Seek and Destroy (TREX, #5)

by Allie K. Adams

  “No, you asked me to stop talking.”

  “You’re humming.”

  “That isn’t talking,” she pointed out. He stopped his deliberate march down the long corridor and turned to her. Damn it. She smiled at him in a poor attempt at innocence. “I’m not saying any of the words.”

  He couldn’t win no matter what he did, so he spun back around and continued his task of getting the hell out of the building without going ape shit.

  She caught up to him, and damn if she hadn’t started humming again. “What song is that anyway?”

  “Past the Point of No Return. It’s from Phantom of the Opera. Ever heard of it?”

  “I’ve been in Maui, Charis. Not a cave.”

  Christ. What was he doing? She didn’t do anything wrong. So she had a way of getting under his skin. So what? He didn’t need to be such a dick.

  Damn it. He told himself not to touch her. Hell, he ordered himself to not even look at her. For the most part, he’d succeeded. But then he had her alone in that elevator.

  Had her in every sense of the word. He’d never done anything so primal in his life. Although she seemed a willing participant, he didn’t ask permission as he ripped her panties off and fucked her like a sex-starved fool.

  He had to get his mind on the mission. His life, as well as the life of the TREX agency, was at stake. He couldn’t afford any distractions. Feeling better now that he’d somewhat centered his focus, he thought about his next move.

  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 TREX had in place.

  Or did he?

  They were computer based. Every agency was anymore. Surreal had already proven no computer system was safe from him. When David had 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 TREX 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’d 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 behind her glasses. 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. He missed the rain and looked to the gray sky, allowing the drizzle to tickle his face, centering him.

  Sleeping with her once might have been considered a moment of weakness, two humans giving in to their carnal needs, especially after her near drowning. But 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 slow him down any.

  He’d hoped burying himself inside 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 looked at her. “Oh, right. Maui. Well, my car is parked in my driveway. I do, however—”

  He ground out a curse and shook his head. Unbelievable. Their mission hadn’t even started yet and it was already 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 returning to TREX. 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 wouldn’t stop talking. How in the hell would he survive having her on this mission, 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 the Pontiac G6’s lights come on. At least he wouldn’t have to hotwire it now. “Let’s go.”

  She jumped into the passenger seat. “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 dick since he returned from Maui. “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 had him staring longer than he needed to. She was truly beautiful. Why didn’t she use her sex appeal as a weapon, as he wrongfully assumed? 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.

  She spoke up. “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 TREX 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.

  He never gave a shit about some harmless computer hacker and had been pissed at TREX for giving him the assignment to track him down and retrieve him. Not until the harmless hacker blew up a computer server room, killing four people.


  That had gotten his attention. And TREX’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.

  So why surface again? If everyone believed he’d died in that blast, he’d successfully given himself a get out of jail free card. Surfacing again after all this time didn’t make sense.

  Charis made several faces as she zoned out, 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.

  “Was he worried about you being on any of the surveillance feeds?”

  How did she know that? “Yes.”

  She giggled. “You two are funny.”

  Now she irritated 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’re 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 TREX HQ.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Right after Weber took charge of the western region he contacted intel about beefing up the security at HQ. You know, patch up the holes.”

  His suspicious nature caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. He knew about the holes within TREX. That’s what led to the op in Colombia, the clusterfuck where he, Weber, and JT stopped a weapon of targeted destruction from being unleashed. “Did intel 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. 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 JT tried to break in and couldn’t even get through the first layer.” She paused and looked at him. “You do know JT is one of the best hackers TREX has, right?”

  Yes, he knew. “How many layers are there?”

  “Seven.”

  He nodded. Good. If Surreal couldn’t hack into TREX’s system, they still 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 and rocked her head from side to side. “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?”

  She blinked as if he’d just told her the most obvious solution ever devised. “Of course.”

  “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 major bragging rights, 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, TREX, NSA, 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 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.”

  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. “Try not to be too star struck when we find him. We can’t afford mistakes this time.”

  “Oh wow,” she whispered, stared straight ahead. After several annoyingly silent seconds, she nodded. “Now it makes sense.”

  “Care to enlighten me? Because I’m still trying to wrap my brain around all of that IP nonsense you rambled about.”

  She turned to him. Her words were hurried as she spoke. “Not many people know this, but Surreal used to be one of us.”

  He almost threw the car into a spin, he jerked the steering wheel so hard. “What?”

  “Well, not one of you, but he used to be intel. See,” she paused and narrowed her eyes, and David braced for the impact of the next bomb she had up her sleeve. After that last one, he didn’t know if he could take another. “We all have codenames. We have to in our line of work.”

  David’s pulse kicked up a notch. “So you know Surreal’s true identity?”

  She nodded.

  “Now this partnership is starting to make a bit more sense.”

  She frowned, the cute little crinkle between her brows causing him to smile. She didn’t even have to try to hold his attention. She just did. “I’m glad it makes sense to you. I’m still confused as hell.”

  He laughed, loving how she spoke her mind. “How about we get some coffee and find someplace to talk? I’ll see if I can clear up some of the confusion.”

  TWELVE

  David glanced at the paper Weber gave him and then up at the house. Charis looked around his shoulder and followed his gaze up to the house in front of them. The
rendezvous point was at a house? Not just a house, but a really nice house. Contemporary architecture, curved archway, stucco siding. Interesting spot for a briefing.

  Shivering, she folded her arms in front of her and stepped closer to him. The rain had stopped, but it was still teeth-chattering cold. She looked up at the sky. Gray. The trees stood sad and motionless aside from the occasional drip of residual rain that had collected on the needles and branches. Everything was wet and just plain depressing.

  No wonder people in the Pacific Northwest hated winter so much. Mt. Rainier had the only snow in sight. The foothills didn’t even have any snow, at least none on the foothills she could see through the cloud cover. She pulled her arms even tighter and shivered again.

  She missed Montana. The majority of the precipitation they received fell in the form of snow. The sky sported a brilliant blue three hundred days out of the year.

  He turned and threw her a glance over his shoulder. As he spotted her no more than a few inches away, he paused and captured her gaze with his. “Do you always need to stand so close?” He gave his best act at being annoyed, but by the look in those dancing chocolate eyes he was anything but annoyed.

  She nodded. “I’m cold.”

  He gave her a quick once over. “You’re also turning blue. Here.” He removed his jacket and threw it around her shoulders.

  She wanted to kiss him and almost did. After wrapping her up, he kept his arms around her. She looked into his eyes and leaned toward him. He licked his lips. Then, abruptly, he dropped his arms and stepped back, muttering a few of his favorite cuss words.

  Damn. Another near hit. They really needed to find a way to control their attraction to each other. “Why are we here?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Are you sure we’re in the right place?”

  “That’s what the address says.” He waved the little piece of paper in his hand.

  “Then let’s knock and get inside. I’m freezing.”

  He turned and approached the door, then rang the bell. When no one answered, he knocked. And again. “Hmm,” he muttered. “No answer.”