“Fuck!”
For a second, Ash considered warning the Tremaine Corporation that they would be under attack. He might have considered it a few days ago, based on his growing friendship with Portia Tremaine. Even that had been put at risk with Hope’s abduction.
No, calling the company wasn’t in the cards. Hacking them was.
He was right back where he’d started five years ago. Ash hoped he didn’t screw up the same way.
“Well, he seems delightful,” Taryn said, startling a laugh out of him.
“That’s one word for it.” The rest of them weren’t nearly as nice.
“What do you think? Do you know where Hope is?” she asked.
Ash shook his head. “I think he’s got a camera feed on her. When he said lots of people are watching her, I think that’s true. I think he set up a stream so members of the hacker collective can keep an eye on her.”
“That was the sense I got, too. Can you hack into the feed?” She shifted on the couch so she sat perpendicular to him, one bare foot on the ground. But she never let go of his hand.
“I don’t know.” He leaned against the couch back. “Probably. But would that harm Hope?”
She raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“I think it’s a trap. He’ll be watching for any attempts to hack that feed. Waiting for it. He warned me about doing any kind of trace on the code he sent me. I have to assume he’s covered any and all electronic access points.”
“That’s it? You’re giving up?” Her disappointed tone hit him deep inside.
“No.” His denial was vehement. “I have an idea how to work around the code problem, but Hope is a different story. She’s in a room somewhere. I couldn’t see any distinguishing features in the room.”
“Did you record it?”
“I did.” He called up the recording.
“Give me a minute.” She released his hand and popped up from the sofa. Curious what she was doing, he nevertheless enjoyed the view.
She returned a moment later with a notepad. “Play it again.” She leaned close and he wrapped an arm around her so they could both view the tiny screen.
Taryn listened to the call and watched the video. Then she watched the video again. She bit her lip and stared at the device. She watched a third time. “Can you put the video up on that?” She pointed to the wall-mounted screen tucked into a corner.
“Sure.” A few quick swipes and Hope’s room appeared onscreen.
Taryn got up and stood right in front of him. “Zoom in on the equipment.”
“What are you looking for?” he asked. Watching her work was fascinating, even though he had no idea what she was doing.
“Brands, models. We can use that information to identify where they’re holding her.”
“I don’t have time to track all this stuff down. Even if I did, it would take me forever. We don’t have time for this.”
“Did I askyouto track anything?” Taryn asked.
“No.”
“Exactly.” She pinned him with a look. “I have someone who can look into it for me.”
They worked together in near silence. She scribbled notes and pointed at parts of the screen and he captured the best-quality images he could.
Taryn was amazing. She pointed out details that he hadn’t noticed.
“Okay, I think that’s all of them,” she said several minutes later. “Send them to me and I’ll get someone on it.”
