“I’ll show you. Scoot over.” Nick shoved her chair out of the way with his hip, and his fingers flew over her keyboard, entering lines of code as fast as one of the latest computer processors could work.
“There.” He pointed at the monitor and leaned back.
She squinted at the screen as if seeing the details might make it untrue that the world’s most unethical hacker, who held a grudge against her and threatened to kill her, had found her.
She blinked at her screen glowing green in her dark, one-room apartment. Blinked again.
Yeah, there he was. His handle, Typhon, in plain sight. The day he chose the handle was the day she’d fled from him with Nick’s help.
Even if the code wasn’t on the screen in front of her, Nick was a world-renowned cyber expert working at the equally renowned Veritas Center here in Portland. If he said Typhon found her online, then it was inevitable that Typhon would locate her physical address too.
Question was, how much time did she have before she had to leave? Or had he already found her address and was on his way?
Nick eyed her. “Either he doesn’t bother to hide his nickname anymore because he’s desperate to get to you, or he figures he’s untouchable.”
She shook her head. “It’s hard to believe he was once one of the good guys and we all used to work together.”
“Well, he’s not a good guy anymore, and we have to leave now.”
He was right. No waiting. Better to flee.
She powered down her computer and mentally ran through her checklist of To-Do items that she’d followed too many times already. She would complete the essential items now, then go with Nick. When they were safely away, she would implement the plan she’d made for disappearing. She always had an escape plan at the ready. Always would as long as Typhon lived or continued to escape incarceration.
Her computer monitor went dark.
Nick started jerking out the plugs. “I’ll take this to my car and come back for you and your personal belongings.”
“Thanks,” she said and meant it. She appreciated his friendship all these years and his legit concern for her wellbeing.
She got up to pack the few items she didn’t keep at the ready, allowing her to take off with her important items at a moment’snotice. How many times these past three years had she run from Kane and had to leave things behind?
Four? No five. She was starting to lose count.
She emptied her desk drawer containing her valuable papers into her backpack and went to the closet at the far end of the room. In her safe, she removed her backup gun and ammo, shoving it all inside her pack along with her laptop and tablet computers.
A quick shrug of the pack onto her back, and she grabbed the handles on two suitcases she kept filled at all times and rolled them to the front door.
Nick stepped inside. “Just need to get the printer and network devices.”
“Take the printer, but don’t bother with the network. I don’t want to risk Kane tracking them again.”
“Resetting them would work, but yeah, not using them again is ultimately the safest plan.” Grabbing the printer, he glanced at her. “Ready?”
“As I can be.” She retrieved her everyday carry from the drawer and followed him out the door. With a trembling hand, she twisted the deadbolt. She would drop the key in an envelope she kept in her suitcase, already set to mail to the leasing company, and send it from some obscure place that Kane couldn’t trace back to her.
Nick jogged up the stairs through a blustery June breeze.
He took control of the suitcases. “Move it, Stick.”
She wrinkled her nose at his use of her nickname. She possessed an usually high-functioning memory and recall, and he’d given her the nickname as a nod to a memory stick the first week they’d met.
He raced down the stairs at top speed. Her gut tightened more as she charged after him, fighting the wind with each step. She dove into the front seat of his SUV and settled her backpackat her feet. He slammed the hatch and got behind the wheel, not speaking but cranking the engine and roaring out of the parking lot.
She batted her windswept hair from her face and clicked her seatbelt in place. “You think Kane still lives in Portland and is nearby?”
“I think no matter where he lives full time, he’s nearby right now.” His dire tone raised her concern even higher.
“Why?” she asked as she searched out the windows for any sign of the creep but caught only the half-moon beaming down on the road and lighting their way.
