by Barbara Gee
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
EPILOGUE
See Me, Cover Me
Full Heart Ranch Series #4
By: Barbara Gee
Copyright ©2016 by Barbara S. Gunden
All rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner (including all references to professional hockey teams). Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Barbara Gunden, except for the use of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER 1
Tanner typed in one more command, then watched as his monitor suddenly began to fill with row upon row of computer code. He leaned forward, skimming the lines as they flashed across the screen, making sure the source of the code was the server he’d been trying to break into. It was.
“Gotcha,” he whispered, his lips curling into a grim smile. He pushed his chair away from the desk and got to his feet, releasing a long, satisfied breath.
He was in. Finally. It had been a battle, but the good guys had just chalked up a big win.
His smile grew wider as the lines scrolled rapidly across his screen, revealing the location of secrets he’d been closing in on for weeks. Man he loved this part. The rush of victory he felt right now was a lot like going in for a game-winning touchdown, something he remembered from back in his high school football days. Even though he was alone in a computer lab instead of celebrating on the field with rowdy teammates, the thrill of getting the big one was the same—and this time the stakes were much higher.
It was the kind of breakthrough that made it all worthwhile. The many painstaking hours Tanner and his colleagues had spent trying to locate the main server of a black-market weapons dealer hiding deep in the “dark web” had finally paid off, thanks to a little good luck finally coming their way.
It had been just that morning that Tanner and the four other FBI cyber experts on his team had found that needed piece of luck, in the form of a tiny piece of identifying information their target had failed to clean up after a software update. It was the kind of thing hackers lived for, and they had gleefully followed the trail right to the server in question. By five o’clock, when the others had gone home, they were only one step away from accessing the actual hard drive, where they expected to find a database showing customers, purchases, vendors, and inventory.
Tanner had now completed that last step—he’d gained access to the hard drive. He gave a low chuckle. Lots of bad guys would soon be going down.
He paced a few steps as he waited for the upload to finish, rolling his shoulders and rubbing the back of his neck to work out the kinks from long hours hunched over a keyboard. The workstations in this lab definitely weren’t built for men of his height, but he made do.
Another minute passed before his screen went still, waiting for his command. After one final back-cracking stretch, he sat down and squinted at what would appear as gibberish to most, but was perfectly legible to Tanner. He scrolled up to the top of the file and then worked his way down, scanning each line carefully, looking for any indication that a tracer had been built into the system to catch outside intrusions such as his.
He wasn’t worried about being caught himself. He’d covered his entry point well, so even if his penetration was eventually noticed, the bad guys would never be able to zero in on his own server identity or location. Still, he needed to know what kinds of warnings had been built into the system to monitor server breaches. As a rule, the better the safeguards, the more important the information being hidden.
He soon isolated the first sections of code intended to thwart hackers such as himself. It was just as he’d hoped. Based on what he was seeing, the server was going to be a gold mine of information. The level of protection was sophisticated and had no doubt cost a lot of money. The owners of the site had probably been assured their system was impenetrable. Nope. Their programmers were good, but Tanner and his colleagues were better.
He wished his team was here now, but they worked regular hours. At five o’clock they went home to spend time in the real world, with families who were eager to see them.
No one was waiting for Tanner, though. His empty condo held zero appeal, which meant he usually ended up working much later than everyone else. Tonight was no different, and this time it had resulted in him finding that elusive access point.
He pushed a little further into the hole, exploring far enough to know for sure this was the server they’d been seeking. He was tempted to keep going, to dive further into the data that was now at his fingertips, but it would be better to have the others’ input on which direction to take from here. Did they want to risk copying files right away, or just hide in a virtual corner for now, monitoring the user traffic and hopefully finding out more secrets?
He rolled his head and shoulders again, his protesting body telling him thirteen hours was enough. He rolled his chair over in front of another monitor, pulling the keyboard toward him and opening a work log. He’d take the time now to document each step he’d taken to penetrate the main server, then when everyone came in tomorrow morning, they could immediately poke further into the network and find out exactly what their suspects had to hide.
There would be a lot of things to uncover, there was no doubt about that. Here in the dark web, everyone had something to hide, and finding those “somethings” was Tanner’s specialty. Well, one of them.
His fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard as he recorded his work. He did it almost all from memory, only glancing at the adjacent monitor a couple of times. As he was finishing up, he heard the door at the other end of the lab swing open. He frowned at the interruption, but kept typing, even as his brain ticked through the possibilities of who would be coming in so late.
As the person approached from behind, the sound of the f
ootsteps gave him away. Only five other people had access to the lab. This one was male and big and walked with purpose. A man on a mission. As always.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Neil Luther was in the house.
Tanner saved his log, then rolled his chair back over to the other keyboard. He skillfully exited the server he’d hacked into, leaving no trace of his presence.
The footsteps had come to a halt beside him, and when he was finished, he spun his chair to face his visitor.
“What’s up, boss?” he asked, rocking back to look up at the man who called the shots.
“Good evening, Tanner. Figured I’d find you here.” The man nodded toward the bank of monitors. “Find out who sold those rocket launchers yet?”
“Getting close. We had a breakthrough this morning, as you probably heard, and I had another one twenty minutes ago. I know we’ve got the right server, but I’ll wait to go any further until the rest of the team is here. We can pick up where I left off in the morning.”
“Good work.” Luther folded his arms. “So, what time did you get in today?”
Tanner shrugged. “I came in right after I left the gym this morning. Guess that would have been seven or so.”
“Another thirteen-hour day,” Luther said heavily, leaning back against the edge of a desk and loosening his tie. “That’s become the norm for you.”
“And for you, from the looks of it.”
“I’m the SAC. The occasional long day is in my job description. You, on the other hand, should be out of here by five.”
“I can handle extra hours,” Tanner said carefully, wondering what was behind the man’s unexpected visit. “You know I’d rather work than sit around doing nothing.”
“I do know that, and I appreciate it. I’ve also taken advantage of it, and if I’m not careful, I’m going to ruin one of my best agents.” The big man folded his arms, his expression regretful. “We’ve been pushing you too hard and too long, Tanner. My gut tells me you need to take some time off.”
Tanner hid his surprise. Agent Luther showing up out of the blue to tell him he needed to take time off wasn’t something he’d ever expected. He tried to think what might have prompted such a thing. It couldn’t be simply the number of hours he worked. That had been going on for a long time, and it had never been an issue before.
Whatever the reason for Luther’s visit and sudden concern, Tanner didn’t figure it was anything good.
“I’m fine, boss,” he said firmly. “I’ll back off if it gets to be too much.”
“No, I don’t think you will. You’ll just push through it, because that’s what you do.” Luther rubbed his eyes. “Think about it, Tanner. You came out of your last big job in the field and jumped immediately into our dark web project here in the lab. I should have insisted on some down-time, Lord knows you earned it. But I didn’t, and now here you are, spending twelve and thirteen hour days in the lab, even on weekends. That’s not good for anyone, you included.”
“I’m taking care of myself,” Tanner said tightly. “I go to the gym every morning, and I usually run five miles or more at lunch time.”
“Yeah, I know, you’re staying in great shape,” Luther acknowledged, “but that’s not what I’m talking about. When was the last time you went out with a friend and just relaxed?”
Tanner didn’t consider his personal life to be Luther’s business, but he didn’t say so. “I work long hours by choice,” he said, keeping his voice emotionless. “I know if I want to limit myself to eight hour days, I can, but at this stage in the project it’s on my mind all the time anyway, so I might as well be here working on it.” His eyes narrowed as he watched his boss pick up a pen and fidget with it. The man wasn’t prone to fidgeting, which meant he had more to say and wasn’t quite sure how to do it.
“There are four other agents also working on the project,” Luther said after a pause. “They can pick up the slack if you take some time off.”
“Time off?” Tanner asked harshly. He’d thought Luther was only going to make him cut back. Now he was talking about actually taking time off? Unprecedented, and also not at all what Tanner wanted to hear. Not at this stage in the project.
“Sorry, boss, but that’s the last thing I need. I just broke into the server of a weapons dealer we’ve been after for weeks. You want me to bug out before we start pulling in the good stuff?”
Luther nodded decisively. “Yeah, I do, actually. I want you to get out of here. Away from the lab, away from the job in general. It’s time you had a break.”
Tanner leaned his chair back a little more and crossed his arms over his chest. “How about you tell me what’s going on, Agent Luther?” he said tersely. “Do you suddenly have a problem with my work?”
His boss grunted. “Hardly. I’m well aware you’ve taken this project to new heights in the last nine months. We’ve quadrupled the number of organizations we’re able to monitor, and that’ll grow exponentially by the end of the year, thanks to your ideas. But this—” Luther extended his arms, encompassing the floor to ceiling banks of high tech computer equipment. “This shouldn’t be your whole life. You spend twice as much time here as anyone else. I can’t in good conscience let that continue. I care about you, Tanner. You, not just what you can do for the bureau.”
“I appreciate that,” Tanner said dryly, wondering how long it was going to take Luther to reveal the real reason he’d come by. He decided to push him a little bit. “Why are you all of a sudden so worried about my state of mind?”
Luther caught himself twisting the pen between his fingers and dropped it back onto the desk. He met Tanner’s gaze, his expression revealing his reluctance to answer his agent’s question.
Tanner waited him out, and finally Luther came clean. “We’ve got something in the pipeline, Tanner, and I’m going to need your help with it at some point. Could be a few weeks, could be a few months, but whenever the time comes, I’m going to need you fresh and focused. So I’m not here asking you to take some time off, I’m telling you to do it.”
Tanner hid the mix of anger and dread now roiling in his gut. He made sure his eyes revealed none of what he was feeling—he’d gotten very good at that over the years.
A corner of his mouth turned up in a crooked smile. “So you’re giving me time off for the sake of the job, not just out of the goodness of your heart? Dang, and I was starting to feel all warm and fuzzy, thinking you cared.”
“I do care, Tanner, don’t doubt that for a minute. If there was any way to keep you out of what’s coming, I would.” Luther stood and paced across the room, his hands shoved in his pockets, the ever-present grooves in his forehead deepening. “There’s no way I can, though. We’re going to need the best for this one, and that’s you.”
Tanner’s mouth went dry and he couldn’t help thinking maybe being the best wasn’t such a good thing in this instance. He swiveled his chair and picked up the water bottle he always kept on his workstation. He took a long drink, his movements unhurried, his face still expressionless.
He slowly screwed the cap back on the bottle, and when he spoke, his voice sounded completely normal. “You need me to go back in, boss?”
Luther exhaled heavily and then nodded reluctantly, his eyes holding an apology. “Different place, different group, and like I said, I don’t know the timing yet. But yeah. We’re going to need you to go back in.”
Tanner cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his head, aiming for casual. “I don’t think taking time off will make much of a difference in my readiness level. I honestly don’t think I need it.”
“Then do it for me, to assuage my guilt. I’ve asked too much of you in the past, and soon I’m going to ask even more.” Luther looked down at his agent, his eyes beseeching. “Go out and live a little for a change, Tanner. Get away from the darkness. Feel the sun on your face, maybe take a trip, meet people, see some sights. Remind yourself that what we’re fighting to preserve is worth it.”
“I already
know it’s worth it.”
“Fine. Go live it, then.”
Tanner pushed up out of his chair and picked up the jacket he’d laid on the neighboring desk. “So that’s an order?” he asked, meeting his boss’s gaze steadily.
“It’s an order,” Luther confirmed. “Don’t come back until I tell you to. Might be a month, might be more. I’ll be in touch.”
Tanner nodded slowly. He wanted to continue his protest, but he knew Luther well enough to know it wouldn’t do any good. The man had his mind made up.
“I guess I’m out of here then. Tell the others to follow the steps I entered in the log, and they’ll be able to get right into the server we’ve targeted.”
“I’ll tell them.”
“Also tell them this was your idea, okay? I don’t want them to think I’m skipping out on them.”
“I will. And Tanner, I’m also ordering you to enjoy your time off,” the older man added, smiling a little hopefully. “Can you do that for me?”
Tanner paused, a flippant answer on the tip of his tongue, but then he opted for honesty. Because in the end, he knew Luther really did care, and Tanner had always respected the way he handled the agents under his authority.
“Not sure, boss,” he said. “Enjoying things hasn’t been a priority for me over the last ten years or so.”
Luther nodded ruefully. “I’m aware. Will you at least give it your best shot? You deserve that, and a heck of a lot more.”
Tanner didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t. He appreciated the man’s support, but he couldn’t make any promises. The best he could hope to do was fill the mandated time off with something decently worthwhile so he wouldn’t feel like he was wasting his days.
His job with the FBI might not allow for much of a personal life, but having a sense of purpose and protecting the citizens of his country provided a sense of satisfaction that made up for it. It’s what he was used to, and given a choice, he’d continue the mission by staying here in the lab until he was needed elsewhere.
Unfortunately, that wasn't an option. Luther was convinced he knew what was best and the order had been given. End of story.