“I don’t think he’s tried after our little meeting with her people.”
“Well, that’s even more interesting.”
“What now?”
“Now? Well, I need your brother to finish what I hired him to do.”
“And you think having me here will make him finish what he’d started? You must not have been around a lot of teenagers. He hasn’t ever finished what he’s started. His attention span is nonexistent, whether I’m here or not.”
The man chuckled and nodded to someone in Hunter’s periphery. Out of the shadows, a large beefy man stepped out. Not realizing he needed to brace for impact, he grunted when he was sucker punched in his stomach. The man’s attacks were limited to three strikes thankfully. Hunter hadn’t been able to protect both his face and gut, each one getting a turn. The man’s last punch, or at least the last one Hunter would later recall, was to his jaw. The punch not only caused Hunter to black out, but quite possibly broke his jaw.
“That’s good, Oscar. Take the pictures and send them to the boy.”
“Yes, sir.”
Roberto smiled when he heard the swoosh, indicating the message had been sent.
His smile broadened when the chime indicated a reply.
“I’ll find her,” Oscar read the message.
“I never doubted he would. Take the brother upstairs and lock him up. Then you and Chuey bring the boy here.”
Nodding, the brute left the room.
* * *
Kyle’s fingershovered over the send button. When he’d seen the picture of Hunter lying on the ground, beaten and unconscious, he knew he had no other option. The men GigaByte had hired hadn’t hurt them. The man he’d accepted the challenge from would kill them both if he didn’t finish the job.
What other option did he have? None. It was give up GigaByte’s identity or let his brother die, because he knew that was their destiny.
Determined to give them a fighting chance, Kyle touched the send button and listened as it notified him that it was delivered. He wasn’t even sure if GigaByte would receive the message, but it was the same account she’d private messaged him from. He knew he had to let someone know who they were and what was happening to him and Hunter.
The banging on his hotel door, had him lifting up his backpack and walked into the hallway with the large hand applying pressure to the back of his neck.
He’d gotten them into this… He only hoped GigaByte would help get them out of it. If the irony wouldn’t bring him to tears, he would’ve smiled, perhaps even laughed. He’d reached out to the world’s greatest hacker for help. He only hoped she’d track their location and agree to find them before it was too late.
* * *
Byte hadalarms set for multiple notifications, both for the ALIAS team, but also ECP and Karma. She didn’t have time to read all the alerts. She had a predator to expose, a hacker to find, and a mother to rescue. The last one was still something she didn’t understand why she was going to get involved. Why should she? What had her mother ever done for her? Nothing, but Aaron was the voice in her head. He was the one who’d put doubts in her mind. What if Rosalyn Copeland wasn’t complicit in her abandonment? If she wasn’t, then why hadn’t she rescued her from being placed in foster care? Why had she ignored the fact that she had a daughter lost in the system?
She didn’t know the answers, and the only way to get them was to find her mother and demand answers.
“Stupid Aaron,” she spat out. “Why should I even care?”
When no one answered her demand, she fired back up her laptop and logged in to the account she had set up for Karma. Like the name implied, these men and women—who had hidden behind the veil of loving foster parents—were getting what they deserved. She never would let another pedophile or rapist go unpunished. What started out as retribution for Chloe had turned into her mission. She might not be an assassin, but she was a murderer, or at least complicit in the death of those who harmed without remorse or regret. In Byte’s mind, no one was ever remorseful enough to wash away their sins.
In many ways what ALIAS did was similar to Byte’s mission. Only Byte was homing in on those behind the quiet, unassuming walls of foster care. She wasn’t targeting large trafficking rings. She targeted one individual at a time, one child at a time. Her company sought out the predator, created a strong case, and watched as the person was arrested. Byte wanted everyone in the jailhouse to know the depravity of their cellmates. She had an entire network in all major prisons in the country, those who had no chance of parole, willing to torture an inmate. In exchange for their alliance, Byte financially took care of their families. However, should the accomplice fail to follow through, she had enough evidence—true or not—to provide the DA for arrests of those the convict had left behind. Byte’s conscience was clear, even if Aaron’s wasn’t. Knowing she’d taught the abuser a lesson—that after his cellmates were through with him—hell was his final destination, gave her a bit of satisfaction.
Perhaps she too was an ALIAS, only she used the system against itself. One keystroke at a time, Karma was served.
CHAPTERTEN
Kyle wanted to shrug off the man’s arm, but he knew it would’ve been useless. The client’s men were nothing like GigaByte’s, which was why he knew he and Hunter were in a lot of trouble. Now he was glad he’d sent a note to Byte. He just hoped she’d use her vast network to get them free. Not that he deserved it, but his brother did, which was what he’d told her in the message board.
Kyle was pushed into the middle of the warehouse and looked around for his brother. The well-dressed man answered his unasked question.
“Your brother is alive.”