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My nostrils flared as I waited for his next answer.

Damon:

Oh, you wound me, My Little Rabbit. But don’t worry, you will come to remember me. But first, I have a little gift for you. You have three weeks to save her.

Yours always,

Damon Bayswim Locke

A symbol with an intricate Celtic knot appeared below the message. It was the Tree of Life, but its branches were twisted and coiled in strange ways.

Save her?

I rubbed my neck, studying the screen. This Damon person was clearly the other hacker, messing with all of the Russian files. But was he helping me or taunting me? Was he Russian, or was he infiltrating their systems too?

His message raised far more questions than it answered.

Me:

Is that your name? I typed.

He didn’t respond. But Andrew and Eric did.

“Xeniya, you have come to see this,” Eric called from the other side of the room. Then Andrew said, “And this.”

Both their voices wavered, thick with emotion.

I went still. Whatever I was about to see would shake me to my core. Neeve clutched my sleeve, her expression widening with alarm. She knew too.

Slowly, we got up and crossed the room toward my men. My breath caught. On the screen was a beautiful, battered blonde woman who couldn’t have been older than twenty-five, wearing a sheer red dress. She was chained to a bed, and three Order men stood over her, about to do horrific things to her.

They weren't wearing masks. I'd find them eventually.

My hands went numb. Those chains. That dress. The way the light never dimmed enough to block it all out. My fingers curled against the edge of a desk, and my mind left my body for a moment. I was twenty-two again, chained to the bed, waiting for men to mount me. Waiting for them to dismantle me piece by piece until all that was left was rage.

I looked away from the screen.

I didn’t want to see it.

Yes, I had found many Order streams before, and I had rescued many women before, but I never, ever got used to it. I could never look at it without feeling callous.

Outside, rain pounded against the window frames, and thunder rumbled with the same fury churning inside me. It was almost as if the weather reflected my emotions. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that ability. No, all I could really do was become invisible and walk through things.

Which was useful enough.

I looked up from the screen, motioned for Andrew to get out of the way, and took over his computer. I clicked into the stream and found exactly what I expected—a fast-flux botnet. The IP address changed roughly every ten seconds, routing through hacked smart TVs, routers, and security cameras.

Three weeks

Damon's words hit me hard.

You have three weeks to save her.

Fuck. It was a ticking clock, and I wasn’t foolish enough to believe Damon was bluffing. The Order was going to kill this girl if we didn’t save her.

But, I wouldn’t let that happen. I was a brilliant hacker. Given enough time, I could unravel the botnet, identify the servers behind it, and trace them to a physical location. But Damon had given me three weeks, and that method could take months.

I didn’t have that time.