Shifter Nation- East Coast Bears Collection

by Meg Ripley

  “Well, I guess their work here wasn’t finished after all.”

  I was completely caught off guard. “Wait, this isn’t their first time attacking you guys?”

  “A couple months ago, they sent my friend Ramon’s girlfriend, Min, here to infect us with a mutated rabies virus hidden in genetically-engineered ticks. Ramon got infected by a stray one, but Min was able to spot it. They’re both scientists, so they were able to work on a cure just in time to prevent Ramon from succumbing to the virus. The ticks were destroyed before they could infect anyone else and an antidote is still kept here, just in case someone else happens to go rabid. Two trials were run here prior to that incident, and that’s when the virus first reared its ugly head around these parts to begin with. The first time, an Alpha and his pack killed two of our staff members. Knox killed the Alpha himself, but the others got away. We later found out that the government eradicated them and considered it a failed experiment. The second time resulted in the death of Danielle Peterson. The rogue bear who attacked her died in the holding cell to your right.”

  “Wait, so it was a rogue bear with rabies who killed Danielle Peterson? Not one of you guys?”

  “Did you really think we did that?” Drew seemed a bit hurt.

  “No, I mean, the government tried to make me believe that, and I was so afraid.”

  I sank onto my heels and sat back on the floor. I knew the government had played me. They had tried to convince me that these bear shifters were monsters, but they weren’t.

  I decided that I wanted to help the clan. But how?

  I wasn’t Drew. I couldn’t put out fires and I didn’t exactly know how to prevent them, either. I couldn’t even give them a heads up about the NCPD-CID’s plans, other than what they already told me.

  But I could find out…

  “Hey, do you have a laptop at home?”

  “Yeah, I have one. What for?”

  “I’m going to hack into the NCPD-CID’s communication signal and listen for their plans.”

  “Wait, you’re a hacker?”

  “Oh yeah, we haven’t gotten into that…”

  “Yeah, so before I get anything, you’re going to tell me exactly who you are and how you got involved in this.” Drew did not move from his sitting position and had his eyes fixed on me.

  I was feeling antsy; I wanted the computer as quickly as possible. The longer we weren’t listening to their conversations, the less information we would have. But he was right. He had been honest with me, and to build back our trust, I had to come clean.

  I sighed.

  “Kathleen Boland is my real name—and I really do hate being called Kathy. I’m Irish, and the story I told you about my parents is true. I did move here when I was thirteen. I was in a foster home and it’s true that I moved out when I turned eighteen. I really do couch surf every three days throughout West Virginia. While I was in foster care, I had parents who were hardly home, and the older kids looked after the younger ones. I found their computer one night and found my way into a hacker chatroom, where the members taught me everything I know. I learned enough to be able to complete jobs successfully without being caught. I started by doing good. The hacker chat room I was a member of dealt with taking down sex trafficking auction sites, and I had been happy to help with the cause. I wasn’t paid for my work, but it was rewarding. The job never ended, though, because when one site went down, another five would pop up. I used that to gain experience, and when I turned eighteen, a fellow hacker referred me to a site where people would post jobs for individuals, organizations and websites they want hacked.

  If you are caught, you don’t get paid. If you don’t complete the hack, you don’t get paid. When I moved out, hacking was my only source of income and the money always got transferred to me through PayPal with made up names and emails. I wouldn’t be surprised if even the accounts were made up or prepaid to avoid tracking.” I snickered.

  “As for how I got involved in this particular clusterfuck, one day, I noticed a posting for a government hacking of the NCPD-CID. The client was looking for a hacker to infiltrate their private encrypted files and look for anything strange. The person just wanted the findings reported back, and he or she was willing to pay a thousand dollars, which is pretty low for encrypted private government files. I really needed the money, though, so I decided to go for it.

  I usually take extra precautions when hacking into government files, but for some reason, I was cocky that night—too cocky because I got caught and erased the info a couple of seconds too late. They were able to trace me and caught me. But instead of being brought to jail, I was brought to the NCPD-CID, where they gave me this job. I just had to infiltrate Acadia, scope you guys out, and report back to them. Then, they showed some surveillance videos of Danielle Peterson’s death and your clan shifting under a full moon.”

  “They were trying to make you think we killed Danielle Peterson.”

  “Yeah, I realize that now. Then, they gave me the message to deliver to you. So, no, I am not here on vacation, and the name of the Couchsurfer host I gave you is actually the woman who’s home I got arrested in.” I laughed.

  “Well, I bet you got a good review for that, huh?” Drew chuckled. “So, that’s it? That’s your story? The full truth?”

  I nodded and gave him a half smile, hoping my honesty would help win back his respect for me. He paused for a moment, but then returned the gesture.

  “You know, I was fully prepared for more lies. It would have made it so much easier to just let you rot in here.” I winced at his harshness, but I understood where he was coming from. “Now, I just want to bust you out of here.”

  “And risk getting yourself in trouble? I’ve caused you enough headache.” I shook my head.

  “If only there was a way to get you in Knox and Trent’s good graces…” Drew was thinking and so was I.

  “Wait! The hacking; we can have them here when it happens! You would have to set it all up, but as long as your computer has speakers, they’ll be able to hear the information, too, and verify that it’s genuine.” I immediately perked up. That was my way out.

  “That won’t be as easy as it sounds. Knox all but told me to just let you go. He really believes you betrayed us, and he is not one who forgives easily. It will take some convincing to get him and Trent here, but I’ll do my best.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve caused you guys so much trouble. I was just doing as I was told; they threatened to kill me if I didn’t cooperate.”

  “I know.” Drew reached through bars and stroked the side of my face. I melted into his hand, rubbing my cheek against it.

  “How are the fire preparations going?”

  “They’re coming along. All the supplies have been ordered and we are putting everything into place. But enough chit chat; I’m going to go grab my laptop and then I’m going to have Knox and Trent meet me just outside the holding lodge so I can talk them into coming.”

  I nodded again, and Drew finally rose from his sitting position. With one last look at me, he ran towards the door and disappeared.

  7

  Drew

  I was at my house in minutes and I raced up the stairs to grab my laptop, which I kept in my nightstand. I hardly ever used it, and because it was a newer model, I was hoping it could handle the hacking Kathleen was planning on.

  I briefly wondered if the porn I had watched on it not too long ago was still up on it, but decided not to think too much about it. Besides, there was no time to go in and delete the evidence.

  Whatever, everyone watches porn. I’m pretty sure if I looked through her internet history, it would show some freaky stuff, too. Unless she’s worried like I am and deletes her history after every time. I chuckled to myself. It would be hilarious to see her reaction if I had forgotten to erase my history after the last time I used it. Sometimes I got lazy, but I would just have to hope that I remembered and could save myself from some serious embarrassment.

  I rushed back to the
car, and as I drove back to the holding lodge, I reached out to both Knox and Trent with my mind.

  Guys. I need you both to meet me at the holding lodge.

  What? You need supervision while you go visit your traitor girlfriend? I could hear the snark in Trent’s tone when he answered.

  She’s not a traitor, man.

  Did she spout off more lies to you? She already admitted she’s working for the government. What more is there to it?

  Easy, Trent. What is this all about, Drew? Knox’s voice was calm.

  I’ll explain everything; just get here.

  I had arrived at the holding lodge and raced inside. Kathleen had been looking down when I entered, but her head shot up when she heard me approaching the cell.

  “Did you get it?”

  I nodded and held up the thin, black laptop and then slipped it to her through the bars.

  “Ooooh, a Lenovo. Not bad.” She raised her eyebrows at me as she opened the laptop.

  I shrugged. “The guys at Best Buy picked it out for me, so I can’t really take any credit for picking it out.”

  “Where are Knox and Trent?” she asked, her eyes scanning the room.

  “They’re on their way.” Or at least, I hoped they were.

  “Good, I’ll set everything up. I doubt you have any hacking software on your laptop, so I’ll have to download a couple of things. But, first things first.” She closed the laptop and seemed to give it a thorough look over. She checked all the ports and the keyboard when she opened it. “Does Trent have any tape over there?”

  I walked over to Trent’s desk and spotted some masking tape. I grabbed it and slid it through the bars of the cell to her, watching her rip off a few thin strips, which she used to cover the webcam.

  “If I am intercepted, which I doubt I will be, they’ll only be able to track me if I don’t power down the laptop fast enough, just like before. It only takes a couple of seconds for them to locate the source of the hack, but even if I’m not that fast, you’ll have nothing to worry about. What are they going to do to you? Take away your laptop?” Kathleen rolled her eyes and asked for the password to log in. “Let me guess, is it something to do with fire?”

  “Yeah, it’s inferno.” I rubbed the back of my head and looked away.

  “You are so predictable; I could’ve hacked that in seconds.” Kathleen chuckled and, moments later, asked for the password to Trent’s office. “I bet it’s something dumb like trent69.”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” I winced.

  “I bet a lot of people get free Wi-Fi around here,” she joked.

  Please no porn…please no porn…please no porn… I waited a couple of seconds, and if there had been porn on the screen when she loaded it, she hid it well. There was no reaction, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

  While she downloaded the software she needed, I stood against the cell in silence, wondering what this meant. So what if she hacked into the NCPD-CID’s communication line and got Trent and Knox to believe she was with us now. Would they let her go? Would the NCPD-CID try to get her out in time for the fire, or would they just leave her there? I wasn’t sure of the answers to any of these questions, but I hoped she’d be off the hook after all this. If Kathleen was really on our side now, she didn’t need to be locked up.

  “Alright, I’m all set up, just waiting for—”

  “You interrupted my meal, so this had better be good.” Trent walked into the office, with Knox right after him. Neither looked pleased to be there.

  “What’s going on?” Knox’s eyes were on the laptop in Kathleen’s hands.

  “Long story short, Kathleen’s a hacker who tried breaking into the government’s files, but they caught her and made her work for them; that’s why she had to deliver that message. But now, she’s going to work for us and is going to hack into the NCPD-CID’s communication line to see if we can get any information on their plans against us.”

  “How do we know we can trust her? She could be contacting them right now to get them to bust her out of here or something!” Trent was immediately on the defense, but I was prepared.

  “I trust her. And she already has the laptop, so you’ll just have to deal with it.” I looked to Knox to make sure I wasn’t overstepping his authority. If he ordered me to take the laptop from her or anything like that, I would do it. But I would still try to convince him. He just nodded, though, and I felt relieved. Trent stood silently but was obviously pissed off. I could tell he wasn’t ready to trust Kathleen, but I couldn’t really blame him.

  “So how exactly are you going to do this, Kathleen?” Knox addressed her directly.

  “I’m going to hack their message board. Every organization has a secret message board where they discuss plans for the group that only a select few can sign into. It’s usually just the higher-ups that have access, but I would bet the NCPD-CID’s board is shared with every single person involved in this bear shifter execution plan. I don’t see how else they would find time to discuss it during work hours. If we find nothing there, I can always hack their emails, but I feel like emails take too long for responses. This plan would need immediate contact at any moment and an instant message board would be the best line of communication.”

  “Can you do it?” Knox asked.

  Kathleen nodded. “Getting in is going to be a piece of cake. Staying undetected is the issue. But I can do it and I’m about to. I’m going to place a reader on as well so that it will dictate their messages out loud, so we can all hear them.”

  Trent and Knox gathered around me against the cell bars as we waited to hear anything.

  “What’s taking so long?” Trent asked impatiently, but Kathleen answered before I could say something.

  “They’ve beefed up security since my last hack, but I can still get in.” Kathleen was typing away furiously, her eyes glued to the laptop screen. “Yes! Alright, I’m in.”

  Everyone stood in silence as we listened.

  “Is everything set for Monday?” A robotic voice emitted from the speakers of the laptop.

  “Is that the highest the volume can go?” I asked. It was a little hard to hear, but I could still make out the words.

  “Yeah, sorry, the speakers aren’t all that great.” I laughed inwardly, That’s why I usually listen to porn with my headphones on.

  The computerized voice continued, “Yes, everything is set. He will be paid once the job is completed.”

  “Who’s he?” I asked.

  Kathleen looked at the computer screen and shrugged. “No sign of a screen name. It’s usually that way, though.”

  “When can he have it completed by?”

  “He said 5pm…”

  “That’s it,” Kathleen proclaimed. “That’s the time the attack will happen—well, sometime a little before that.”

  She had been ready to shut down the laptop, but Knox held a hand up to her. “Let’s wait to see if they reveal who is going to do it or how it will be done.”

  “The longer we stay logged in, the longer we are at risk of being discovered. You realize that, right? We already know the general timing of when they plan to initiate the fire, so we can be prepared.” Kathleen was treading lightly; I could tell she was nervous about confronting Knox.

  “Look, I’m very grateful that you’re putting yourself at risk, Kathleen, but the timing isn’t enough. We need more information, if we can get it,” Knox responded.

  Kathleen nodded; we silently waited for any further details to be shared over the next two minutes, but nothing came through.

  “Okay, I’m closing the connection. Either something’s wrong or they’re busy, but we should be hearing correspondence if the communication lines are open.” Kathleen scrambled with the laptop and then closed it quickly. “I shut down the hack and deleted everything related to it from your computer, Drew.”

  “So, we know they’re planning on attacking us sometime before 5pm because they hope to have us eliminated by then.” Knox seemed deep in though
t.

  “Well, at least that means we’ll be done with work for the day at our normal time,” Trent joked.

  Just then, someone’s phone began to ring. Trent and Knox checked their pockets, but the sound wasn’t coming from either of their devices. I knew it wasn’t mine just by the ringtone alone, but I checked anyway. It sounded like it was coming from Trent’s desk, so he padded over to it and opened one of the drawers. The sound grew louder.

  “It’s hers. It’s coming from the phone we took from her when we arrested her.”

  “What does the caller ID say?” Kathleen asked suspiciously.

  “Unknown.”

  “It’s Hanson. Eric Hanson. He’s the head of the NCPD-CID and the one who forced me to do this job. He’s probably calling to find out how you guys responded to the ultimatum.”

  “He probably already knows we’re not standing down and that’s why he’s setting up the plan for the fire,” I said, shaking my head.

  Trent gave Kathleen the phone, which had started to ring a second time.

  “Answer it,” he said.

  “I don’t know, guys; this is weird. We just hacked them and now he’s calling me?” Kathleen seemed very nervous.

  “If you don’t answer, who knows what they will think. They could come here searching for you tonight and set this place ablaze in the meantime,” Trent argued.

  Knox and I nodded; he was right. The best thing for her to do was answer the phone.

  “Hello?” Kathleen spoke shakily. “Yes, I did…They have chosen to stay and fight, but I am trying to convince them…Understood…”

  She gulped and pressed the screen to end the call.

  “What happened?” I asked, rushing over to the bars. “What did he say?”

  “He asked about your decision, and after I told him I was trying to convince you all otherwise, he said I had until Sunday morning to get you on board, or he will proceed with the plan.”

  “Whatever, it’s not like we’re changing our minds, anyway,” Trent snickered.

  “It’s going to be okay, Kathleen; you did everything you could possibly do for us. My plan will work, and our clan and the park will be fine,” I assured her, but it just didn’t feel like enough. I turned to Trent. “Can we get her out of here now?”