88. Vox Moretti
Alexa Play: No More by Dirtwire, Moontricks
It was nightfall by the time I eased my car into the empty lot of the reverend’s megachurch.
I’d already spent some time here in preparation for this, so I wasn’t worried about the cameras catching my plates… They were fake anyway.
But, even if they weren’t, it’s not like this asshole’s pathetic security system was going to do anything to save him.
It hadn’t been particularly difficult to hack.
All I’d needed to do was show up during operating hours with a jumpsuit and toolbox, and boom. Immediate unfettered access to whatever room I wanted.
No one looked twice at someone they thought was a maintenance worker.
It took me all of fifteen minutes to find the IT closet. The door hadn’t even been locked.
Took me another six minutes to pop in an Ethernet switch and an NVR, then another five to walk my ass back out the front doors.
That was all it took to acquire control of the church’s entire database and security network.
It never ceased to amaze me how fucking stupid most criminals were, but most of the time, they assumed the biggest thing they needed to worry about was the police.
It would have taken the police way longer to infiltrate the church, as they needed to follow due process.
They needed to get warrants and shit, and based on the emails I’d read between the reverend and the attorney general, I wasn’t under the impression the system was going to be rushing to take this asshole down anytime soon.
With video evidence like the shit I’d sent Cass, they should have already seized all this guy’s digital assets… but they hadn’t, which told me Cass was right, and this was way bigger than just some religious nut case trying to run a conversion camp out of his church.
But… it didn’t matter.
I wasn’t the police.
I didn’t need a fucking warrant.
All I needed was twenty-six minutes.
Leaning over the center console, I flipped through the security feeds I’d redirected to my phone, showing Cass the lay of the building.
She accepted the phone from me and took her time studying the feeds, committing the route we needed to take to memory.
There were a couple of night guards starting their shift, but they weren’t professionals. Honestly, this would be pretty easy.
What wasn’t easy was watching what some of these men were doing to members of the reverend’s ‘flock’ behind closed doors.
Most of the man’s ‘lessons’ began after his last evening mass, and he wasn’t the only one who participated in the ‘teachings.’
Currently, he was settled behind his desk, working away on his laptop, but we would need to get past several of his men to get to his office.
Cassandra’s expression was difficult to read, but… I could feel the rage rolling off of her as she flicked through the feeds.
After a few long, tense moments, she handed the phone back to me.
“I’ve seen enough.” Her voice came out in a flat, low hiss. She turned dark, dead eyes on me, and for a second, she reminded me of her brother.
Though… at that moment, I thought she might be even more dangerous than Cal.
Cal was a weapon, don’t get me wrong. But he was also impulsive, chaotic, and easily distracted.
Cassandra, on the other hand…
There was nothing chaotic about the way she was looking at me now. She was cold, calm, and completely fucking dead inside.
I smirked.
This was going to be a lot of fun.