Page 6 of Hacker Unknown

“If I call the doctor today, will you let me lead the mission?”

Kat smirked for a second and I realized I had never asked any questions about the mission. “Yes.”

“Can I have the file to review?”

“We don’t have time. Everyone is waiting for us in the conference room.”

Kat sprang out of the chair, and I followed my boss to the conference room. The clear glass walls were frosted, and the door closed. I grabbed the handle, pulled it open, and waited for Kat to walk through.

Her husband Antonio Ross stood at the front of the room pacing. A tall man with black hair and a shorter man with red hair both dressed in black suits sat at the long wooden conference room table. Asher and CJ sat across from them with their arms folded. Kat stopped a few feet away from the empty chair. “Well, you aren’t FBI agents.”

“We work for the FBI office in Houston, Texas.”

My mind no longer cared about anything other than the fact they were from Houston. Kat had set me up. She’d asked the last few months why I hadn’t visited my brother. Mostly because I didn’t have the energy and didn’t want to get attached to my long-lost brother if I was dying. Except it appeared Kat had other plans for me.

“Did you really think two CIA agents could walk in here and make me believe they work for the FBI?” Kat huffed as she crossed her arms.

The older man ran his hand through his hair. “Does it really matter what agency we work for? AA Security gets paid no matter what.”

Antonio pounded his fist on the table. “Yes, because every time we take a case with the Central Intelligence Agency, they purposely leave out important information we need to work a case. And it puts my people in danger.”

The first mission I assisted on after joining AA Security was connected to the CIA. They had given us information on oneof the radical groups involved, but kept the other one a secret. If CJ hadn’t searched the dark web about the mission, I would have died on that op. CJ had called and delivered new intel five minutes before the team headed directly into an ambush. The CIA officer didn’t care if we died. They’d only needed us in the building for thirty seconds, allowing the device I had in my pocket to pull the information they wanted from the server.

“All we need is for you to work with the developers of Assassin Annihilation and have them give us access to their user data and chat information,” the redheaded agent said. “Nobody is in harm’s way it is just game data.”

“The CIA has their own hackers. I know you have some of the best. Why not do it yourself?” I asked.

A huge smile formed on CJ’s face. “The game is unhackable. Hackers helped the designer create it this way. Nobody joins with real personal information.”

“Let me guess, the developer won’t budge. Why do you think we can get them to?” Kat asked.

Antonio growled, “Are we glossing over the fact this is the CIA sending us on a mission with half-truths again? And I have a feeling it deals with intel on United States’ soil.”

“Honey, you know we will take it.” Kat smiled at her husband before turning back to the black-haired agent. “You mentioned something about needing us to go to Houston?”

The last few months Brandon had been asking him to come visit them in Houston and see his niece, Melisa. Problem was his brother would notice he was sick and demand answers. This might also give him a chance to say his final goodbyes, because in the last few weeks it felt like each day, he was getting worse.

“The developer of the game lives in Houston,” the larger of the men stated. Neither of them bothered to introduce themselves after Kat and I walked in. They would probably give fake names anyways.

Anything they said Antonio would have CJ double check or even have Sophie do it. Kat’s sister Sophie worked for the CIA.

“What makes you think the developer of the game will talk with us?” I asked.

The man with red hair slid a file across the table. I flipped it open to find a picture of five women around a table drinking wine. My fist clenched as I realized the photo was taken with a long-range camera into my brother’s house. “Who the fuck took this picture?”

“Some grunt in the field,” the large agent shrugged.

“You invaded my family’s privacy and still expect us to help you. All I want to do right now is kill you both,” I said, not caring if this blew up the mission. I reached down for my gun, but Kat was quicker and grabbed it from my holster.

She didn’t raise it at the fuckers across the table, instead she kept it at her side. “How does Paolo’s sister-in-law play into what you need?”

Even if Antonio and Kat decided not to take the case, I needed to head to Houston. It looked like my brother hadn’t been taking precautions to keep his family safe, or he would have realized someone was watching his house.

Brandon worked for the Houston Police Department as a detective. His specialty was serial killers, so I was shocked hehad his guard down so much that someone was able to get a picture of inside his house.

One of Brandon’s cases had brought us together. Neither one of us knew the other existed until the FBI flew me to Houston and made us both confront our father who was in jail. He’d been convicted of being a serial killer. But what we found out later was our mother and aunt were the real killers. Dad took the fall for his wife, because he loved her even though he knew what she was doing.

Our aunt had come after Sasha and almost killed her.