Page 65 of Don't Game Me
Becca leaned in and hugged Tori, whispering before she pulled away, “He forced me to do it, but I changed everything…gave Symphis bogus information. Won’t be long before he figures that out.”Aka, my life is forfeit.“I would do anything to protect all of you guys.”
She pulled away from Tori and announced, “My flight got bumped to earlier. I’ve got to run.”
“Becca, wait,” Tori said.
Without a second glance or pause, she scurried through the sliding glass doors. She ignored Jake and Becca yelling her name. The moment she got inside, she jogged to security.
Time to execute phase one of her escape from California.
20
Jake sipped his fourth Red Bull, the chemical drink jolting his already over-caffeinated system into a jerky hyper-alertness. “What happened, Sam?”
The chief of security at NJ Legacy, an ex-NSA hacking expert, glanced up. “The interesting part about this was the technology used to get into the system. This is next level spy tech able to worm in remotely. That is, I’m assuming it was remote since I received no warning about an unanticipated breach. I’ve got the whole system triggered to alert me. Looks like she copied financial files from the past two months, mostly payroll and the billing accounts.”
Noah covered his face and sifted a hand through his hair. “Tori said Becca told her she changed the information before she sent it to Symphis. That means when he finds out he’s going to be pissed. Her life’s in danger. Jesus, they already took Kaleb. Now Becca. How the hell could this even happen?”
Jake slammed his fist on the table. “How did he get his hooks into her?” He waved a hand. “Forget how he did it. What do we do? We have to get her back.”
“Was she ever alone with the system?” Sam’s tone was calm as he remained glued to his laptop.
“Not that I’m aware of.” Jake wondered if they asked her to sleep with him to facilitate stealing the information. The notion left him disgusted. He couldn’t believe she’d go to that extreme, even under pressure. What’d been between them had always been there. Whatever pushed her to do this must’ve pushed her toward him. She’d been terrified the whole weekend.
He should’ve pushed her harder to tell him why. “We were in my office for lunch but never got close to my computer. She was near my laptop, but I never left her alone with it while logged on. She ran up to Noah’s office to grab drinks. We could review security footage to see if she got near any computers.”
“I already did that. She didn’t get near Noah’s computer. Must’ve done it when you had your laptop open or near your office computer. That’s a super cool bit of programming,” Sam said in a goofy awed tone. “It’s the kind of stuff GenShare works on to sell to government intelligence agencies. Wonder if Becca programmed it.”
“Who cares if she did?” Jake scrolled his phone, desperate for any sort of message from her. She was God knows where in a plane, exposed and in danger. He had no ability to help her. “I told you Becca was off the range terrified about something, Noah.”
“You didn’t say she was terrified. You said something wasn’t right about her taking a job while in grad school. I figured she overextended herself or something. She’s an overachiever.” Noah covered his face again. “Mom won’t survive if she… They can’t have her too. They just can’t. Damn it, Jake, why didn’t you keep her here?”
Jake’s chest ached as images of Kaleb’s funeral filtered through his mind. He’d gone with Noah to identify the water-bloated body that barely resembled the brother they both remembered. A lump settled in his stomach like lead. The gears in his brain churned, looking for any solution to keep Becca safe. “I was with her most of the weekend as much as I could be. You were there at the airport too. She practically ran away.”
Sam said softly while typing on his laptop, “She hasn’t been at Berkley this semester.”
“What?” Jake tried to make sense of all the bits of conversation he’d had with her. “She had a slip up about being in San Diego that she tried to cover up.”
“Her flight took her to San Diego with a layover in Phoenix,” Sam said, clicking fast on the keyboard. “Her name’s on an apartment lease near downtown San Diego. Lots of digital hits on her the past few months in San Diego. All her social media went dark seven months ago.”
“Symphis must’ve recruited her around the same time as Kaleb, then.” Jake was glad it came out level-headed despite his inner need to yell and fight. There wasn’t a line he wouldn’t cross to get her back here alive. Bad moment to realize he might be in love with her.
“Kaleb and Becca. Sounds like it was premeditated to try to hit NJ Legacy any way he could. Wonder what he’s got against you guys.” Sam glanced up. “There’s no digital fingerprint to point to Symphis in this, not that we have one of him to begin with. But this is consistent with how his network operates. Psychological torture and then control his players with fear to make them not only play videogames but also do things like this.”
“Call the FBI and NSA. I want her back here,” Noah said. “We’re not losing her.”
“I know a security firm in California. I can ask them to grab her at the airport,” Jake proposed.
Sam stopped typing. “She just sent me a message. It says:Stay clear of me. The ricochet will hurt.” He typed madly. “She won’t reply. And now she’s out of the chat room.”
“Why’d she sendyoua message?” Noah scrolled his phone for messages, realizing the fury pushing him to pulverize Sam had everything to do with jealousy. No message from her. He glanced up to see Noah checking his phone too and shaking his head.
“I’m on this chat room where we speak Klingon. Total nerd, I know. But it’s a back channel for emergency things, like this. Guess she figured I’d be involved in things.”
“She can’t go up against this guy alone.” Noah jumped up and paced. He muttered, “Kaleb tried to do it on his own, to get out. He wouldn’t listen to me and ended up murdered. Once they figure out she altered the information she obtained, they’ll kill her.” He slammed his hands on the table. “How did this happen?”
Jake texted on his phone. “I’m sending the security company to get her. I’ll be on my way out there for the Comic-Con tomorrow. I can pick her up and bring her back here. We’ll fly private.”
“What would he want with this financial information?” Sam tapped his lower lip with his index finger.
