Page 89 of Deserving Lara
“The hell it’s not,” Tiny said in a low, hard voice.
She’d been avoiding looking at the man next to her, but now, Ryan turned and saw he’d leaned back in his chair, as far away from her as he could get, his arms crossed over his chest. He was as closed off from her as possible while still being in the room.
It shouldn’t have hurt, she knew exactly what his reaction to her deception would be, and yet it was still a blow.
“I was worried about Lara. About her leaving The Refuge. I put an alert on her phone to let me know her whereabouts. And I knew this morning was when they were going to pick up the chopper. I wasn’t going to pry, I swear…I know it’s wrong, but…I was curious about how things were going. I hacked into the microphone on her cell and listened in.”
“Is that even a thing?” Pipe asked.
Ryan glanced at her hands. “It is if you know how. All phones have microphones. And computers. And tablets. And those gadgets you can buy that will run your house and answer your questions when you ask? Those reallyarelistening to everything you say and do. Companies use the info to market useless crap to people. And don’t get me started on how easy it is to be a spy these days. Everyone has electronics around them, at all times.”
“Get on with it,” Tiny growled.
Ryan swallowed hard, even as she shriveled a little more inside. Shehatedwhen people were mad at her. When they yelled. She’d spent most of her life being treated like shit, being screamed at, being told she was nothing but a worthless piece of shit…so much so that she had her own PTSD when it came to others being angry.
“Right. So I was listening to their banter on the way to the airport. All three were happy and excited to be heading home today. I heard the seller greet them. But when they entered what I assume was the hangar where the helicopter was located…shit hit the fan.”
Everyone, except Tiny, was leaning forward now.
“What happened?” Brick asked urgently.
Ryan quickly told them everything she’d overheard. “Then the Ricky guy must’ve smashed Lara’s phone—I heard it hit something, most likely the floor in the hangar. And by the time I was able to hack into Owl’s, I’d missed a lot of stuff. But he was bragging about what he was going to do—and it definitely involved flying Lara to an island where Carter Grant would be waiting for her. He told her that Carter would kill Owl and dump his body in the ocean.”
“And Stone? Where is he?” Tiny asked.
“I don’t know. Ricky said he sold him to some guy. But he didn’t say where he was going or what the buyer wanted him for.”
“Bloody hell!” Pipe swore.
The others muttered much worse swear words under their breaths.
“I can’t track Stone. The guy who took him must’ve taken his phone and either smashed it or turned it off. And Lara’s is surely broken.”
She felt Tiny stir next to her. “And Owl’s?”
“It’s still on,” Ryan said.
“Are you still listening?” Tonka asked.
She nodded.
Brick opened the laptop in front of him and shoved it almost violently across the table toward Ryan. “Use that to let us listen too.”
Ryan stared at the computer in dismay. She should’ve thought this through a little better. “I can’t,” she said softly. “I mean, I need to use mine.”
“You’re telling me a hacker can’t use any old computer to ply her trade?” Tiny asked roughly. “I’m not buying it. If you’re as good as you say you are, and if you’re telling the truth, you’ll pull that shit up. Right. Now.”
Ryan folded in on herself at the hostility in Tiny’s voice. It wasn’t that she couldn’t use Brick’s computer…it was that if she did, if she used any unsecure device, she could be found. It would only be a matter of time before she was tracked.
But that wasalsoher fault. She should’ve brought her own computer with her. She’d been so freaked out, so worried about Owl, Stone, and Lara, that she’d left her apartment quickly, her only goal to get to The Refuge as fast as she could and let the others know their friends were in danger.
Her timetable for leaving just got moved up, but so be it. If sacrificing her personal safety meant she might be able to save the others, she’d do it.
Besides…she’d betrayed these people. She owed them this much.
She pulled Brick’s computer closer and her fingers raced over the keys as she went to the dark web and pulled up the program she’d designed and hidden amongst thousands of other homemade spying programs, all available for a price to thieves and others who used them for nefarious purposes. She’d purposely made hers inoperable…unless you were as good as she was, or knew exactly what commands to type in.
It took less than two minutes to access the microphone in Owl’s cell phone, but the tension in the room was as thick as a mountain snowstorm. The hostility coming from Tiny felt like tiny knives digging into her skin.
