Page 13 of Hide and Seek

Carter is the head of the Rebels’ cybersecurity, and he also runs our security systems. He’s the only person on campus who knows all the layers of security we have in place, and he’s the only one who can access them. He also has a lucrative side gig doing hack jobs for past members and stress-testing their cybersecurity because of how incredibly skilled he is.

If this kid is as good as that, then Jace has his work cut out for him.

“Yeah.” He nods. “I’m doing what I can, but it’s like trying to swim upstream through molasses because his entire system is organized chaos.”

“What do you mean?” I ask. “Like it’s a mess, or it’s purposely messy?”

“Both.” He taps his fingers against the arm of his chair. “Nothing about it makes any logical sense, but there’s enough of a pattern that I know the chaos isn’t random. He’s created so many loops and turns and dead ends and fake pathways it’s like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube while navigating a labyrinth blindfolded, and you still have to solve three riddles and pull a sword out of stone before you can escape.”

“Is that normal?” I ask.

“You’re asking me about being normal?” Jace grins. “Sorry, don’t know her.”

“I mean, is that typical for hackers?” I correct with a smirk. No one has ever accused Jace or me of being normal.

“To a degree, yes. We all hide shit in case anyone gets into our systems, but the layers of encryption and the insane number of traps he’s woven into every aspect of his system are beyondanything I’ve ever seen. It’s even more complicated and efficient than mine, and that’s saying something.”

“Do you think that’s an offensive or defensive move?”

“Both.” He grabs a pack of gum off his desk and pops a piece into his mouth. “It’s defense because he’s obviously expecting people to try and break in so they can snoop around, but it’s also offense because there’s a fuck ton of traps to catch his expected snoopers and destroy not just their days, but their entire systems. Bro’s creative and damn good at what he does, and that can be a lethal combo for us mere mortals. The only reason he hasn’t been able to backtrace me is that Carter built me a custom cloaking system specific to his signatures. Without that, he would have made me ten times over by now.”

I let that tumble around in my mind for a few beats. “But this is also the same guy who literally handed you a way to hack him.”

Jace nods and blows a bubble. “Yup. He practically rolled out the red carpet when he put that backdoor in his code.”

“How does that even make sense?” I ask. “Do you still think it was a taunt?”

“Yes and no.” He snaps his gum loudly. “I’m not in the guy’s head, so I might be off my rocker here, but I’m guessing he didn’t think I’d be good enough to actually use it. And now that I have, I’m starting to think yourhe’s trying to get caughttheory from a few weeks ago is the more probable answer.”

“You do?” I sit up straighter. “Why? What changed?”

“He got an email from Jacob Fisher last night. Or at least someone using his email account since Jacob’s dead and all.”

“And what did it say?” I press when he blows another bubble with his gum.

“That his debt hasn’t been paid in full yet, and he should expect to be contacted again.”

“Really?” I ask flatly. “You didn’t think this was important enough to lead with?”

“Oh, I did.” He grins. “I just wanted to add a little flair to your life and build it up a bit first.”

Now it’s my turn to give him a “go ahead” gesture. “Anything else you need to tell me now that I’m all flaired up?”

Jace snickers. “Sounds like you need to see the school doc, bro.”

“You want to practice knife catching?” I ask. “Because I’m about five seconds from throwing one at your face.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” He shoots me a cheesy grin.

“The email,” I remind him.

“Right! I was able to trace the IP address, which was actually ridiculously easy, and it came from King House.”

“Not surprising since he worked there,” I point out.

“Nope, just surprising because he’s supposed to be dead, and dead dudes don’t write emails.” He blows a bubble with his gum. “What do you think they mean by his debt? I’ve found a shit ton of evidence that the kid was blackmailed into helping with the whole offing Felix thing, but no evidence of what they have on him.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find anything in my deep dives.” I lean back on my hands and stretch my legs out. “I can’t even find a connection between him and the Kings other than Boone House being in their territory.”