Page 57 of Havoc

“Open the link, and once the computers sync, plug the phone in.” Hacker sounded almost excited about doing his part to resolve the situation. Gratitude surged in my chest for these three men. Just then Nine propped a paw up on either side of my body and laid his chin in my lap. I couldn’t help but smile and give him an affectionate pat on the head.

Mace murmured, “I clicked the link and it’s synced. I’m plugging her phone in now.”

I watched him connect my phone to the laptop. Then he lifted both hands up as my phone appeared in the file directory.

“I’m gonna call that success,” Mace said with a gigantic smile.

“Umm,” Hacker grunted. “That’s the first step. Give me a few minutes to rummage around in the downloaded apps section. If I don’t see anything, I’ve got a program that will suss it out.”

I watched as the cursor danced around opening and closing files, then suddenly the screen went black and I started to see a stream of unfamiliar code flooding the laptop screen.

“Now it’s time for the proper work to begin,” Hacker stated crisply. “Phone ID registered. Give me a minute to scrape surface-level permissions.”

Havoc came to sit beside me on the sofa, earning him a growl from Nine. When he scratched the huge wolfdog behind the ear, all was forgiven.

He asked me, “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m hanging tough. Do you really think he managed to upload an app to my phone and that is how he found us?”

The big biker shrugged. “I’d like to say maybe yes and maybe no. But my gut is telling me yes, this is how he found us. From everything you’ve described, he’s a control freak. We know he’s a spoiled rich boy who watched his father wield too much power when he was growing up. This is just the kind of thing he would do if he wanted to stalk a woman.”

“I see what you mean by the quick battery draining issue. It’s happening in the background processes,” Hacker murmured. “Wait... I think I found it. You have an app on your phone called ‘Puzzle Game’.”

“Yeah, I haven’t played that in ages,” I told him.

“There is also a ‘Puzzle Game Two’ on your phone. Do you remember uploading that one as well?”

“No. I just thought I got it automatically because I had the first one. It was a freebie that came with the phone.”

“Well, it’s using microphone access in the background. That doesn’t match any public package ID I’ve seen.”

Confusion set in at this point. “I don’t understand what puzzle games have to do with anything.”

“It looks like someone uploaded an app and disguised it as a puzzle game. The icon is just a screengrab, not a real app interface. It’s not a damn puzzle game. It’s a Trojan horse.”

I froze. Even though we expected this, it was still scary to think of someone using my own phone to keep tabs on me. Whoever this was had been watching every move I made.

“Is it a tracking app or something else?” Havoc asked, his hands balling into tight fists.

“Oh, it’s much more than a fucking tracking app. This thing is logging GPS coordinates every ten minutes. It’s uploading to a relay server with rotating IPs. It’s also recording ambient audio during charging sessions and creating logs of every button press, every app opened, every text typed.”

A strangled cry escaped from the back of my throat. It felt almost like a sob but more indignant and animalistic. My hand involuntarily flew to my mouth.

“Is it listening to us now?” I couldn’t help but ask this question. Images rose in my mind of the sweet encounter Havoc and I had by the lake, the kiss. Was that what drew that monster to us? Suddenly, dozens of questions were running through my mind.

“How long has it been active?” Mace asked, drawing me away from my internal thoughts.

“Give me a minute and I’ll check,” Hacker mumbled distractedly. “It went live the night you were arrested at Neon Vibes.”

I gasped. “My God, that was weeks ago.”

Havoc reminded me, “Wasn’t that also the night you said you left your phone at the table for a minute?”

I nodded, too shocked to answer. I reeled back in my mind to that night at Neon Vibes. We were having such fun, my three girlfriends and me. I left my phone unattended. I thought my friends had stayed at the table the whole time. Clearly, they didn’t. I cringed a little inside, thinking of how I made it easy for that bastard to stalk me.

“Can you tell who installed the app?”

I looked at Havoc, impressed that he still had the presence of mind to ask logical questions.

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