Undercover Hacker (White Hat Security Book 4)
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Undercover Hacker
White Hat Security, Book 4
Linzi Baxter
Contents
Acknowledgments
PROLOGUE - SOPHIE
1. Sophie
2. Zane
3. Zane
4. Sophie
5. Zane
6. Sophie
7. Sophie
8. Zane
9. Sophie
10. Zane
11. Sophie
12. Sophie
13. Sophie
14. Zane
15. Sophie
16. Sophie
17. Zane
18. Zane
19. Sophie
20. Sophie
Epilogue - Antonio
Hacker Exposed Preview
Royal Hacker Blurb
Misunderstood Hacker
LINZI BAXTER’S VIP CLUB
Undercover Hacker
White Hat Security Series, Book 4
Copyright © 2018 by Linzi Baxter
Kindle Edition
Editor: Jennifer Wadsworth, Red Adept Editing
Cover Artist: Cassy Roop, Pink Ink Designs
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without permission of the author.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
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. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Blurb
A woman set on revenge
Sophie has spent the last twenty years looking for her sister and the people who killed her parents. She works undercover for a man she loathes because he’s promised her information and assistance in her search. Though she’s determined not to be distracted from her quest for family and revenge, she nonetheless finds herself drawn to Agent White, a CIA agent who may be looking for the same people. No matter how tempting Agent White’s handcuffs are, she will not let a man come between her and her goal.
A spy who only works alone
Agent White’s boss, the director of the CIA, sends him to arrest Sophie Stewart without giving him any further details. He doesn’t expect to come face to face with the most beautiful and fiery woman he has ever seen. A loner by preference, he’s never wanted more than a one-night stand with any woman. However, something about Sophie calls to his inner soul. With one look at Sophie, Agent White knows he wants something permanent with her.
The more Agent White learns about Sophie, the more he is determined to keep her safe and never let her go. But for him to do that, Sophie has to stop hiding her secrets – even if those secrets change the course of their lives. Will Agent White be able to save Sophie before time runs out?
Dedication
To all the amazing readers!
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who saw me through this book: My editor, Jennifer, who did an amazing job and worked hard to help me craft a better story. Cassy for doing an astounding job with the cover art. Michelle for taking the time to beta read for me. My husband and family for always being there to support me. This book couldn’t have happened without all of you!
Thank you to all you amazing readers who are going on this journey alongside me. I hope Undercover Hacker is all that you hoped for and more!
AUTHOR’S NOTE
White Hat Security Series
Hacker Exposed
Royal Hacker
Misunderstood Hacker
Undercover Hacker
Hacker Revelation 7/31/2018
The Steele Brothers Series
Montana Fortune 6/26/2018
Visit linzibaxter.com for more information and release dates.
Join Linzi Baxter Newsletter at Newsletter
PROLOGUE - SOPHIE
Sophie – Twenty-five years ago
“Soph, I’m scared.”
A loud gunshot reverberated through the house. At the sound of my mother’s scream, Kat launched herself into bed next to me.
Kat had tears streaming down her face at the sound of our mother’s blood-curdling scream. She cried harder, not understanding that we needed to be quiet. Someone was in the house, and I needed to protect Kat.
“Maaamaaa!”
I put my finger to my lips, motioning that we needed to be silent. Her little headed bobbed, showing me she understood. I tiptoed over to the door and listened for voices or footsteps. I reached for the doorknob and flipped the lock, hoping to keep out whoever had come into our house in the middle of the night.
It had to be robbers. I could hear shouting downstairs, and it wasn’t voices I recognized. When a gun fired and I heard the scream from my mom, I knew these were evil people.
After getting the door locked, I tiptoed back to the bed and motioned for Kat to follow me. She was still sniffling from crying. I reached for her hand and pulled her over to the closet. Shoes and stuffed animals lined the floor. Kat sat on the floor next to me, and we gradually closed the two slatted closet doors. We worked to arrange the stuffed animals on top of us, trying to hide in plain sight.
“Soph, I want Mommy.”
“I know, Kat, but we need to stay here until we hear Mom’s voice. There are bad people out there.”
“Why are bad people in our house?” She had her thumb stuck in her mouth, which caused the words to come out muffled.
When I heard loud footsteps coming down the hall, I reached over and pulled Kat to my side. It was my job to protect her. The doorknob jiggled a couple of times, and muffled sounds came from the other side of the door. When the grumbling stopped, I held my breath, hoping the footsteps would continue down the hall. Instead, I heard a loud thud followed by the sound of the wood door cracking.
It was so dark in the closet that I couldn’t see Kat’s face. I hoped she could tell I had my finger up to my lips, warning her not to make a sound, lest she let the men know where we were.
“Where’re the damn kids? He’ll kill us both if we don't find them. That guy is a crazy mother fucker. I can’t believe he took Tommy out for asking a simple question.” The voice outside the door sounded wheezy.
“Yeah. I didn’t wanna take this job, but once it’s done, our slate’s clean. The sooner we find these little brats, the sooner we can get gone.”
From between the slats in the closet door, I could see two figures moving around in our room. The larger of the two men reached down and flipped my twin bed over. The loud crashing of the furniture made Kat and I jump, causing the closet floor to creak. I held my breath and pulled Kat closer, hoping we hadn’t given away our location. It was hard to make out their faces or anything about them, but based on their conversation, they were the evil men.
We heard the thud of the men's footsteps as they approached the closet. Kat shook in my arms. She was merely five and had no understanding what these thugs were capable of. Being six years older than Kat, I had better understanding.
The door to the closet swung open with so much force that it di
slodged from its tracks. Two men holding guns stood in front of us. Kat screamed in fear. The guy closest to her had bloodshed in his eyes. A large hand reached into the closet and grabbed Kat. He was able to pull her with so much force that I couldn’t hang on. A smaller man reached down to grab me. I kicked my legs out, hoping to send the man off-balance. It only caused him to get angry. I didn’t see his hand coming until it was too late. He hit me across the side of the face with enough force to send my head flying back to crash into the wall.
Before I had a chance to reevaluate the situation, the bigger man grabbed me. When he pressed me against his body, the smell of him made me gag. It was a mixture of body odor and alcohol.
“Let’s take them downstairs,” the smaller, nasally-voiced fellow hollered at the big man. Both men had long, greasy hair and wore motorcycle vests with matching symbols—a skull with angel wings and the words “The Reapers” underneath the symbol.
Needing to get free, I shifted in the man’s grasp and bit his tattooed arm as hard as I could. He had the same symbol from his vest tattooed on his arm. I vowed I would find this man one day and end him and his gang. He grunted at the pain of the bite. Then I was flying through the air, and my head knocked against the door jamb.
“Dumb bitch! Why’dya you do that? I’ll teach you what happens when you bite someone.”
Each word he screamed at me was followed by a kick. I could feel my ribs crack.
“Dude, stop! That guy downstairs will end you if you kill her. That fucker is scary as shit, and he wants these kids for some damn reason.”
The overgrown thug gave me one last kick that knocked the breath out of me. The world had gone blurry from the tears running down my face. He grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the living room, not caring if I hit things along the way. The closer we got to the living room, the louder my mom's sobs became. She was pleading with someone to leave. Mom said she would do everything they asked if they would just let her children go.
“What took you so long? I’ve had to keep this whiney bitch alive to make sure you found the kids.”
Two more men stood in the living room. My father was on the couch, body leaning forward. I could see blood seeping from his chest. One of the men stood in the shadows next to my father, his gun pointed at my mom. The second man was keeping watch out the window. The living room lights were off. The sole light in the room came from the street lamps shining in through the window, so I couldn’t see their faces.
“Please. I will sign everything over to you. You don’t have to do this,” my mom pleaded. She was on the couch next to Dad with her arms tied together in front of her. Tears streamed down her checks, and a bruise bloomed on her face where someone must have hit her.
The ogre who had dragged me into the living room dropped me on the floor near my mom. He must have assumed I wouldn’t try anything else after my beating. He was wrong. No matter what, I would always try to save my family.
The man in the shadows glanced in my direction then pointed at me. “Is there a reason she looks like you beat the crap out of her?” He sounded angry. It was hard to tell, though, because he was talking through something that made it hard to hear.
“She gave me problems.”
The man pointed his gun at the thug who had dragged me from my room and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun echoed through the living room. Then he pointed to the other thug.
“Hurry up and kill the bitch. Grab the children, and let’s move.”
The man in the shadows had done me a favor. That was one less person I would need to find and kill. From his calm demeanor and the way the men looked nervous around him, I knew he was the leader and one of the men I would come after. If I made it out of this situation alive, my life’s mission would be to identify this man and kill him.
The nasally man, who had dragged Kat from the bedroom and shoved her onto the couch, pointed his gun at my mom. His hand was shaking, as though he was scared for his life. His friend lay on the floor, not moving.
My mom was the sweetest woman in the world and would never hurt a fly. How could these men want her dead? Kat was on the couch next to my mom. I was on the floor, only a few feet away. They thought I had passed out.
“Nooo!”
I launched myself in front of the gun at the same time it went off. The bullet hit me in the stomach. Pain radiated through me so strongly that the world went black. The last thing I remember is two more guns shots.
I could hear the muttering of people around me and a faint beeping in the background. My limbs felt heavy. I reflected on the last thing I could recall—the memory of the men who had invaded my house. The last thing I remembered was jumping in front of the bullet. I wondered if my mom and Kat were okay. If I had made it, maybe they had, too, and were in the room with me. I listened hard to the voices.
“Did they find the men responsible for hurting this child? I want to take them to a dark alley and teach them a lesson.”
“No. I hate when we see cases like this come in. They’re always the hardest.”
Then silence again. I couldn’t open my eyes, and I was so tired that I fell back to sleep, hoping the next time I came awake, my mom’s voice would be the one I heard.
“Oh, the poor girl. Did you find who did this?”
“No. I don’t think the police will find the people responsible. This girl is special. I want to do this outside of child protective services. I will send you money every month until she graduates, and when I want to see her, I will.” The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t open my eyes to see who it was. They were still so heavy.
“Oh, we have always wanted children, but don’t have enough money for an adoption. Of course we’ll take her, Juan. You can see her whenever you want for giving us this gift. Did the authorities find her sister?”
I don’t want to live with this woman. I want my mom. Why is my mom not in the room? Kat’s missing? Why won’t my lips move so I can ask questions?
“I will pay for the therapy she’ll need to deal with losing her parents and her sister. The doctor told me she had to have a salpingectomy. While the doctor was able to save one of her Fallopian tubes, Sophie has a very slim chance of ever having children.”
I had lost my mom and my dad. Having kids was the furthest thing from my mind. From this point forward, my sole objective in life would be to find my sister and eliminate the men who had destroyed my family. I remembered what the tattoo looked like, so I would start with him. No matter what happened in the future, my only goal would be to get Kat back. Kat was the only family I had left.
1
Sophie
The stress of living a double life was wearing on me. Withholding information from Bridget was making my stomach turn. I knew that if I told my longtime friend and boss what had happened in the past and what I was doing now, she would help. Not wanting to drag my friends into my dark past, I made a deal with the devil to get me closer to my goal. But, the devil kept requesting more of me without giving me the information I needed to take down the people who killed my family.
The devil would figure out soon that I had hacked their system to get the information about Jessica’s kidnappers. When the trail led back to my computer, they would come for me this time. They had been waiting for an excuse to bring me in and make me work for them full time. Jessica was worth what I would go through.
Jessica had been kidnapped by a terrorist organization. She had become part of my family. Her twin sister used to work for us at White Hat Security before she met Sam, her fiancé. Now Patty and Sam were living in Shialia, working to take over the crown.
Jessica’s fiancé, Brock, was a skilled hacker, but he didn’t have access to the same files I did. Jessica and Patty’s dad was the king of Shialia, and he had slept around. Axmed had been the king’s illegitimate son and the head of the terrorist organization that went after Jessica ten years ago. They had gone after her again recently. After she had been kidnapped, I hacked into a database to discover t
he details needed to get her back. Brock and his group rescued Jessica before she was killed.
The shouting from the reception area of White Hat Security brought me back to the present. Bridget’s voice went from yelling to screaming. A loud bang had me moving faster. I figured I had better go calm her down before I had to bail her out jail.
“Miss, we are here for Sophie Stewart. This has nothing to do with you.”
The sound of my full name had me slowing my steps. I peered around the corner to see a few men in black suits. I knew they were here for me. Needing to hide a couple of things before they took me in, I hightailed it back to my office. Bridget would hold them off. She was either trying to protect me or to give me time to hide what I needed to before these men got to me. The pink external drive plugged into the front of my computer contained the work I did for the devil. I removed the drive and hid it in the ceiling tiles. I grabbed my purse and headed back to the reception area.
“I don’t care who you think you are. I want to see a warrant. You can’t just come in here and demand to talk to my employees without some form of documentation. We do nothing illegal here.” Bridget was screaming. The whole office stood around her, trying to figure out what was going on.