Page 82 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

“What are you thinking?”

“That I’d like to go back to Hanstech after hours and explore unimpeded.”

She wasn’t at all deterred by the thought of a military-grade security on those servers. She’d been courted by the DSS, after all. He couldn’t forget her skills were top-notch. Still ... “I thought you didn’t want to do anything illegal, so why not ask your sister?”

“I’ve already asked her. She’s hoping I will do what I need to do to save Hanstech and protect the both of us from Rowan’s fate. At the same time, she suggested I go home. Essentially, she’s too paralyzed, too terrified to make a real decision. The irony. The thing that estranged me from my family is the very thing that could save what’s left of them now.” Mackenzie released an incredulous bark. “If this is Nebulous 2.0, he’ll make sure I pay whether I stay or go. So I’m staying. If I can get into the other system, then I can confirm whether it’s him. I would recognize his code.”

“What if that’s how your friend realized this was a threat against you? He recognized the code. He knew he needed to deliver your message in person ... all of that because he knew your old Nebulous 2.0 friend would be watching.”

“It makes sense.”

Alex thought through the warning she’d received. “The card with the warning, do you still have it?”

“Sure, I’ll grab it.” She scrambled off the sofa and dug out her wallet from her bag.

But she couldn’t find the card. She dumped the contents of her bag onto the table. Alex wanted to tease her about all the stuff she carried around. She shoved most of it back inside, searching until she found the card, which she handed to Alex.

Alex flipped the card over to the QR code. “I think your friend sent you a message, but he sent you more. It’s hidden in plain sight.”

She absorbed his words, then realization dawned. “Data hidden in the image? Steganography? Why didn’t I think of that?”

Alex scanned the QR code again with his cell, expecting to see the video game character. “Oh no.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a dead link. The message is gone.” A pang of frustration burned in his chest. Then an idea hit him. “But is there a way we could retrieve the message by accessing the Internet archives?”

Mackenzie leaned in close to peer at his cell and the now-defunct link. “I doubt it would have been accessible to the automated crawlers, and it would have been password protected and inaccessible. My friend would have made sure of that.”

“Then why did he take it down?” Alex asked.

“He didn’t take it down. He’s dead, remember? He could have set it up for a limited time, though.”

“We’ll never know if he sent more information.” Alex worked his jaw. Why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? “The game. Knight Alliance.”

She chuckled. “Yeah?”

“Maybe he left a message in the game too. I think it’s worth a look, don’t you?”

His cell dinged with an alert, surprising him.

“What’s that?” She stepped back. “What’s going on?”

“Hold on.” He pulled up the camera. “It’s just a motion detector. I set up some cameras of my own near the memorial. Problem is that animals can set it off, and they do. It’s probably nothing.”

He peered at the dark images, barely discernible at night.

“That doesn’t look like an animal to me,” she said. “Could just be someone on the trail. But I don’t think so.”

“Me either.”

“Let’s go, then.” Mackenzie grabbed her bag.

“Go where?”

“To check it out.”

Heart pounding, he glanced up at her. “Mackenzie, I need to protect you.”