CHAPTER TWO
Parker fidgeted with his noise canceling headset. He’d been wearing the damn thing for the last two hours on the helicopter and they pinched his ears. Lexi didn’t seem to have any problem. She sat beside him, her attention glued to her laptop screen, trying to finish her code, even as the computer lid shuddered from the inflight vibrations.
The chopper had many uses, but it wasn’t made for comfortable travel. It had served as med-evac, as a mobile armory, and as transport, carrying as many Titan people as were needed to get the job done. He’d been on it dozens of times before, so it was weird now to be sitting in the hold with just Lexi.
They were the only two who could do this onsite hack, though.
Boss Man wasn’t sending them in without support, but once inside, the job had to be run alone. Security would be tight and if anyone at Meridian Systems caught a hint Titan was involved, Jared and Parker could kiss their one shot goodbye.
The pilot’s voice in the headset cut through Parker’s thoughts. “We’ll be on the ground in less than five.”
“Got it. Tray tables and seat backs need to be upright,” Parker joked. The fold-down seats he and his wife were sitting in definitely didn’t recline, and forget tray tables. Every square inch of the helicopter interior served multiple functions—but holding a beverage wasn’t one of them.
Lexi shut her computer and slipped it into her bag, then glanced nervously at him. Her face was flushed, and her eyes were bright. He knew it wasn’t just the effect of the helicopter. Lexi was looking forward to their mission. He was, too. Although she didn’t have field experience, they’d be absolutely safe. Jared had assured him, which was why Parker had agreed to the op. He was used to missions going sideways, but that shit wasn’t going to happen if his woman was part of it. She wouldn’t be anywhere near this thing if it put her life at risk.
When they landed, a man waited beside the landing pad and ducked as he hustled toward the door to greet them. The wind from the rotors messed with the guy’s polished appearance. He released the door and smiled widely.
“Mr. and Mrs. Silver!” The valet said. “Let me be the first to welcome you to Sycamore Springs.”
Lexi shot Parker a pleased grin. They couldn’t exactly use their real names, could they? So, he’d gone with her hacker handle.
The guy eyed the helicopter with confusion. He’d expected something luxurious, not a flying tank. “Did you have a nice flight?”
“It was fine,” Parker shouted over the mechanical thumps of the rotors. “Last minute plans mean you get what you get.”
The valet bought the explanation, nodded, and helped Lexi step down out of the helicopter. Parker jumped out and reached for their bag, but the valet was on it, and gestured to the golf cart parked at the edge of the landing pad.
The guy had them whizzing around the grounds on the cart path while he pointed out different things of interest. The massive front of the hotel came into view. It was three stories tall and had an enormous portico with white columns in front of the impressive entrance.
“I’ve already checked you in with the front desk,” the valet said, bringing the cart to a stop at the front door. He turned in his seat and passed a fancy green folder to Parker. “Your room keys and bunker tour information is inside. I’ll be up with your luggage shortly.”
Lexi’s eyes were wide as they made their way inside and up the stairs to the lobby, where fancy chandeliers and dark wood greeted them. It was high-class and elegant. He couldn’t wait to see the room. More importantly, he couldn’t wait to see his wife in their suite, preferably sprawled out naked on the king-sized bed.
Aw, fuck. He checked his watch. There wasn’t time for that right now, not if they were going to keep to their schedule. He ran a few scenarios in his head during the elevator ride up, but none of them worked out in his favor. Seducing his wife may have been Parker’s priority, but it wasn’t Titan’s, so he’d have to wait. For now.
“You gonna shower before dinner?” he asked.
A smile tugged across her lips as she nodded. “You wanna join me?”
“More than anything, but I need to report in and start set-up.”
“Oh.” The seductive look faded from her face. “Need my help?”
“No, I got it, but thanks.” The elevator spit them out into a hallway which seemed endless in both directions, but Parker already knew their room was to the left. He’d infiltrated Sycamore’s reservation system right before leaving Titan HQ to pick up Lexi, and had selected the room furthest from the WiFi router, to minimize interference. “Did you make progress with Paradigm?”
“I did. I think the flight distracted me from second-guessing myself.”
“Awesome.”
He meant it. Not just because the sooner she finished her project, the sooner he’d have her all to himself, but because he was proud of her. Parker was all about numbers and outcomes, but Lexi was creative and saw potentials. They made such a great team, and a lot of time he was in awe of her work.
He opened the door for her, and took in the room. The hotel suite was classically decorated. It was elegant and luxurious—a far cry from some of the safe houses he’d hunkered down in, but he’d trade in this fancy room to stay in his own bed with his wife and their dog curled up at their feet. That was heaven. They’d only been married a few months, but he was sure he’d never like anything more.
Well, maybe if you added kids to the equation . . .
Interrupting his thoughts, the valet showed up with their bags, and while Lexi disappeared into the bathroom, Parker got to work. He set up his mobile hub, one that would make any half-decent hacker jealous as hell. Life was good at Titan. At least, when he and his team weren’t getting shot at.
A little while after he’d finished updating Jared at HQ, a hair dryer hummed in the bathroom. And when that was over, his wife emerged, wearing nothing but a plush, white robe with a Sycamore Springs logo on it. How did she make a plain robe look so goddamn hot? He couldn’t focus.
He was staring at her, but her attention locked on to all the equipment. “Whoa. Looks good.”
“Yeah,” he fired back, his gaze not leaving her. “My view’s looking real good.”
The front of the robe dipped into a deep V, teasing him with her mouth-watering cleavage. She smiled and strode to the closet where he’d hung up her dress. Lexi pulled it off a hanger, and with her back turned to him, dropped her robe to the floor.
He swallowed hard at the sight. Lexi only had on a skimpy pair of black underwear, flaunting her perfect body, without giving it all away. It made him ache, and he attempted to run more scenarios in his mind to get what he wanted, but it was futile.
She pulled on the dress, then glanced over her shoulder at him. “Zip me?”
“I’d rather take it off you.”
Yet, he went to her and dragged the zipper upward, closing her inside the sexy black dress. The one she was now wearing without a bra. Christ, it was killing him. You’d think it’d been ten years since he’d been with her and not ten days. He leaned in close, putting his lips beside her ear. “I’m gonna take this off of you tonight, and then I’m going to put my mouth everywhere the dress was. That’s a guarantee, Lex.”
She shuddered with anticipation, then turned in place to face him. “I’m looking forward to it.” Her gaze drifted from him back to the equipment. “Can we go over the plan again?”
“Don’t be nervous. You got this.”
Her voice faltered. “Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”
“Sure.” He dug his phone out of his pocket and swiped until he brought up the picture from Meridian’s employee files. “Greg Halverson, our mark. After he finishes his shift in the data center, he goes to the Oak Room bar and has a drink. We know, because he Instagram’s the shit out of it.”
She spun her finger in a circle. “Keep talking while I finish getting ready.”
Parker followed her into the bathroom where she grabbed a compact and applied eyeshadow. She already looked great, but when she had on her smoky, sexy makeup? She killed. Greg Halverson wouldn’t stand a chance.
“His keycard has a unique RFID chip. Its broadcast range is eighteen inches at most, which means you’ve got to get him close to my reader, and keep him there while it copies. Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two until I have what I need.”
“What happens if he moves out of range?”
“We have to start the download again.” He watched her skilled hand swipe mascara on her lashes. “It’ll be easy. You just need to shoot the shit with him while I get his chip cloned. Even if we don’t, we can still move forward tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “Your window’s already tight when you’re using the cloned keycard. You don’t have time to hack the door into the server room.”
She was right. His probability of getting in, installing the backdoor code, and getting out undetected was greatly reduced if he had to spend time disabling the door keypad. “I’ll do it if we’re out of options. Titan needs access to that server.”
She paused and her gaze connected with his through the mirror. “Are you allowed to tell me why?”
No point keeping it from her. If they pulled this off, he was going to need her help cracking the encryption and sifting through the data afterward. “The CIA believes tomorrow afternoon a Russian Bratva—the Russian equivalent of a mafia—is moving their financial information here. The US faction of the Bratva uses their power and money to fund cyber-terrorism in Europe.”
She seemed to process the information thoughtfully and critically. “Okay, then why is Titan running the op and not the CIA?”
“Because they only got the intel this morning, and there’s no way they can jump through all the hoops required to move on it. The data storage center is leased to Meridian, a private company on American soil. That’s a shit-ton of red tape to try to get through, and no way Meridian’s going to stay quiet about their servers being seized. Hell, one-fourth of our nation’s banking information is in this hotel’s basement.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Whoa.”
“Yeah. Now, with intel like this, there’s always a chance it’s wrong. It could be nothing more than a smoke job to flush a leak out of the Bratva’s organization.” Parker combed a hand through his hair. “Imagine the CIA goes through all the painstaking legal channels, pissing off a Fortune 500 company in the process, and then there isn’t even anything on the server?”
“I get it. Titan steps in and they take the risk for them.”
“With the CIA’s undocumented and full support.” He smiled. “If the intel’s legit? Who knows how long the Bratva will keep their info here before moving it again? We have to act now.”
She picked up a tube of red lipstick and smoothed it on her full lips, pressing them together to distribute the color. A final look in the mirror, and then she turned to him. “All right. I’m ready.”