Page 12 of Hacker Unknown

I wanted to argue that it was stupid to spend money on a game, but it was hard to argue with a billionaire.

Before I could take my ninja up a level Kat walked into my office with the most breathtaking woman I’d ever seen. I didn’t remember the last time someone truly knocked me off my feet—if I’d been standing, that was—but here I sat, speechless.

Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight pouring through the window. Her long black hair still dripping wet, made her whitet-shirt almost transparent. Somehow, even devoid of makeup, it was the most beautiful face I’d ever seen. When our eyes connected, her cheeks turned a soft pink, and she faltered for a second. Kat led her to the seat across from me. A faint scent of strawberries made my mouth water.

“Hi, I’m Sonali. I assume you’re Paolo?” she said.

“Yeah,” I managed, while Kat elbowed Antonio in the ribs. Kat was smiling like she knew something I didn’t. I shook my head. There was no way I could ever have this woman. I didn’t deserve someone so pure.

“Okay,” Antonio said. “Paolo has the game downloaded. He is going to level up his ninja. The game is actually pretty fun. This is the first time the CIA’s given us something I actually enjoy.”

Kat nodded. “Well, I already pissed off some people on our server. They didn’t understand why this new group just popped up and advanced so fast. My goal by the end of the week, is to have AA Security the main alliance on the server. I do plan to send it out to everyone at Club Sanctorum too.”

Sonia frowned. “Sorry, I’m confused. What are you all talking about?”

Kat explained, “Paolo is working on a mission in Houston for the CIA. You are going with him, because we thought it would be safer for you there rather than Fort Lauderdale. His mission revolves around the developer of Assassin Annihilation and something going on in Server 333. You are welcome to join our alliance.”

Sonia’s eyes widened. “Wait, the man we were talking about earlier told me to download Assassin Annihilation. He mentioned that exact server and said we could talk there.”

A wave of jealousy hit me before I could stop it. “What man?”

She lifted a brow. “His name is Sawyer Ledger. I met him at the cemetery and will reading today. He told me I should head back to Paris or come to AA Security. He said if I ever wanted to talk, I should find him on that same server.”

Kat was already typing on her phone. “I’m letting CJ know. Did he give you his game name?”

“Yeah, it was Ninja something, but I don’t remember.”

“All right,” Kat said. “That won’t help us find him in the game. We will continue the search for him with the other information you already gave CJ.”

Sonia shrugged. “He downloaded it on my phone. I haven’t really done anything else.”

Antonio started pacing. “Use Paolo’s company card to power up your ninja. Any person that contacts you that you think is strange, let Paolo know. If his name comes to you, make sure to tell us immediately.”

Sonali wrinkled her nose. “Why do I need a credit card to make my ninja strong?”

I grunted. “Because nothing in these online games is free. The developers swim around in pools of cash while people spend all because they want to be the best even if it costs them everything.”

Kat smirked. “Probably don’t want to talk to Callie that way when we do need her on our side.”

The upcoming meeting with Callie Westmore wouldn’t be our first time meeting. We’d met before at my brother’s house when he had friends over. She’d been talking about her Elven game and the amount of money it brought in each month. I told her that I thought it was a scam, and she rolled her eyes.

Antonio exhaled. “So, we were all on the same page. You two are going to lie low in Houston, figure out what’s going on with this game, and find out why the CIA really wants us involved. We know it is not guns running through this app—there’s something else. And the part that worries me is how the man connected to Sonali is using the exact same server the CIA wants us in. We need to find out who this guy is?—”

“And kill him?” I asked.

“Let’s hold off on that until we know the full story,” Antonio said. “The body count is way too high this year, especially after the experiment Kat did last week.”

Kat rolled her eyes. “How else was I supposed to test to see which supplier had the best acid?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. The only reason he said that was so his wife wouldn’t end up in prison for the rest of her life. The stories about Kat sounded so unbelievable people assumed they couldn’t possibly be true. But I knew better. It had been the talk of the office for weeks—she took down a man who’d kidnapped and molested thirteen children. Instead of handing him over to the police, Kat shot him herself. Antonio had wanted to dump the body in the Everglades, but Kat insisted on running an ‘experiment’ with a few barrels of acid at their house. It turned out she was testing the potency of each supplier’s acid to determine who was selling diluted product.

“Acid is acid,” Antonio groaned.

“You are wrong,” she argued with a shrug, “barrel one and two dissolved those parts within a day and my main supplier Burnie his acid took the longest. He has some explaining to do this weekend.”

Sonali looked between Kat, me, and Antonio. “Are you joking?”

Antonio sighed. “Let’s just say everything you hear about my wife is a ‘joke.’ We’ll leave it at that.”

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