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Page 17 of Midnight’s Captive (Stroke of Midnight #2)

“You sleeping on the job over there, Ash?” Mocking laughter followed the question.

Ash started, then glared at the man who’d said his name. “Real funny, Mendez.”

Removing his hands from the keyboard, Ash laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. He’d been staring at his computer screen for what felt like hours, waiting for the cyberattacks that brought meaning to his day.

Over the satisfying pops, he taunted Mendez. “Asleep or not, I can kick your ass any day of the week.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. You were over there with a goofy look on your face. New lady?”

Damn. He needed a better poker face. Mendez wasn’t wrong. He wasn’t completely right either. Ash had been focused on—okay, obsessing about—his confrontation with the Jack.

He’d fucked up.

“Maybe,” Ash said. If he had a friend on the team—which he didn’t—it would be Mendez. The other man had been here longer than Ash had. They got along but Ash didn’t trust him. He didn’t—couldn’t—trust any of the other hackers who had been pressed into service by the Tremaine Corporation.

Mendez was clearly waiting for an answer and when Ash took too long to reply, he crowed, “You do! Spill, man!”

Ash sighed and shook his head. The whole team was looking at him now. He had to say something. “There’s nothing to tell. Yet.” There, that sounded mysterious, right?

Razor Jack’s wasn’t a team hangout—it was on the other side of town—but why take unnecessary risks, like giving any of these jokers real information.

“Let’s bet on it.” Excitement tinged Mendez’s voice.

The crazy bastard’s mind worked in mysterious ways. “How is this bet-worthy?”

“Give me a break, Ash. I’m dying of boredom here. So are you. Let’s do something to make this shift less shitty.”

That was why he liked Mendez: the other man wasn’t completely under Tremaine’s thumb.

“Fine. What’s the wager?” The only way to get out of this was to go through it. Any more protesting and they would decide he really did have something to hide. That was the last thing he needed.

Some of the other hackers shouted suggestions ranging from dumb to downright pornographic. Ash swiveled in his chair to study the rest of the group. His team was small, a dozen or so hackers on duty at any given time, with a bona fide Tremaine Security grunt riding herd.

The security center was smaller than most people expected. It was set up like a theater, with three rows of workstations stair-stepped up one side of the room. Ash’s desk was in the top row, Mendez’s right next to him. Some hackers worked with a cluster of screens mounted around their station, hands practically strapped to their keyboards. Others preferred headsets that put them right into the cyber battle. The only way to get closer to the action was to link up through a bodyport. No one on this team was allowed to have an active port.

Ash raised a hand to the back of his neck, brushing his fingertips over the skin at his hairline. His port was a hard metal nub, right below a layer of skin. So close to the surface, but sealed off as long as he was under Tremaine’s thumb.

He thought about taking a razor to the skin and freeing the port almost every damn day. Each time he resisted the urge, knowing it wouldn’t do him any good and might make things worse for Hope.

The curved wall at the front of the room was essentially a giant monitor. Computer code scrolled along the edges of the screen, with a digital map occupying the center of the display. Little red dots indicated where the nonstop barrage of attempted hacks originated.

The Tremaine Corporation was under nearly constant cyberattack every minute of every day. The majority of the attempted breaches were stopped by the company’s firewall and automated defenses. Ash and the rest of this crew weren’t called in until those measures failed. Then it was a race to prevent the attacks from making it all the way through to the juicy data at the center of the company.

Right now, a few of his team were busy blocking attacks. That was the thing about this job: there was always another attack incoming.

“Here’s the rules,” Mendez announced. “As soon as we’re in our chairs, Ash and I will go head-to-head on the next ping. If I beat Ash, I get to hear about the girl.”

Boos nearly drowned Mendez out.

“Fine. If I win, we all get to hear about Ash’s new girlfriend.”

Cheers echoed around the room.

Ash waved his hands to get them to quiet down. “What happens when I win?”

Mendez grinned and the rest of their team laughed. “Then you don’t have to tell us.”

Ash chuckled. “That hardly seems like a prize worthy of my skills.”

Mendez rolled his eyes. “Fine, if you win—and that’s a big if—I’ll buy the beers tonight.”

“Deal. But I’m going to make it cost you.”

Ash would rather spend another evening with the Jack, but until he could figure out how to get unbanned, that wasn’t an option. Spending time with his team was an almost worthy replacement. They usually grabbed drinks at least once a week and he couldn’t afford to change his schedule too much. His work with Portia was already gaining unwanted attention.

Settling into his chair, Ash shifted so he could see Mendez out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t know the other man’s story. That was an unspoken rule among the hackers the Tremaine Corporation had captured and put to work: Don’t talk about your past. Ash had worked with him for nearly the entire time he’d been at Tremaine Corporation and knew that Mendez had mad hacking skills and a wicked sense of humor. But the other man had been careful not to drop any other details about where he came from.

It didn’t matter, though. Ash was better than anyone here.

“You ready?” Another hacker stood next to his chair. Someone else was next to Mendez.

“Always.” More than ready. The competition with Mendez was a good distraction from Portia’s assignment and his utter failure to convince the Jack to help him out.

Ava, one of the two female hackers on the team, stepped into the space between Ash and Mendez so they both could see her. “Okay, boys. You know the terms. Whoever stops the next ping wins.”

The room was quiet, something that rarely happened on shift.

Ash played his fingers lightly over the keyboard, keeping them loose, keeping them flexible. The big map on the wall should be his focus, but he spared a moment to glance at Mendez. Bundled into a padded chair like Ash’s, the other man had strapped on his preferred goggles. Mendez turned his head and raised his fingers to his forehead in salute. Ash nodded back.

His gaze flicked over the map, watching the dots of light as they flared and died when they hit the firewalls.

Shouldn’t be long now until one slipped through.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when the wall flared red and the screech of an alarm echoed through the room.

Showtime!

Information flashed on his monitor. Attack origination, suspected target, and bits and pieces of code that the hacker was throwing at the system. Ash’s focus narrowed to the screen in front of him and the outside world faded away.

“All right, Takata Corp. Let’s see what you’ve got,” Ash murmured. He recognized the technique on the other end, knew they were part of the Takata Corp. They’d met before, multiple times, usually battling to a draw. The other hacker hadn’t gotten in, but they’d made Ash work for the block.

Ash’s fingers danced over the keyboard, faster than he’d even been during his pre-Tremaine days.

His moves were unconscious, motor memory and years of experience guiding him. The other hacker thrust, Ash parried. Ash attacked, they countered. Ash smiled, enjoying the routine. “You act like you’re giving me something, but you take it away.”

Cut the move off there.

“Ooh, a fancy misdirect. Still not fancy enough.”

Then, suddenly, code on the other end got more interesting. More complicated. “That’s new.”

That didn’t stop Ash from finding a pattern and blocking it.

The hacker on the other end tried to hide his attack via a series of reroutes and layers of more complicated code.

Ash snorted. It looked complex, but it wasn’t. “Sorry, friend. That’s not going to work either.”

What was Mendez doing right now? Probably something very similar. Ash could spend time trying to watch Mendez, but he wanted to catch this hacker instead.

“Oh, I see what you’re trying to do.” Underneath the misdirects and the crazy code writing, Ash saw signs that he was getting close to the other hacker’s firewall.

Good.

Ash was so close he could taste it. Mendez would be hot on his trail, so he needed to shut the intruder down.

Now.

Ash’s fingers flew over the keyboard, a combination of keystrokes that would render the computer on the other end useless. It was an old trick, one he’d used before.

He waited a fraction of a second for a response from the other end of the line.

Nothing.

Ash launched a final attack, in case his last trick hadn’t stopped the hacker. He slammed down on the final key and held his breath. Around him, he sensed the rest of the team holding their breath too.

Seconds later, the room burst into cheers. Ash thought they were for him, but it was possible—barely—that Mendez had owned the final block.

“Damn, Ash. You’re fucking amazing.”

“Yeah, I am.” It wasn’t bragging when it was the truth.

A different voice said, “Man, Mendez, you were so close.”

“I know,” Mendez said, his voice gruff with disappointment.

Ash swiveled to face him.

Mendez pushed his goggles to his forehead, shook his head in rueful acceptance. “Next time, Ash. Next time.”

“Any time.” Ash smiled his cockiest smile.

Mendez flipped him off.

Ash laughed, then looked at the big screen. He wanted to make sure that the attack vector really was stopped. Though he hated his job, he took threat neutralization seriously. Part of it was just the way he was wired: he hated doing a half-assed job. The rest was purely to protect his sister.

The board showed the threat gone, so Ash finally relaxed. “Sorry, Mendez, looks like you’re gonna have to pay up.”

He pushed out of the chair and stretched. His shoulders ached like he’d had a punishing workout, instead of just a computer battle.

Mendez grumbled, then said, “Fine, first round’s on me tonight.”

He’d won, so he didn’t have to say anything, but in the spirit of team building, he threw them a bone. “If it’s any consolation, she’s way out of my league and doesn’t want to see me again.”

They groaned. Mendez slapped his hand over his heart. “You’re cruel, Ash. Cruel!”

He smiled. “I know. Imagine how boring I’d be otherwise.”

The rest of the shift passed quickly. The mood remained light, the work steady and easy. After Ash’s battle with Mendez, the team split their time razzing Mendez about the loss and Ash about his new “girlfriend.”

The Jack as his girlfriend. That’d be amazing if it weren’t so terrifying. In the brief time he’d spent with her, she’d been smart and funny, savvy and thoughtful, intense and scary. Add in those eyes that looked like they’d seen infinity and a body that wouldn’t stop...

The Jack was the kind of woman you lost your soul to.

Ash shook his head and banished that daydream. That was the problem. He’d already sold his soul to the Tremaine Corporation. If even the tiniest bit of it was salvageable... well, that part belonged to Hope.

“Ready for those drinks?” Mendez ambled over when Ash logged off.

Ash shook his head. “Can’t. Something came up,” he said. He’d received an email an hour ago demanding his presence in the executive suite. Not wanting to draw unwanted attention to his arrangement with Portia, he’d ignored it in order to finish his shift.

Of course, Mendez took that as an invitation to give him more shit. “Ooh, is it your hot lady friend?”

More like the Ice Queen. “I wish. A work thing.”

“Shit. What’s wrong? Something happen on shift?” Now he looked alarmed, the opposite of what Ash had wanted.

“No. It’s probably nothing.” Trying to lighten the mood, he added, “I probably screwed something up.”

Mendez put his hand on Ash’s shoulder and applied pressure until he looked at him. “Don’t even joke about that. I’ve seen what they’ve done to hackers who screw up.” He shuddered. “It’s not pretty.”

Ash already knew that. He’d screwed up once and those memories haunted him. The punishment hadn’t been physical. Security had explained in excruciating detail what would happen to Hope if he stepped out of line again.

“Maybe it’s gotten better under Tremaine’s daughter?” Ash aimed for a super casual tone.

“I haven’t heard anything,” Mendez said. “You gotta wonder, is nothing happening or is it so bad no one can talk about it?”

Ash grimaced. He’d had those same thoughts even before he’d been called into Portia’s office. “Well, that courier sure hasn’t disappeared. Maybe that’s a good sign.”

Mendez sputtered a laugh. “Shit. She’s banging that investor. I’d bang him too if I thought it would save me from the wrath of Portia Tremaine.”

Ash stared at him for a second then burst out laughing. He was gasping for air by the time he got it under control. “Damn. I didn’t peg you for a romantic, Mendez.”

“I call them like I see ’em,” he said, even as he flipped Ash off again.

The newsies were selling Dizzie and Killian as the love story of the century. Every damn broadcast was full of comparisons to the great love stories—Romeo and Juliet, Bogey and Bacall, Buffy and Spike.

Ash didn’t know what part of the reporting was true and what wasn’t, but it sounded like one hell of a fairy tale. The kind that made you wish you believed in happy-ever-afters. Stupid fools.

Mendez had a funny look on his face. Ash had missed something. “What?”

“You all right? You spaced out for a minute there.”

“Yeah, fine. Just, you know, late nights.”

“You dog!” Mendez bumped his shoulder.

Ash didn’t have a chance to respond. The doors to the room flew open and a pair of Tremaine Security guards stepped through.

“Ash Cutter. You need to come with us.”

Next to him, Mendez stiffened.

“What’s the problem?” Ash asked, trying to keep his cool.

The guard shrugged. “Ms. Tremaine wants to see you.”

The entire room gasped. Ash hoped it was about the super-secret project she’d assigned him, the one he couldn’t tell anybody about. No wonder everyone thought he was in trouble.

Ash consciously steeled his spine. “Ready when you are.” He injected as much I’m-not-worried into his voice as he could.

He had to believe it was only because he’d ignored her summons. Anything else... he swallowed hard. Anything else would be catastrophic.