The Hack, page 9
Ari could answer, but if his voice sounded different, or if someone else answered at the same time, it would raise even more alarms, so he said nothing and focused on getting out as quickly as possible.
Ari looked around desperately, but this window was their best bet. He reached up, positioning his hands above Raya’s. “On the count of three, push as hard as you can. One, two, three!”
Ari grunted as they pushed the window, but it didn’t budge an inch.
The door opened and he grabbed Raya’s hand, crouching low. He brought a finger to his lips, as her eyes darted around. A single set of footsteps echoed through the room.
“Tim is down!” a man said.
“Move to the end of the shelves,” Raya whispered under her breath, her voice barely audible.
Their eyes met and he nodded. Keeping low, Ari rushed to the metal shelves, using it for protection as footsteps grew louder.
“Scope the room. Find her!” another voice said through his earpiece.
Ari’s eyes darted to the door which had been left open.
He tilted his head toward it and Raya’s gaze followed. She nodded.
Ari strained to hear behind them, when he heard nothing, he peered around the corner, glimpsing the leg of a man as he walked past the shelving Raya was hiding behind. He ducked a little lower, to see if anyone was following the man.
When he couldn’t see anyone, he curled his fingers, motioning Raya forward.
She darted across to the shelving he was hiding behind and he pulled her in, her back flat against his chest.
“The door is open. We need to sneak out of it before anyone else comes in,” he whispered in her ear.
She nodded, her shoulder brushing against his chest as she peered around the shelving.
“Now,” she whispered.
“Go!” Ari said, right behind her. He looked over his shoulder at the man’s back as he walked away from them.
They ran into the hallway and then to the left.
They were fully exposed and Ari didn’t like it one bit. He couldn’t see any light switches or anything they could use to their advantage.
They sprinted down the hallway, knowing time was their only advantage right now. So when Raya suddenly halted and turned back, he almost tripped over his feet.
CHAPTER 15
“Raya!” he said, swearing under his breath. He didn’t like it when she went rogue.
“Two seconds,” she said, disappearing behind a slightly ajar door.
He looked up and down the hallway frantic, but no one came after them. Nonetheless he couldn’t stand there and do nothing so he followed her into the room.
As soon as he stepped inside, he understood why she’d stopped. He didn’t know if he agreed with it, but when he laid his eyes on the computer rack and the multiple monitors, he understood.
Raya had her hands on one of the computers and inserted a hard drive into it, before moving the other boxes on the shelf to hide the hard drive. She rushed to the computer system and typed furiously. His eyes darted between the door and the monitor, impressed by the speed at which she used the code he’d given her previously to load malware onto a system and create a virtual door.
He watched as she typed code into the system and then a bar came up, indicating a file transfer had activated.
Ari held his breath as it slowly loaded. His pulse increased with every second they spent in the room. He didn’t know how much time they had, but he felt like they were about to run out any moment now.
“Block the exits, shut down the building.”
“Raya, they’re shutting down the building. We need to go!” Ari urged, but Raya’s eyes were on the monitor.
“Ninety percent,” she said.
Ari blew out a breath. “We don’t have time,” he said, his eyes darting to the hallway.
“Ninety-five percent,” she said, like he couldn’t see the bar on the screen.
Ari shifted on his feet. He did not want to die in this building. Maybe he should leave her, but he knew he was not going to do that.
“We’re not going through all of this for nothing,” she said.
When the bar fully loaded he exhaled with relief. “Let’s go.”
She nodded then began typing more code, making his eyes bulge. “Raya!” he hissed.
“One second,” she said before the room went dark.
Ari pulled the drive from the system and tucked it into his pocket.
“Let’s go,” she said, tugging on his arm.
They crept along the dark hallway, their hands feeling against the wall to guide them. Ari hoped they weren’t suddenly going to run into another human being, because he couldn’t see his own feet let alone someone else’s. Nor did he hear any communication through the earpiece.
“Did you disable communication?” he asked in a hushed voice.
“No, just the lights. Why?” Raya asked quickly.
“They’re not saying anything,” he said, suspecting they’d realized Raya had taken Tim’s comms.
“Shh!” Raya said, reaching an arm back. Ari froze, unsure what she could hear that he couldn’t. Then he heard it, the faint echo of footsteps.
“The door isn’t far away, we’re so close,” she whispered under her breath.
Ari listened for the footsteps, but they seemed to be moving away from them.
“Go!” he urged quietly.
They crept forward and Ari was glad Raya knew where she was because he was disoriented in the dark. As they turned the corner, Ari saw the exit light above—still lit up.
They moved faster and were almost at the door when the lights turned back on, the sudden change temporarily blinding them.
When Ari’s vision cleared, he realized they weren’t alone.
“Go!” Ari screamed as two men began running toward them, raising weapons.
Raya flung the door open and ran through it. Ari was right behind her, bullets hitting the metal door behind him. He turned, firing blindly over his shoulder as they sprinted for his car. He unlocked it and they jumped in as the front windshield shattered.
“Get down!” Ari said as he started the car, put it in drive and planted his foot on the accelerator. He swung the car around and headed for the street as the back window shattered and the sound of gunshots hitting his beloved car made his blood boil. He swerved, making it harder for them to hit his tires. He pulled the steering wheel down hard, turning onto the street and veering directly into traffic. He exhaled the breath he’d been holding and Raya lifted her head tentatively when no more bullets followed them. But they’d seen his license plate. Raya was no longer the only person of interest.
Raya looked him over. “Are you okay?”
He clenched his jaw. He was more pissed about her going rogue than being shot at. But the second he saw her face fall, he regretted his sour face.
“I’m fine,” he said, reining in his anger. “You?” he asked as he changed lanes, his eyes darting between her and his rearview mirror. They needed to change cars fast. Not only did they know his plate, but with shattered front and back windows they were going to attract a lot of attention.
Raya pulled out her laptop and began typing but he couldn’t pay attention to what she was doing—he had enough to focus on.
“We need to swap cars,” he said. “They’ll track us.”
She nodded, indicating she’d heard him. “Two seconds,” she said, her focus solely on her laptop.
A bar loaded on her laptop and then it revealed a mirror image of the screen in the warehouse. She nodded, seemingly pleased with herself.
“Are you in?” he asked, watching her carefully.
“Full access,” she said quickly. “Now we just have to hope it takes them a little while to figure out what we were doing. Hopefully they’ll be focused on the room with the archive boxes,” Raya said.
Ari’s eyes lingered on her a second before returning to the road. “Let’s get somewhere safe and then I’ll see if I can bridge the systems.”
She popped her head up. “Turn down there,” she said.
He frowned, but he made the turn.
“Pullover!” she said, pointing.
His eyebrows weaved together as he pulled up next to an older model black SUV. She jumped out and his eyebrows lifted when he realized she was breaking into the car. Despite the last hour, his lips threatened to curl up at the edges. Raya couldn’t drive, but she knew how to steal a car. Interesting.
She ran to his door. “I’ll drive behind you. Let’s dump your car somewhere so they don’t immediately link it to the address of this stolen car, and then you can take over the driving.”
“I thought you said you can’t drive,” he said, watching her carefully.
“I can’t, not really,” she said shaking her head. “Look, I know how to make it move. I just don’t have a license. A few blocks, that’s all I can manage,” she said, biting her lip.
He grinned. “Follow me.”
She ran back to the car, had the engine running a minute later, then he drove forward and she pulled out behind him.
He wondered how many cars she’d stolen in her lifetime and made a mental note to ask her later.
Ari loaded the navigation system on his phone and found a bridge to dump his car near. His eyes darted between the road and Raya in the car behind, marveling at the twists his life had taken in the last twenty-four hours.
At the bridge, he parked the car on the side of the street and got out, running to Raya’s car. She climbed out, opening the door for him and ran around to the passenger seat. She buckled in, making him smile. He’d not picked her for a rule-follower.
“Thank you,” she said, looking up at him. “You didn’t have to come inside, you could’ve left.”
He nodded. He could’ve, and he wasn’t entirely sure why he hadn’t so he said nothing, returning his attention to the road. He could feel her eyes on him a moment longer before she returned her attention to her laptop.
He drove in silence as she tapped away on the keyboard. Every now and then she paused, squinting, then typed more code. The entire drive to the motel was spent stealing glimpses of her working, and he realized that he liked it. Ari hadn’t grown up with many friends—at least not real friends. Everyone had always wanted something from him, or some connection to the Rossi name. Raya also wanted something from him, but at least she was direct and told him upfront. He appreciated that—he respected that.
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and he found his gaze following her fingers.
A car honked behind him and his eyes snapped to the road, but the burst of anger wasn’t aimed at him. The highway was suddenly jammed and unease crept up the back of his throat like a weed. He checked the mirrors, but didn’t see a tail.
Raya looked up, then over her shoulder. “What’s going on?”
Ari shifted in his seat but he couldn’t see. “I don’t know, probably an accident.” His eyes dropped to the computer. “What are you doing? Can they track you?”
She shook her head quickly. “No.” She paused. “I don’t think so,” she added before typing more code then closing her laptop. Raya pulled her sleeve over her hand and pressed it against her bleeding temple. She pulled it away, looking at it for a moment before pressing her hand back to her temple.
The sound of a helicopter above caused his eyes to snap up and his pulse to spike. How far would these men go to protect their secrets?
Stay calm, he told himself.
CHAPTER 16
The helicopter flew over them like a bad omen. She looked to Ari, but his gaze was upward. His fingers tapped nervously on the steering wheel.
“If there’s an accident ahead, maybe the helicopter is for that,” Raya suggested, her voice lacking conviction.
Ari’s response was equally lacking conviction. “Maybe.”
Raya looked to the rearview mirror, almost expecting to see a man in a suit standing at the back of their car. But behind them was the same red Toyota that had been there the last time she’d looked.
Raya exhaled a tight breath, her eyes lifting to the helicopter which sounded like it was about to land on top of their car but was in fact in front of them, high up in the sky. The shuttering noise of the propellers was like a siren, warning them to run but they were stuck in gridlock traffic and they weren’t moving anywhere fast.
Ari cleared his throat nervously. Raya looked to his furrowed brows, his eyes darting between the mirrors. He reached into the center console and grabbed his gun, resting it on his lap.
“You do know how to shoot that, right?” Raya asked. He hadn’t actually used it thus far, though she suspected the reason for that had been that he hadn’t wanted to attract attention in the warehouse.
He looked to her, a grin spreading over his lips. His eyes lit up, seemingly amused. For a brief moment they were lighter, less troubled. “Yes, Raya, I know how to shoot. I’ve had full tactical training, actually,” he said with a shrug. “My dad thought it would be fun and teach me discipline. He wasn’t wrong.”
“You continue to surprise me, Ari,” Raya said with a small smile despite her aching temple.
“Why, because you thought I was a womanizer who coasted along at his daddy’s company, like the papers report?”
His tone was bristling, however she didn’t think it was aimed at her, but rather at this sensitive topic.
“Who cares what people think? People’s opinions of you are none of your business. You only have to make one person proud,” she said, meaning every word.
“People say that,” he said softly, shaking his head, “but do you really believe it? You don’t care what people think? You don’t care if the world thinks you can’t achieve anything on your own?”
She gave a sad smile. “The world doesn’t know Raya. The world couldn’t care less about Raya.”
His fingers stopped tapping nervously on the steering wheel and his eyes locked on hers. “I think that’s about to change. If we pull this off, everyone in the world will know about Raya.”
“We? So you’re fully in now? You’re not going to walk away?” she asked, watching him carefully.
His eyes lifted to the helicopter. “Did I not prove that to you tonight? I knew what I was doing when I got out of the car and walked into the warehouse. I made the choice, and I’d make it again, Raya,” he said. She swallowed hard and nodded, her eyes dropping to her folded hands in her lap.
She didn’t respond, because she didn’t know what to say. Thank you wasn’t enough, but she didn’t have a heartfelt message prepared. For the first time in a long time, someone had chosen her. To fight for her. To protect her. That meant more to her than words could convey.
“What happened to your family, Raya?” he asked and her chest constricted. She didn’t talk about her family, not to anyone.
She didn’t immediately answer, and he didn’t push it. The fact that he gave her the space to decide if she wanted to answer made her want to.
“I never knew my father,” she said before drawing a deep breath. “My mother died . . . suicide.” She said the words quickly because it pained her to talk about her mother’s death, even after all these years. She supposed that’s because she never really had talked about it—she’d always suppressed the pain and grief.
“I’m sorry. Were you the one to find her?” he asked.
“I was twelve. I found her cold in her bed with a bottle of pills beside her,” she said.
Ari’s hard swallow was audible. “I can’t even . . . I’m so sorry,” he repeated.
“I’d never seen the bottle of pills before and we shared a bedroom—we only had a one-bedroom apartment. It’s not like she had a wing of the house I was never in. I searched that place high and low after she died and found nothing else but Tylenol.”
“What are you saying?” Ari asked, his eyebrows weaving together.
“I’m saying I think she was murdered. It’s the reason I started hacking years ago. I wanted to find out everything about her. I started with her credit cards, her phone records, everything. She worked in admin on minimum wage for years before she was given the personal assistant position. As a result, she had years worth of crippling debt built up and we barely had enough money to eat, let alone buy pills. So I thought perhaps she was using her body to obtain drugs. But then I looked at her timesheets from the company she worked at, Synthesis Incorporated—that’s why I’m obsessed with Synthesis—and she always came straight home after work. She didn’t have time to be a prostitute. But it was more than that . . . she was a good mother. I know I was young and naïve and there was a lot I probably didn’t see . . . but she wouldn’t have left me all alone like that—especially when things were starting to get better and there was hope for the future. She wouldn’t have left me,” Raya said, looking away as her eyes began to sting.
“Who was she personal assistant for?” Ari asked gently.
“The CEO, Derek Lam. She did whatever was needed to make sure his life ran smoothly,” Raya said.
In her peripheral she saw him chewing on his cheek. His eyes looked troubled.
“How did you stay out of the system, Raya? You were twelve. Why weren’t you forced into the foster care system?” he asked, returning his gaze to her.
“For a while I hid and avoided the officers. But I quickly realized I could only do that for so long. That’s when I began hacking and eventually I figured out how to hack the foster care system. I updated the files to confirm I was living with my auntie and then I filed the necessary reports to show I was being checked on and all was good.”
His jaw dropped open. “You raised yourself from twelve years old? How did you pay rent?”
She didn’t, she’d lived on the streets. She could’ve stolen money and justified it if it meant her survival, but she didn’t. Raya had been raised better than that, but she said nothing because she’d shared enough already.
“My mother had an insurance policy through her work, I was able to access those funds to keep a roof over my head,” she said vaguely.
Lines creased Ari’s forehead as he looked thoughtful. She knew he was trying to figure that out, because it didn’t make sense for a twelve-year-old, even with the skills she had. Some lies would never hold up for long.
