Page 17 of Burning Hearts

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Jamie shifted in her seat on the floor, aware her legs were going numb. Tristan had told her to hide in the closet. She didn’t much care where she was. After all, she’d stayed safe in here long enough to use this laptop he’d found to access the network that connected each computer in this compound via their satellite internet connection.

Logan would be back soon.

She could barely believe he’d found her here in Alaska. But it wasn’t like things would be different this time. All she had to do was focus on getting what Tristan needed so he would leave with her. But the fact she might never let go of what she’d felt for Logan seemed like an old wound that had never healed.

So she pushed aside the hurt and focused on the job.

Jamie had already transferred a hundred thousand dollars from a cryptocurrency account. One that couldn’t be traced back to her. It would look like an anonymous donation to this group.

What she couldn’t figure out was what they were into. She’d thought drugs at first, or domestic terrorism. A training camp for guys who didn’t want to live under federal law. Not unheard of.

But this setup they had in their system connected to…something else. She was a finance expert, not a hacker, so she couldn’t get past security or firewalls. But money could.

After she’d transferred the money, she started copying all the files to a flash drive she kept in her pack—the backup copy of her files.

As she waited for the transfer to complete, watching that bar slide over to one hundred percent, she went back and checked their account where she’d deposited the money.

She hit enter and refreshed the page.

Frowned.

“Where’s the money?” She navigated through pages and found it had been transferred out moments after she’d deposited it. “Not by anyone here. They’re all trying to find me.” She was careful to keep her voice low just in case someone came into the room. “Who moved my money?”

Someone with access to the bank account on this computer had transferred her hundred thousand dollars out in smaller increments, breaking it up and moving it to other accounts.

Dust tickled her nose, and she scratched it.

With more time, she might be able to follow that money, but the second it was transferred beyond her reach, it would be gone. There was definitely something more happening here. It almost seemed like these people were funded by someone else.

Made to look like an average militia compound in the Alaska backcountry.

Until an investigation dug below the surface.

Jamie sneezed.

She froze, staring at the door. Someone could’ve heard that. Would it be that guy, Snatch, back with his evil intentions? She shivered.

The handle turned, and a tall man filled the doorway. It took a second for his outfit to register. “Logan.”

He held his hand out. “What are you doing in here?”

Jamie let him help her stand, juggling the laptop with her other hand to hug it against her side. “This is where Tristan said to wait for him.”

He seemed relieved but also like something else might be bothering him.

She said, “Did the fire go okay?”

He nodded. “Time to go.”

“As soon as Tristan gets here.”

“How about the files?” He motioned to the computer.

“It’s about halfway done copying everything. And get this,” she said. “I transferred money into their account, and someone already moved it out.”

“What does that mean?”

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