• • •
His heart pounded wildly in his chest as his fingers flew across the keyboard, entering commands at record speed.
But that was impossible. Nothing could soothe his frayed nerves at this point. He’d hacked in through a back door he’d left during a mission that had ended over a month ago. Luckily no one had discovered it. Of course, he’d hidden it extremely well. And it couldn’t be traced back to him. Unfortunately if anyone found him in this control room, he’d be in a shitload of trouble. Which would mean questions and detainment and inevitably his arrest if they dug deep enough. And they would.
A dark part of him loved the thrill of going behind everyone’s back at work. They would call him a traitor once his sins were discovered—as he knew they eventually would be, but after he’d left the country—but he didn’t care. He was smarter than all of them. At first he’d started selling secrets to pay off gambling debts. There had just been so many and he’d been out of control. So he’d had to find a way to pay them or be killed. The answer was simple. He had access to information people would pay good money for. And why shouldn’t he cash in?
After he’d paid off his debts, he hadn’t stopped. The money, the rush, it was too good. Too intense. He was so addicted to the thrill of making more money. Six figures a year wasn’t enough. Some days he wondered if anything would ever be enough. He simply couldn’t stop now anyway—even if he’d wanted to. He was in far too deep with very dangerous people. Miguel Vargas would never let him walk away until he was done with this job. But then he was out. Of course he didn’t plan to stop working. He had a valuable set of skills, namely hacking, and he planned to use them any way he could.
As the screen he’d been waiting for popped up, an alert dinged that he’d found something. Before leaving work last night, he’d entered Sophie Moreno’s picture into his secret program. The NSA hijacked CCTVs all over the country for their own use, so he’d simply piggybacked onto one of their programs and put in his own parameters.
And now it looked as if he might have gotten what he needed. A few clicks later and his breath caught in his throat. A CCTV from a gas station less than an hour from Miami had captured her face clear as day. Thankfully the system was wireless and had an online backup, which was easy enough for him to hack in to. It was set on a forty-eight-hour loop, though, but it looked as if she’d
From the angle he couldn’t see the license plate, so he pulled up a map of the direct area and found a bank a block down. After hacking in to their system, he smiled to himself as the car she was in drove by less than a minute after she’d left the gas station. He couldn’t see in the vehicle because the windows were tinted, but he got a clear shot of the license plate from one of the three cameras.
Now that he had what he needed, he quickly shut the program down. All he had to do was enter the license plate number into another database. And this one, he could track from his cell phone. Once he got a hit, it would alert him immediately. Then he could bring something directly to Vargas. Something that would get the man off his back.
It wasn’t as if he gave a shit what happened to the Moreno woman, and Vargas was just going to kill her anyway. No torture would be involved. Just a quick, clean kill.
• • •
Jack glanced in the rearview mirror and frowned when the white SUV he’d first noticed about ten blocks earlier switched lanes after he did.
Again.
He and Sophie had made it to Miami without any trouble, but he was edgy and ready to ditch this car. They’d had it too long, which increased their odds of being tracked down. And Sophie’s friend Hannah still hadn’t left a message. Sophie had asked about it a few times and he hated that his answer was always no. The worry and fear on her face tore him up inside. But he shelved those feelings as he smoothly switched lanes. They were leaving the business district and about to enter a sketchy part of town.
The SUV had stayed almost exactly two car lengths back. It kept its distance but didn’t stray too far. The driving seemed precise and somewhat trained. Could be nothing. Or it could be a tail.
He was about to find out.
As they neared the upcoming intersection, the light turned yellow, so he gunned it. Normally on an op—and especially since he had Sophie with him—he tried not to break simple traffic laws and draw any unnecessary attention to himself. But he wasn’t going to drive around in circles trying to figure out if they were being followed.
Either the SUV would follow and give the occupants away, or Jack was just being paranoid. As he tore through the intersection, the car directly behind him slowed and stopped at the light. But the SUV honked, swerved, and plowed through the line of cars. He cursed under his breath.
Sophie glanced over her shoulder and sucked in a breath. “We’re being followed.”
“Yep. We’re going to have to ditch this car and run on foot. We’ll be fine,” he said to reassure her even though she seemed calm.
“Okay.” She picked up her wallet from the center console and tucked it into the back pocket of her stolen jeans. “Should I have a gun or something?”
He didn’t like the thought of her actually needing one, but he still had an extra weapon. And if something happened to him, she needed to be able to protect herself. “Once we’re out of the car I’ll give you one. And if something happens to me, call Wesley. His number is the only one programmed into the burner phones.” Jack wasn’t supposed to call him, but if he went down, Sophie had to have someone to turn to and there was no way the local cops could do shit to protect her. Not without knowing all the facts.
Taking a hard right turn, he swerved around the car in front of them, cutting the person off. A loud horn blasted.
“What if we don’t lose whoever that is?” Sophie asked quietly.
“We will.” He’d taken enough defensive driving courses over the last decade to be secure in his abilities, but the fact was that this was Miami, his original home. He knew the layout better than anywhere else in the world. He might not lose their tail permanently, but he could ditch it long enough to head out on foot with Sophie.
The farther they drove into the heart of Miami, he made a decision. “You’re familiar with Bayside Marketplace?”
“Of course.” The tension humming through Sophie was almost visible as she remained turned around, watching their pursuer.
They weren’t outwardly attacking, but it was the middle of the day and getting into a gun battle on a crowded Miami street was just plain stupid. Whoever was after them would want to get them alone. Which was why Jack planned to make sure that didn’t happen. “I don’t know for sure who these guys are, but I’m guessing they don’t know this city like we do.” Unless Vargas had hired locals, but that was something Jack would have to deal with if the man had.
He took another sharp turn, tearing through a yellow light. His adrenaline pumped at rapid speeds, but he kept a controlled grip on the wheel. “I’m going to park right on Port Boulevard. We’re going to ditch the car in the middle of traffic, then make a run for it. You on board?”
She nodded, her expression tense.
“You’re sure?”
She rolled her eyes. “
He bit back a smile at that spark of attitude. She’d been worried all morning about her friend, and he couldn’t blame her. But she was still keeping it together. She’d been like that when they were younger too, always compartmentalizing things. Most foster kids who survived the shitty system were like that.
The faster he wove in and out of traffic, the faster the SUV kept pace. And the driver was getting more dangerous. Jack cringed as he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a homeless man pushing a shopping cart jump back onto the sidewalk to avoid getting hit by the SUV.
“We’re almost there.” Jack knew she’d be aware of that, but the countdown was on. In less than thirty seconds, they’d be exposing themselves for precious seconds before they disappeared into the crowd. And that
