Thursday, 9:00 a.m.

Pittsburgh, PA

Just because I may or may not have accidentally-on-purpose hacked the Police Chief’s computer after he grabbed my ass, didn’t mean I needed further training. He’s lucky I didn’t deck him. Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have sent his wife the photo of him in a compromising position with his secretary. Big deal. Why was I getting punished? It’s not like the cheating bastard didn’t have it coming. Whatever.

Now, I was stuck in a seminar with ten other forensic hackers, who all looked like they should be grading term papers. At the very least, they should wear matching pocket protectors. Schmorons.

Whoa. Hello, Mr. Alpha Male. Dressed in camos and a beige T-shirt, muscles rippling the material, the guest speaker sauntered into the conference room. Before he spoke, he waited for the muffled whispers to die down in the Butler Meeting Room at the Westin Convention Center.

In a low, raspy voice, he said, “My name is John Keegan, but everyone calls me Tex. I’m medically retired from the Navy, where I was a Navy SEAL. During my last mission, I got injured. The doctors had to take half my leg. Now that you’ve gotten to know me better, let’s move on to why you’re here. I’ve personally hand-picked the best white-hats from around the globe. Consider it an honor. Anyone who doesn’t, can leave now.”

My gaze roamed the conference room. No one budged.

“With me today is Special Agent Odin Barret from the FBI.”

Aw, shit.

“Good morning,” said the fed, and I sunk low in my seat. “I asked my good friend Tex to assist me with this assignment. I don’t normally work cybercrimes, so any tech-related questions should be directed to him. I’m working up a profile on the UNSUB, which I’ll share once it’s ready. For now, let’s get started.”

He projected a photo on to the screen behind him. A middle-aged woman with shockingly-red lipstick against her fair skin smiled for the camera. “This is Deborah Haze, age thirty-five, married with two kids and another on the way.”

He tapped a key on his computer, and the image of remnants from an incinerated SUV—obviously set ablaze by tumbling over the edge a hundred-foot cliff—replaced the victim’s smiling face. “Until her death two weeks ago, that is. In the packet in front of you, you’ll find a memory stick that contains the case notes. Familiarize yourself with her life. She’s the first of nine victims, all murdered by a hacker or hackers.”

Hands shot up around me. Obviously none of my so-called compadres had any field training. If they had, it sure didn’t seem like it today.

Tex’s gaze narrowed in on me. “Shawn Daniels, right?”

“Yup. I prefer Shawnee to Shawn, but whatever.”

“Special Agent Barret just told you about a string of murders, and you don’t have even one question?”

“Actually, he hasn’t told us much of anythin’ yet.”

“Correct. Listen up, everyone. For now, you’re dismissed, but make yourself available.” He pointed straight at me. “You, stay put.”

Stay? Maybe if I’m really lucky, he’ll teach me how to sit and heel. For now, I didn’t call him on his bullshit orders. I didn’t, however, know how much longer I could refrain.

Once the room cleared, Tex came around the tables, arranged in a horseshoe pattern, and slid a manila folder toward me. “Here’s the rest of the file. As you probably guessed, the packet only contains details on the victims. I had to be careful to choose the best person for the job.” He pulled out the chair next to mine and flipped open his laptop. “Ready to get started?”

“Always.”

“Uh, Tex?” The fed hovered behind him. “I’m not sure she’s the right fit. Before you let everyone go, you may want to reconsider.”

“Oh, really?” Tex swiveled to face Odin Barrett, my least favorite FBI agent. “Why’s that?”

I leaned aside, hushed, “We have history.”

Rather than answer, the fed said, “I think it’s best if we speak privately.”

“It’s cool,” I said, standing. “I’ll go.”

Tex grabbed my arm and lowered me to the chair. “No.” He turned his attention to Odin. “When you asked for my help, I told you I’d pick my team. If you don’t like my choices, you can handle this yourself.”

Whoa. You tell him, soldier.

The scowl in my direction showed Odin’s resistance, but he sloughed off a shrug. “Fine. It’s your call. Don’t come to me later and complain.”

I shot to my feet. “Hey. If you’ve got somethin’ to say, say it.”

He waved a dismissive hand at me. “She’s making my point for me.”

“Look, if you’re still pissed over The Creator case, take it up with my lieutenant.”

I swear that man growled at me.

Cool and calm, Tex dragged Odin away from the table. Their muffled exchange didn’t allow me to overhear their conversation, but whatever Tex said worked, because Odin stormed out of the conference room.

As though the dispute never took place, Tex returned to his seat. “I’m sending you an encrypted file with what we know so far.”

Fingers racing over the keys, I cracked his encryption in seconds flat. Child’s play.

His eyebrows lifted in amazement. “You’re good.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I know.”

“And modest too.”

“Thanks.” Naive was not my middle name, but I rolled with it. Of all the forensic hackers in the country, Tex chose me. That alone made me sit straighter in the most uncomfortable chair ever invented.

Reading the details of each grisly murder, my gaze fluttered back and forth across the screen. “Wow. Do we know why the hacker’s targeting these people? Scratch that. It looks like all the vehicles are Fords.”

“Correct.”

“So maybe, it doesn’t matter whose driving. Maybe, he’s got a beef with the manufacturer.”

“Very good. Now that we have an idea of who he’s after, we need to figure how to narrow the intel and, hopefully, get one-step ahead of him.”

I stopped typing long enough to face him. “It says here, last year alone Ford sold over 2.5 million vehicles in the US. Are the attacks only in Pittsburgh?”

“Most, not all.”

“But you let everyone leave. Don’t we need help?”

“They’re still in the hotel. Wolf will make sure they stay put. Don’t worry.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Wolf?” After my last run-in with a gang who used animal monikers, the nickname dredged up a queasiness in the pit of my stomach.

“It’s a SEAL thing.”

“If you say so.”

“You haven’t dealt with the military much.”

“Uh, no. You guys are badass, though.” I raised a closed fist. “Respect.”

“Thanks, but that wasn’t a question. I’ve read your personnel file, Shawnee.”

Crap. “Look. The only reason I hacked Triton Security was—” Tex’s stone-cold expression stopped me mid-sentence. “Triton Security wasn’t in there, huh?”

Eyes closed, he shook his head ever so slightly.

“Then you must be talkin’ about the time when—” I swatted my hand. “Not important. Anyway…” Before I dug myself a deeper metaphoric grave, I veered the conversation away from the unfounded allegations surrounding my work at the Revere PD. All right, so maybe all the “incidents” weren’t unfounded. Nonetheless, even with mad skills, he hadn’t discovered my after-hour activities. If he had, you can bet your sweet ass he’d mention it. Not that I did that sort of thing anymore. Much. “Are we sure a rouge member of Anonymous isn’t behind this?”

“For a hacktivist group who mainly uses DDoS attacks to shutdown government, religious, and corporate websites, these attacks don’t fit their MO.”

“I get that, but what about a member who took hacktivism to a whole new level?”

“Hm. Interesting theory. Okay, run with it, see where it goes.”

“Me? Yeah, I’d rather not, thanks. Remember Operation KKK, where they de-hooded several members of the group by posting their members’ home addresses, social media pages, photos, phone numbers, and email addresses to the Klu Klux Klan’s main Twitter feed, hashtag OpKKK?” If Anonymous could bring those racist bastards to their knees, imagine what they could do to me? One whiff that I was trying to expose a member, valid or not, and they’d retaliate. “Don’t you have an entire SEAL team to do this crap?”

“SEALs don’t usually get involved with jobs on US soil. The only reason I’m even here is because of my relationship with Odin. Believe me, I’d rather be home with my family.”

“But you could involve the team off-the-books, right? Because honestly, I want no part of goin’ up against Anonymous.”

“You misunderstood me. I never said go against them. Join them, feel them out, maybe our hacker wants to be them. Hell, maybe he’s joined every one of their causes. If your theory is correct, they’d want to help weed out a member who may or may not be using their name to commit murder.”

“Join them how, exactly?”

“I’ll let you figure that out.”

“I still don’t understand why you can’t do this job yourself. I’m sure you’re more than capable.”

“You’re right, I am.” With no further explanation Tex packed up his laptop and file folders. On his way out of the conference room, he called my name. “Plan to meet me tomorrow in the gym at eighteen-hundred-hours.”

The gym? Something told me I would’ve rather received punishment for hacking the Police Chief’s account.