Chapter 2
~ Braden ~
Yes!
After years of waiting for her call, I finally got her—Sammie the Snake, the slickest, trickiest, and most slippery hacker who stupidly sacrificed herself for “lurve.”
Why do I care?
Let me introduce myself.
I’m Braden Powers, a hacker’s worst nightmare. I get paid big money, anonymously, to trap hackers and take them down. You might say I’m an online vigilante, scouring the nether regions of the dark web for my prey.
I’ve been on the trail of Mitch the Bitch Slack, former CEO of TrophyShots, an online photo and video-sharing site that is a front for blackmail and sextortion schemes. On the surface, he runs a quasi-legitimate dating or hookup site, but that’s how he collects information.
The man disappeared a year ago, and I managed to pay off the phone company to let me have his cell number.
I can’t believe the number of irate women Mitch left high and dry, and yeah, it’s always funny to pretend to be Mitch the Bitch, although maybe I should use a falsetto voice since everyone’s always asking whether I have a cold or not.
Sammie might have thought she was special, but unlike the other women calling Mitch, she’s the only one who is a convicted hacker. I doubt she would have been caught had Mitch not set her up for the fall.
Anyway, it behooves me to check her out. My clients are paying me big bucks to take Mitch down, wherever he is.
The prison isn’t far from where I’m hiding out, but I’ll let Miss Sammie wait. It’ll get her nice and riled up, and I do love it when a female is emotional and upset.
Makes her hotter when she spits fire at me.
Sure enough, she’s texting me, but I ignore the barrage of text chimes on my phone while I finish up with the website I’m investigating.
After combing my hair and spritzing on a sexy aftershave, I pull the Mercedes Benz out of the secluded location’s garage and set the navigation app for the prison.
I take a few seconds to scroll through Sammie’s irate messages.
You can’t shut me off like a spigot.
Don’t think I’m hooking up with you again. I just need a ride and to let you know where I stand.
You want me to keep quiet, you’d better text back.
My phone’s still chiming with an onslaught of messages, each more threatening than the next.
I’ve had it, so I text her.
You ever wonder if your chattiness is a liability?
Keep quiet, for bleep’s sake.
Expect me in a silver sedan, and shut up, for once.
That gets her to stop and consider whereshestands. Besides, I want her as off guard as possible.
It turns out, I’m the one caught off guard.
After crossing the remote mountain passes into the valley, I finally zoom through the barren rolling hills to the prison yard. While I drive, I try to figure out what Sammie will want.
A steak dinner, perhaps?
A shopping trip or maybe a spa visit?
