Page 102 of Declan

To use Zane’s description, Owen already looked gonzo, was as big as a house, and didn’t look like he actually expected an answer.

Ashaki better have a damn good explanation for taking Natasha. Damn good. Or she wouldn’t be left breathing.

I wasn’t certain how I felt about that. What I did know was, I was questioning everything that had led me to this moment. Every action. Every decision. The trust I’d put into someone who clearly hadn’t trusted me. And the uncomfortable truth was, I didn’t want this life anymore.

Chapter 32

The six of us were packed into a company SUV, Owen and his team following behind us. We’d barely pulled out of the underground garage when Thad shifted in his seat and looked back at Autumn.

“Explain what you think we’re missing.”

“Ash isn’t sloppy. She was FBI then CIA, which means she knows how to avoid traffic cameras. That’s not a rookie mistake, that’s plain careless. Ash doesn’t do careless, she plans down to the smallest of details. She taught me to be methodical. Something has her tweaked. I think this is personal.”

“Personal?”

“If Ash didn’t use Beth, then she’d use Shepherd to get her intel.” Autumn ignored Thad’s direct question and continued. “I should’ve thought about contacting him before. Beth has strong morals and values, she doesn’t cross into the gray area we sometimes have to go. Shep loves gray, he’d be all over helping Ash and he wouldn’t question what she was doing with the intel he provided. So, if Ash needed information on Natasha that she knew Beth would have an issue with, she’d go to Shep. And if Beth would have an issue with it, that would mean Ash tracking down a woman who was a victim, watching her, then taking her, well, that makes it personal.”

“That’s a stretch,” Brooks noted. “We don’t know Natasha’s identity. Owen’s in deep, he could be missing something. She might not be as innocent as she wants to believe.”

“What makes a person careless? What makes them impulsive? What makes them forget all their training and act on emotion?” Autumn asked.

“When your mission turns personal,” I answered. “Autumn’s right. Maloof’s been one step ahead of us since Bahrain. She’s smart, trained well, and wouldn’t fuck up by getting caught on a traffic camera.”

“Who the fuck is this woman Natasha?” Max asked. “Why does she matter to Maloof? Can you get in touch with this Shepherd?”

“I can try, but Shep is about the drama. He makes you go through a series of emails and tests before he calls you back. It could take days. He likes to call himself a Red Hat Hacker. But really he’s in it for the money and charges five times what Beth charges. Most of the time his drama’s not worth the hassle. But Ash uses him a lot.”

“I don’t know what a Red Hat Hacker is and I don’t care enough for you to explain. Send him an email and see if he’ll call,” Max told her.

“Thad, call Tex.”

“I will if you stop weaving in and out of traffic and I can stop white-knuckling the oh-shit bar long enough to get my phone,” Thad complained from next to me.

I glanced down at the speedometer. “I’m barely pushing ninety. Quit bitchin’ and call Tex.”

Thad did not do as I asked. Instead, he craned his neck to look at Autumn. “Advice, don’t ever let Declan drive. This is tame. This is slow. When he’s in a hurry, even worse.”

Then Thad straightened in his seat and fucking finally did as I asked and called Tex.

“Zane checked in,” Tex said by way of greeting. “Said you’re on the road.”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Listen, Autumn mentioned a guy named Shepherd, you know him?”

“Yeah, he’s bad news, thinks he some sort of vigilante inserting viruses on other hackers’ machines, but not before he steals their data and sells it. A Black Hat pretending to be a Red Hat. Total asshole.”

There was that term again, Red Hat, Black Hat, Ass Hat, I didn’t give the first fuck what he wanted to call himself.

“Maloof uses him.”

“Shit.”

“You think you can get into his machine and find what he gave Maloof?” Autumn asked before I could.

“I can get into his system. It’ll take a while, but I won’t find anything. Data isn’t kept on a machine hooked to the network. Which means I gotta spend hours backtracking his searches. It won’t be as simple as pulling a file. I said he was an asshole, not stupid. Tell me what you’re thinking, Autumn.”

Autumn gave Tex a quick rundown of her thoughts and when she was done, Tex agreed.

“Natasha’s definitely the key. Her prints weren’t in the system. At the time I didn’t give it much thought. Now that Maloof’s involved, I’m thinking she had Shepherd wipe her identity, which also means when we do get her DNA back that’s gonna be a wash, too.”