Page 27 of An Uncertain Claim

“Already done.” I smirked as I vacated the seat anyway. I remembered everything I’d read from the op file, so I’d known exactly how to contact the operatives.

Lisa slid into the seat and scanned the screen. “Holy shit,” she breathed. “How did you…? Wow.”

“You’re welcome,” I said as I meandered over to Nathan’s chessboard. The odd configuration of the pieces caught my attention. I’d only played a handful of times in my life, but I’d read the rules once upon a time, so I was able to recall them perfectly as I studied the board. The white queen was surrounded by the king, a bishop, a knight, and a rook. Why would the king be protecting the queen?

“No way!”

Lisa’s exclamation drew my attention and I spun around to see what happened. She was staring at me with a mixture of awe and disbelief. “What?” I glanced down at myself, wondering what would inspire those emotions in the hacker.

“I recognize your style. But…it can’t be. I mean it could, but...”

Nathan’s shrewd gaze bounced between me and Lisa once before settling on her. “Explain,” he commanded.

“There’s no trail leading back to KBO. It’s as if the hack never happened,” Lisa responded.

I had a suspicion of what she was thinking, and I mentally cringed at my secret being exposed. Even to this small group who I knew I could trust to keep it.

Tanner and Nathan shared a confused look. “Did you want to leave breadcrumbs?” Tanner asked.

“Lisa,” Nathan said. One word, but it was packed with meaning. Mainly a demand that she start making sense.

“No, it’s the absence of a signature that first clued me in. I’ve only ever known of a handful of hackers who could get in and out without leaving a single trace.”

“You know a hacker by what isn’t there?” Tanner cocked his head to the side and glanced at me with a question in his eyes. I wasn’t about to aid in this revelation, so I dropped into one of the chairs in front of the chessboard and moved the figures around.

“Of course not,” Lisa scoffed. “Knowing they were there in the first place would mean they left a trail. But, over the years, I’ve been hired to do maintenance on systems created by other cyber specialists. They fiercely protect their anonymity. They use false names and even though the government knows about it, they overlook it because these guys are that good. Anyway, their hidden identities naturally made me curious. But the only thing I was ever able to figure out was that they all have their own style. I studied it and most of the time, if I see the program’s original code, I could tell you who built it. But only by their handle.”

I could feel Nathan’s eyes boring into the side of my head. “And you think Peyton is one of these hackers?”

“I recognize it from the Council’s cybersecurity.”

“What the fuck?”

“Excuse me?”

Tanner and Nathan spoke at the same time, though the latter was completely calm. However, I didn’t miss the cold undertone, the one that told me he was holding on to his temper.

“You’re Phantasm,” Lisa hypothesized.

I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous moniker. “I don’t know how that caught on.”

“Because you’re a ghost,” Lisa breathed, her tone awash with admiration that had me wishing it were true and I could simply walk through the wall and disappear.

“Peyton.” Nathan’s voice warned me not to ignore him as the Alpha vibes pulsing from him filled the room.Yeah, he is definitely pissed.My panther jumped to attention, and I pushed her back so she’d stop trying to get out. I had enough to deal with.

Sighing, I lifted my head and met his dark, angry stare.

“Something you want toshare?” He emphasized the word ‘share’ in a deliberate reminder of our recent discussion.

“I make my living as a white-hat hacker. And…sometimes other hats.” I twisted the ring on my thumb around a few times. “And I’m very, very good at what I do. Some people call me Phantasm, which I think is dumb, but hey, it could be worse, right?”

Clearly agitated, he threaded his fingers through his hair before crossing his arms over his chest and scowling at me. “Why haven’t you told me this?”

I raised an eyebrow and canted my head to the side. “You never asked.” It seemed he’d forgotten the part of the talk about omission.

“Um, I think I have stuff to do,” Lisa announced before scurrying from the room.

Tanner took her seat and put his feet on the desk, folding his hands behind his head as he eagerly looked between me and Nathan.

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