Page 24 of Demon Hunter

“So the job sheet could potentially have been planted by a higher demon?” Ian checks. “Instead of the Collective being hacked?”

Marc shrugs. “I suppose.”

Something about that doesn’t seem right to me, and I go back over the conversation. “Intent is the key,” I repeat. “Does that mean you’re not relying on code at all?”

“Code?” he says it like it’s a dirty word, and Matt snorts.

“I guess that’s a no.”

Pulling a face, I admit, “I need to think about this more. If demons don’t think in terms of code and it really does just come down to intent, then why didn’t the file wipe when it was supposed to?”

“You said it was because I’m an idiot,” Ian reminds him.

“Yeah, and I thought that was it. If a hacker did this, thatwouldhave been it. The file would have failed to wipe because when you went into it, you didn’t close out properly, which, due to a system error IT knows about and hasn’t had a chance to fix yet, showed it as created at the time you closed it. It’s something that drives admin nuts when they run their reports. But the hackers wouldn’t have known that and didn’t allow for it in the code, so as far as the code is concerned, it?—”

“Hasn’t been five days yet,” Matt finishes. “Can you stop it from deleting itself now that you know?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure I want to. Let me look closer, see if there’s anything that might tip off the hackers if it doesn’t delete at all.”

“That’s why you don’t think it could be a higher demon? Because if it was, the file would have deleted when it was supposed to, based on intention and not code?” Connor asks. “This is wild.”

“Basically, yeah. I need to dig into the code of the file and the one Marc created and see what they look like, if there are any similarities or other points of interest. I might find fingerprints from a known hacker on the job sheet, which would make things easier.” I grimace. “It would be better to work on this at home. My setup there can do more than my laptop.”

“A few days,” Gabe promises. “Unless you find anything in the meantime that suggests they targeted him specifically, in which case?—”

“We get him out now,” Ian finishes.

“Hello?” Matt lifts his hand in a wave, then quickly lowers it when we all hiss at him. “Fine. But I’m here, you know. I have a name.”

I pat his cast and force myself to keep a straight face. “I know, babe. Just rest for now.”

The glare he gives me is worth the effort.

“I keep hearing people doubt my ability to keep Matt alive,” Marc observes, “and I find it quite offensive.”

“We know you can protect him from humans and lesser demons,” Ian assures him. “But what if it’s another higher demon?”

“That still doesn’t sound like you have a great deal of confidence in me.”

“Stop being offended and be serious,” Connor demands. “Twice since we’ve known you, you’ve had to fight higher demons. Both times, they nearly won. Now maybe they were top-tier fighters or whatever, but we’re talking about Matt’s safety. If a higher demon came here to harm him, could you prevent them?”

Marc’s lips compress, and then he sighs. “It would depend on the demon,” he admits. “I’m no longer foolishly refraining from changing back to my natural form on a regular basis, so another demon like Vestia…” He waves a hand as if to say, “No problem.” “But there are one or two who would pose a challenge to me. It’s highly unlikely they would have involved themselves in anything here on Earth—they, like I did, prefer to keep away from your grotty world. But if we’re takinganypossibility into account…” He spreads his hands. “I would be hampered by the presence of other humans here, also. I cannot be certain that the other higher demon, if they have stooped so far, would care about the treaty.”

“Shit,” Matt says. “We don’t want bystanders getting hurt. Maybe we need to let Marc do his woo-woo stuff.”

“I beg your pardon?” Marc soundshighlyoffended. “I do not do… woo-woo.”

We ignore him. “We don’t know that it’s a higher demon,” I point out. “It could just be hackers. I mean, we still don’t know what the whole point was. Why lure a hunter to Reno to kill them?”

“Why steal their kit but leave the expensive smartwatch and phone?” Gabe adds. “Not to mention the car. It’s not brand-new, and it’s not fancy, but it would be worth something.”

“So we all agree it’s not a coincidence, right?” Matt confirms. “The planted job sheet and me being attacked are connected.”

I nod. “Yeah.” There’s a murmur of agreement from the others.

“But we don’t know why, who, or even how.” He scowls. “This sucks.”

Marc makes a humming noise. “I truly do not believe there is a higher demon involved in this. Even if, as you say, they had struck a connection with humans, if a demon had been present at Matt’s attack, he would be dead. If a demon had intended for that job document to be deleted after five days, it would be gone. Even the weakest would be capable of those simple things.”

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