Page 72 of Don't Game Me
She rolled her balance back to sit upright on her stool. “Nah. Just curious. You seem smart. Seems like it’d have to be something pretty big to keep you locked in.”
“It was.”
“Was, meaning you don’t care about it anymore?” Becca didn’t like this. Seemed like she was delaying for some reason. “Can we cut to the chase so I can get out of here?”
“You want me to erase you from Symphis’s system? Then in exchange, you’ll give me Jake Allen.”
“I can’t give you another person, especially him.” She sure as hell didn’t want this woman’s blue talons anywhere near Jake.
“Based on your reaction, that’s my price.” She sat provocatively on a stool, swirling a finger across the mouse pad of a laptop. “Such a tasty morsel of a man. I think he might be worthy of a spin or two.” Her eyes held challenge, as if she expected Becca to balk.
Bile singed the back of Becca’s throat. She had to get through this without puking. And she had to trust Jake wouldn’t be so stupid as to jump into bed with this woman. “How exactly am I supposed to deliver him to you? You want a personal introduction? Fair warning, I think it’s best if I don’t see him in-person again today. He’s pretty pissed at me.”
“I’ll do my clickety-click magic to put through your request if you text Jake. Tell him I’m the one who helped you. Then you give me your phone. To keep. No texts after this to him…ever. If you do, I’ll know, and I’ll let some of your information slip back into the system. Like your current location.” Her lips teased upward. “Guarantee one text to Jake right now will have him on me faster than a stud on a bitch in heat.”
“Why do you want the phone? I don’t have any plans to speak with him or my brother again any time soon.” She didn’t want Jake near this predator, nor did she want to give up the burner phone. Phones weren’t cheap.
“It’s my price.” The woman resumed drumming her nails on the table.
Becca excavated the phone from the backpack and typed to Jake:This is Becca. Booth 416 helped me. Good-bye.
“Show me what you typed before you send it,” the woman demanded.
Becca rotated the phone’s face toward her.
“Guess that’ll work.” She squinted at her for a few seconds. Then typed on her laptop. “You’re out.”
“You can guarantee there’s no record of me anywhere in his system? It’s vast and complex. He has pretty good people who built those firewalls and other protections on it.”
“You’re out.” Somehow it felt more like the woman was saying she’d played her part in some sort of game rather than an illicit operation to hack Symphis’s system. Since there was no other option, she’d have to trust her.
Time to move on to phase two of her escape.
22
Becca tossed the Leia mask, wig, and dress into the restroom trashcan. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, smoothed her leggings and T-shirt, then exited the side door of the convention center. She limped as fast as possible across the street past groups of cosplay enthusiasts and up a block into downtown. The blue Toyota sedan sat parked right where Quan promised. She hopped into the passenger seat.
“You in?” she asked.
Quan glanced up from his laptop with a shit-eating grin. “Like magic. There’s a gold mine on this computer. I’ve never seen a program that can get me into another’s system past the security remotely. There’s loads of impressive security on this hard drive, but your little program just ate through them. You’re a genius to have written this. I’m a pretty good hacker, but this? Wow.”
“I didn’t write it by myself.” Thoughts of Stuart saddened her. “But I did do a lot of it. You better grab everything you can before she turns off the laptop.”
“Almost got all these files. Crap, it went black.” Quan typed fast. “Nothing.”
“She must’ve shut off the computer. The contact was a psychopathic woman. She didn’t want money.”
Quan’s forehead wrinkled. “No money. That’s weird for something so dangerous. What’d she want?”
“An introduction to Jake Allen. Made it sound like she wanted to sleep with him, but I didn’t get the feeling she likes men much. Nothing about what just happened made sense.” She wondered if Symphis let her escape, which creeped her out more than the woman she’d just met.
“Nothing about this is what it seems. I agree.” Quan resumed interest in the computer. “It’s going to take a while to weed through what I got here, but there’s a lot about Stadiums across the world.”
“We need to get back to New York. I’ll bet Jake’s flying out this afternoon. I feel like I should warn him about the woman. I don’t want to see him become collateral damage.”
“Are you sure it’s smart to return right now? Staying low might be best. I can let you know if they need you back in the city.” Quan cranked the car.
“The stuff Symphis asked me to steal from NJ Legacy was serious. Maybe if I’m back in New York, I can figure out what he’s up to.”
