Page 7 of Unexpected Hero

She’s singing.

The corner of my mouth quirks as I listen.

Whoa. She has the voice of an angel.

My fingers hover over the laptop keys as her enchanting melody captures my focus. Sadness and hope shine through the vibrato in her upper register in equal measures.

I don’t know the song’s name. Can’t place the melody. But I’m riveted all the same.

With a click of the space bar, my laptop begins recording.

When she gets to the chorus, I finally recognize the song — Elton John’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”

Impressive how she can sing a song by a male and make it sound so ethereal. She’s extremely talented. I wonder if Big Al can sing or if she got that from her mother.

Closing my eyes, I draw back on my recollection of her face from the various photos and camera footage I’ve seen of her over the last few years. Blond hair past her shoulders with a slight wave to it, fair skin, brilliant sapphire eyes, and full rosy lips.

In my mind’s eye, I imagine what she’d look like as she spins around the room and swings her hips in time with the rhythm.

I’m shaken from the vision when a phone rings, stopping her singing mid-lyric.

Damn.

Wait… this is a good thing. It’ll make getting into her phone a bit easier.

She groans in frustration, then must answer the call. “How many times are you gonna call before you give up?” Her words have a bite to them and a slight Southern twang.

I can’t hear the response, which pisses me the fuck off.

She speaks again. “That’s not going to happen. You might as well quit while you’re behind. I’m gone, and I’m not coming back.”

She pauses again.

Moving quickly through a series of screens, I locate her phone signal and hack it with only my third attempt at her password. Her grandfather’s birth date. Not wise for her, but helpful for me.

As soon as I’m in, I begin loading my spyware program to the back end of her device.

While I wait for that to process, she tosses a much snarkier retort to whoever is on the other end of the line. “Are you deaf, dense, or both? I done told ya three times already. We. Are. Through.”

Another pause, and my pulse spikes. Must be an ex. Is he the reason she’s here? Was she trying to get away from a guy? Did he hurt her?

“If you call again, I’m blocking your number. I left. Deal with it. I—” He must cut her off because her words stop abruptly.

As their conversation continues, I repeat the spyware loading process on her e-reader and laptop. No password at all on her e-reader, and the same one on her laptop but with an exclamation point at the end.

This girl is far too trusting.

The next words I hear make my blood boil. “I don’t care how long we dated. That doesn’t give you the right to force yourself on me. Ever. Period. You’re lucky I didn’t call the cops.”

Whoever she’s speaking to just made the MFKL — my fucking kill list.

A handful of minutes later, I’ve got everything I need to access all her devices, so I pack up and head back to HQ. Tonight, I’ll find out who she was talking to and make his life a living hell.

It’s what Boss would want me to do for his daughter.

Chapter 3

Don't go chasin' waterfalls

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