“Next,” the woman said.
Mia resisted the urge to smile. Embarking on her first mission alone meant she’d more than earned the trust of those she once fought against, albeit on the battlefield of the internet. Eventually, she would enter into the war once again, but she couldn’t do it alone. She needed to enlist some help. She needed Lord Override.
The Danish hacker with the ominous name was someone she’d worked with in the past. However, he never knew it since all of his dealings were with her deceased brother who handled all the public interactions on her behalf, acting as her. Convincing him that she was Helenos-9 would likely be a bigger challenge than breaking through the CIA firewall, due to one well-known fact: Helenos-9 was dead.
Allowing everyone to believe that her brother was indeed the infamous hacker made her escape into complete anonymity that much easier. But at the moment when she needed to reconnect with someone she worked with so well, her short-sightedness was glaringly apparent.
Once she reached the ground transportation zone for the airport, darkness had already set in. Headlights blinded her as vehicles swung around the corner and pulled up to the curb. She caught a ride to her hotel and settled in before heading out into the nightlife district of Copenhagen.
Mia’s brother had made several trips to Copenhagen to meet up with Lord Override. He liked to work in a nightclub, which is why her brother became fast friends with the Danish hacker. They would throw back drinks beneath the pulsating rhythms of Europe’s underground dance scene and talk about their most recent cyber conquests.
The club Lord Override frequented most was called Mayhem, housed in the basement of an old textile mill. From the outside, it appeared like little more than an inviting canvas for graffiti artists to display their work. But the inside consisted of an ambiance that was designed for the techno music fan. Flashing lights flickered to the beat of the thumping music with a bass so deep she could feel it in her chest.
Lord Override was huddled in the back with a few friends throwing back some drinks. He wore a black baseball cap sideways, along with a thick, gold chain around his neck. The left side of his face was tattooed with a string of binary numbers. She wondered if the tattoo or his vaunted status as a black hat hacker was the reason he only went out at night.
As she approached his table, a man sitting closest to the end hopped up and held his hands out, warning her to stop.
Mia kept walking before the man stepped forward, impeding her path.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I need to speak with Lord Override.”
The man glanced over his shoulder at Lord Override, who gestured for her to join them. Before he granted her access, the bodyguard patted her down. When he was finished, he slid aside and allowed her to pass.
Lord Override cocked his head to one side and squinted. “Have we met before?”
She nodded. “In a way.”
He flashed a wide grin. “And what way is that?”
She sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “We need to talk—alone.”
Lord Override glanced toward one of the back rooms and asked the men to get up so he could leave. He held out his arm for her like a gentleman, catching her off guard.
“You didn’t think I was a chauvinist, did you?”
Mia shrugged. “We’re only talking.”
“Of course,” he said. “What else would we do?”
Once they reached the room, he closed the door behind her. Her mouth went dry as she realized the potential danger she was now facing. She forced a smile as she sat down. The knife holstered on the inside of her thigh felt cold, but she was confident she could get to it in time if necessary.
Lord Override wasted no time with small talk. “Who are you? And who sent you?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“It’s clear that you’ve never done this before,” he said. “You look like you’re about to throw up. So, it’s clear to me that you’re a first-timer, probably wondering if I’m going to kill you or not. But I know you wouldn’t even have dared to approach me unless you have a job for me and money to boot. So, again—who are you? And who sent you?”
“You need to stick to hacking because your profiling skills are deficient. If you only knew …”
Her words trailed off as she studied him closely.
“Look, I don’t have time for this mystery game you’re trying to play. But if you don’t get to the point, I’m going to have you thrown out of here.”
“I’m Helenos-9, and I need your help,” she said, her face stoic.
He stared at her for a moment before breaking into a laugh. “Speaking of skills that are lacking, you might possibly be one of the worst liars I’ve ever met in my life.”
“I’m not lying.”
Lord Override shook his head as he paced, circling her as he did. “First of all, Helenos-9 was a man, a man I spent plenty of time with here. So, you’re either delusional or failing miserably at bullshitting me.”
Mia didn’t flinch at his accusation. “If you don’t believe me, ask me about the projects that we worked on together.”
“We’ve never worked on any projects together.”
“We didn’t hack into the computers at the Russian consulate in Berlin to find out where a Ukrainian hacker was being held?”
Lord Override stopped pacing. “Wait. How did you—”
“We didn’t drain the bank account of an Argentinian drug dealer and place it in the account of a non-profit that was helping the people suffering from the famine in Africa three years ago?”
“But—”
“And didn’t we hack into the Chinese government’s intelligence database, exposing the detention camps housing thousands of people who
