Page 29 of Undercover Hacker

“Time to roll,” Antonio grunted and motioned toward the door.

Zane grabbed his sig and holstered it. As he walked toward the door, he stopped and whispered in my ear. “Don’t even think we are close to being done.”

Before I had time to respond, he was heading out the door, and Antonio was giving me an irritated look for dragging my feet.

* * *

Kat

I’d spent years mourning my family only to find out my sister was alive. Nothing made sense. Why hadn’t Juan called and told me before going on TV? I looked down at my phone, noticing the thirteen missed calls. Okay, I hadn’t answered his calls before the broadcast.

What if they didn’t find her and I had to go through losing my sister all over again? I’ve had so much heartache. Every time I looked at Antonio Jr., my heart ached for the only man I’d ever loved.

I wanted out of the agency. When I was younger and had so much anger about losing my family, it was easy to put it into the fieldwork.

Juan told me that if I did this one last favor, he would help me find the people behind Antonio’s death. I hated being around these men. What Juan didn’t know was that I’d been watching his dealings. He’d been sending me on cases for the last five years, saying I was helping the United States government. But, the recent case was too much. He wanted me to take out a family. Every case he had me work, I researched. If I didn’t feel like the people deserved it, I sent them to a little town in Africa. One day I would have to visit the city that was comprised of the people I’d saved from Juan’s corruption. I paid for them to go away and faked their deaths.

I didn’t plan on letting Yermushin get away with selling the nuclear codes he had. The problem was that the deal was going down at the charity event tomorrow. I was trying to come up with a plan to stop it or change out the codes somehow. The only way Yermushin could have gotten the codes were from Juan, but now he was sending a plane to take Antonio and me back to Ft Lauderdale tomorrow morning to help find my sister.

Yermushin thought that, after the codes were sold, he was done working for Juan. Juan’s primary plan was for the nuclear codes to be sold, and the money to be put into his account. Yermushin thought I was there as his bodyguard, but my primary mission was to take him out.

How could my sister possibly be aliveafter all these years? How could she not come looking for me? Maybe Juan had figured out my plan and was doing this so I was unable to go to the charity event tomorrow night. The codes were on a black thumb drive. Perhaps I’d go to the charity event and fly home afterward. I needed to get the thumb drive before it was sold to North Korea.

“Mommy, why do you look so sad?” Antonio was my light. I’d had so many dark days in my life, but he was the one thing that kept me going. I hated taking him on missions. This one had lasted a few months. Yermushin had to gain trust with the North Koreans. No way was I going to be away from my son for a few months. Gini, one of my nannies growing up, had retired to New York. She had been helping me when I needed to go assist Yermushin.

Juan had also insisted on the bodyguard living next door. I didn’t understand why he thought a trained assassin needed to have muscle. I had my trusted M24 sniper rifle.

I reached down and pulled Antonio into my lap. “I’m not sad. I was trying to figure out a plan.”

“I saw Uncle Juan on TV. Do I really have another Aunty?” For a four-year-old, he picked up way more than he should. He always talked about his friends having big families and asked when we would get a bigger one. “I’m not sure honey. I need to find out more information.”

Antonio jumped down from my lap. “I hope so. You seem so lonely. Maybe aunty will have kids too.”

“Come on kiddo, it’s time for bed.”

Antonio ran down the hall to the bathroom. I could hear the water running. So many questions about Sophie roamed through my head.Would Sophie have kids? Does she know I’m alive and if so why hasn’t she ever looked for me?

“Mommy, are you coming?”

I was so lost in thought, I hadn’t heard Antonio head to his room. When I walked in he was already under his Marvel bedspread. Next to the bed sat a picture of Antonio’s dad. No matter how many times I looked at it, he still took my breath away.

“Good night, kiddo.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead. He is growing so fast and looks so much like his father. Antonio would be so proud of him.

When I was about to flick the light off, Antonio asked a question that made my heart break.

“Mommy, if aunty Sophie is still alive. Do you think daddy is?”

How many nights had I laid in bed hoping to see his eyes one more time or lay in his arms?

“No, I know daddy is dead for a fact.”

Needing to suppress the thoughts of Antonio. I grabbed a glass of wine and sat down with my e-reader. Nothing like a good book to distract you from a wondering mind.

The two main characters were running for their lives when a loud pounding on the front door startled me. I glanced at the clock and saw it was past ten. Who the hell would show up at this time? For the last two hours, I had been trying to fall asleep. Sophie kept coming to the forefront of my brain.

Another series of knocks sounded on the door. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Yermushin’s or Sanchez’s men. This was my private sanctuary. I had done little with the place since we moved in. The walls were still generic white and not decorated. Once this job was over, we would move again. The next time will be the last. One assignment, and I was done. One assignment until I went after the man that killed my one true love. This constant moving wasn’t fair to Antonio, and he would enter kindergarten soon. I hadn’t figured out where we were going yet.

When I looked through the peephole, I couldn’t see anything. I grabbed the gun from under the end table. I’d never trusted Yermushin or his men. I’d done jobs for him in the past, and it was time to part ways. After I took him down, I would need to go on the run. I shook my head trying to get my thoughts back in order.

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