Page 63 of Off Her Game
“It’s what I was able to get. That shit’s more locked down than the Pentagon. I hacked this off his personal computer at his place.”
“I could hack the Pentagon with my eyes closed.”
A snort laugh escaped her. “Really? Then why are you playing the heavy for some Jersey kid?”
“He pays well.” Rand leaned in. “You don’t know jack shit about what I can do.”
Score on confirming location of Symphis.“Are we done with this stealing code shit? I prefer to get back to gaming.” Her heart pounded so hard she was certain he could hear it rattling her ribcage.
He waved the flash drive. “This isn’t what we asked for.” He pressed his ear communicator. “We expect the full code.”
“It’s not possible. Hell, I don’t even know where to look for it.”
“We don’t care how you get it. But…” He pushed his earpiece again. “Heard through the grapevine NJ Legacy wants your game.”
“How would you know that?” Chills skirted down her spine as she wondered if they had a mole at NJ Legacy.
He shrugged with an eerie smile. “Take whatever NJ Legacy’s offering for your game. Once there to do negotiations I’m sure you can break into their system and get us the code.” He smiled an eerie lift of his lips. “We want it in two days when we convene again.”
“That’s not enough time.” Said in a much calmer voice than theoh shitdetonating inside her brain. “I’m not sure getting the full code is possible. I need to be in the building unmonitored. I’m not a level one hacker. Even if I got through paperwork this week regarding developing my game, this kind of hacking wouldn’t be doable until next week. It may never be possible. They’ve got some security guru who’s locked down the whole place.”
“Two days. You better have the code.” He didn’t need to sayor else.It hovered in the air, thick and menacing. “We’re very disappointed about this.”
She bit back thefuck youon the tip of her tongue. “I’m not up to snuff tonight. Haven’t slept well in the past few nights. I shouldn’t play.”
“I don’t care. You’re on Green Team. Do you need something to keep you awake or give you a boost?”
“Nope.” She spun away to search for the Green table. Tonight’s performance from her wouldn’t be great. Passable, perhaps, but overall crappy.
The Green Team turned out to be the reject table. Again. She’d played with two of the guys other than the narcissistic fifteen-year-old and knew the other two rounding out their six-some as low rankers locked into Symphis’s ring. Her sitting at the table brought up the average age by almost a decade.
Nohey-how’re-you’scame her way, only hate glares. How had she ever thought this was a great place to spend nights?
Two days. Noah would never give her the full code. And, damn it, no choice but to negotiate for NJ Legacy to produce her game. Nothing like a little fuck you on caring about her image to the non-illegal gaming world.
Hours later, Tori stared at the red digital numbers on her bedside clock.I need to sleep.
Every shadow in her bedroom looked suspicious. None moved. None were new. The bathroom light, intentionally left on, reduced the number of wall shadows. If she hadn’t been alone in the apartment, she’d be gaming with Quan or Alex. But Quan had a date that looked to have ended in an overnight. Good for him, since it was the first date he’d had in about six months. Alex’s father had knee surgery yesterday. He’d gone out to stay with his parents for a few days on Long Island.
Being alone usually didn’t bother her.
A creak sounded outside. She jacked upright, ears straining. Was it inside her apartment or outside? She’d dead bolted the door, hadn’t she? Crap, she couldn’t remember. Pretty sure.
Double-checking the door meant leaving her room. No way in hell she was leaving her room or the bed, as if it the area had a magic protective ring around it. The person who went to check out noises at night in movies was always the one who died first.
A new minute on her digital bedside clock, now 3:46 a.m.
Her phone dinged with an incoming message. She dove for it, anticipating something from Noah. Her smile fell. As she read her stomach churned.
Symphis:Thursday night. Disappointment will be expensive.
She had no hope of getting the code and no clue how to steal it. A hacker she wasn’t. Gaming, yes. Breaking into heavily fortified secured networks? No. Maybe Noah would do this for her. Doubtful, since he was only around tohandleher. No way she’d use sex to get this. That was a line she’d never cross. Oh God, she’d actually considered it.
She clamped a hand over her mouth and ran for the toilet, bringing up everything in her stomach.
A mouthwash swish burned away the foul taste in her mouth, but not her dread. If Noah and Jake had wanted her to have the full code, wouldn’t they have given her it to begin with? She didn’t want to have this conversation with Noah.
First, you have to say yes to NJ Legacy buying your game.
