Page 60 of Avenging Jessie
“Oh, he’ll notice. That’s the point.” Spence shot her a dry look. “He needs to realize he’s no longer in control—believe someone else has wrested the drones from him. That’s the bait. This way, he has to come to the site to try and take them back.”
Tessa’s brows hit her hairline. “A Pentagon site? Surely he wouldn’t be stupid enough to take on a military compound.”
Tommy grinned. “That’s the beauty of it. The drones are being held at a private contractor site. Easier to hack into.”
Spence pecked at more keys. “BIA Solutions. They’ve been on the government’s payroll for years, and the warehouse is only ten miles from here.”
Tommy’s head snapped up. “Wait, I know that name.” He tapped a fist against his head. “How do I know that name?”
Holy shit. The blood in Jessie’s system froze. “Brothers In Arms—BIA—it’s one of Brewer’s shell companies.”
“Yes!” Tommy pointed at her. “I did that deep dive on him back in London and dug up dozens of shell companies he hid behind.” His fingers scrambled over the keys. “Why didn’t this place get tagged when I turned in that report after he escaped?”
Her insides crawled like they did every time she thought about how many of those shell companies she’d helped set up. “The place must have already passed inspection before you turned in your report and been greenlighted for the private contractor lists. Those lists are classified, so general analysts and Langley’s computer bots don’t have access to them. It didn’t get tagged because it doesn’t show up in any of the main databases.”
Tommy threw up his hands and sat back. “That’s why I do all of my own stuff. I should have followed up on it myself.”
Spence waved a fry in the air before jamming it into his mouth and speaking around it. “Water under the bridge. We need to stay focused. Put our bait out there. The fact that he owns the warehouse actually helps us.”
“How?” Jesse asked.
“He has more to lose, and he’ll feel more confident, since he’s in control of the security. We use that to our advantage.”
Jessie wanted those words to reassure her. They didn’t. “How are you making it look like the takeover is coming from the dark web?”
“Using one of his favorite haunts—Orchid Obsidian.” He nodded toward a terminal window. “It’s one of his preferred hunting grounds. Shadow contracts. Illegal tech forums. Sometimes mercenaries post surveillance footage and tag code samples to flex.”
Tap, tap, tap. Spence’s concentration was locked in. “I’m uploading a forged command line breach right now, timestamped to show that someone using a handle called GhostKnife is cracking his control feed.”
“Is that your alias?” Tessa asked from across the room.
He smirked. “Was. In my MI6 days. No one’s used it in years, but enough old dogs remember it. Either way, the wanker’s going to freak.”
Tommy leaned in. “What if he thinks it’s you?”
Spence’s smile dropped. “Then he shows up extra pissed, which is exactly what I want.”
Jessie watched the cursor flash, her nerves winding tighter. This was the equivalent of poking a dragon in the eye and hoping it flew into your trap instead of torching the village.
Spence hitEnter.
A soft tone chimed. The system had updated. Tommy tapped keys and watched the readouts flutter on his screen. “Looks good,” he said. “Should see this on the forums in minutes.”
Spence leaned back, exhaling hard. He grabbed Jessie’s hand and squeezed.
From her perch across in the living room, Tessa gave Jessie a thumbs-up. Rat Trap had also just been executed.
She forced a smile at both of them.Please, God, let this work.
Twenty-Four
Spence
It didn’t work.
While he’d managed to bypass the warehouse’s online security system and hack into the control hub, the Cyclones were not online.
Not with that hub.
