“What can I say? I have a gift for inspiration.” He turned back to the boy. “Well?”
“You don’t get it, this isn’t like a normal hack. It’s his own operating system. I can’t use any of the backdoors I know.”
Kahsan took a deep almost yoga style breath and then released it. “You do understand time is of the essence.”
“I-I’m trying…but…”
“Try harder or die.”
Sabrina watched the kid wipe the sweat from his brow and ground her teeth together with frustration. He may have been a snot-nosed hacker, but he sure as hell didn’t deserve to die for it. If she let him attempt the password and he failed, the computer would blow. Not with any real force but enough to destroy the machine and possibly take off his hands depending on how much explosive material Arnold had used to booby-trap the thing. Certainly it would be enough to knock over Kahsan, which would give her the chance she needed to take him out.
She didn’t want to lose the precious data inside the computer, but if it was a question of taking Kahsan out or saving the data, Krueger had made it clear what her priority was. The safe bet would be to let the kid fail and trigger the explosion, giving her a window of opportunity. But looking at him standing there with his knees shaking, she knew she couldn’t do it.
It was possible Quinlan was right about her. That she was too much of a softy for this kind of work because, so help her, if something happened to Kevin, she didn’t know how she’d ever recover from the guilt.
Quinlan.
Where the hell was he? If only he would come, now, before she had to make a choice… No, she thought. She couldn’t count on him. This was her show.
She moved closer to the kid and watched as his fingers played over the keyboard of his machine. In a way she imagined this was what it must have been like to watch Mozart play the piano. And it reminded her of…well, her.
“I can try a shadow hit,” he muttered. “It will spin through all the possible combinations until it hits and-”
“No good,” Sabrina informed him. “Arnold’s got the machine booby-trapped.” It wasn’t information she’d planned on sharing, but she had to stop the kid before he started his program.
Kahsan looked at her suspiciously.
She merely shrugged. “What? You tossed me aside for some sixteen-year-old kid and I’m supposed to just tell you everything?”
He pointed the gun at her face. “You’re supposed to tell me everything or I’ll kill you.”
“You’ve got a one-track mind, you know that? Fine. He only gets two chances to get it right. If the second attempt fails…boom.”
“Boom?” Kahsan questioned.
“Boom,” Kevin mumbled.
Sabrina was really starting to fear the kid might just pass out. The fact that he’d managed not to wet his pants up until this point was rather impressive.
“Boom,” she reiterated. “Not enough to take out the cabin. Just the computer, and maybe some…appendages of anyone close to it. Arnold was paranoid. The only reason he allowed for two chances was so he wouldn’t blow his work up over a stupid typo.”
“I can try the combinations without actually entering them,” Kevin suggested eagerly. “My program will spin through all possibilities to find a match against what was last keyed in as a password. It’s just that I won’t know for certain if it fails until we actually try it. It’s more of a risk but it’s still an option.”
The kid was no dummy when it came to computers, that was a given, but he also knew a little something about life, too, she thought. Right now he believed his only chance of survival was proving to be more useful than she was. He was right.
Kahsan looked at her for corroboration and she shrugged. “It sounds feasible. Something I might try.”
He turned back to the boy, once more focusing the gun on him. “Do it.”
Again, he started to bang away at his keyboard. The machine gave off a mechanical hum and the room got quiet as more time passed.
His eyes lit up. He turned to Kahsan and actually smiled. “I got it. I have one we can try.”
“By all means.”
With trembling fingers the kid moved over to the monitor and, using the keyboard in front of it, typed in a nine-digit code of letters, numbers and signs that he believed was Arnold’s password. He hit the enter key with a tap of authority.
Sabrina wasn’t surprised when the password failed. “Access denied,” she read. “I hate that phrase.”
“Damn. I really thought that was it.”
Kahsan’s eyes grew dark and Sabrina could see the veneer of sophistication and polish he carried around like a cloak start to slip. In its place was the essence of evil that she knew was the bulk of his makeup. “Obviously not,” he said, his voice tight with anger. “Try again.”
This time Kevin seemed a lot less certain when he moved back to his computer. “He could be rotating the passwords. It’s what I do. So I would have to find the second to last thing keyed and assume it’s replaced the old password already.”
Both Kevin and Kahsan turned to her for confirmation. She bobbed her head. “Rotating passwords. Yeah, Arnold might try something like that.”
Kevin went back to work.
“Okay, I have it,” he announced. He walked back over to the monitor, but hesitated before he started to key anything in. “Uh…you might want to stand back.”
Kahsan didn’t have to be told. He was already as far away as the room would allow. Sabrina didn’t bother to move. Instead she moved up so she could look over the boy’s shoulder.
Shaky fingers carefully tapped out a ten-digit code. Each tap echoed in the room like a drumbeat. When he was done he pressed down on the enter key. Sabrina could see his eyes were closed.
The screen went blank for a second then it came back with a message. “Access Denied.”
Immediately, the kid jumped back expecting the machine to blow at any second. When nothing happened Kahsan turned to her for an explanation.
“Oh that’s right,” she said innocently. “I forgot. The older Arnold got the more his fingers would tremble. To give himself a break he allowed three chances to get the password right.”
“You lying bitch.” She watched Kahsan fight his inner demons, the ones telling him to kill her now. She hoped his common sense won out.
“Yes, but the good news is we get one more shot. Now, are we done letting the boy play his games? Because I really think it’s time for the girl to take over.”
Chapter 21
His head hurt.
It was the first thought that penetrated through the searing pain. He moved his hand and reached for his temple and felt the wetness. When he opened his eyes even the dim light from the winter sun blinded him. So he closed them, marshaled his resources and tried again. This time when he opened his eyes he was able to focus on his fingers. They were sticky and red.
What had happened?
That his mind could form the question over the pounding beat that thudded against his temple was miraculous. Had something hit him?
No, someone had shot him.
Sabrina.
The events trickled through his brain like a movie preview. He’d found out through sources that she’d contacted Kahsan, heard from her that it was her plan to use herself as bait, decided that he could trust her and then…she shot him.
But he wasn’t dead. Instead the bullet had just grazed his scalp. Why had she done that? He knew enough about her skill with a gun to know that if she’d truly meant to kill him, he’d be dead.
You really thought I wanted to be some kind of hero?
No, he didn’t think she wanted to be a hero. For the most part she wasn’t hero material. But he did believe she was ready to get back in the game, ready to assume the responsibilities that came with her awesome gifts.
They hadn’t expected the kid. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen and was very obviously operating under duress. Had she changed the plan in an effort to save the boy? Maybe
she was more of a hero than he knew.
It would also explain why he was still alive.
Quinlan shifted his head slightly and let his eyes refocus. Not two feet in front of him was Sabrina’s Colt Defender. There was no chatter in the area. No sound of a motorboat on the water, which told him they were probably already on the island.
There had been the driver who had been sent into the woods to serve as lookout. Where was he? Hopefully, not looking in Quinlan’s direction.
As cautiously as he could, he moved his hand away from his head and reached for the gun but came up short. Gaining purchase in the ground with his shoes, he pushed himself the necessary few inches forward and this time successfully gripped the weapon in his hand. There was still no sound from the woods and no indication that the driver had seen his movements.
Now armed, the only thing left to do was act. With a burst of speed he rolled onto his back, aiming the Defender at nothing, waiting for his opponent to act first. His eyes scanned the clearing and as far as he could see into the woods, but there were no sudden movements. More importantly no gunshots.
Confident now, and with a lingering suspicion, Quinlan sat up. His head protested by blurring his vision and he feared for a moment he would black out. But like the soldier he’d been trained to be, he fought through the pain and nausea and got to his feet. His first steps were more like staggers, but eventually he was able to find his balance. To clear his vision even more he lifted his right arm up using the sleeve of his jacket to stem the blood that was still dripping from his wound.
That’s when he spotted him. The driver was sitting in the grass. His back against a tree, he might have been taking a catnap. But the angle of his head on his shoulders told Quinlan otherwise. Nevertheless he approached cautiously, his weapon trained on him at all times. Within a few feet he saw the gaping hole in the back of the man’s head and the seeping blood that flowed down over his back in a morbid stream.
Quinlan looked back to where he’d lain on the ground, the puddle of blood visible in the dirt and studied the angle.
“Son of a bitch,” he muttered.
Annie Oakley had struck again.
Kahsan still had his gun on the boy, even as he glared at her. “Why should I trust anything you say? You’ve lied. Twice.”
“I withheld information. It’s really not uncommon in these situations,” Sabrina insisted. “Hey, you gave the kid a try. He came up short. Now, I think we want to talk about my money. “
Kahsan’s arm pivoted and suddenly the gun was pointed at her.
“You’re kidding me?” she laughed. Then the laughter stopped when the gun remained pointed at her face. Coldly, Sabrina reminded him, “You have one chance, and only one chance to get into this computer. Wonder Boy here has proven he can’t get the job done. I don’t think you’re going to kill me. I think you’re going to pay me.”
Quinlan left the driver and headed for the only option left to him to cross the river. He’d considered and dismissed swimming. Though it might be faster, the temperature of the water was low enough to induce hypothermia. He could be halfway across before he felt the effects, but then it would be too late. The small rowboat had two oars tucked inside under the tarp he’d used to hide himself earlier. He untied it from the dock, jumped inside and fought against the raging pain in his head as he dropped the bottom half of the oars into the water and began stroking.
The boat seemed to move by inches over the water and Quinlan cursed even as he pushed himself harder to cover the distance. He had only one immediate problem right now. And that was time.
Kahsan’s and Sabrina’s eyes locked. She had to clamp down a shiver of disgust against his dark soulless gaze. The holdout for money was nothing more than a stalling tactic. She was running out of options and hoped that maybe a few more minutes was all Quinlan would need to reach them. If not, she saw only one chance but it would mean sacrificing Arnold’s work and quite possibly her hands, maybe even her life.
“Fine. You’ll get your money. Now get to it.”
“You know, nobody ever told me you had such a sense of humor. You don’t honestly think I believe you’ll pay up after I give you what you want. I want you to get on the phone now and wire the money. Lucky for you I’ve memorized my bank account information.”
She watched his face turn red under his sun-kissed skin, but he pulled a cell phone out of his pants’ pocket. “Five million, correct?”
“That was before you insulted me with Wonder Boy here. Make it seven.”
He tilted his head back and a noise that she imagined was supposed to be a laugh fell out. “You think you can negotiate? With me?”
“I think I’m holding all the cards,” she said confidently.
Minutes were ticking by.
Q, where the hell are you?
The boat bumped against the shore of the island. Quinlan hadn’t bothered with trying to get to the dock, figuring the path of least distance would be quicker. He jumped out and made for the cabin that he knew to be tucked inside the thicket of trees.
Sadly, the obvious answer to Sabrina’s question was that Quinlan was still facedown on the ground on the other shore. She thought again about the angle of the shot. Her instincts told her it couldn’t have been more than a graze, but there was no way to be sure.
The final hand of cards had been dealt.
“Not quite,” Kahsan stated in opposition to her previous statement. “You are, after all, just a woman. And I, for one, know how squeamish and emotional women can get.”
He moved like a snake reaching out to pull Kevin toward him. Then he pushed his gun down the front of the boy’s pants. Kevin’s eyes went wide, first with confusion, then with horror.
“Are you a virgin, boy? I would hate to think I would shoot your pecker off without it ever knowing a woman. But if she insists…”
Kevin was shaking so much he couldn’t answer.
“It won’t kill him, but it will be awfully painful. Especially if I start with the balls. Naturally, we’ll move on from there to his kneecaps.”
“Please…don’t.” Kevin started sobbing uncontrollably.
Sabrina struggled to remain impassive against his tears and against Kahsan’s threat, which she had no doubt he would act upon. A good poker player had to know her opponents in order to win. She had to know when to bluff, but more importantly she had to know when the other players were bluffing, too. Kahsan didn’t seem to be the type.
Her problem was that she was supposed to be a heartless mercenary. A traitor to her country. The thought of a boy being tortured in front of her should have had no impact. Then she heard the cock of the gun.
“Stop. Okay, you win. Not because I give a damn about this kid, but I truly don’t want to see his little willie go flying across the room. I’ll get you past Arnold’s password and then we’ll talk about his encryption code.”
She moved up a step to stand in front of the monitor. Kahsan stood about two feet away with the gun still down the kid’s pants. She stared at the boy’s crotch, then glanced back up at Kahsan. “You getting turned on?”
Immediately, and predictably, he pulled the gun free. “Just get it done.”
She glanced over at Kevin’s self-constructed computer and lingered. “Hey, kid, what’s this button here?”
Without thinking, the boy stepped closer to her and, in doing so, brought Kahsan, who was holding on to his arm, closer, too.
She had to hope that the explosion would be enough to knock them all down. Best-case scenario, Kahsan would lose his grip on the boy and the gun. And Sabrina also had to hope that, regardless of the physical damage done to her, she could move quick enough to either reach the gun or take Kahsan out in some other way.
She’d fought through physical pain before. She knew she wouldn’t freeze up, but there was no way to know if whatever was left to her would be enough to defeat him. There were way too many variables for her liking, and the odds weren’t in her favor. But they had run out of ti
me.
It was now or never. With a silent goodbye to Arnold’s work and her hands, Sabrina reached for the keyboard, her fingers finding the first few keys.
“Kahsan!”
The shout came from the doorway. Sabrina looked up and saw Kahsan’s gun hand aim toward the voice. Picking up the first thing she could get her hands on, she swung Kevin’s computer like a bat and was able to make contact with his hand. The gun went off, but the shot was wide.
Then Sabrina watched as a bloody Quinlan fired back. Three steady emotionless shots to Kahsan’s chest sent the man flying against the back wall, as his body was ripped apart by the power of the Defender’s bullets.
There wasn’t even a question of hitting the kid. Q’s aim was too good.
Chapter 22
“Nice shot,” Sabrina said, then quickly held her hands up when she saw her own gun pointed at her. “Hey, I’m one of the good guys. You get that, right? Q, tell me you get that.”
“Relax,” he said as he lowered his hand. “It didn’t take me too long to figure out your Annie Oakley impersonation. You cut it pretty damn close.”
“I had to make it look real.”
“It felt real,” he admitted.
“Yeah. You’re still bleeding.” She went in search of something that would curtail the flow of blood from his temple and came up with a roll of paper towels. She tossed the roll to him, then joined him as they stood together over Kahsan’s lifeless body.
His eyes were still open, the shock of defeat still there somehow, even though his life was most assuredly over.
“He doesn’t look so scary now,” she murmured. She turned and saw Kevin on his knees picking up the pieces of his broken machine.
“You all right, kid?”
“I think you broke it,” he whined.
Sabrina decided not to point out that in doing so she might have saved his life, certainly his sex life. She was about to tell him so, when a sound in the distance caught her attention. A faint noise roared over the water, getting louder as each second passed.
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