Page 30 of Critical Strike

She chose the computer station in the back corner of the lab, fired it up, and started typing right away. There was no hesitation whatsoever.

“First, I have to bypass their password system.”

He watched from over her shoulder. “How long will that take?”

“Already done it.” Pleasure filled her voice. She was in her happy place.

“Already?” It took him longer than that to remember his own password most days.

She seemed not to hear him. With Khan at her feet, she was completely focused on the task at hand. He respected that kind of concentration and left her to it.

He moved back out of the computer lab and into the main section of the library, walking over to the side of a window and peeking out. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening in the empty parking lot. A glance out a window on the other side of the building, looking out into a playground and other buildings, resulted in the same.

This place brought back some good feelings for him. There weren’t a lot in his earlier years. His life hadn’t been too traumatic—nothing like what his brothers Chance or Brax went through—just a lot of hunger, combined with kicks and hits and well-placed bruises.

Life with the Pattersons had changed all that. Which reminded him that he needed to call his brothers.

He used his burner phone to dial Brax’s cell number.

“Brax Patterson.” Brax’s voice was tense.

“It’s me.”

His brother let out a long exhale. “You all right? We saw the news.”

“Yeah. We’re both still alive.” Luke leaned around a shelf to check on Claire. She typed away with laser focus, though her brown wig was askew.

“We’ve been waiting for you to call. The cops came by looking for you.”

Even though it was news he’d expected, it still made Luke tense. “What did you say?”

“Exactly what you did. That you were away on a fishing trip. We even showed them the text.”

“Did it throw them off?”

“They were still suspicious. Weston had a tail on him when he went out today. Where are you?”

“Somewhere that Claire can get the info she needs to clear her name.” He lowered his voice. “She witnessed the murder of a coworker at Passage Digital. Now the CEO is trying to frame her for it. He’s using all his political connections to bring her down hard.”

Brax cursed sharply.

“Yeah, my feelings exactly.”

“How can she prove her innocence?”

“Ballard isn’t only guilty of murder. He’s trying to use some app to illegally collect data on minors to be stored and used later—think access to bank accounts and private identity when the kids come of age.”

Brax cursed again.

“She has proof of that on a drive,” Luke continued. “But it’s only readable through some proprietary software at Passage, so she’s trying to hack her way into that. Once she can prove Ballard is guilty of identity theft, she’ll be able to go to the police and show that he was using her as a scapegoat.”

“What about the murder?”

“She’s got video footage of it stuffed into the Passage Digital intraweb. She can’t access it from outside, but if they arrest Ballard and let her into Passage, she’ll be able to access it.”

“Sounds like she’s some sort of computer genius.”

Pride filled Luke. “Exactly.”

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