Page 121 of Pressure

If she had to guess, Jodie was actually Scarlett and she was a long-time follower of Sebastian Forcythe’s underground hacking cult. From what she’d read, he’d built quite a following of mostly female hackers and he enjoyed taking advantage of them. Jodie or Scarlett if that’s who she was, was obsessed and followed him as if he were her God. If Sebastian told her to seduce Lance and worm into the Solitaire system, she would do it in a heartbeat. If Sebastian told her to set the cabin on fire, she would. It was a fucked-up power exchange relationship where at least one party was mentally unstable.

As she settled onto the plane, her phone rang. It was Lance.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“Spying on me?”

He growled and it nearly made her giggle. “Damn it Marissa. You know I’m worried about you right now.”

“I’m going to my sister’s,” she lied.

“You didn’t think to just tell me or the security detail? Why would you ditch them like that?”

“Goodbye Lance. Talk soon.”

She ended the call and closed her eyes. When she landed in Colorado a couple of hours later, she hailed a cab to take her to the diner where she was supposed to meet Forcythe. It was off the beaten path but it was still a public place so she figured she would be safe.

As she stepped into the restaurant, she looked around for the hacker. The place looked empty. Too empty. Her heart leapt into her throat. Maybe this had been a mistake. Before Sebastian could spot her, she backed out of the restaurant.

“That’s not a good idea. Get back inside.”

She froze at the sound of Jodie’s voice.Fuck.

Slowly, she turned to see the woman holding a gun with a crazed look in her eyes. Marissa swallowed. This was not how she intended to die.

With hesitant steps, she moved back into the restaurant as Jodie nudged her toward the table where Sebastian sat.

“I told you this was a terrible idea. She tried to leave,” Jodie said.

“And here I thought we could trust you,” Sebastian said with a wicked smile.

Her stomach was in knots and she worried she might lose her in-flight snacks all over the table.

“I just got nervous is all,” she muttered. “The people at Solitaire are powerful. They could ruin my life.”

Sebastian pounded his fists on the table. “The people at Solitaire are selfish pricks who need to be taken down a peg and I have the power to do that.”

Marissa nodded. “And I’ll help you. I can get you into the server room.”

Sebastian eyed her skeptically. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Her eyes went wide. “What? Now? There are people there. I meant I would go and text you when to meet me. I can’t just waltz in there.”

He folded his arms. “You think we’re going to let you leave?”

Awe Fuck, Marissa thought as she saw the determined looks on both their faces. Not to mention the damn gun Jodie was still brandishing. How the hell was she going to get out of this one?

Blowing out a breath she nodded. “OK. We’ll need to come up with a game plan then. You can drop me at the foot of the hill I can go up and make sure the place is empty or that everyone is preoccupied.”

Sebastian was nodding but Jodie waved the silver pistol wildly. “Not a good idea. What’s stopping her from warning everyone there that we’re coming.? I know you trust her, but I saw the way she was mooning over Moss. There’s no way she actually wants revenge. I still say the best revenge would be to kill her and dump her body on the front porch.”

“As delightful as that sounds, Sutton and Sterling were crystal clear. No bodies or we don’t get paid. And we’re already on thin ice after that little stunt you pulled setting the cabin on fire.”

“I’m not in this for the money. I’m doing this for you. We can get money from ransomware hacks or something. Let me kill her.”

Marissa sucked in a breath. Was this bitch fucking serious right now?

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