CHAPTER TWENTY
Silence fell over our group.
“Okay, do you want to explain that a little further, pal?” Paride demanded after the elongated pause.
“Sorry,” Callum gritted out, “I’m fighting off an attack on two fronts. My firewalls are being overwhelmed by nonstop spam attacks while another person is tunneling through my drive. Do you know how to handle that? No? I didn’t think so. Hush and let me do my job.”
“We have a team for a reason,” Paride clapped back. “CJ, are you getting targeted as well?”
“No, I’m attempting to locate the source of the ransomware coding overwhelming his computer’s protections. The only reason the hacker tunneling through hasn’t gained full access yet is because Callum’s security is so robust. I’m guessing you’re the one who taught Callie a thing or two about SAD fighter bots to target alien coding?”
“Yeah,” Callum grunted.
“SAD bots?” Corbin asked.
“Search and destroy,” I explained, hopping down from the rickety platform into Aleks’s outstretched arms. I had to tap him on the shoulder to place me on the ground, making a mental note to check in on him later—on all of them. It couldn’t have been easy hearing me talk so freely about my past when I normally buried those memories deep inside. “SADs self-automate themselves and sniff out malware. They—”
“Sorry, luv, but I’m going to cut you off there,” Payton interrupted. “There are only two likely possibilities behind this attack—the CIA or Tarasovich.”
Paride nodded, glancing around. “Emerson’s right. We need to be gone, like yesterday. Let’s roll out.”
They moved to leave, but I hesitated, glancing at the looming tank. “Wait, what about the warehouse?”
Paride turned. “You said CJ would have tipped off the CIA when he hacked into their files.”
My lips pursed. “Yes.”
“Then we’ll leave everything. It’ll be a harsh dose of reality for them to witness the full extent of horror this monster created. Maybe they’ll change their tune about refusing to get their hands dirty with Petrov. It’s our best bet of seeing this through with our careers intact.”
I wanted to agree, but I couldn’t. I tossed my thumb over my shoulder at the metal cube behind me. “Feel free to capture as many pictures as you want on our way out, but this tank proves the CIA has a leak. It could be an insider. We’re not leaving anything here to slip through the cracks again.”
Paride crowded closer. “Callie, the blood evidence here could solve a lot of open cases of missing people. Even in the dark, where the true scale is hard to judge, the kill count easily doubles what you compiled after years of research.”
I hesitated, but then I stood firm on my decision. “No. If their loved ones are marked as missing, it’s still better that they don’t know. People’s worst imaginations can’t sink low enough to reach the depravity and violence here. If someone ended up in Tarasovich’s hands, their family is better off not knowing. Let them live with a few days of wishful thinking in their future rather than going out of their mind trying to figure out what the victim’s final thoughts were. The best we can do for them is hit Tarasovich where it hurts. This is his shrine, his obsession. He doesn’t get to revisit this place and relish in the torment of his preys’ last moments. We can put the memory of their cherished ones to rest and give them a chance to escape this hell.”
Paride held my gaze, not blinking, and I returned the favor. “Well, shit. Okay, new plan. Brock and Aleks, guide Callie back to the vans. It sounds like CJ and Callum need help. Maybe they can buy us some time. Keep an eye out for anything incoming. Everyone else, fan out and document evidence.” He’d unzipped his pocket as he spoke and pulled out more of the clay stuff that we’d used to break and enter.
Corbin leaned closer. “Holy fire and peanut butter balls, how many pockets do you have?”
“Forget pockets,” Aleks began. “How many explosives you have?”
“Enough, my friend. Enough.” Paride divvied out the portions. “CJ, Callum, how long do you think we have?”
“Uh, none?” CJ guessed.
“Perfect. You have five minutes to catalog as much as you can. As you take pictures, leave behind that Semtex. We’ll blow the place to kingdom come, Callie. You just keep the heat off of us until we get clear, okay?”
“I will,” I promised, retracing our steps since we’d already vetted the route. Brock and Aleks easily caught up with their longer strides. With my mind focused on a task, there was no need to block out the horrors cluttering the cavernous space.
All I saw were the protocols and snippets of coding needed to help fight against the type of cyberattack we were under.
“You heard her, boys. Let’s move, people. I want us at the vans in five!”
I didn’t hesitate, stepping through the gaping hole we’d blown in the wall upon our entrance.
My nonstop pace left Aleks chiding me. “Slow down, little bear. We can’t protect you if you don’t let us do our jobs of getting between you and the danger.”
“The same, Aleks,” I replied, which was essentially the Russian version of ditto. “They need my help, so keep up.”
Aleks whistled. “So bossy, little bear. Is your fierce side coming out to play?”
“You better believe it is. We’re fighting for our lives here,” I said, vaulting over a fallen tree.
“Okay, enough Russian,” Jace ordered. “It’s making my head hurt.”
“You make heads hurt,” Aleks snarked.
“Callie?” CJ called. “What’s your twenty?”
The vans came into view, and I hurried over, pulling the sliding door open to hear CJ’s gasp both in person and through my earpiece.
“I’m here,” I answered needlessly, beelining for the third computer we’d pieced together for myself in as many weeks. “Alright, fill me in, please.”
“Please,” Jace teased. I knew it was him since I could physically verify that it wasn’t his twin speaking. “So polite, even with the world in flames. Too cute, Damsel.”
“You’re here?” Callum asked. We’d tasked each of them with a van. “Send someone over to replace me. It’ll be easier to fight things if we’re not having to constantly explain what’s on our monitors.”
After some shuffling around, Aleks guarded our surroundings, while Brock took over Callum’s position in the second van.
“Here.” Callum plopped his computer into my lap without preamble. “Trade me. Maybe you can see something I don’t, and I need another perspective other than, oh my god, oh my god, they are digging through my carefully constructed layers like they have the manual.”
“Okay?” I replied slowly. It felt oddly intimate to get my hands on someone else’s tech. The only other person’s computer I’d messed with, outside of donning the role of malicious hacker on behalf of my puppeteers, was CJ’s.
You knew Callum before he was your dad. Don’t make this weird, Callie,my mind coached.
That was easy enough for my brain to preach. It didn’t have to deal with the pesky swell of warmth suffusing my heart at the tremendous show of trust a virtual stranger had just displayed.
Focus, you big softie.
I cleared my throat and stared at the screen, a pit of dread settling deep in my chest that made breathing difficult. “Uh, when did the black screens pop up?”
Callum glanced up, immediately setting aside my computer at whatever he’d seen on my expression. “What screens?”
CJ had also leaned closer, glancing over my shoulder. “Are those what I think they are?”
“What’s happening?” Payton asked. “Do we need to abandon our task and route to the vans?”
“We suspect it’s—”
Motion on the monitor cut CJ’s response short.
Tarasovich’s face appeared in the top layer, and the condescending cheer that had predominated our previous interactions was long gone. His eyes were cold and dangerous, lancing anyone he looked at. “You messed up, Callie. Big time.”
“Ah,” CJ whispered, leaning away from the computer. “I’m going to go ahead and confirm that rapid retreat, Mr. E. It’s Tarasovich on the backend of this attack, and he doesn’t look too thrilled.”
That was a gross understatement if I’d ever heard one. The man looked, quite frankly, unhinged. “Tarasovich,” I said, hoping my whisper hadn’t been loud enough to betray the tremble of fear quaking through my bones.
Tarasovich’s gaze tracked back and forth, as if he was conducting a dozen different conversations in his mind before settling on how to respond. “This is why I’m never lenient. I allowed you and your team free in Serbia, causing no harm. I even disregarded the fact that you disobeyed me and saved the lives of the local police.”
“We didn’t disobey! You told us to figure out how to divert them.”
“I didn’t think you’d be able to. Setting the apartment on fire was a bad move. You robbed me of my entertainment, and now I’m thirsty” —he growled the last word— “and you’re the only ones around that I can enact my need for revenge on.”
The guys! I glanced in the direction of the warehouse. They were still inside.
My heart lodged in my throat as impotence burned my nerves at my inability to do anything. Computers were supposed to be my area of expertise, but so far, Tarasovich’s hacker had stayed three steps ahead of me this entire time. “We were just doing what you told us. We had no idea you didn’t think we could do it!”
“But you didn’t heed my warning to back off, and for that, you’ll pay.”
We’d already suspected it, but that statement confirmed it. He knew we were here.
I tossed aside the computer and jumped out. Tarasovich’s hacker had rendered our efforts useless anyway. The warehouse was too far from the vans, yet my mind envisioned a fiery explosion engulfing everything.
“Guys, you need to leave. Now!”
“Affirmative,” Paride replied. “I’m lighting the charges. Is everyone clear?”
“Gamma Team is clear,” Payton said, checking in for Jace and himself.
Since Bryce was with Paride, that left…
“OG Delta Team, coming in hot. We’re halfway to the vans. Over,” was Corbin’s creative response, to which I could only assume the following, “Oomph,”stemmed from Duane smacking him upside the head.
That was everyone.
They weren’t out of the woods yet, literally and figuratively, but if Paride was bringing up the rear and lighting the charges, then we were almost home free. We’d concern ourselves with digital problems once we hit the road.
A few seconds later, Corbin and Duane melted into sight from the trees, with Corbin sporting a wide grin. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”
Duane shook his head. “You have a very twisted definition of fun, don’t you?”
“Who, me?” Corbin asked, nudging my arm as he passed by and climbed into the van.
Aleks stopped beside me now that enough people were present to guard the far side of the van.
Duane joined us. “Payton and Jace are in the clear, but they hung around to cover Bryce’s and Paride’s backs.”
I nodded, not removing my attention from our surroundings for an instant.
“Alright, we’re set. We have about a minute before the place goes boom. Let’s go, Bryce,” Paride ordered.
I relaxed further, but Paride’s next words made a mockery of my premature relief.
“Bryce?” Paride repeated, his voice piercing.
My brain, as proficient with numbers as it was languages and coding, mentally started ticking down the clock.
Fifty-three seconds.
“You don’t have eyes on your partner?” Payton demanded, his tone diamond sharp.
“He was just behind me, watching my six while I wired the connections together!”
Fifty seconds.
“We’re on our way. How long ago did you see him?” Payton questioned, every bit the exacting leader, unimpressed by this unsavory development.
“Less than twenty seconds ago. Fuck! I can’t stop the explosion.”
If Payton’s voice had been chilly before, it’d iced over this time. “What do you mean you can’t stop the explosion?”
“I used one of my go-to methods. There’s a timed detonation, but if it’s tampered with, a dead man switch sets off, detonating prematurely.”
“You wired the thing,” Jace shouted, his breath fast as he moved through the woods. “Fix it.”
“Any jostling might make it malfunction. Just… Shit, how much time is left?” Paride asked since the bomb lacked a timer of its own.
“Thirty-eight seconds,” I choked out.
Where was Bryce?
Had Tarasovich somehow set off a trap remotely?
Paride cursed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’ll—shit, I’ll see if I can find him. Hold your positions, Gamma Team.”
“Negative,” Payton replied, his breath panting as much as Jace’s. “If we wait, we’ll lose the opportunity—”
“There’s thirty fucking seconds! You won’t get to do anything but get yourselves blown the fuck up with us. Now hold your goddamned, motherfucking positions! And so help me, if you disobey that, I’ll make sure—” Paride’s vehement warning cut off, and I stared ahead through tear-stained eyes, waiting for signs of the explosion.
Without realizing it, my feet had carried me through the woods, but visibility was still low. Surely I’d have heard a boom, even if the impact radius was too contained to light the night sky orange.
“I found him. His foot’s in a snare. He’s out cold. Probably knocked his head when it snagged him. There, he’s free.” Paride grunted. “How much time, Callie?”
“Twenty-two seconds.”
Paride’s controlled breaths traveled down the line. He must have broken into a sprint.
I’d frozen, unable to move, my mind gripped in the horror of another situation eerily similar to this one.
This was Natasia and Karl all over again.
Someone’s hand gripped my shoulder—either Duane or Aleks since they’d kept pace when I bolted. The forest dissolved as I pictured the visuals to match the soundscape bleeding through the earpiece—harsh grunts, objects falling, violent swears, and then finally a sigh of relief.
Ten seconds left.
“We’re out of the building. Callie, time check—what the fuck, Emerson! I told you to stay the hell away!”
The new development terrified me. Bryce, Paride, Jace, and Payton were all in the blast zone.
“Five—” I began, but a loud explosion blasted ahead of schedule. Paride’s estimation had been off. “No!” I wailed, the tortured sob that escaped me sounding inhuman.
I collapsed, but a thick chest and tree trunk arms lifted me up.
Duane’s shouts rang behind me. “—said answer me, dammit!” When no one replied, Duane growled. “Screw this.”
He took off into the woods.
“We’re fine,” Jace responded, his voice shaken and thready. “I promise. We’re fine. The others were too close—their comms are down, but we’re all okay. Tell Callie we’re okay.”
I whimpered, collapsing against what I now recognized as Aleks’s hold.
“I’m on my way to you,” Duane replied. “If you were close enough to damage your earpieces, you’ll need all the help you can get.”
Aleks stayed in place, sensing I needed to wait for them here instead of returning to the van. He didn’t offer empty platitudes, just kept humming a Russian lullaby and smoothing a hand over my hair.
“You guys are going to be the death of me,” I whispered, lifting my head tiredly as we heard the nearby brush move and jostle with the others’ approach.
Aleks bellowed, echoing off the trees. “I hope not, medvezhonok. We like you alive.”
“And Sleepy Beauty awakens,” Paride commented as their dusty, scraped forms appeared with Bryce moving atop Paride’s wide shoulder. “How was the sleep, princess? If you stayed in la-la land another minute, you’d have had a free trip to the vans.”
Bryce blinked. “W-What happened?”
“Warehouse went boom. Come on. We’ll talk in the van,” Paride replied as he placed Bryce on his feet. “I, for one, can’t wait to see this place in our rearview mirrors.”
He wasn’t alone in that.