Hacking Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 5) Page 4

  “Did you ever think that they’d play you by being the first to enter their Easter egg in an attempt to get all the money?”

  “Yeah, it did, but these guys were my friends and my fiercest competition. They wouldn’t have done that.”

  I retook my seat on the coffee table. “Sam, people change, and sometimes that change isn’t for the better.”

  I was talking from experience and swallowed around the lump in my throat.

  Sam pressed his lips together. “You saw the articles. You know what happened to them.”

  “What articles?” Ford asked.

  “Catch up, dude,” Martin said as if annoyed Ford couldn’t read my mind.

  “Now you know why I’m not sure he’s the guy for her,” Sloan said, gesturing to Ford.

  I turned my gaze to Sloan’s, unable to ignore them anymore, and narrowed my eyes. When everyone left, I’d deal with them both, even if I had to hire a Voodoo priestess from New Orleans to banish them both from my life.

  The glass in my windows shattered. The shards bounced off the tile seconds before my door flew inward off the hinges.

  Smoke filled the room as red laser sights danced through the fog, landing on each of us.

  “I did not see that coming,” Martin said.

  “Hands where we can see them,” someone called out. He wore a bulletproof vest bearing Homeland Security’s insignia.

  Agent Kent stepped into the room. His mouth spread into a thin lipped smile that didn’t reached his eyes. “We meet again, Dr. Bray.”

  “This guy has a death wish. He just doesn’t know it yet,” Sloan said.

  Kent moved to stand in front of Sam. “You’re a hard guy to track, but not impossible. If you don’t mind.”

  Sam rose to his feet, and the backpack with his computer tucked inside was snatched out of his hands.

  I made a move in his direction, but Ford held me back. “This isn’t the time.”

  “He’s right,” Kent said with a smirk as Sam was being cuffed. “I wouldn’t try it if I were you. My guys can be trigger happy.”

  “Where are you taking him?”

  “That isn’t your concern,” Kent said as he followed the officer escorting Sam from the room.

  Sam glanced over his shoulder at me; fear and terror shadowing his eyes. I held up my hand and pointed to where his blood stained my skin and winked.

  Wherever he was going, he wouldn’t be there by himself for long.

  “Don’t say a word until I send my lawyer,” I said.

  “We’re Homeland Security,” one of the officers said in passing. “We can bury him in paperwork for a year and throw him in jail on just suspicion alone.”

  I’d taken a step toward the guy when Ford wrapped his arm around my waist to hold me back.

  “Maybe you were wrong about this guy,” Martin said, moving closer to Ford to get a better look. “He’s in sync with her movements and her mind.”

  The officer chuckled as he walked out.

  First Sloan and then Martin vanished from the room.

  Chapter 8

  “This did not just happen,” I growled, even as Grant and Carson were already on their phones.

  “Relax and help me clean up. Do you have any plywood in the garage?”

  Ford was talking, but he wasn’t making a lick of sense. Plywood?

  “What?”

  “Plywood for your window.” Ford gestured to the curtains billowing in the wind.

  “How can you be asking about plywood when they just arrested Sam?”

  Ford rested his hands on both of my arms and stared directly into my eyes. “Grant and Carson are already calling in favors, and probably Noah too.”

  “You heard that guy. They can keep Sam without letting us see him,” I fumed.

  “Lucy, you underestimate your ability to bargain. They have three dead IT guys. Three murders, and who better to help them find the person behind it and save Sam than you? You might not realize it, but you’ve got the Rain family in your debt, and my dad’s reach is long. So, relax and tell me where you keep the broom.”

  I knew I shouldn't have been worried about Sam. Noah and the guys would make sure that he was okay. If they didn’t, well…I refused to think like that.

  Ford and I cleaned up the glass from my windows. We were in the garage looking for something to cover them when Grant came to help.

  "Noah is all over it. If there's a way to get Sam back, then he'll make it happen," Grant said.

  "Did he have any information that could help us?" I asked.

  "No. Homeland has been very secretive on what they do have," Grant said.

  "Does he even know about the dead hackers?" I asked.

  Carson joined us in the garage. “They know about the hacks but haven’t figured out who was responsible for them just yet, much less know that three of them are dead. The only pieces they’ve put together are that Sam was responsible for the one of the CDC thanks to the tighter security they had in place.”

  "So, this is just about the CDC? That is either really good for us or really bad for Sam."

  "We can use that to our advantage," Ford said. "We have information they don't have, not counting Lucy's ability to find a killer. If I know Noah, he will use that to make sure we get Sam back."

  The guys grabbed what they could find to use to secure the windows. Grant grabbed the pink tool kit that he’d gotten me last year for Christmas to work on the door. I was at a loss. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have carpentry skills to help fix my house, and if I went after Kent on my own to try and get Sam back, I could just made it worse. So, I did what anyone else in my shoes would do. I went to my room, shut the door, kicked off my shoes, and climbed onto my bed.

  Sam wouldn’t be going through any of this alone.

  Martin was nowhere around, but Sloan was standing in the corner, rubbing the stubble on his chin and watching me.

  “He wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you. I don’t want to hear a word out of you,” I said, raising a brow in Sloan’s direction.

  “Fine, but it doesn’t mean I’m leaving,” Sloan answered with a tip of his head.

  Leave, stay, whatever. It didn’t matter. I had more important things to concentrate on.

  Sam hadn’t realized that the connection I made with him would be so important. I’d almost lost my opportunity when I told my sister to call off the dinner. She'd been right and I’d been too selfish and wrapped up in my own guilt to realize Sam really did need my help.

  I closed my eyes and tried to sort through the mumbled voices and blood bonds in my head. Since walking up in the hospital I’d been assaulted with the voices from people who didn’t know how to shut up. The visions came later. Thanks to my research on psychics and ghosts, I’d learned to build walls, and most of the time they worked.

  I shoved those thoughts out of my mind and concentrated on Sam.

  Sam was on the fringe. His panic and fear made him stand out amongst the others. He was sitting in an interrogation room. They’d removed his cuffs. Agent Kent was facing him across the scarred table.

  “We know about the hack you’ve committed. Now tell me what you found.”

  “I think I’ll wait on my attorney,” Sam said.

  Kent slammed his fist on the table cutting short my relief. “You don’t realize what you’ve done. You didn’t just break the law; the file you stole is dangerous. Lives are on the line.”

  “I still think I’ll wait for my attorney,” Sam said, lowering his head to the table. Nerves had him wiping his hands on his jeans when the door opened and another agent walked in, carrying Sam’s backpack.

  “His laptop is encrypted like nothing we’ve ever seen. It’s going to take us too long to unlock it. You’re running out of time, Kent.”

  Kent straightened and slipped out of his suit jacket and unhooked the cuffs. He rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll get him to talk. He might be missing a few teeth when I get through, but I’ll have him singing like a canar
y when I’m done.”

  Anger stirred through my body like a hornet’s nest, ready to attack.

  Kent rested his palms on the table and leaned over. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Zachman. If you tell me what I want to know, you’ll be able to walk without needing to be carried into the jail where we’re going to throw away the key.”

  Sam lifted his gaze and swallowed hard. “I don’t know anything, and I don’t have the file.”

  “I’m almost sorry to hear that,” Kent said before he shoved the table backward with Sam still seated in his chair. He pushed it all up against the wall, shoving the table into Sam’s gut.

  Sam was trying to keep the table from crushing his body, but the kid just wasn’t very strong. “All right, all right,” Sam wheezed.

  Kent eased his hold on the table.

  “Good. Now unlock your computer and give me the damn file before I go hunt down your mother and throw her behind bars just for giving birth to you.”

  I couldn’t look away. I wouldn’t look away. I’d be the silent witness Sam needed, and I’d return every one of those bruises and cuts to the asshole who dealt them.

  “I put a fail-safe into the file. If I don’t check in every six hours, then that file is going to be distributed to every media outlet and released online for the world to see.” Sam glanced at his watch. “I’ve got three hours left, and then whatever secrets were in that file will be exposed to the world. Did they even tell you the truth on what they’d stored?”

  Kent’s face turned a dark shade of red.

  Sam shook his head. “You’ll be the reason for what happens next. I was keeping the file safe from those who would harm people like you and your mother.” Sam’s lips twitched.

  “You’re a hacker. You wouldn’t have thought to put in a fail-safe,” Kent said through gritted teeth.

  Sam stared down at the cut on his hand and rubbed the spot before lifting his gaze. “I’m a hacker who works with the FBI, and they know you took me. You’ll be the one under the microscope, Agent Kent. If I were you, I’d think long and hard about the condition they’re going to find me in.” Sam held up his hand and smiled. “Dr. Bray is probably already watching you, and you don’t want to get on her bad side.”

  Kent glanced into the mirrored viewing room and waved his hand across this throat, and Sam watched the red light on the camera blink out.

  Kent cracked his knuckles. “You think I’m scared of the psychotic bitch who did time for attempted murder. You think she or the rest of those thugs and misfits at her house can touch me? You should think again.”

  Kent grabbed Sam’s neck and slammed his head on the table.

  My hands flew to my head to stop the pain radiating inside from the blow to Sam. My eyes flew open. Sloan was no longer watching me.

  I hopped off the bed and burst out my bedroom door. “Guys, he’s hurting Sam. We need to get him back now…”

  Chapter 9

  I had called in some favors and made promises, including using the help of Detective Rowen, who could have thrown my butt in jail already. He’d been instrumental at getting me close to where Kent was keeping Sam.

  Noah had pulled the rest of the strings, and now I was standing in the same room where Sam had been sitting only an hour prior. The guys had insisted that they could handle things to get Sam out. So why was I in this interrogation room? Because I had answers. I knew Sam’s secrets, which they didn’t, and I wanted to deliver them in person to Agent Kent.

  The door opened, and Kent stepped in with a frown on his face. The man outside the door had his arms crossed over his chest. He nodded. He was the one in charge.

  Kent stepped in and shut the door behind him. “You must have some friends in high places, Dr. Bray.”

  I kept my arms crossed. “You have no idea what you’ve done tonight.”

  Kent sniffed. “I put fear in a hacker. I probably stopped him from doing anything else illegal.”

  “Is that right? Is that what you think you’ve accomplished?”

  “Yeah.” He held my gaze and gestured for me to sit in the same chair where Sam had been sitting. “I understand you have information for me.”

  “Oh, I do. I’ve got a ton of information.” I refused to sit and pointed to the speck of blood left behind from Sam’s head.

  Kent dropped his gaze to the table and smirked. “The kid is a klutz.”

  “You’re chasing ghosts, Kent. There was a competition that had more than one hack done. And the rest of the hackers are dead, and you don’t even know their identities.”

  Kent rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “What I do know is that kid hacked a government agency and needs to be thrown in jail and locked away.”

  “Yeah well,” I answered. “What I know is that I didn’t get to where I am today by being stupid, Agent Kent, and before you even try to intimidate me, you can’t lock my mother behind bars for giving birth to me because she’s already dead,” I said and narrowed my eyes.

  Kent’s mouth parted at my words. “I don’t have to intimidate to get what I want, Dr. Bray.”

  I jabbed my thumb against my breastbone. “This psychotic bitch who did time for attempted murder thinks otherwise. And my…what did you call them…my thugs and misfits can get the job done.”

  “What the hell,” he growled and glanced up at the camera that was still off. “You got another hacker on the books?”

  “Sam was right. I was watching and didn’t need the video to do it, so next time Sam falls into the table and hits his head, I suggest you not be standing so close. It won’t be Sam’s blood on your shirt. It might be your own.”

  “Are you threating me, lady? I can lock you up for that,” he snarled.

  “Then I guess you’ll never retrieve the CDC file or solve the other three murders. So, here’s a little something you didn’t read in my file. I’m not scared of jail. I’m not scared of doing time, and I’m damn sure not scared of you. Hurt my friend again and I’ll do more than hurt you back. I’ll make it my life mission to destroy you, even if that means signing over my freedom to the devil himself.”

  Kent grabbed my arm and had pulled out a pair of cuffs when the door slammed open. Kent’s boss and mine stood just outside the door with Sam behind them, rubbing at his wrists. Sloan was standing behind them with his arms crossed over his chest as if he’d been taking care of the kid in my absence.

  “Special Agent Kent, what the hell are you doing? Dr. Bray is with the FBI,” his boss barked out.

  “Sir, she threatened me.”

  “And you’re intimidated?” his boss asked. “Release her. She’s the best bet we have at putting a stop to this.”

  “But, sir…”

  “Kent, release her now!” the agent in charge ordered.”

  Kent shoved my arm away from him like I was contagious. I rubbed my wrist as the others turned to walk away. I patted Kent’s chest in passing and winked. “I’ll be seeing you later, 214 Sycamore Street.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” he answered back.

  He’d never see me coming.

  I stepped out of the room and walked down the hall behind the others. As I stepped out into the lobby, Ford’s gaze traveled up and down my body as if looking for another injury. I shook my head.

  “We need that file,” the director of Homeland said to Sam, handing him back the backpack in question. “To you, they were just random code, but to the CDC, they contained a deadly formula.”

  Sam unzipped his backpack and lifted his gaze. “I need my laptop.”

  “It’s evidence in a crime.” Kent said crossing his arms over his chest.

  “I can’t work without it.” Sam shrugged. “No laptop, no way I can help you.”

  The director glanced at Kent and gestured to the door. “Get the kids laptop.”

  “But sir.” Kent argued.

  “Just do it.” The director ordered.

  “We appreciate your help.” Noah offered as Kent slammed the door open into one
of the offices. “Sam will provide what he knows,” Noah answered.

  Kent returned with the laptop and shoved it toward Sam.

  I moved to Sam’s side and turned him to look at the bandage on his head. “Oh, I don’t know how much Sam is going to remember. I think he might have a concussion and amnesia from the head wound he obtained under your watch.”

  The director crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Lucy,” Noah’s voice vibrated in warning.

  I shrugged. “You might want to ask Kent how Sam’s blood got on his shirt. Maybe then Sam might remember.”

  The director slammed his gaze onto Kent, whose lips pursed into a thin line as he glared at me.

  “I can’t wait to hear his explanation,” the director said.

  “Yeah, well, I’ll find the killer and the person who’s after this code. You can count on it.” I pointed my finger at Kent. “Just keep your boy over there away from my family.”

  Noah rolled his eyes and held out his hand to the director. “We’ll be in touch.”

  “See that you are,” the director answered as he swiped his card key through the reader next to the elevator. It dinged, the doors slid open, and we all stepped in.

  When the door shut, I wrapped my arm around Sam’s elbow. “You do something so stupid again, and you’ll answer to me.”

  Sam grinned. “It’s nice to have you back.”

  “Maybe now I can rest in peace,” Sloan said.

  Ford stood on the other side of me, his presence reassuring. He rested his hand on my lower back, and the muscles in my shoulders eased at the same time Sloan vanished out of sight.

  “I’ve spoken with the local authorities investigating each of the deaths. I’ve arranged for Lucy to go to each of the crime scenes to try and connect to see what happened to the other hackers, so we’ll know who and what we’re dealing with. Sam will work out of our building at the watermill. It’s secure there, and we can watch him.”

  I liked to refer to the old watermill as our bat cave. Granted it was above ground and completely state of the art including top notch security, but it would always be our safe haven away from prying eyes where we met and dealt with our missions. It was my home away from home at one time. My heart tightened.