She no longer knew a secret about him that no one else did.

  He sat across from the owner of the casino and restaurant they dined in, his smile and gaze never wavering. One of the client’s security detail stepped aside at the sound of a phone ringing.

  The client hadn’t made eye contact in several minutes. “What assurances do we have—?”

  “The same you’ve always had. Have you seen any evidence I can’t keep my promises?” Sawyer knew the answer was no.

  “We’ll proceed as planned, then,” the casino owner said.

  The man who’d taken the phone call returned and whispered in his boss’s ear, and the client finally looked at Sawyer. “The young lady you’ve been looking for is in the casino. She just cashed out her chips and is heading for the elevators. She’s registered in one of our high-roller suites, same floor as you, under the name—”

  “Thank you.” Sawyer pushed back from the table. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

  He cut a line to the nearest elevators, sidestepping every person who meandered into his path. Her face flashed through his thoughts, cunning but innocent. A living embodiment of contrast. He stepped into an elevator, grateful to share it with only a few people.

  Rumors said she went by Alice now, rather than Reagan. That was one of the few pieces of information he’d been able to acquire since she threatened to dismantle his organization, six months ago.

  The lift doors whispered open, and he strolled down the corridor. Around a corner, and there she was, pulling a key from her purse, back to him. She’d kept the blonde hair, but it no longer hung halfway down her back. The strands brushed her shoulders now.

  She was as irresistible as the last time he saw her, but this time she wasn’t in another man’s arms. Rumors also said she’d left Blake behind. Sawyer was inclined to believe that, since Blake was easier to get a bead on when needed. Sawyer hadn’t gone after the former Hatter because he didn’t want to send Alice further into hiding.

  Sawyer wrapped his arms around her waist. She let out a sigh so soft, it might have been part of the climate control. The scent of violets, familiar all these months later, teased him, and he resisted the desire to bury his head against her neck and inhale.

  He couldn’t stop himself from gliding his lips along the edge of her ear, though. “The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown. The Lion chased the Unicorn all around town,” he whispered.

  “Lion?” She whirled, not breaking from of his grasp. Her body was soft and yielding against his. “Another name?” She raised a brow, and the corner of her mouth quirked up. “How are you keeping track of them all?”

  “You tell me, Alice.”

  “I’m glad you were here today.” The way she traced her tongue along her bottom lip sent the blood rushing from his head to his cock, and her smile filled his head with the delicious reminder of her moans when she was turned on. The whimpers she made when she came. Her sweet taste when she ground her pussy against his face.

  He pressed closer, until his cock dug into her hip. “You’re not very well hidden if you go places you expect to find me. And fleeing a casino owned by a business acquaintance of mine doesn’t really live up to that threat you made last time we spoke.”

  “No. It really doesn’t.” She shifted against him, making him harder.

  This was why she haunted his dreams, despite her threats. He dragged his nose up the side of her neck, falling into her scent. “I missed you.” His phone buzzed, and a growl echoed in his skull.

  “I can tell. You’re vibrating with excitement,” she said.

  Fucking business. He released her and stepped back to read the incoming message. “It’s Queen of Hearts,” he spoke as he read. Alice didn’t need the details, but he wanted to drive home he hadn’t been idle since they last spoke.

  “I thought you were the only royalty.” Was that surprise in her voice?

  Good. He liked keeping her off-balance. “I’ve tightened ranks, and Dormouse earned a promotion.”

  “Ah.” Alice’s shocked tone vanished. “Then we all have new names. What am I calling you?”

  “It’s not a secret anymore. I’m Jabberwock.” The message stole his good mood. RoseGarden is spewing its secrets onto the internet. “Fuck.” He looked at Alice. Was this her doing? “Apparently, there’s a virus on one of our servers. Only one. It’s publishing a series of my IP addresses.”

  Her wide eyes conveyed more mocking than surprise. “Oh my God. How horrible for you.”

  It was her. He bit back the surge of amusement, and leaned in. Never touching her, he traced his mouth along her jaw to her lips. “It’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” A millimeter more, and he’d kiss her. Claim that smug, full mouth. Instead, he slipped a tracking device into her purse. “Until next time.”

  He spun on his toe and headed toward the elevator, not turning to see what Alice did next. He dialed Queen of Hearts.

  “Sir?” Her answer was curt.

  Jabberwock stepped into the elevator. Glee danced with irritation. Having Alice back would be fun. Costly, until he won her over, but—fucking hell—the chase would be worth it. “Shut it down. Burn every one of those IP’s.”

  The Hatter and The Hare Chapter Two

  Blake had always been good at chess. He read the board. Anticipated his opponent’s decisions three and five and ten moves out.

  Except when it came to Ephraim. Blake sat across from his army buddy, the metal of the folding chair hot through his T-shirt. The table between them wobbled each time Ephraim set a piece on the chessboard.

  “Have you heard anything about this Reagan woman recently?” Ephraim asked.

  Blake studied him, expression blank, but suspicion ticking in his thoughts. “Nothing new. No.”

  Reagan—he heard she was calling herself Alice now—was probably the one other person who could beat him at this game. She certainly had, in the real-life version, keeping him guessing up until the night she left. And nine times out of ten, he’d been wrong.

  “Hmm. Let’s play,” Ephraim said.

  Bringing Alice and then brushing the question aside had to be a tactic to throw Blake off his game. “You’re already pulling out the psychological warfare? You must be worried.”

  For the first couple of months after Alice walked away at that remote gas station, Blake wanted a single answer, nothing more. He wanted to know why. Ephraim harped on him, calling him obsessed and addicted. After that, Ephraim had gone out of his way to change the subject whenever her name came up. Until today.

  “Doing nothing of the sort. I’ll even give you the advantage—I’ll go first.” Ephraim moved a pawn two squares.

  The possibilities for next moves ticked away in Blake’s mind, but he was distracted enough to let them run on their own. He made his move and waited.

  Blake could count on one hand the people from who knew he was alive. He could have gone back to his old life the morning after Alice left. He knew the moment he returned to the car that she didn’t plan to come back. The money on the front seat was his first clue. Someone had seen her walking toward the trucks, but nobody noticed
which she got into or which direction she went.

  Ephraim moved his pawn diagonally, to capture Blake’s, then set the piece aside with a sigh. “First blood.”

  “Don’t sound so thrilled.”

  Ephraim looked at him. “What would you say if I told you she pinged on my radar today?”

  “That’s nice.” Blake’s voice cracked on the casual dismissal. The fury and hurt slamming into him were difficult to hide.

  If he’d turned the car around and headed home after he lost her, he could have gone back to the way things should be. Used the fact he knew Jabberwock’s identity to earn a promotion and metaphorical gold star. Told his boss Reagan was dead. Gone. Jumped ship. Whatever. The problem was he meant what he told her before she vanished. Not only that he cared—though he hated not being able to get over that—but that he was tired of what he was doing.

  Playing the double agent as a top general for Jabberwock’s crime syndicate, showed him that the lines between that and being a government agent were so blurred, they might as well not exist.

  “Where’d she show up?” he asked, trying to sound casual. He made his next move, but his mind wasn’t on the game.

  “Hmm.”

  A growl slipped out before Blake could stop it. “You brought her up.”

  “I did.” Ephraim danced his fingertips above his pieces but didn’t move or focus on any. “I had to see how you’d react. I should have known better.”

  The cooler in the window kicked on, fan blades groaning in chorus with the adjusting tin trailer. A musty scent brushed over Blake’s skin, drying the thin layer of sweat on his skin, but not cooling him.

  “I’m not reacting. Whatever you’ve heard, I’m sure she’s moved on by now.” He forced calm through his veins, searching for that neutral expression that had served him for so long.

  He could have vanished six months ago, the way Alice did. He was smart when he worked for Jabberwock. He’d stashed money in Swiss accounts—places his employer couldn’t find it and Jabberwock couldn’t get to it. Blake was set for life, financially.