Bull's Eye Sniper Chronicles Collection (The Second Cycle of the Betrayed Series)

by McCray, Carolyn

  “I demand my hardware!” the man cried out, sounding pretty darned shrill.

  Without hesitation, Prenner pulled the Roomba out of its bag and with a sleight of hand, removed the USB out of the object before handing it over to the CIA liaison.

  “You paid for the party,” Prenner said. “You get all the party favors.”

  The CIA guy jerked the Roomba from Prenner’s hands and stalked off the bridge without another word.

  “Hope you got everything you needed,” Davidson whispered.

  Oh, Stark got everything he needed plus was able to upload some nice surprises for the CIA when they went to access the main hard drive.

  Malvern stepped forward. “Captain, if it is alright with you I’ll take my men to their bunks. I think we all need some rack time.”

  Peel nodded but Levont didn’t budge. “And your man?”

  Waving off the concern, Malvern answered. “They’re attached at the hip,” he explained. “Levont will come off duty when Lopez does.”

  “Very well then,” the Captain stated and turned back to his tasks.

  The team followed Malvern off the bridge and into one of the long tunnels that led to the back of the sub.

  “I think we are about to lose --”

  Just then all feeds cut off and they lost the submarine on radar. Lopez must have fit them into that tunnel after all.

  “Well, nothing for another forty five minutes,” his mother said, pushing back from her desk. “Then we’ll see if they made it to international waters.”

  Bunny however didn’t seem ready to take a break. “Any word on who authorized those drones?”

  “Not yet, but I’ve gotten a few nibbles from the Pentagon.”

  Crossing her arms, Bunny frowned. “I want to know and know before the guys get home.”

  “Aye, aye,” Stark said chuckling, only Bunny didn’t chuckled back.

  Yah, they never would have made it as a couple

  Stark noticed his mother give a slight grin at Bunny’s snub. She had her son all to herself again and that seemed to make his mom extremely happy.

  EPILOGUE

  Davidson put his hand up to shield his eyes from the Washington DC sun. Once out of the undersea tunnel they had rendezvous with an American ship which they rode over to Oman, then a military transport all the way stateside.

  He hadn’t really seen the sun for eighteen hours.

  If Davidson had thought he was tired he could only imagine how exhausted Lopez was. He’d helmed the ship until they reached the boat. The journey though the tunnel had been harrowing according to Levont. Back in the bunks you couldn’t tell though, it had felt seamless. Like the submarine equivalent of red velvet cupcakes.

  That was Lopez for you.

  “Samuel!” a scream came from the left. He turned just into time to catch Bunny up into his arms.

  She showered his face with kisses. No more tentative, awkward, are “we in or are we out” kind of stuff anymore.

  “I am never staying home again,” she announced, then kissed him full on the lips.

  Davidson didn’t mind at all. Not at all.

  The kiss was slow and lingering, like she didn’t want to break off the contact. Finally they both had to breath and the kiss ended for medicinal purposed.

  He smoothed down her hair. “I’m glad. I missed you.”

  “Okay, I didn’t miss the whole tank into the sea thing, but I can’t just watch anymore. I have to be there with you guys whether it is a routine mission or not.”

  Davidson smiled. “Not sure if you noticed but we never seem to have a routine mission any more.”

  Bunny’s face clouded over as she backed away and spoke to the entire team as they assembled at the base of the jet stairs.

  “We followed the trail for the orders to launch the drones and it led back to a lieutenant, who turned out to be a clone.”

  “Effers,” Lopez muttered under his breath.

  “So the Righteous were behind the attack?” Prenner asked.

  “Not just behind the Karachi drone offensive,” Bunny said, wrapping her arm around Davidson’s waist. It shouldn’t have made such a difference, but it did. He felt that warmth again, spreading from his chest to his belly to south of that. He had to stay focused on her words.

  “Not just that but we picked up definitive proof that some factions of the Pakistani government were working and assisting the Righteous.”

  “But why? How?” Malvern asked.

  Davidson leaned into Bunny as she explained. “Money. Lots and lots of money, certainly not ideological. And that money paid for satellite coverage that was routed to the Righteous, mobilization of the army, stuff like that.”

  This was crazy. They’d known the Righteous had some pull, but this was way beyond what they had guessed.

  “Any upside?” Davidson asked.

  Bunny’s grin was back. “As a matter of fact the clone we captured wasn’t very hardy. He gave up several American safe houses so hopefully we can gather some intel on a headquarter of some sort.”

  “Are we authorized?” Malvern asked.

  Bunny nodded. “As soon as we have a location, we are ready to rock.”

  Malvern nodded. “Well until then, who wants to go for a drink? I’m buying.”

  Davidson moved Bunny back a step. “Sorry, colonel but we’ve got some catching up to do. Next time.”

  Malvern turned to the corporal. “Lopez?”

  “You know I’d normally be in, but tonight is the first night of Project Baby Girl if you know what I mean.”

  “Levont I supposed you are heading out with Lopez?” Malvern asked.

  “For Project Baby Girl, no offense bro, but I’m going for the drink.”

  Lopez hit his buddy on the shoulder. “No offense taken, besides this is one of the few missions I can run solo.”

  The rest joined Malvern as he walked off the tarmac.

  Davidson turned to Bunny. “Any plans?”

  “Definitely not Project Baby Girl,” Bunny chuckled.

  He put his arm around his girl and walked toward the terminal. “No, definitely not.”

  She grabbed his hand. “But maybe some day?” Bunny asked tentatively.

  Davidson kissed the top of Bunny’s head. “Definitely some day.”

  She smiled back at him and gave him a kiss. “Well, then I’m thinking we head to your place.”

  Davidson had to admit that looking down his sniper scope at an active, armed drone had not caused his stomach to bunch up the way that it did now. There wasn’t a whole heck of a lot to do at his apartment that didn’t involve the bed.

  “I’m starving,” Davidson said, lying through his teeth. “How about the George Town at the Thai food restaurant you like?”

  “Plying me with chicken satay to lessen the blow?” Bunny asked. “You realize that we are going to have to cross that bridge at some point?”

  Davidson was well aware of that bridge. He just didn’t have it in him to cross it tonight. He kissed Bunny on the head again. “Some day. Some day.”

  Bunny chuckled. “Before or after we get wiped out by the Righteous?”

  “Definitely before.”

  Bunny held his hand, swinging it back and forth. “I’m holding you to it.”

  Davidson felt panic as he never had on the battlefield. He was ready to go take on the Righteous in a heartbeat. But cross that bridge with Bunny?

  Yikes.

  He could only hope the Righteous kicked up some dirt before Bunny insisted on crossing that bridge.

  BONUS MATERIAL

  HACKED – the prequel short story to Encrypted

  CHAPTER 1

  FBI Special Agent Zachary Hunt slammed his shoulder into the suspect, sending the guy reeling into the wreath hanging on the church’s door. Kind of served the suspect right after committing his crime right in front of the sanctuary and on Christmas Day no less.

  “Don’t even try to get away,” Zach growled as he put his knee into the s
uspect’s back, patting him down.

  Zach’s partner, Ellard Macconi, trotted up, none too quickly, the gray at his temples slick with sweat. “Congratulations, Special Agent, you’ve caught yourself a jaywalker.”

  “It’s a crime on the books that we are sworn to enforce,” Zach replied, although not exactly wholeheartedly. In his defense, the guy had run. Who runs after an FBI officer yells for you to stop? “Have Warp run his name against outstanding arrest warrants.”

  “Look,” Ellard said. “I get it. You’re a little frustrated that a three-day-long stakeout hasn’t panned out, but –”

  “Are you going to take care of this?” Zach asked as he held out the suspect’s wallet. “Or should I?”

  The older agent frowned, but accepted the wallet. “I doubt even Warp is in today.”

  Zach cocked an eyebrow. Warp leaving his cyber den? Not very likely, even on Christmas Day. Ellard must have realized the same thing, as he got his phone out and called the field office.

  “Come on, man,” the suspect whined. “It’s Christmas, dude. Lighten up.”

  “Did you know that nearly three-fifths of all pedestrian deaths occur due to jaywalking?” Zach asked the guy. “Nearly five thousand deaths and one hundred thousand injuries annually. So, in essence, I just saved your life.”

  “Yeah, right,” the guy snorted. “Do you know how pissed my wife is going to be if I’m late for dinner at her parents’ house?”

  Zach ignored the question. He could only imagine the suspect’s wife would be as pissed as Zach’s fiancée must be right now, sitting, waiting for him at his mother’s apartment. So be it.

  “Well, well,” Ellard said, walking back over to them. “Zachary Hunt, you were right again. This gentleman has an arrest warrant out, ironically, for failing to stop at a crosswalk...”

  “I can explain that!” the suspect yelled. “You can’t lock me up. Not today of all days.”

  “Watch me,” Zach said, guiding the suspect to the car.

  “You realize we could let him off with a warning,” Ellard suggested.

  “Yes, yes, a warning,” the suspect agreed.

  Zach, again, ignored both of them. “And have him fail to appear, again? I don’t think so.”

  “Jeez,” the suspect sighed. “Aren’t you supposed to be hunting down, like, super-criminals or something? Why are you picking on me?”

  Ellard shrugged and patted the suspect on the back. “Sorry, kid, but you chose the absolutely wrong day to jaywalk in front of Agent Hunt.”

  Protecting the suspect’s head, Zach helped the man into the car, then walked around to the driver’s side door. Ellard, though, lingered near the back of the car.

  “What are you doing?” Zach asked. “We’ve got to drop him off, then get back out on the search.”

  “The Robin Hood Hacker isn’t going to strike today,” Ellard said, bluntly. “Even world–class hackers take Christmas off.”

  Jerking open the car door, Zach wasn’t so sure.

  * * *

  Ronnie, a.k.a. the Robin Hood Hacker, braced her feet against the metal wall and scooted another foot up the shaft. It was slow going, climbing up the building’s small crawl space meant mainly for pipes and electrical cabling. Not a thirty-something hacker who was a tad bit out of shape.

  “The FBI just posted another warning,” Quirk’s voice sounded in her ear. “They’re still describing you as a late-twenties male who probably lives in your mother’s basement.”

  They both chuckled at that. Typical profile. The FBI really went more on averages than actual insight. Because, twenties? She wished she’d had this skill level a decade ago. Male? Her detailed, intricate work should have given them a hint it wasn’t a guy. And living in her mother’s basement? Not even close.

  If anything, she was saving up to buy her own country with the tiny percentage of money she took out of each job. She was all about wealth redistribution for the poor, but come on. A girl had to keep a little something for herself and Quirk. There was altruism, and then there was just plain stupid.

  “And nothing about an accomplice,” her assistant said. “Do they really think any one person could do all of this by themselves?”

  Ronnie didn’t bother to mention that she had been doing pretty darned well on her own for eight years, but Quirk was right. The young man had brought her game up to a new level. They’d quadrupled their take once he’d come on board. Unicef could thank Quirk later.

  “Just make sure they don’t get wind of us,” Ronnie said as she grabbed hold of a pipe, repositioned her feet and moved up another foot. “I’ll be in the penthouse soon.”

  Quirk snorted. Even though they only had audio communications via her ear bug and sub-vocal cord implants, Ronnie could swear she could see Quirk’s meticulously-shaped eyebrow arch up. “Darling, you still have four floors to go.”

  Damn Quirk and his heat sensing capabilities.

  “How many times have I told you?” he continued. “Three days of weights, three days of cardio and some light Pilates on your rest day.”

  Yeah, Ronnie was lucky to swing up and out of bed every day. But Lord knew that she didn’t want to start the fitness argument again. “Yes, Mom.”

  Unfortunately, Quirk took that as a compliment. “That’s better.”

  Ronnie stopped, pressing her ear against the metal wall. Christmas music drifted from the elevator on the other side. “Jingle Bells,” she thought. Yes, it was going to be a very merry Christmas for several NGO relief organizations. Funded by the rather Scrooge-like oil company that was hiding nearly ten billion – yes, that was billion dollars in a slush fund. The money should have been earmarked for cleaning up spills, but no, the corporation used it for private jets and raucous parties.

  Not anymore. Not if Ronnie had her way with their servers.

  “Um, are you actually going to hack something, Ronnie?” Quirk asked in her ear. “Or are you practicing for an audition for Cirque du Soleil?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Ronnie said hefting her way up another foot. She would have made it farther, but a rather large set of pipes loomed above her. “Quirk, I thought you said there weren’t any junctions in this access tunnel?”

  “There aren’t.”

  “Really, because some nice copper fittings here are saying otherwise.” She took a picture with her phone and sent it to Quirk. Between her and her assistant, they could pretty much hack their way around anything. Except a physical obstacle such as a pipe junction. Unfortunately, she needed to get past the pipes to get to the penthouse where the main servers were kept. Guess the oil company figured no one would be looking for them in the CEO’s office. They were wrong.

  Months of planning had gone into this hack. Everything down to the last detail mapped out. And now it was all to be undone by pipes? It was so…dumb.

  “Well?” she asked, scooting up a few more inches to see if there was a way around the jumble of pipes. There wasn’t.

  “Tasking.”

  Quirk and his love of all things Star Trek. Normally, Ronnie found it cute. Stuck in a tight, humid crawl space listening to jolly Christmas jingles that mocked her life choices? Not so cute.

  “We are going to have to go to Plan B,” Quirk finally informed her.

  “Plan B sucks, though,” Ronnie answered, trying to keep her frustration in check. She had probably failed, but at this point she didn’t care.

  “What can I say, darlin’?” Quirk shot back. “Unless you can get emergency liposuction in that access space, you’ve got to cut a hole in the wall and get on top of that elevator before the guards go on their hourly rounds.”

  Just because Ronnie knew what she had to do didn’t mean she liked it.

  Pulling out what looked like an ordinary laser pointer, Ronnie hooked it up to a small battery-powered supply in her backpack. The pen was no longer a laser pointer but an actual laser.

  “Don’t forget your glasses,” Quirk reminded her.

  “Please,” she responded, t
hen dug through her pack to find the glasses.

  Ronnie would never admit it to Quirk, but she was a tad flustered. She had to get her head back into the hack. Crap happened out in the field. That’s actually why she liked going out into the field. Why she didn’t mind having to break into the actual main server. She liked the challenges of working outside of the cold room. Until, of course, the challenges surfaced. Then the challenges just annoyed her.

  Securing the glasses that would protect her eyes from the ultraviolet portion of the laser spectrum, Ronnie turned on the “pen” and began cutting through the metal. The gray wall heated up, turned red, and then metal dripped down, creating a seam.

  “They’re going to be at the elevator in ten,” Quirk prompted.

  “I’m on it,” Ronnie reassured him, even though she had a lot of metal to cut through and not all that much time.

  “And just remember how much junk you’ve got in your trunk, girlfriend. Make the hole large enough this time.”

  Ronnie would really have liked to argue that point, but when Quirk was right, he was right. Which meant even more wall to cut.

  Note to self… Do not eat a macho breakfast burrito on the morning of a hack.

  * * *

  Zach opened the holding cell door. The guy hung his head and walked in. Zach felt the tiniest twinge of empathy for the guy, but rules were rules.

  “Cases like this aren’t going to get you back to DC,” Ellard said softly beside him.

  Locking the cell door, Zach replied. “Who said I wanted to get back to DC?”

  “Perhaps it is your no-holds-barred pursuit of the Robin Hood Hacker?” Ellard’s face softened, though. “Your mom’s been in remission for how long, Zach?”

  “That’s got nothing to do with it,” Zach answered, brushing past his partner and grabbing the forms they would need to book the suspect.

  “You only left your skyrocketing career in DC to take care of her.” Ellard stepped in front of Zach. “Now that she’s better, maybe go someplace that values your…enthusiasm.”

  Zach ignored his partner. He’d made his decision and he was sticking by it.