Page 36 of Avenging Jessie
A vehicle whizzed past.
“Wait,” Jessie said, sitting up straighter. “That’s the same SUV Hastings was driving.”
Spence lifted his head and tried to catch sight of it, but the vehicle was moving too fast, headlights off, blending into the night like a phantom. What he did confirm? No license plate.
The tires bit into the road as Jessie whipped the car around and hit the gas. “It’s him.”
His body snapped back in the seat. “What are you doing?”
She gripped the wheel and leaned forward, squinting. “He’ll lead us to the truck. Or Brewer.”
“Jessie—” Spence shot her a glance. “You need to slow down. He could be leading us into a trap.”
She kept her eyes locked ahead. “Then let him. I’m done wasting time.”
His mouth opened to argue, but then he realized she wasn’t a loose cannon. Not something he should—or could—rein in.
She was a guided missile.
And she might be the only one who could hit the target.
Securing his seatbelt, he turned back to his laptop and started tracking their course.
They followed the SUV for nearly twenty minutes, weaving out of the trees and into the fringes of the city. The roads widened. Streetlights flickered through the mist. Industrial buildings loomed—cold, silent monoliths in steel and concrete.
The SUV didn’t speed or swerve. No evasive maneuvers. Hastings wasn’t in a hurry, but he did seem to be on a schedule.
Maybe this wasn’t a trap. Or perhaps Hastings was laughing all the way there, knowing he was drawing them deeper into it.
The SUV drove into a guarded site with a high chain-link fence topped with coils of razor wire. Beyond it stood a sleek, glass-and-metal structure that looked like it belonged in Silicon Valley, not the outskirts of Görlitz.
The name gleamed in silver against matte black glass.Datenzentrum Nord. Datacenter North.
Spence’s eyes narrowed. “This is a private data facility. Top-tier. No government contracts, no outside access, full-scale biometric security. I didn’t even know they had a node here.”
Jessie parked in the shadows of a loading bay across the street. “What would Brewer want with a data vault?”
Spence’s brain started spinning through possibilities. “If he’s transferring the prototype, this is where he’d do it. Air-gapped systems. He could upload it to a cold server, then distribute it across a dozen dark net nodes.”
“Or launch it from here?”
Spence nodded. “A logic bomb. A virus. Something designed to activate on a timer.”
He scanned the building again, looking for the panel truck—but it wasn’t there. Not parked. Not in the loading zone. “What if Hastings is freelancing?”
Jessie turned toward him, understanding dawning. “It would follow his MO—going out on his own and blackmailing his employer. You think he’s double-crossing Brewer.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time he’s burned someone, right? If this facility wasn’t part of Brewer’s plan, and Hastings is making a play, he could be selling the tech behind Brewer’s back. This might be his headquarters. Or he may be hedging his bets, holding back evidence to blackmail Brewer or turn against him if needed down the road. Every law enforcement agency in the world wants Brewer in prison. If Hastings gets in a bind, flipping on Brewer could give him a Get Out of Jail Free card.”
Spence reached for the laptop again, fingers flying. But the signal here was tight. Firewalled. He couldn’t breach it from the car—not without drawing attention.
Jessie leaned forward. “So we sit and wait?”
Spence frowned.
“No,” she said before he could respond. Her jaw set. “We go in.”
He gaped at her. “We most certainly will not.”
