Seek and Destroy (26 page)

    He slowed. They could always stay in the building. Even if Surreal had tapped into their system, he wouldn't be able to break in. He may be smart as hell when it came to hacking, but the asshole didn't have a clue how to get past all of the security measures NASSD had in place.

    Or did he?

    They were computer based. He'd already proven no computer system safe from him. Hell, he used to hack into computer systems and leave his mark, just to see if anyone would notice. When David sifted through the pile of rubble Surreal left when he blew up the shack in Montana, he found a partially burned notepad with lists and lists of network addresses, each page a different grouping. As NASSD searched each system-major theme parks, government agencies, and public transit systems, to name a few-they'd found his mark buried deep inside each and every network.

    "Hmmm," Charis purred behind him, sending a wash of chills up his spine. Her little noises got to him. He reached the door before turning to ask her where she parked and damn near bit his tongue. She had to be standing no more than a few inches under his nose. She looked at him with those deep blue eyes, batting them in another poor attempt to appear innocent. But he knew better. He'd seen those eyes glaze over in the heat of passion, watched her give into the powers of the flesh. Over and over.

    He wanted to cover her lips with his. He wanted to touch her, taste her. A little lower... Lower... Their eyes met. Lower... Lower... His gaze left hers to rest on her lips. He felt the warmth of her breath on his face. His mouth watered in anticipation. Licking his lips, he leaned into her.

    A slight buzzing noise caught his attention. Glancing up, he spotted one of the cameras off in a corner, the angle directly focused on them. He snapped out of his daze and stepped back, reminding him why they were there in the first place. Charis stood there, eyes closed, chin tilted up.

    "Let's go," he said sharply, pissed at himself for not having enough common sense to stay away from her. She blinked and looked at him, confusion clouding her eyes. He stopped and looked at the numeric pad next to the door. When did they install security measures to get
out
of HQ?

    "I'll do it," she offered and typed in her four-digit code. The door clicked and she motioned for him to open it.

    "1-2-3-4 is not a secure code." He pushed the door open and walked out. The blast of cold, wet air smacked him across the face, as if the elements agreed with his brain.

    He even forgot about the cameras. Hell, if Surreal didn't catch a glimpse of him before now, that little display pretty much sealed it.

    Making love to her once might have been considered a moment of weakness, two humans giving in to their carnal needs. But making love a second time, if having sex in an elevator, having them both come in less time than it took to boil water, could be defined as making love, was downright dangerous. And stupid. It would cause nothing but trouble. But that didn't seem to slow him down any.

    He'd hoped making love to her would relieve the tension building between them, get his libido back in check. Instead, it increased his appetite for her. Hell, he wanted her more now than when he saw her in that little blue number last night at the restaurant. His semi hard-on twitched.

    "Where's your car?"

    "My car? Why can't we-" She stopped when he turned and looked at her. "Oh, right. Maui. Well,
my
car is parked in my driveway. I do, however-"

    He grounded out a curse and shook his head. Unbelievable. Their op hadn't even started yet and already it had gone tits up. "That's just great. Mother fu-"

    "I do have a-"

    "Not now." He needed to figure out how they planned to get to the rendezvous point.

    "Seriously, David. Listen to me. I-"

    "Not
now
." He could always hot wire one of the cars. They could call for a cab, but who knows how long that would take, whether or not it would be secure. Hot wire wins. With a deliberate step, he set out toward the fastest car. He'd explain to Weber why he stole a car within the first hour of him being back. Did Surreal have the ability to tap into the computer system on a car? Holy Jesus, he hoped not.

    "What are you doing?"

    "Looking for a car."

    "Good. Then you'll love what I have to say. I have-"

    "Charis," he said and put his hand up to stop her, irritated she didn't know when to hold her tongue. How in the hell would he survive having her on this op, in constant contact with each other? "We don't have time for another one of your stories. We need a car and we need it now."

    A distinctive jingle of keys behind him made him swing around. She stood there with that wide grin on her face, a set of keys dangling from her fingers. "It's a rental."

    He grabbed the keys and pushed the unlock button until he spotted the Pontiac G6's lights come on. "Let's go."

    She jumped into the passenger seat without complaint. "You're welcome."

    He didn't know whether to kiss her or curse her. She should have said something right away. Of course, he wouldn't let her get two words out... Shit. He'd been nothing but a complete ass since he returned from Maui. Obviously his original plan sucked. Not only did he want her more than ever, he seemed to be pissing her off every other step of the way. "Sorry," he offered with a sheepish smile. "And thanks."

    "For the car? Or the sex?"

    He looked at her. "Both."

    "I guess I should thank you, too."

    "For the sex?"

    "Yes," she admitted, and that satisfied him. That splash of color across her cheeks caused him to stare a moment longer than he needed to. She was truly beautiful. He wondered why she didn't use her sex appeal as a weapon, as he originally thought. Most women who looked like her would have played that card from the beginning.

    But not this one. She used another kind of weapon. Brains. A sense of humor. The fact she looked like she did and
didn't
use it. He didn't know how to defend himself against the likes of Charis McKoy. Hell, he didn't know if he wanted to.

    He chuckled deeply. Oh, he was in big trouble.

    "So where are we going?"

    "I have no idea. I haven't even thought about it."

    "What
are
you thinking about?"

    "Our mission."

    "Then let's have it. There aren't any bugs in the car. Drive. Talk to me."

    "No way. Weber said not even the corridors within NASSD were secure." He turned off the radio as if Surreal had the ability to tune into their conversation through it. Christ, the hacker already had him paranoid. Again.

    Agents in NASSD worked Surreal's case as a way to prove themselves. The one who tracked him down would be dubbed King-of-the-Agency and have serious bragging rights. He didn't see much of a threat in a computer hacker so he never threw his name into the hat. Not until the harmless hacker blew up a computer server room, killing four people.

    That had gotten his attention. And NASSD's. And the FBI's. CIA's. Among others.

    He grunted. Six months. He'd spent six months tracking down the hacker, feeling like a failure after every bombing, knowing if he'd just found the connection in the letters a few hours sooner, he could have prevented the tragedy. When he finally tracked Surreal to the backwoods of Montana, watched him supposedly die in the blast that shattered the shack, he felt cheated. David wanted the bastard to pay for his crimes. He wanted to lock the man in a room with the families of those he'd killed. He died too easily, too quickly.

    Or at least he'd thought. So why surface again? If everyone believed he'd died in that blast, he's successfully given himself a
get out of jail free
card. Surfacing again after all this time wasn't the brightest move.

    He looked over and noticed Charis' brow crinkled in thought. She nodded as she worked through her thought process, her eyes raised to the ceiling of the car as her lips worded her reasoning. After a few minutes, she nodded and said, "I've got it."

    This ought to be good. "I'm all ears."

    "We're meeting offsite, right?"

    He nodded.

    "At an undisclosed location. He wrote the address down, but didn't want you repeating it or even looking at it while inside HQ."

    He nodded again, not sure how she knew that, but impressed as hell she did.

    Her smile widened. Of course. And his body responded. Of course. She even shook her head as if party to an inside joke. "Was he worried about you being on any of the surveillance feeds?"

    How in the hell did she know that? "Yes."

    She started to giggle. "You two are funny."

    Now she started to irritate him. "How so?"

    "Obviously you and Weber don't know much about secure IDs."

    
Obviously.
There went that ego again. "Charis, if you don't tell me what in the hell you are talking about right now, I'm going to-"

    "Okay, okay." She brought her hands up like a traffic cop. "No need to go post office on me."

    "That's
postal
." Damn if he didn't love the way she always got the clichés wrong.

    "Right. That's what I said. Now where was I?"

    "Secure IDs."

    "Oh yeah. You know, I didn't think a Neanderthal like Weber would get it, but you should know better."

    "Charis," he warned.

    "Fine," she sang in defense, obviously enjoying the ability to hold something over him. Oh, she'd pay later for this. He'd spank that pretty little bottom of hers, for starters. His dick jumped in agreement, wanting in on the action. "Weber has no need to worry about Surreal, or anyone else for that matter, breaking into the system at NASSD HQ."

    "How can you be so sure?"

    "Right after Weber took charge of the Western Region of NASSD he contacted ICE about beefing up the security at HQ."

    His suspicious nature caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. He knew about the holes within NASSD. That's what led to the op in Colombia, the clusterfuck where he'd meet Weber and JT.

    But Weber hated ICE. Why would he admit to a weakness? Actually ask for ICE's help like that? "Did ICE find holes?"

    "Oh yeah. But, after an initial analysis, I came up with a solution that fit his needs."

    "You?" That shocked the shit out of him.

    "Yes,
me
." She seemed offended by his remark.

    "Why you?"

    Charis rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever listen? I'm a hacker, David. And a really good one at that. If there's a way to break into a system, I can find it. So, with my knowledge of hacking, and the power to do good, I devised a system tighter than Fort Knox."

    Jesus, she barely left any room in the car with an ego that size.

    She huffed. "Weber was less than impressed. At least until his wife tried to break in and couldn't even get through the first layer." She paused, looked at him. "You do know JT is the best hacker NASSD has, right?"

    Yes, he knew. "How many layers are there?"

    "Seven."

    He nodded. Good. If Surreal couldn't hack into the NASSD system, they had the element of surprise on their side. The bastard had no idea David had come back to bring his sorry ass in for justice.

    "The first two layers," she continued, "are more to get a feel for the hacker. Predict their moves. The third and fourth layer," she paused, contemplating how to explain it. "Those are meant to predict the direction the hacker is going. By the time they break the fifth layer-"

    "You mean you created a system designed
for
hackers? On purpose?"

    She blinked at him as if he'd just told her the most obvious solution ever devised. "Of course."

    What the hell? "Why create a system to attract hackers?"

    She smiled knowingly. If he hadn't already had a soft spot for her smile, it would have irritated the shit out of him. "Even the most protected systems in the world get hacked into. Look at the Pentagon. They all made the same mistake."

    "And that is?"

    "They all tried to keep the hackers out. I mean, come on. If you put up a fence around something, everyone will want in just to see what you have hidden." She talked with her hands as she spoke. "So instead of putting up yet another barrier for hackers to break through, I wrote a program to mine their algorithms and keystrokes. By the time they break through the fifth layer, which, to a hacker, is a major ego-fluffer, we've already ID'd their location since they can't skip their IP around during a hack. And, because we've mined their keystrokes, we can more than likely identify any and all hacks they've done before this one. Before they can even try for the sixth layer, NASSD, or ICE, or the FBI, or whoever, has already picked them up."

    "So no one has broken past the fifth layer?"

    She shook her head. "Nope."

    Impressive, he had to admit. And way over his head. He knew guns. Ammo. How to make a person reveal things
they
didn't even know they knew. But when it came to this kind of computer shit, he was lost.

    "Surreal was good. I mean, talk about instincts."

    He couldn't ignore the hint of admiration in her voice. "Are you kidding me?"

    "Seriously, Surreal had real style. Very classy. For a homicidal maniac."

    "Whose side are you on, Angel?"

    She held her arms out as best she could inside the vehicle. "All I'm saying is when it came to hackers, Surreal was one of the best."

    "Well, your hero is back," he said tersely. Why in the hell would she think a terrorist had style? She didn't make any sense. It annoyed the shit out of him that he couldn't figure her out. "We need to find him. We can't afford mistakes this time."