Page 19 of Stiletto Sins
Blackhawk:You’d think that, but no. Nothing else sticks but hacking. I can do it in my sleep.
Oblivion:Wow, that’s kind of sad.
Blackhawk: Geez, thanks. Well, I gotta go. Time to turn on the night light. Be good, kid.
Oblivion: I’m not a kid!
Blackhawk: Sure.
Blackhawk signed off.
PRESENT DAY
From that point forward, a trade was established, and we shared secrets back and forth like mono. Him bringing it up again was like a stab to my heart that I wasn’t ready for.
Oblivion: No trade. What’s the job?
Blackhawk:You’re no fun anymore. Fine. I need one of your specialties. A Trojan horse.
Oblivion: Done. Send me the specs.
Blackhawk: Ah, no chatting?
Oblivion: I have nothing to say to you. I need the job. That’s it. I’ll send you my banking information too. I want to be paid half upfront.
Blackhawk: Fine. I’ll send it over. You’re not as fun anymore.
Oblivion signed off.
My heart hammered, and I was sure it was about to beat out of my chest. I hadn’t gained as much information as I wanted, but it was a start. The worst part was that I hadn’t expected jumping back into this role would be so difficult. Especially when memories kept flooding me. I needed to find him soon and end this before I forgot why I was tracking him in the first place.
Seven
FINLEY
The alarm started to blare,and I cursed as I twisted the lock pick to the right. It had been easy to break into my room when I’d practiced, but this office building was causing more problems than I’d anticipated. I took a deep breath and twisted the pick again, finally hearing the satisfying click as the door unlocked. Wiping my brow, I skirted into the room and raced to the alarm panel.
“Guys, you there?” I asked, tapping the phone app Blackhawk had developed for us to use to chat while in the field. It disguised our voices and location but allowed us to have real-time access to one another.
“Yeah, that was close,” Obsidian said. Even though his voice was masked, I could still hear the reprimand he wanted to give me. I’d come to feel Obsidian didn’t respect me, but I didn’t take it personally. He didn’t respect anyone, from what I could gather. “If you get caught, you’re on your own.”
“Gee, thanks,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.
“You know we wouldn’t do that,” Blackhawk said. The only reason I knew it was him was the familiar kindness in his voice. Our games of trading secrets had become a regular thing, and I was beginning to understand the mysterious hacker on a real level, unlike the other two.
“Mongoose, you ready with the alarm key?” I asked, popping the panel off.
“Yeah, it’s, um, 85923.”
Typing in the code, I held my breath as I waited to see if it worked. I only had another minute before the police would be dispatched.
Error flashed up on the screen, and my nerves racketed up. I was beginning to regret volunteering to be the one to go out into the field. It had felt like a good option at the time to make myself valuable to the team. I wouldn’t admit it because I was too nervous to say I didn’t know how to do the other things. Nope. Obsidian didn’t need another reason to hate me.
“Um, that didn’t work. Do you have another one?” I asked, some of the anxiety creeping up my voice, making it high-pitched to the point I wasn’t sure the app could mask it.
“Hold on, Oblivion. I got you,” Blackhawk soothed, calming me by his mere presence.
“That’s another strike, Mongoose,” Obsidian yelled. “One more, and you’re off the team.”