Page 36 of Twice the Rivalry

“Let them in,” Simba ordered.

She nearly faltered, but thankfully managed to keep her composure. “You want me to let them in?” she repeated carefully.

“Let’s see what happens once they get inside,” Simba explained. “Maybe we’ll get something on who they are.”

“At the cost of them learning whoweare,” she reminded him tightly. “All of our shit is there, Simba.”

“They already had information on us before they ever showed up,” Jag pointed out. “Maybe not who we are specifically, but we also took anything with our information before we left. There won’t be much for them to find. You took your hard drives and shit with any of our information on it, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed. “But that doesn’t mean we didn’t forget something.” She shut the guy down one more time, and she heard a curse on the camera audio. It was faint, which meant she couldn’t get much from it, but if she wasn’t mistaken, his accent was American.

“They’re not going to stop until they find us,” Simba said impatiently. “Let him in, Glitch. That’s an order. I’m tired of playing games. Let’s send a message to these assholes, and anyone else that might come after them, that we know they’re coming, and we’re not scared.”

“Yeah,” Taz agreed, a note of excitement in his voice. “I’ve been wanting a good fight, and sounds to me like this is the perfect chance.”

Glitch wanted to argue some more, but she knew better. Once Simba had an idea in his mind, there was no getting him off it. So on the hacker’s next attempt, she backed off, slowly and carefully, letting him think that he had finally bested her. She kept her eyes glued to the screen when she finally let him past all her security, and saw the triumphant look on his face as he finally closed his laptop and pulled the device from the panel, putting them both away in his backpack. They carefully opened the door, all of them pulling guns and entering in perfect formation.

“Last guy in line has a slight limp on his right side,” Code said loudly behind her, pulling her gaze to the rear man, who did in fact have a limp. Glitch relayed that to the team. “I’m searching your database now for anyone who fits that description,” he added, and she heard him tapping away on his keyboard.

“Look for Americans,” she told him.

“Why American?” Simba asked.

“Hacker cursed, and I’m pretty sure, though it was faint, that it was an American accent.”

“We worked with a lot of American teams in the early years,” Karissa reminded them. “It was more foreign teams towards the end.”

Glitch focused back on her monitors and watched as they fanned out, moving quickly and carefully through the main common area, and then up into the rooms. Glitch activated all the cameras in each room. She kept them off unless she needed to have them on for some reason, and she hadn’t told any of her team about them.

“What the fuck? You spying on me now, shorty?” Warg growled.

“They’re only on when we’re not in residence,” she assured him. “Any other time, they’re off.”

“Well, now that I know it’s there, I’ll be giving you a better show,” Taz declared. “No more jerking off under the sheets or in the shower. Can’t deprive you of your view of the best cock you’ve ever seen.”

She rolled her eyes. “The last thing I need to see is your cock, Taz. I’ve seen it enough already,” she reminded him drily. “They’re moving back downstairs and checking out the other rooms,” she announced before Taz could retort.

“Heading for your office,” Jag said grimly.

She hissed at that. She hated anyone in her space, and she didn’t want these assholes messing up her shit. She noticed, though, that it was the hacker that was leading the charge there. “I’m not about to let him in my system, Simba,” she warned.

“Agreed,” Simba replied. “Keep him out.”

The hacker looked around her space, zeroing in on her computer immediately. Predictably, he moved toward it and sat down, booting it up and trying to hack in. “Not today, motherfucker,” she muttered, fingers flying over the keyboard.

“I’ve got eyes on the other men,” Code said loudly behind her. “They’re tossing shit now.” Glitch absentmindedly relayed that to Simba.

“Glitch, you got another headset?” Simba asked her.

“Yeah,” she replied, slamming a wall down on her hacker before setting up another one just in case he broke through it faster than she anticipated.

“Tell him to grab it and put it on. No point in distracting you.”

“Code, grab the headset in my kit,” she barked at him. “You touch anything else in there, I’ll kill you slowly with my knife as soon as we’re done here. I’ll make you suffer for days before I finally end you.”

“Damn, it’s hot when she’s vicious,” Taz joked.

Code got up to do as she ordered. “Should be all programmed,” she told him absently.

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