Page 3 of Hack
CHAPTER ONE
The tension in Carter's shoulders was almost too much to handle, but he was so close to finishing. After three weeks of work, Xander, Kacey, and Bryon would head in and take down one of the worst groups of pedophiles they'd ever gone after. They were a nasty bunch who had recorded the rape of several children under the age of three.
These were the ones that Carter would dedicate all his time to taking down. There was nothing more important to him than getting these assholes off the street and behind bars. If they could cause them to suffer while doing it, all the better.
"Trenton, did you manage to get access to the cameras on Jefferson Street?" Carter glanced over at his friend, who was just as invested in making everything happen smoothly.
"I did. I'm ready to cut power to them whenever we're ready." Trenton never glanced up from whatever he was working on.
After years of working together, Trenton was almost as good a hacker as Carter. He'd made sure to train Trenton and Matt to do everything he could in case something happened and he couldn't be there.
Working with a team of pedophile hunters was never where he'd expected his career to take him, but after being with the team for years, he couldn't imagine doing anything else. There had been highs and lows, but no matter how hard things got, they made a difference, taking dangerous men and women off the streets.
Carter continued to transfer evidence to a digital file that he would download onto a thumb drive to leave for the police once the team had gone in and castrated the three men. There were two children on the scene, and Carter was mad at himself for not being able to figure out their identities. Hopefully, once the police got them, DNA would help to find their parents.
This never got easier. His heart broke for each victim they found, and his hatred for the pedophiles only grew stronger. Working with the Save The Kids team ate at a man's soul, but it also was fulfilling when they were able to rescue the children from the hell they were living in and take down the evil that hurt them.
When his daughter had been kidnapped years ago, his life had been changed irrevocably. She'd been kidnapped when she was nine years old, and he'd exhausted every resource he had at the CIA to find out who had taken her. Even with the government's computers and programs at his beck and call, he hadn't been able to find her.
Nearly five years later, her body had been found in a mass grave with other girls. She'd been fourteen when they'd killed her. The police guessed that was the age that the girls became too old for the pedophile to use.
His stomach tightened at the memory. He still wanted to scream every time he thought about it. The feeling of failing his child never left him, and he vowed that he would dedicate the rest of his life to helping make sure that sick fucks like the one who'd killed his daughter suffered for what they did.
"How are we looking, Cart?" Bryon walked in.
"We're set to go. We need to cut cameras in the area right before you go in, but other than that things are a go. Three men on site at the moment. Two kids who are in cribs in the back room. I'll update you if anything changes. You guys ready?"
"Yeah, Xander and Kasey are here and going over the file. We'll be ready." Bryon took a deep breath. "Beau's at the hospital tonight. We'll have word of the kids' condition as soon as he can call in."
Carter nodded. Beau was the team doctor, but also worked the emergency room as a pediatrician. He was trained in handling sexual assault cases, but with the children being so young, tonight was going to be harder than most. He didn't envy Beau his job.
"You guys need anything?" Bryon asked.
Carter glanced at Trenton and Matt, who both shook their heads. "No, I think we're good. Just make sure there's beer in the fridge. I'm going to need one when this is over." Carter gave Bryon a look of sadness.
The two of them held most of the team's stress on their shoulders, as it had been the two of them who created the STK team. After his daughter's body had been found, Carter decided it was time to make a change. He'd researched and planned, finally deciding to try and put a team together to hunt pedophiles.
He'd met Bryon by accident shortly after Bryon's sister had been killed. The two of them had bonded over their pain, and when Carter had mentioned his plans to start a team, Bryon had offered to help. He had the money to get things started, and that was something Carter needed. Together, they plotted out everything they would need, and over the course of a year, they created STK.
It had taken time to find a team to work with them, and they were still always searching for new people to bring in, but they'd managed to find members with the same focus they had. Once they'd started to hunt, they never looked back.
The team had recently expanded to Colorado, and in time, Carter hoped they could start teams across the country to do what the police and courts seemed to fail at — protect the children.
His first priority was keeping his team safe. That took work. What they did was highly illegal. Going in and castrating men was frowned upon, at least by the law. Sources told him the police didn't search too hard for who was behind it, and after the arrest of one of the old team members recently, Carter had been amazed at the show of support from the public.
"We'll leave here at midnight," Bryon told him before shutting the door.
Carter turned his focus back to the computers. He had files of evidence already collected. Videos and pictures of the abuse would help the police form their case, and hopefully, with as horrific as the assaults on the children were, these men would never see the light of day again.
"Matt, do you have the thermal imaging up still?" Carter asked.
Due to his time at the CIA, Carter was able to hack into government resources, which helped them to use satellites and other military-grade resources to assist them when they went to each new location.
"I do. Nothing has changed. If they stick to their normal schedules, the men won't bother the kids until morning. One man is already in bed, the other two are in the kitchen, but they normally head to bed about now. I'll let you know when things change." Matt stayed focused on the screens.
Carter stood, rolling his shoulders. He was exhausted, but until the team got home, he couldn't relax. He walked across the room, getting the blood moving in his legs. What he needed was a day or two off, but with the caseload they had, there was no way he was getting it.
He leaned against the wall, watching Trenton and Matt work. He couldn't do this without them. He'd started off doing it all alone, but once he'd brought Trenton on, the pressure eased. Trenton handled so much of the basic searching, leaving Carter able to deal with the deep hacking that needed to be done.
