Sometimes you were simply dealt a bad hand—but there were other times when fate just enjoyed fucking with you. And this would definitely be one of those times.

I sat across from Stubbs, wishing he’d just get on with it. The bastard had roped me into a job I had no interest in taking, and now he was just talk, talk, talking, and my patience was already riding a razor-thin line, especially when the only reason I was here was because Stubbs had blackmailed my family.

My brother’s wife had gotten herself into some trouble, and our choices had been limited if we wanted to keep her safe. So I took the job, instead of letting my family go to war with one of the most notorious criminals in the Seattle area. Because one thing was certain—Locke wouldn’t have given up Emie without a fight. And a fight with one Blackthorn was a fight with our whole family. We were tight, and a bad situation—of which there seemed to be far too many of as of late—only brought us closer together.

“Here’s the file on the job you’ll be doing. Everything you need to know should be in there.” He slid the file across his massive oak desk, his two goons standing stoically behind him. Not that I could blame him for keeping protection around when I was sure there were plenty of people who wanted Stubbs dead. But until someone made a move, I was stuck dealing with him. “Once you deliver the files, I’ll pay you for your trouble.”

I grabbed the file off the desk, and flicked through the packet of information, since I honestly didn’t have a clue as to what I was getting myself into. And even at a glance, I knew this was not going to be easy. “Really? You want me to make my way into one of the most secure buildings in the country and steal plans that they likely have under so much security, it would make hacking into the FBI seem like a cakewalk?”

Stubbs shrugged his shoulders with a laugh. “Why do you think I’ve been trying to get you to do this job for months now? No one else can do it. But don’t you worry... I’ve got faith you’ll find a way around whatever security they have in place.”

“This is going to take time, Stubbs. I’m not going to go rushing into this just to get myself arrested, especially since this is a defense contractor dealing with military contracts. I’m in no mood to get tossed in jail on espionage charges for stealing plans to a weapon that’s going to annihilate some small country.” No fucking way. I did not want to fucking do this. And I sure as hell didn’t need that sort of blood on my hands, even though I still had my doubts that I’d be able to manage it.

Not that I had much of a choice if I wanted to keep my family safe.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, Blackthorn. It’s nothing so extreme. Just a bit of camouflage. And though I don’t want you rushing into this and getting yourself arrested before I have my plans, don’t take too long. I’ve got people who are waiting, and they’re not exactly the patient type.” He sat back in his chair, giving me a cool smile that did nothing to set my mind at ease. “If you need anything to make your job easier, just let me know. I know you’re not happy to be here, but this is a relationship that I think could work for the two of us. Not just with this job, but with future endeavors.”

“That’s not happening. My family and I...we’ve gone legit. The only reason I’m here is because you forced me into this asinine scheme—and don’t think I’ve forgotten it.” With the file in hand, I stood up, ready to get out of there. “I’ll be in touch.”

“I’m sure you will be.”

There was no way I’d be jumping blindly into a job this complicated. I needed to do my research. Needed to plan for anything and everything that could possibly go wrong. Because this would not be a simple hack. Not when I’d be hitting Gunner Tech Corp. They were local—probably the reason the buyer approached Stubbs to do the job, since I highly doubted Stubbs had thought of this on his own.

GTC may not be the largest defense company out there, given that they were fairly specialized in their field, but they were damn good, and I doubted they’d take any chances with what security they had in place.

But there were always a few things you could count on. People had a tendency to be lazy; they tended to cut corners if they thought they could get away with it; and they were rarely as smart as they thought they were. I just had to hit the right combination, and find my way in.

To start with, I needed to get my hands on a decently-sized database of current GTC employees, and a quick search of the Internet was all it took to yield me a fairly long list. It was amazing the amount of information you could find on social media, put out there for the whole world to see. You’d think people working in a highly classified environment would know better—and they did for the most part. But people got lazy about being vigilant. It was so easy to forget to change a post setting from public to private, and the next thing you knew it was out there for the whole world to see.

But the jackpot? That could usually be found on employment sites, where people posted their resume, essentially giving you information about their whole life—where they currently worked, all their past employers, where they went to school, any business affiliations and accreditations. All one had to do was connect the dots.

With a little luck and a bit of guessing, I’d have a way in.

Knowing that there’d be no easy way of me getting into GTC’s main manufacturing facility, I opted for one of their satellite offices. It’d likely be easier to access their mainframe, even if I kept my distance. The plan was to get close enough to be able to hack into their secured Wi-Fi, using an employee log-in and password.

Sitting in a nondescript van with fake plates and a killer IT setup in the back, I got to work. Having grabbed a list of names from employees who’d posted their resumes online, I made some educated guesses for log-in names to GTC: first initial, last name, number, company name. Before long, I had a reasonable list of usernames that worked.

Now I just needed to figure out their passwords.

We were in Seattle, so I figured there had to be a few Seahawks fans. Seahawks plus the current year... All I needed was one person to match up. I had my script run through the names with the password—and that was all it took.

I was in.

Of course, I was only past the first layer of security, and it didn’t get me where I needed to be, but it was a start. A bit more digging and I now had access to a little more information—information that could get me through the front door. It took me just fifteen minutes more to have an ID made up. I was taking a risk going in using a fake ID, but if I could get access to their servers, I’d be able to set myself up an inside connection so that I could hopefully track down the information Stubbs wanted.

If this had been almost any other company, I’d have been able to hack into their servers remotely. But this was a defense contractor, and since there were countless layers of security, it meant it’d be a million times easier to access their systems from within. And even then...this would be one hell of a pain in the ass.

Doing my best to look like I belonged, I passed through security with little difficulty. It certainly helped that it was lunch time, and it was too busy for anyone to really scrutinize my presence, especially when my ID passed through the scanner with no difficulty, and companies like this often hired contractors. New faces weren’t uncommon.

Now I just needed to get access to their servers. I hated wandering about the building, even though the halls I was heading down were empty. It left me feeling exposed. But I’d hacked into the city’s building department records and found plans that had been submitted for building permits, and had a feel for the general layout of the place. Their server rooms weren’t far.

Except there was no way I could have planned for this.

I turned the corner and nearly ran straight into her, my heart rocketing inside my chest as her brown eyes locked on mine.

Avery Hawke.

Fuck. I was so screwed.