Page 53 of Midnight’s Captive (Stroke of Midnight #2)

Ash struggled to find his footing against the Tremaine cybersecurity measures. He knew what they were, where they were. He’d even spent hours thinking about how to beat them over the last five years.

And right now, none of that was working.

He needed to get deep enough into the system to trigger the big traps. The ones that could catch and keep Caspar.

Right now, his only advantage was knowing his old teammates’ styles.

He dodged Ava when he encountered her first. Ash felt bad when he slipped by her easily. These were the people he’d spent his time with. His people.

Betraying them turned his stomach. But right now, they stood between Ash and his sister’s long-term freedom. Never a good place to be.

“Looks like you’ve slowed down some, boy.”

Caspar. Ash would recognize that fucking drawl anywhere.

What the hell? Ash was supposed to let him into the system.

“Decided to make sure you didn’t set up a special welcoming party for me.”

“You’ve been here the whole time?”

His laugh told Ash everything he needed to know. Caspar had been trailing him inside the system and he had completely missed it.

“I’m sorry, Hope,” Ash whispered into the darkness. He couldn’t handle the corporation and Caspar at the same time.

It felt like he’d been here for hours, but the tiny clock ticking away in the corner of his display said it had only been one.

Ash’s heart rate suddenly sped up. He wasn’t alone. “Taryn?”

He had to concentrate to only speak to her in the real world. Projecting his thoughts about her into the network stream would only bring more trouble to her door. He’d complicated her life enough.

“I brought you something.”

“Water?”

She paused. “I can get you some.”

“Yes, please.” His voice was scratchy.

Taryn returned quickly and pressed a bottle of water into his hand. He gulped it down gratefully, not caring that some of it dribbled down his chest.

He handed the glass back and prepared to face Caspar again.

“Are you ready?”

Had she read his mind? “Not even close,” he admitted.

There was a long pause, then she said, “I promise it will help.”

“What?” He wasn’t following their conversation.

“Lift your hands.”

He did as she asked, completely confused. It was hard to concentrate on both worlds when he was riding the network.

She slid some sort of tray over his lap. Part of the chair or something else?

“Give me your hands.”

He lowered them slowly. She met him halfway, taking a hand in each of hers.

His shoulders relaxed and he let her guide his hands where she needed them.

She set his hands on something plastic, with ragged edges and textured holes across the top.

It felt like a keyboard, but... “Where are the keys?”

“The keys... had a little run in with the pimp and his muscle. But I don’t think you need them.”

“Why? What are we doing?” Taryn wasn’t making sense. What did a broken keyboard and a pimp have to do with hacking into the Tremaine Corporation?

She must have read his confused silence. “You haven’t ported into the system in several years, right?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You’re used to a keyboard. Well, I brought you a keyboard.”

She didn’t get it. She completely misunderstood how porting worked. “I, ah, appreciate what you did, but I can’t use a keyboard for this hack.”

“I’m not an idiot, Ash.” There was a bite to her words. “I know you can’t use it for the hack. It’s here for your mind to use it.”

“What the fuck are you taking about?” He needed to end this conversation and refocus on Caspar.

“You’ve trained your brain to think about hacks in terms of the keyboard, right? That’s how you do what you do now. Since you’re rusty, put your hands on the keyboard like you’re used to, then channel those actions into the network.”

It sounded crazy. But sometimes the craziest plans worked.

Did he trust her enough to try?

Yes. Definitely.

Ash placed his hands on the keyboard. It felt weird because of the missing keys, but he found a familiar position.

He blew out a long breath. “Okay, here goes.”

Before Caspar had shown up, he’d been trying to get through the second-level firewall. Mendez’s defenses had been giving him fits. He hadn’t been fast enough to beat them.

Putting Taryn’s theory into practice, he imagined what he’d do if he were countering the attack from the control room. The commands came easily to his fingertips.

Fingers flying across the broken keyboard, he imagined the commands in his head and manifested them on the network. Was it faster?

Maybe. He wasn’t getting as hung up thinking about what he needed to do instead of doing it.

This time he was able to slip past Mendez and could sense Caspar on his tail. Two more barriers and he could spring one of the more dangerous traps on Caspar.

Bridging the gap between his port and the keyboard got easier with each command. With every keystroke, Ash envisioned the command and it manifested in the network.

He used all the knowledge he’d learned from defending the corporation to attack it, ignoring the pangs of guilt. He’d deal with the fallout later.

At the next barrier, he threw up a shade to blend in with the surroundings, a trick he’d learned from one of the hackers who’d tried to compromise the Tremaine system. He’d studied their moves and taught himself to do them.

One millisecond he was fighting Tremaine cybersecurity, the next he’d gone invisible, bypassed their counterattacks, and entered the final level. “Can’t see me, can you,” he murmured, making sure to keep that thought out of the network. While security searched for him, he stepped into a data stream.

The data stream would take him close to where he wanted to go. And close enough to what Caspar wanted that maybe Ash could convince him that was where they were.

“Neat trick, boy.” Ash heard Caspar but couldn’t see him.

Did that mean he couldn’t see Ash?

He still didn’t have a plan. That didn’t matter, now that both Taryn and Hope were safe. Taryn would take care of his sister if something happened to him. He could be as ruthless as necessary.

Ash hadn’t expected his strange friendship with Portia. He would do his best to protect the company.

He raced toward another stream of data. He knew where he was now. And he knew how to beat Caspar. He just needed time and maybe a little luck.

Whatever tricks Caspar had up his sleeve, Ash could counter them. Taryn had given him a new perspective and he would use every analog trick he’d learned.

With that confidence wrapped around him, Ash triggered Caspar’s piece of code and let himself truly slip into the zone.