by Hunt, Jack
As he waited for them to emerge, he saw a police cruiser veer into the lot and he motioned to Andre to pull back. The last thing he wanted was for him to get arrested or worse — killed. Sure, he knew he was walking a fine line between what was lawful and what was illegal, but the city had never been in a position like this before.
The community was lucky that cops were even doing their jobs.
Any one of them would have been within their rights to walk away and think of their survival. Due to the lack of response over the radio he was convinced that some already had.
What happened next occurred so fast that he didn’t have time to fill the other officer in. Benny emerged from the store with the other five, all bullets and fury, shooting wide and random, peppering everything in sight. Two of them were carrying AK-47s.
Glass smashed, vehicles were speared and holes were punched in metal as they opened fire on the cruiser, assuming it was him.
The officer inside didn’t stand a chance.
Bullets tore the car apart even as Garcia engaged from behind the truck, taking out three of them in rapid succession, and shooting two more in the legs. Benny was one of the fallen. Only one had the common sense to make a run for a brown sedan parked nearby. It tore away leaving the others groaning in agony, and the rest motionless.
Benny screamed obscenities at Garcia as he hunched over and moved in. He kept his gun aimed at the two then cuffed them. Benny continued to be belligerent. “Carlos will fucking kill you for this.”
“Yeah, well he better get in line.”
17
North Carolina
Alex burst through the door to assist Sophie who was struggling to pull Ryan off a curly ginger-haired fella. The guy looked to be around five-foot ten, thin and unhealthy. “Ryan. That’s enough,” Sophie cried out as she tugged on his shoulder and Ryan continued to strangle the kid. His face was going a deep red when Alex pulled him back and shoved him into a messy living room, keeping him at arms length.
“What the hell are you playing at?” Alex bellowed.
Ryan didn’t take his eyes off the kid. “You don’t understand. That asshole screwed me over.”
Ginger boy was quick to jump on that. “I told you, the feds gave me no choice.”
“Feds?” Alex frowned. “What the hell is he talking about Ryan?”
Ryan said nothing but turned away and took a seat on a sofa that had seen better days. Alex surveyed his surroundings. The whole house was a mess. Food particles on the carpet, clothes hanging over a banister, cat shit near the doorway, and a kitchen that had a table covered in engine parts. The strong smell of piss and bleach permeated the air.
“You his brother?” Alex asked.
“What? No. Hell no!” the kid replied. “The name’s Thomas. Thomas Wallace.”
Alex studied Thomas as he tugged up pants that were barely clinging to a thin frame. He was sporting a blue baseball cap with NY on the front.
“Well, Thomas, do you want to tell us what this is about?”
The kid squinted back. “He didn’t tell you?”
Sophie walked into the living room. “Ryan.”
“What?”
“What’s this about the feds?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Alex snorted. That was something you didn’t tell Sophie. She crossed her arms and he waited for her to go nuclear on his ass. Attitude was one thing she didn’t put up with as a parent. They’d never laid a hand on their kids, they’d never needed to.
“You better start talking and now!” She demanded.
Thomas didn’t wait. “He went to prison. Shit! I would have thought you two knew. It was all over the news.”
“What?” Sophie’s eyes bounced between the two of them as Thomas pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them. He pressed his back against the stairwell and stared at Ryan. “Prison? But—”
“Tell them, Ryan. Tell them.”
Ryan grit his teeth. He was seething. “That asshole put me inside.”
“No I didn’t. You put yourself there.”
Ryan raised a finger at him.
Sophie put a hand on her hip. “This makes no sense. No. They would have told me. Your file never mentioned prison. Feds? What? What did you do?” she spat.
“What didn’t he do,” Thomas said.
Ryan glared and got up and Alex reacted fast. “Sit down!”
Thomas laughed. “Yeah, sit down, Ryan.”
Ryan reacted. “I will…”
“Sit! Down!” Alex barked at him. He stood there defiantly but then reluctantly complied. Sophie pulled up a chair in front of him and placed her hands on Ryan’s knees.
“Hey. Hey! Look at me. Tell me the truth.”
“Save it. He won’t tell you. Here, read it for yourself.” Thomas got up and Alex followed him into another room. He returned a moment later with a newspaper in hand. Alex scanned it then handed it over. There was a photo of Ryan under a headline about hacking into NASA and the Pentagon. There was a little about his sentence. Sophie’s jaw dropped. Ryan kept his head down, his hands balled into fists.
When she was done reading, Sophie looked at him.
“This true?”
“They don’t write articles like that if it’s not,” he replied.
She looked down again and then back at him. “But this says you were sentenced.”
“I got out.”
“Yeah, how?” Thomas said. “Made a deal, I bet. Like me.”
“Okay, hold on a minute.” Alex chimed in. “What’s the relation between you two? He said you were his brother.”
“He was,” Ryan said. “As close as I had to a brother. Not anymore.”
“You would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes. They would have put me away.”
“Oh that makes it all right.”
“No… I… just…” Thomas trailed off and looked away. Embarrassment, probably guilt.
Awkward silence followed and Alex looked up the stairs and then into the kitchen. “Your parents not home?”
“I don’t live with them. I’m twenty.”
“Young looking twenty-year-old.”
He shrugged. Thomas was wearing loose-fitting blue jeans with bell bottoms, a dark red pair of Doc Martens and a tight green T-shirt that looked two sizes too small. He looked back at Ryan as Sophie continued her interrogation by clicking her fingers in front of Ryan’s face. “Hey. Hey. What deal did you make?”
He spoke through gritted teeth. “They wanted me to find a ransomware hacker responsible for a series of hacks. They believed Iran was behind a recent string of cyberattacks which was a precursor to…”
He paused.
“Go on. Say it,” Thomas urged him. “Tell them.”
Ryan glared at him out the corner of his eye.
“Tell them!” Thomas bellowed.
Ryan sighed and looked Sophie in the eye. “An attack on America.”
18
California
Carlos Zonaras stabbed a fork into spaghetti a few feet from a dead body.
Hopper’s Tavern was a dingy little downtown bar that had made headlines a few years back when his crew were arrested for causing a disturbance. Since then he’d been vying for payback. As he scooped another mouthful of pasta into his trap, he looked at the owner lying motionless with a bullet hole in his head. Across the table, his right-hand man, and closest friend, Joaquín Guzmán knocked back another shot of tequila.
“Carlos, we should leave before the cops show.”
“You worry too much. No one is coming. It’s pure chaos outside.” He tossed his fork down and slipped out of the booth, wiped his lips with a napkin and tossed it before strolling over to the middle of the room where the owner’s wife was tied to a chair. A thick piece of black masking tape was pressed over her lips. Carlos ran the tip of his shiny Sig Sauer over her cheek and trailed it down to her plump breasts. She flinched, her eyes angry, swollen and red. He gave a wry smile as he quietly sang a few lines from
Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” into her ear. Something about never dreaming and losing. He enjoyed taunting his victims before he killed them and he’d left her until the end as she’d been the one to call the cops.
Her husband’s body lay only a few feet away, drenched in a pool of blood. She was made to watch as Carlos tortured and killed him.
“You know, Isabella, all we wanted was a little fun.”
She let out a muffled cry as he stood behind her, placing a hand on her forehead then running his fingers through her long dark hair. He kissed the side of her temple. A few of his guys sat on bar stools drinking beer and watching him with glee. Another two waited by the doors to keep an eye out for cops. “I want you to know that your son will be fine. We’ll raise him as one of us.”
Her sobbing got louder.
The boy was nine years old, a pipsqueak that hadn’t known pain, loss or what it was like to grow up without. But he would. Carlos wanted to be the one that scarred his soul, the one to thicken his skin and form hate in his heart. Theft, rape, murder, these didn’t compare to shaping a person’s mind, breaking their will and forming them into the perfect foot soldier. That’s what his crew were, a small army under his command. A group just waiting to unleash hell, and oh, what he had planned for this city.
Isabella continued crying as he made his way around to the front of her and took a hold of her chin. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. I’ll be there when your son takes his first life. I’ll be there when he snorts his first line, and I’ll be there when he loses his virginity to a whore. All those precious moments. Memories to be cherished. I’ll be there.” He sucked air between his teeth and looked past her. “I know. You won’t get to see it, or congratulate him when his clothes are covered in blood, but just know he’s in good hands.” He breathed in deeply. “So. It’s been a toss-up on how I should do it. You know. Do I use the trusty Sig Sauer and end your life quick? Or…” he slipped it into the back of his waistband and reached down by his leg and took out a butterfly knife from his baggy cargo pants. “Would you like to kiss the blade?”
He ripped the tape from her mouth, and she spat at him, cursing loudly.
Carlos laughed and slapped her face gently, egging her on. “That’s it. Let it out.”
The rear doors burst open, and Mateo, one of his brother’s friends, rushed in, out of breath. “Carlos!”
He stepped away from Isabella. “What is it?”
He could barely hear him over the noise of Isabella, crying and swearing.
“Bitch, shut up!”
But she wouldn’t.
He crossed the room as Mateo fell on his knees trying to get his breath.
“They’ve taken him.”
“Who? Where’s Benny?”
“That cop. He took him, and Miguel. He killed the others too.”
Carlos grabbed Mateo by the back of the hair. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Garcia. He rolled up at the pharmacy, fired on us. Shot Benny. I managed to get away but…”
“You left him behind?”
“I had no choice.”
Anger welled inside Carlos, he gritted his teeth, and balled a fist as he thought about Garcia. They had a long history, a good one, a connection that was birthed from Garcia’s relationship with Carlos’ father. He’d always shown him respect even after he took up the badge but that was gone now, all the cards were off the table. Blood was thicker than water and no one touched his family.
Isabella was screaming even louder now, hoping to be heard, hoping someone would come to her aid. “Bitch, I said shut up!” He removed his handgun and fired a round into the side of her head. She toppled over and silence fell over the room.
Carlos stood seething, staring at the emerging pool of blood.
“I want this asshole found. Bring him to me alive. You hear me. Bring him to me!”
“That’s going to be a little hard, the cops are—”
Carlos cut him off. “Did I stutter?”
“No, Carlos.”
“Bring him to me!”
Mateo nodded, and gestured to a few of the others in the room to follow him.
Carlos then went over to Joaquín. “I want you to send a message.”
“What kind?”
He leaned in and whispered into his ear.
19
North Carolina
The conversation was private. Alex had stepped out to talk with Sophie. He spoke in a quiet voice outside the home while Ryan and Thomas sat on a porch rocker in full view. “Can you believe this?”
Sophie had her arms crossed and was glancing at Ryan. “Rachel never mentioned anything. All she said was that he needed a home…”
“And you saw the similarity to Michael.”
She closed her eyes and nodded.
“Well it’s certainly easier to palate than, hey, do you want to adopt a young hacker that just made a deal with the feds? He’s going for a bargain price. We’ll even throw in a fifty-inch TV,” Alex said jokingly. Sophie playfully slapped his arm and her lip curled up.
She gave this pained expression. “What should I do?”
“You’re asking me? I’m the king of making bad choices,” he said.
“No you’re not.”
“Well I’ve made a few lately.”
“We both have.”
He didn’t expand upon that. “Look, there isn’t much you can do. We have to roll with this. Maybe he can give us some indication of the extent of what we’re facing.”
Sophie nodded. “Iran. You really think they’re behind this?”
“Iran. Russia. China. The rivalry has been there from day one. Not much has changed since the cold war and with all the bickering back and forth and attacks,” he exhaled hard, “it was just a matter of time.”
They walked across the road and gestured for Thomas and Ryan to go back inside. “You got anything to eat?” Alex asked.
“Do I look like a grocery store?” Thomas retorted.
Ryan pushed past him and opened the fridge.
“Hey, close that. I don’t want all my food going off.”
“And by food you mean half a bottle of dill pickles, some moldy cheese and a six-pack of light beer?”
“What? I’m trying to lose a few pounds.”
Ryan took out the cans. “Yeah. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem now the shit has hit the fan.” Alex stepped in and removed the beer from his hand and put it back in the fridge.
“What?”
“Once you’re old enough.”
“Sophie?”
“What he said.” She backed Alex up.
“Are you joking? I hardly think age matters now.” He kicked a trash can across the floor, then took out a pack of smokes and stuck one in his mouth.
“That goes for those too.” Sophie grabbed it from his lips before he could light it.
Thomas leaned back against the kitchen counter and cracked up laughing. Ryan jabbed a finger. “I’m warning you.”
Alex motioned to Thomas and they walked into the living room. “What is your connection to him?”
Thomas looked into the kitchen then walked over to a cabinet where he picked up a vaping device and took a few hits on it. He blew out a thick white cloud that smelled like blueberry. “We were friends. Cohorts, you might say. I got to know him through a security conference.”
“Security conference?”
He took another hit and his face disappeared behind a curtain of white. “Yeah, when you go to these events you can learn how to hack cars, hack a voting machine, whatever you want to get involved in, it’s all there. You learn a lot about the flaws in security but it’s really the networking where the gold is found. Ryan was in a league of his own. Made most of the others look like amateurs. Anyway, we uh, hooked up and bonded you could say over our love of security.” He chuckled. “Or lack of, and that’s when we set our eyes on bigger things. You know, the stuff they don’t want you looking into. At first it was just m
inor things, schools, libraries, local businesses but then we upped our game.”
“And focused on NASA and the Pentagon,” Alex said.
He made a clicking sound with his mouth. “You got it.”
“So where did it go wrong?”
“Let’s just say that when the feds show up at your door and you’re staring down a lengthy sentence, you’ll tell them anything. If I went down I would have been looking at twenty years inside. Ryan is considered a minor. He would only get a year at most.” He shrugged.
“So you let him take one for the team.”
“Put yourself in my shoes.”
They stared at each other and Thomas sucked on his vape as if he were in need of oxygen. “So… where are you heading?”
“California. Trying to get back to my daughter.”
He nodded. “I imagine it’s like hell out there.”
“Not far from it. Though this town seems to have held up better than some of the others we’ve been through. You know where we could get some gas?”
“Besides siphoning someone’s vehicle? No, I haven’t stepped out since it happened.”
“You got family in this town?”
“None to speak of. My mother passed away when I was fourteen from cancer, and my old man wasn’t around. No idea where he is. Couldn’t care less.”
“So, you renting this place?”
“Something like that.”
“Must be hard if you made your money from ransomware.”
Thomas smiled and looked into the kitchen again. “So, he told you about it?”
“No. But isn’t that how you all make money?”
Thomas crossed the room and went to the window and looked out. “It was. After the feds raided my place, they took away all my computers. Banned me from using one. Not that it would be much use now. But…” He looked nervous as if he was worried they might come back or that Ryan had worked out some kind of deal that would land him inside.
Alex nodded. “Look, we could use a place to put our heads down tonight.”
“You can’t stay here.”