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“Geez, how many rats are in this place? They’re so gross.”
Joey rolled her eyes. “It’s medical research, Jackson. Put on your big girl panties.”
A flag on the security map caught her attention. “He’s on the fourth floor. Move!”
“On our way,” came the reply from Ryder.
The locks re-engaged on the basement stairwells. Her guys were trapped. Joey tried to unlock them but pounded the table in frustration.
“Joey, the doors won’t open.” The team in the basement had just realized the same thing she had.
“I know! Give me a second.” She tried again to no avail. The hacker had trapped them, and she couldn’t override the control for a second time. “I can’t get them out!” There was desperation in her voice as she turned to Flint for support.
He only shook his head. “What do we know?”
She zeroed in on the server room. That’s where he was going.
If she couldn’t unlock the basement doors, she could at least prevent him from adjusting anything else. She activated a total system freeze. Even StormHunter wouldn’t be able to undo that. Which meant they could get him on the fourth floor.
Her phone buzzed, and she saw the short message from Vertigo.
Ben Parker worked at Raven Tech for six months three years ago.
Ben was StormHunter? That was crazy. It had been ten years since she’d worked with him in the Alliance. Wasn’t he too young? Maybe she was seeing ghosts where there weren’t any. Just because StormHunter had the skills didn’t mean that he was the one targeting Cole’s company.
Ben had the means and the opportunity. If he knew the RT800x system the way she did, he was the one who’d been using that skill to duck around the server and the building without being caught. And he was the one on the fourth floor server room right now.
She started toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“What? Are you crazy? What about Ryder and the team?”
“I can get them out later when I have more time. But right now, we’ve got to go stop him from dumping the entire server.” She pointed to the security guards. “Move!”
Flint sighed. “You’re right. Let’s go.” He looked at Cole. “You have some weapons around here?”
Cole nodded and pointed to another door. “In there. Joey, are you sure you should—”
“I’m fully trained, Cole. Let’s get this guy.”
After they all had weapons, Flint took charge. “Cole, Joey, and Robbie here take the east stairs. I’ll go with Zach and the West. Stay on comms.”
“Worst operation ever,” came Jackson’s snarky commentary from the basement.
“Be careful,” was his brother Marshall’s reply.
Joey silenced Jackson’s line with a few keystrokes before she ducked back out of the room. “Thanks, Marshall. Watch your back down there.”
“Ryder’s got an idea. We’ll see you upstairs if it works.”
Joey raised her eyebrows. There was no way out of that basement, she was sure of it. But she’d learned never to underestimate Ryder and the team.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Cole feltthe heavy weight of the gun in his hand. The safety was on, and he wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the weapon, but the shooting range was entirely different than stalking up the stairs of his own company headquarters preparing to come face-to-face with the man who’d been sabotaging his projects for months.
He followed Joey up the stairs, meeting her glance on the landing between flights. “Hey, you sure you’re okay?” he said. Hearing everything about StormHunter and watching her battle this enemy through the computer. It was becoming personal for her, just like it was for him.
“I’m good. We’re going to get him. This is it, right?”
