Page 54 of Riptide
"So what's the alternative?" Wade asked.
Something shifted in Cara's brain, like an old car struggling to change gears. "We don't hack in. We make her let us in."
Everyone turned to look at her.
Cara moved to the whiteboard. "Blaire's weakness is confidence. We create an irresistible target—someone she can't resist investigating. While she's distracted, Tom builds a backdoor into her systems."
Reagan grinned. "I like it."
"Exactly. We give her a puzzle only she can solve." Cara grabbed a marker. "Piper—social media. Complete digital footprint, years back."
Piper's fingers were already moving. "Name?"
"Miranda Wells. Tech executive, late thirties. Embezzled money and disappeared."
Reagan caught on immediately. "I'll be the client. Miranda's furious ex-business partner."
"Big money, high stakes, and a challenge." Cara wrote on the whiteboard. "She won't be able to resist."
"Then we make Miranda complicated enough to keep her busy." Reagan's smile was sharp.
Tom pointed at his daughter. “You, young lady, need to get to bed.”
Piper groaned and flipped her dark hair over her shoulder in a way only a teenage girl could do. “Dad. Seriously?”
“You have school tomorrow.”
She grinned hard. “Hello? Saturday?”
That drew a collective laugh.
For the next couple hours, they worked.
Piper created social media—LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. "Making her a narcissist who can't help showing off even when hiding. That's why the trail exists."
Reagan smiled. "You learn quick, young one."
Piper blushed and ducked her head. The compliment obviously pleased her.
But it made Cara think twice. What were they teaching this teen?
Tom caught her watching his daughter. He shook his head. "I'd rather she knew what's out there in the world, and how to fight it."
Cara let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Okay." And it would be okay. Maybe not for her, but for Piper it would be.
Tom built financial records. Bank accounts, wire transfers showing embezzlement, then everything going dark three months ago. "Planting breadcrumbs. ATM in Sacramento. Hotel in Portland. Just enough to suggest Pacific Northwest."
Reagan crafted news coverage. Fake articles from Seattle Times, Portland Tribune. "Tech Executive Vanishes Amid Embezzlement Allegations." Properly indexed, backdated, increasingly desperate.
Cara watched them work, feeling that old familiar thrill. The trap being set. The difference was, this time she was stopping a predator instead of becoming one.
Reagan looked up. "Psychology—what's Miranda feeling?"
Cara closed her eyes. She'd been running too. "Terrified but arrogant. Made one mistake staying on social media, showing off. Won't make another. Isolated, paranoid, desperately lonely. That's her weakness."
"So I make it personal," Reagan said slowly. "We were friends. Partners. She betrayed me. Not just angry about money—hurt. Want closure."
"Exactly. Blaire will buy it."
