by Wylder Stone
It didn’t take long for him to realize who they were. He was a hacker. Watson could find out who anyone was. And he did. He also knew when they were coming for him because he used facial recognition and nearby surveillance feeds to figure out just when Cade and Connor arrived to apprehend him. That, combined with Genevieve’s Trojan horse and draining all his offshore accounts simultaneously to places unknown, had him backed into a corner. So he blew up the warehouse he used to destroy any remaining evidence. He also did it before anyone could execute a hostage rescue. She’d lost her mother and sister in the explosion.
Remains were difficult to identify, but DNA evidence at the scene determined they belonged to Watson, Genevieve’s family, and a few other wanted fugitives. Genevieve was devastated. She was also alone now.
The crime ring was brought to its knees and dismantled while guilty parties had their day in court and were brought to justice, one by one. All but one case. Genevieve never saw a courtroom. She was free. Evidence that she was working against the crime ring granted her immunity as long as she testified against those who knew full well what they were doing for Watson and doing it willingly. Elite Force Security hired her as their first employee outside of the family, and she’d proven to be an asset ever since.
“What money?” Troy asked. “Why does he think you have some of his money?”
“He knows I helped bring down his team. He also knows I’m the one who sabotaged his accounts. He told me he watched the money drain from each of them and that only I could have taken it,” she admitted. “He can’t find it now. He’s scoured the backend of every financial institution he hit and the offshore holdings – nothing.”
“That’s because I returned all of it and hid it from him within each institution. The money is all there. He just can’t see it.” James felt an inkling of guilt. Genevieve was taking the fall for what he had done. “Good to know the walls I put up are still intact after all this time. If Watson looks close enough and sees the returned assets, he very well could be assuming it’s insurance payouts.”
When all was said and done, James had returned the stolen money, at least what they had. Watson had already been living very well off the backs of others, acquiring assets and stowing away funds Genevieve wasn’t privy to. They couldn’t recover everything, but they did return most. Once the money was back where it belonged, James worked with the IT departments of each victim and helped them build a better fail-safe so it couldn’t happen again.
“Yeah, well, you did too good of a job because he thinks I have it and need to return it, or…” Genevieve paused, nearly choking on her words.
“Or what, Vivi?” Though calm, Derek’s tone held a hint of something else. Anger or maybe fury. It was as if he already knew the dark and sinister answer to his question.
A small sob escaped Genevieve. She pushed her chair away from the large table and stood. With her back turned to the men in the room, she wiped away the tears she could no longer withhold. She straightened her shoulders and took a cleansing breath before she turned to face them. “Or he starts hurting the people I love.”
“He’s not going to get to any of us, Vivi.” Sympathy wasn’t something Derek handed out, but her words had confirmed what they all had suspected. She had been trying to protect them. All of them. And that accounted for all the secrets and odd behavior. “We can…”
“He has pictures of Ruby!” Genevieve shouted, emotion dripping from her admission. There wasn’t anything Derek or the others could do or say at this point to make her feel better or even remotely safe about her situation. “He has pictures of her at school. Some of her running on the track. At the Cloud, ordering her favorite coffee. He even sent me her signature drink. He got that close. There are pictures of all of you, even Maddy and Erik.”
“Son of a bitch.” Troy was on his feet now, fists clenched and pacing.
Jackson tossed his hands in the air as if they were making this harder than it had to be, and he had a simple solution. “So, he’s here then. Easy, we just—”
“No,” James interrupted, certain he knew what his brother was going to say next. “Just because he has pictures here doesn’t mean he’s here.” James dragged his hands through his hair, already running through scenarios on how to beat this guy at his own game. “You’ve been doing this long enough to know that nothing is as it seems when it comes to tech. We can do anything we want remotely. Even collect intel. Pictures are easy. He can be in Guam for all we know and snap a picture of a daisy in the courtyard outside our building using any number of technology-based means.”
“Even the cars?” Jackson questioned. “I mean, we’ve done some weird shit over the years, tapping into stuff, but never cars.”
“Think about it. He had that drone on us today. We don’t know the range on that yet. The military sends drones across oceans to spy on other continents. He could be anywhere right now. Anything is possible,” James began, trying to convey just how different this case was going to be for them. “He chased us with cars that probably didn’t belong to him and watched us through city cams like we’ve done many times. Technology allows him to be absolutely everywhere we are – inside, outside, you name it. Almost anything can be hacked remotely as long as it has some sort of technology to support it. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, wireless anything. As long as there’s a signal to tap or an operating system to get into, he can gain access unless it’s properly protected.”
“Everything has Bluetooth now,” Troy added.
James nodded. “Exactly, most everything is technology-based. Your home thermostat, refrigerators, an alarm clock.”
Derek snorted. “What’s he going to do, sweat us to death by turning up the heat and making sure our ice maker is turned off?”
Genevieve stepped forward, using her hands and body language to emphasize to the guys that this wasn’t a joke. “This is a different kind of battle, guys. He was in that market yesterday – the lights, sound system, registers, doors. Don’t underestimate him or what he can tamper with. Today it was cars. What makes something like…airplanes off-limits?” she questioned, trying to get them to wrap their minds around the gravity of it all.
“Jesus, I thought this shit was only in movies,” Jackson replied. “I can’t even add a number to my contacts on my phone.”
The room went quiet while each of them reconciled what this meant. They weren’t going to be the Elite team going in balls to the walls, all muscle and mayhem like they were used to. This would be James’s battle, and they would be there to support him while he did the heavy lifting. Otherwise, they’d be shooting blindly at targets.
“Anything with Bluetooth?” Derek asked sheepishly.
“Yes, pretty much,” James answered with a drawl, waiting for a punchline. “Why do you ask, or do we even want to know?”
The mood was heavy, which tended to make Derek uncomfortable. This was too close to home and far out of their typical reach. And feeling helpless wasn’t somewhere he liked to be. A little recon and a few raids, even a shoot-out worked, but this felt like a situation they couldn’t really control. Not a feeling he was familiar with. “So, they say some sex toys have Bluetooth now. We could hack one?” He laughed, his brothers snickering along with him.
“Sex toys?” James was confused. He’d been out of the bedroom game for a while, but technology was technology, and he knew about just about everything. Or so he thought. “I don’t know what you’re talking—”
“Yes.” Genevieve interrupted, sparing James the crucifixion of his brothers and their ill-timed antics. “Yes. You can hack those too, Derek.”
James’s expression fell short. He had no idea what his brothers were laughing at. “I still don’t know what you mean. Sex toys with Bluetooth? Why would you want that?”
Genevieve’s head fell back as she palmed her forehead in frustration while the rest of the Force’s had a laugh at James’s expense.
“Vibrator, James,” she said pointedly. “Vibrators have Bluetooth now.”
<
br /> “Why the hell would someone need Bluetooth on one? I don’t know if that is really possible?” James regretted his question the minute he put it out there. His brothers were sitting in fits of laughter while Genevieve’s light complexion blushed.
“It’s totally possible and can be done. Look it up, okay?” Genevieve was used to being around the guys and their foul mouths, but this was an entirely new level of awkwardness.
“If all of this is possible, why haven’t we been doing any of it?” Troy asked, bringing them back to the task. “Not the vibrator stuff,” he quickly corrected, “but the rest of it. If we can manipulate a mark or enemy through all of those means, why don’t we?”
“Until now. We haven’t had to,” James admitted. “You have to understand that although it seems like technology could make our jobs easier, it doesn’t always work that way. Once we resort to those methods, we expose all of the vulnerabilities to people who would love to exploit them.”
“Start a trend,” Derek clarified.
“Precisely. People are always watching. If we get in places we shouldn’t, we literally open the door for others or leave a roadmap in our wake.” James understood why this was appealing to the team. It could cut their work in half in some cases, but that didn’t make it the right solution. “I’m good at this shit. Genevieve is good at it too. But it’s always changing, and we don’t want to be in a position where we are always looking over our shoulders, hoping we didn’t let the wrong people in somewhere. Or worse, someone smarter than us comes along, and we don’t even see them. Sometimes, technology is more dangerous than half the shit we do with weapons and explosives.”
Genevieve smiled at James, though vaguely. His under-the-radar compliment meant a lot to her. He trusted her and her work, and that was the one thing she worried about losing most – his trust and respect.
“How do we catch him?” Jackson asked, ready to execute whatever solution was presented.
“Whoa, first things first. He has eyes on Ruby. We need to get her out of here. Owen and the guys will be back soon, so let’s send her to Bear Springs with them.” There was a certain urgency in Troy’s voice. The threat on Ruby had him spooked. “Or Catalina Island. Even better. Neither place is high-tech. This guy would have a hell of a time getting to her without coming out of hiding.”
“NO!” James interrupted with a startling tone. “She’s safer here. He would just follow us there. Remember, this is a cyber battle. If he doesn’t have the tech to mess with there, neither do we. We can’t panic. That’s what a guy like him will thrive on. It’s what he’s waiting for. We need to be smart and get ahead of him.”
“How do we even know it’s him?” Derek worried they were missing something. Committing to a hidden enemy wasn’t smart. “We lose the war before it even begins if we have too many eggs in the wrong basket. All of the communications have been cryptic messages and a voice-altered phone call or two.”
“I know it’s him, Derek. Every bit of it has his name on it. Even the voice-altered call. That’s completely in his wheelhouse. It’s dramatic.” Genevieve was confident because Watson was the only bad part of her past. “This is his work. I’m sure of it.”
“Again, what do we do? How do we find him?” Jackson was ready for solutions. “I don’t care if it’s Watson or not at this point. What I want to know is how we catch him.”
James paused, looking at each one of them staring back at him. He was the point man this time. This was his case, and it was his plan they were waiting to execute. There was only one problem. “I don’t know yet.”
James left the room.
9
James was angry. He’d spent part of the night working in his home office, hacking into the security system at Ruby’s school. Once she went to sleep, he moved to the conference room where he had more room, more resources, and space to spread out and pull an all-night hacking job. These were his roots, where he started, stealthily hacking into anything and everything, completely undetected. Securing their system ensured his daughter's safety and those of the other children. There were bound to be casualties at some point if anything was missed, and he wouldn’t risk his family or anyone else’s.
He didn’t have access, but he was a hacker, so he didn’t need permission. And if they already failed to see where their security was weak, they’d never notice he was there anyway. Sure, there were security cameras everywhere, inside and out, that made it appear safe, but it wasn’t. That was the problem with most people – they thought cameras were everything.
There was so much emphasis on what you could see, but what about the threats you couldn’t see. The ones which lurked in the shadows of the innerwebs, behind firewalls, and coding, on the other side of your webcam. People were always watching and being watched. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. What was the point of those cameras if anyone could find their way into their computer system and check anything from student grades to teacher personnel files, not to mention find out where everyone lived?
So his night was spent breaking in, upgrading the school’s system, building those firewalls, coding where it was needed, and blocking sensitive files so only those who should have access could. From there, he looked at anyone who had remote access from home. It didn’t take long to get into any of those computers either. More negligence. Just like the school, he installed additional security, protecting each of them from outside trouble.
If they didn’t recognize their weaknesses, they surely wouldn’t notice increased security either. He was doing them a favor. Nobody would know he had been there in their personal spaces. Actually, one guy would know someone had been in his computer when the police showed up at his door the next day. James found things on the teacher’s computer that no one should have, especially someone with access to children. Sick bastard.
While tracking remote logins, he found a long list of ghost IP addresses that showed the presence of someone who wasn’t supposed to be there. Watson. Or, whoever was thought to be Watson at this point. If anyone needed confirmation that the school’s secure system was grossly flawed or that someone dangerous had been lurking, there it was. An untraceable cyberstalker.
Nobody would be able to tamper with the school after the upgrade he’d just given them. Elite Force Security’s fleet of vehicles was safe too. Modern-day vehicles housed a highly intelligent system with endless capabilities like driverless mobility. He wasn’t used to that type of programming, but he appreciated a challenge and found a way to build a sophisticated, bulletproof wall around the technology. Everyone was safe on his watch.
Ruby would be safe at school, and the team could move around the city safely. For now. As the hours ticked by and exhaustion threatened, his mind wandered to places he feared. Losing his wife nearly destroyed him. Ruby was all he had left. Losing her or anyone on his short list of people closest to him would claim him for good. The more people you let in, the greater the odds it could break. That was a pain he couldn’t face again.
“I may have found a clue,” Genevieve said, pulling James from his thoughts. She walked into the conference room, finding a weathered and worn-looking James. Despite the tone in the space, she wore a hopeful look with her laptop in hand. “I have a couple of IP addresses bouncing off multiple towers.”
James shook his head. “I saw those too. They were all over Ruby’s school system. Who else would hack a school over and over again?”
“Right, but did you notice the location patterns?” she questioned, earning a surprised look from James.
“I didn’t.” He watched the list scroll on her screen when she set it in front of him.
“What do you see?” she asked. “Just tell me when you see it.”
“Uh, I see the same couple of addresses going through.” When she didn’t reply, he knew he hadn’t found it. “A few randoms off the same towers…”
Genevieve pulled up a chair and plopped down next to him, leaning in close enough for him to notice a warm
vanilla scent. She pulled up another screen so there were two side by side, and her fingers began to dance across the keys so quickly it was as if she wasn’t even tapping them.
“Now look. Do you see it?” Frustration mixed in her words. “Look at the tower locations.”
“They’re moving.” James straightened to look closer at the pattern flashing before them like a neon sign. They had a clue. “It’s forming a pattern like a tower map. He’s not using a private server. Those are real. He’s on the move.”
“Bingo!” she said, relieved he saw what she did. “He’s getting closer. He’s on his way here.”
“We needed this break. He messed up. This is ego. He’s too smart to just make a wrong step. He thinks he’s outsmarted us, and we won’t see him coming. We need him to keep doing that.” James turned to her, a smile stretching across his expression. Something he rarely did anymore, which is why he caught himself and quickly corrected. It was so rare that it had felt foreign. “Nice work. That’s great work. We need to keep…”
“Keep watching, keep tracking,” she replied, finishing his sentence. “We’ll find him, James.”
“I know we will. Remember, this could be part of the ruse. He could be in Bangladesh and making it look like he’s two states away and heading our way,” James reminded, temporarily distracted by the relief he felt thanks to Genevieve. “Or in our backyard and make it look like he’s in Europe or something. Staying a step ahead means question everything. Play devil's advocate with every break. Though I think this is ego. I can’t see it as a power move because he gains nothing with this as a ploy.”
“I know. I know, but my gut says he’s coming here. He wants his money. He wants me.” A crack in her voice and an ounce of fear fell off her final few words.