Page 49 of The Hacker
Then there was Leland’s crazy idea that she should come into the city to train him. She was pretty sure that had been a spur-of-the-moment request on his part. He’d looked surprised as he said it, and he hadn’t worked out all the logistics, which was not like Leland. It had probably just been his way of seeing if they would act on the attraction flaring between them. Since they had, he didn’t need that ploy anymore.
In fact, she wasn’t sure she would be able to train him in a professional way. Touching him without sexual intent had been hard enough before they’d had sex. Now she figured they’d both get so aroused after five minutes, they’d end up in a broom closet at whatever gym Leland patronized in Manhattan. No, he undoubtedly had a home gym. Her imagination took flight as she considered possible alternative uses for exercise equipment.
“Hey, Dawn! You still here?” Alice snapped her fingers in the air.
“Sorry! I was thinking about the dark web.”
“You look more like you were thinking about Leland naked,” Natalie said.
“Busted.” Dawn grinned as her cheeks flushed.
“I have an idea,” Alice said. “I’m going to arrange for you to go see Leland at his office. Maybe you can drag him away from his computer screens early.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good plan.” Dawn had no confidence in the reception she would get if she interrupted Leland at work. “He’d have a right to be pissed off.”
“It’s for his own good. Seriously, he needs to take one day a week off from work.”
Dawn thought of how drawn he had looked yesterday before she’d insisted that he sleep a couple of hours. He was working himself into collapse. “Would you go with me?”
“Heck, no!” Alice said. “I want you to use whatever wiles it takes to tempt him and I don’t want to be there to see what those wiles are. They will have to be extreme to distract Leland from his computers.”
Dawn turned to Natalie, their older, wiser friend. “Is this a bad idea?”
Nat took a sip of champagne before saying, “The worst he can do is ask you to leave. It seems like he’s too much of a southern gentleman to behave rudely toward you even if he’s angry.”
“I’d rather know if he’s angry.” Dawn twisted her champagne flute between her fingers.Would he be?“Will there be other people there?”
Alice shrugged. “Probably a few. When a project has to be finished on time, everyone makes sure that happens. That’s why KRG’s reputation is so impressive. But Leland has his own office and his own computer room. They call it Mission Control because there are so many screens in it.”
Dawn remembered how sexy it had been to watch Leland concentrating on the code whipping across the screen, and she made her decision. “Okay, but I need to borrow a nice blouse from you. I’m not going to Leland’s office in this T-shirt.” She waved at her casual top.
“Yes!” Alice slapped the top of the table in approval. “We’ll go raid my closet.” She looked at Natalie. “This begins to look like a pattern, which means you’re next.”
“Next?” Natalie raised an eyebrow.
“There are three partners at KRG. Two of them are spoken for.” She pointed at Dawn and herself. “That leaves you and Tully.”
Natalie laughed. “I don’t think real life works that way.”
Chapter 12
Leland stared at the computer monitor. “Got you! Now what are you?” He clicked on the dark web address he’d spent the past hour carefully tracking within the torrents of traffic in the deep web node. He believed it was what they were looking for, because more traffic went there than to any other destination.
When the website came up, he rocked back in his chair as shock vibrated through him. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t a professional-quality photograph of a man dressed in quasi-military camouflage pointing a handgun directly at the viewer.
“Tactical Arms,” the header read.
A vast selection of military-grade guns available now. Handguns, rifles, shotguns, semiautomatics, automatics, and multi-role weapons. Other weapons upon request. All untraceable.
Leland clicked on the button that said “Enter Site Here.”
A menu of destruction popped up before his eyes—the website had not exaggerated in its claim to having a vast array of guns. The photos were clear and the guns gleamed with deadly craftsmanship. He clicked on a few categories and was stunned by the quantities the seller was offering. A small army could be outfitted from this one website.
When he navigated to the payment page, he was not surprised to find that prices were calculated in cryptocurrency. There was also a cash-on-delivery option, which he suspected was popular with drug dealers. He just wouldn’t want to be the deliveryman.
The whole presentation was impressive and appeared to be well established. The question was whether the website was a scam. The fact that it seemed to be accessed through the gym’s router made him wonder. Because it was a stretch to think someone at the gym was involved in arms dealing.
He could maybe wrap his mind around Ramón fixing fights or Vicky selling stolen credit card information or even Chad running an illegal sports-betting service, but this disturbing arsenal seemed out of their league. It was not meant for collectors or hobbyists. It was aimed at buyers who had a desire or need to kill people. Many people.
