Page 104 of Hacking His Code
After five miles on a treadmill, I head over to the punching bags to work on my arms.
As I’m pulling on my gloves, my phone chimes with an alarm I’ve set for whenever I receive an email from my supposed aunt.
Not this again…
I exhale, annoyed. After weeks, things finally begin to go my way, and of course, there’s a storm cloud waiting to rain down on my life.
It can’t be that bad,I reason. If they really had something on my family, they’d have gone to my father, not me. They’re only approaching me because they think I’ll be easily scared.
I click into the message, and an image fills my screen. It’s a video. I push play and see a woman slumped in the back of a car, groggy.
It’s Ari.
My heart damn near stops in my chest and I struggle to take my next breath.
She looks disoriented, like she’s just woken up. A gag is being shoved into her mouth.
All I can do is watch for thirty-five agonizing seconds, then the screen fades to black. It’s then that I notice a line of text below.
“Are you going to start listening?”
With no better recourse, I call Gabriel Icor.
Hunter
“We have to go to the FBI,” Gabriel insists.
We’ve been working in my suite for the last four hours, but the combined intelligence of myself, Gabriel, and his wife Remi has gotten us nowhere.
And as each minute passes, I feel like we’re running out of time.
I shake my head, refusing to give in. “Once they’re on the case, we’ll have to follow rules, and it closes doors for us, taking away our options.”
“I get it,” Gabriel assures me. “But maybe—”
“I don’t think you do,” I say with an edge. “The FBI isn’t going to care if she’s returned alive.”
“I understand how much she means to you,” Remi says, “But Ari was the hacker and infiltrator. I know my way around programs, but not like she did. There’s precious little the three of us can do.”
“Can you get that friend of yours…Dallanger?”
“He’s away,” Gabriel says. “If we gave him remote access to your system—”
“That would alert my father.”
“We probably need to do that anyway. He has access to some of the brightest minds in the tech world. We need to get him on the case.”
I draw in a frustrated breath, angry that I let this happen.
“You’re not in this alone,” Remi says. “I adore Ari. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more comfortable around someone.”
“She’s pregnant,” I confess.
“Oh…” Gabriel replies.
“I didn’t know until last night. We made up and were talking about a future together. ”
“We have to get her back,” Remi insists. “But first, you need to tell your father.”
