Chapter 33
Seven months later
Logan O’Malley was chasing an invisible man.
“C’mon, you motherfucker. Come out where I can see you.” He leaned forward, his face only inches from his screen, fingers punching out commands in a staccato rhythm that was second nature to his brain.
Hundreds of lines of code scrolled down the screen, his eyes scanning the familiar words and variable strings like an interpreter scanning a document in a foreign language. His stomach growled but he ignored it, his foot tapping incessantly on the floor.
He’d been sitting here for hours, following the labyrinth back to it’s beginning, stalking the one person who didn’t want to be found.
Austin rolled his chair over next to Logan’s, peering over his shoulder. “I got me one of them Minecraft accounts. You play Minecraft?”
Logan shushed him. “I’ve almost got this son of a bitch.” His mind was unravelling the invisible man’s method of attack, following the clues that led back to the all-important lines of code capable of undermining an entire company.
The directory. It must be hidden in the file structure itself.
He delved deeper.
“My niece wants me to build shit with her,” said Austin. “Bunkers and battlefields and tanks and crap. When did girls stop playing with Barbie dolls?”
Noah piped up from across the room, where he sat cleaning his gun. “They still play with Barbie dolls, but they kick some ass before they put on their little plastic shoes and let Ken take them out for dinner.”
Austin cocked his head. “I’ll bet you Ken never got laid. He looks like the kind of dude chicks string along for years before giving it away to some musician in a closet backstage.”
“Or a Navy SEAL,” said Noah.
The men laughed.
“Shut up,” said Logan, narrowing his eyes. It was here somewhere. Everything pointed to this directory. He typed a series of commands, his whole screen filling up with code.
“The limiting strand is pointing to a wildcard value,” he said.
Yes!
There it was. The needle in the haystack, the one line of code that didn’t belong. Logan let out a loud whoop. “Gotcha, you stupid son of a bitch.”
He opened a new screen and began typing, his fingers flying across the keys. One small program to set his trap. Another line of code to close it on the invisible man, shut it down, lock him out forever.
Or at least until he came back to life as someone else, found another way in. But that was a problem for another day. “Take that, you motherfucker.” He hit enter and flew backwards on his wheeled chair, watching the next sequence unfold in real time.
USER DELETED appeared on row after row, the screen scrolling until it was filled with them. He raised both arms and hollered in victory. Austin and Noah clapped lamely behind him.
Jax entered the room and leaned on Logan’s desk, crossing his arms over his chest. “All done playing Dungeons and Dragons?”
Logan pointed to the screen. “That was not a game. That was me putting the nails in the coffin of the Yakimoto assignment. Not only did I find their hacker, I traced him back to his server and dismantled his entire line of attack.”
Logan rolled over to a sleek printer and pulled off a sheet of paper. “Gary Fitzsimmons. A computer programmer for AuCen Corp, Yakimoto’s biggest competitor.”
Jax took the paper and shook his head. “Nice work, Doc. We didn’t expect to nail this guy so quickly.”
“I think you ought to buy me lunch.”
“I’ll do one better. I’ve got a bottle of whiskey in the conference room.”
“Can we come too, boss?” asked Austin. “Me and Noah here were instrumental in the computer hacking thing-a-ma-bobber.”
“Yeah,” said Noah. “I held his mouse pad.”
Jax shook his head. “Come on, you boneheads. Relax for a few. We’re going wheels up the day after tomorrow. Got a cult in the mountains of Idaho we’ve got to infiltrate.”
“Idaho’s got mountains?” asked Noah, making Austin snort.
Logan walked around the bend, the glass wall of the conference room coming into view, all the members of HERO Force standing around a cake, the room decorated with pink and blue balloons.
“Ashley thought we should throw you a baby shower,” said Jax. “We figured since it’s the only thing she’s done for us is reproduce, she should have the honors.”
A big, goofy grin took over Logan’s face. “You shouldn’t have, guys.”
A bleached blonde with long curly hair opened her arms wide. “Congratulations! I’m Ashley. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks.” He furrowed his brow. “Do you work here?”
She bobbed her head. “I went out on maternity leave a few days after Jax hired me. Bedrest. You guys were all in Kabul or something.”
“Okay. Well, thanks for the party.”
“You’re just going to love being a parent,” she said.
Logan sat down in front of a cake decorated with tiny combat boots, one pink and one blue. The background was pink and blue camouflage. “This is awesome.”
Charlotte threw her arms around Cowboy’s neck and settled herself on his lap. “Two more weeks, brother boy, and I get to be an aunt.”
“And I’m going to be a father.”
“How’s Gemma doing?”
“Good. Great.”
Crappy.
“She’s just glowing.”
Like a scary Jack-o-lantern who hates me.
“You’re going to make a great dad.” Charlotte leaned forward and hugged him, squishing Logan’s head right next to Cowboy’s.
“Oh, you made it!” Charlotte exclaimed.
Logan turned around to see Gemma standing in the doorway. He crossed to her and hugged her, her belly pressing into his.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” said Ashley.
Gemma leaned into Logan’s chest, whispering in his ear, “Who is that?”
“Apparently she works here. Her name is Ashley.”
“So nice to meet you,” said Ashley, throwing her arms around Gemma.
“Oh, please. Please, get off me.”
Jax walked over and hugged Gemma. “You’re looking good, kid.”
Gemma burst out crying.
Logan’s eyes went wide. Jax patted him on the shoulder. “Any day now, Doc.”
“I’m sorry,” Gemma wailed. “I didn’t want to ruin your party. But I wasn’t feeling well and the doctor had me come in, and my blood pressure’s a little high and they’re going to induce me…”
“When?” asked Charlotte.
“Now. Right now.” She gestured down the hall with her thumb. “They made me come in a wheelchair.”
“Oh my God!” Logan panicked. “Stay here. I’ll get the wheelchair and we’ll go.”
“It’s just next door, Logan. They let me borrow an orderly.”
“No, I’m going to push you. I’m going to push. That’s the least I can do. Are we ready? Should we go? Are we ready?”
Gemma started to cry again.
He grabbed her shoulders. “What’s the matter, honey?”
She sniveled. “I really wanted some cake.”