Page 100 of Until the End

Kit nodded.

The driver hopped out. A Latino man in his early twenties. “Winner of Scion7?”

“Avirom,” Kit said without hesitation.

It was a challenge–response authentication of identity. A set of protocols where one party gave a question and the other party provided a valid answer. This must’ve been the hackers’ lite version.

“Sex on the Beach,” the man said.

Something about that prompt made her smile. “Rusty Nail.”

“I’m Nim. I was told passage for you. Not him.” The guy flicked a wary glance at Castle.

Kit took a step forward. “I’m sure you’ve heard what happened to my group. He’s my private bodyguard. I don’t go anywhere without him.”

“You need this meeting with Henry,” Nim said. “Not the other way around. We’re no threat to you, but I can’t say the same about him to us. He stays. I’ll bring you right back here when you’re finished.”

“She doesn’t go without me.” Castle tried to soften his tone, less hard-as-granite, more easy-breezy.

“Sorry.” The kid shook his head, gaze bouncing between them. “No dice.”

Kit looped her arm around Castle’s. “Tell Henry the Pwnie is his if my bodyguard can come.”

Nim’s eyebrows shot to the sky at the offer. He nodded with an excited grin, took out a cell, and drifted out of earshot.

“What is the pony?” Castle asked. It had to be something big if it could get him in the door with no further questions asked.

“The Pwnie is an award given every year at the Black Hat conference for excellence as well as incompetence. Pwn is hacker jargon, means to own, take control of. Like I totally own your network. The ultimate dis.”

Maybe if you were an IT nerd.

“Add an ‘ie’ to the end and you get Pwnie, but it’s pronounced pony. Get it?”

Fuck no. That made no sense. “Yep.”

“Anyway, CONTRA84 won the last four years in a row for the former, until we broke their streak and stole it. Henry’s pissed and wants it.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“It’s highly coveted.” She cocked her head to the side, those sweet lips flattened into a harsh line. “Lose the judgy face. It won’t go over well with Henry. His sense of humor isn’t as good as mine.”

“What was with the drinks, Sex on the Beach and Rusty Nail?”

“The last time I saw Henry, it was at a bar in Vegas, where I had the pleasure of gloating over the Pwnie. That’s what we ordered. I’m not really supposed to drink with my meds, but sometimes I have a few sips to be social.”

Nim came back. “You have a deal. Weapons?” He looked at Castle. “You strike me as the kind of guy who’s packing. You probably don’t need it to do much damage where we’re going.”

“You want me to hand it to you right here on the street?” Castle asked. “Might be better to keep a low profile.”

Nim opened the rear cargo door and gestured for them to enter.

Castle helped Kit inside and then sat beside her on the bench seat that resembled one from a police transport van. There were no windows, and a steel plate separated the back from the driver’s compartment.

Nim tossed a backpack in. “You can put your gun in there.”

Castle withdrew his Maxim 9.

“Holy shit! That’s big,” Nim said.