Page 1 of Shadow of Doubt
1
Her gun was out of reach when she needed it most.
Brooklyn kept an eye on the security camera feed for her front door, the pounding of her heart sounding in her ears and overpowering her earbuds.
A man in a black cap fumbled with her lock.
Kane? Could it be Kane?
Oh, God, no. Not this. Not again.
Had he found her? Come to exact his revenge and end her life?
No! She wouldn’t let that happen. She’d planned for this. Drilled it. Experienced it before. She could do it again.
She tossed her earbuds to the desk and rolled her chair to the side drawer. She slid it open. Reached inside. Picked up the Glock. The cool grip icing her palm. She flicked off the safety.
Yes. Good. This is good.
She could protect herself. Couldn’t she?
She studied the video, her heart racing. The tall guy’s head was down, his face out of sight. The warm weather didn’t warrant a stocking cap, but he wore a black one pulled low. A disguise or fashionable? Either way the guy’s build fit Kane.
Kane Tarver—the man who’d become the unethical hacker he’d set out to be and bilked honest, hardworking people out of their money. But worse? She’d been in love with him when they’d worked together as white-hat hackers. At least she’d thought she loved him until he turned to the dark side of hacking for money. She discovered the real Kane then and doubted he’d ever had any genuine feelings for her.
The door flew open and slammed against the wall, reverberating as it bounced back.
Hands trembling, she lifted her weapon and sighted it on the dark figure looming in the opening.
“I have a gun, and I’m not afraid to use it.” Bravado in her words, but her voice trembled, giving away her anxiety.
Please don’t let him hear my fear and rush me. Please. I don’t want to shoot him.
“You’re not going to use that thing on me, are you?” Her buddy Nick Thorn stepped inside and marched toward her. His usual dark eyes were a deeper brown and filled with an intensity Brooklyn hadn’t seen since he’d married Piper and mellowed a bit. “Power down your computer. We’re leaving now!”
Releasing a long breath, Brooklyn flicked on the safety and returned her weapon to the drawer, giving her heart rate time to start settling down. “You scared me. I could’ve killed you.”
Nick peered at her as if she were a virus he’d discovered in a coding review. “Sorry, but it’s not half of what Typhon will do if he arrives before we get out of here.”
“Typhon.” The mention of Kane’s online nickname sent her heart plummeting. He’d chosen the handle for the father of monsters—a Greek mythological giant with a hundred snake-heads. Based on his actions from that day forward, he’d picked the perfect nickname.
She blinked up at Nick, her mind racing. “He found me again?”
“Yes. Lucky for you I was at a nearby work thing when it happened, and I can get you out of here before he shows up.”
This wasn’t happening, was it? Typhon? Here? Tonight? She’d settled into her cute studio apartment in the Portland burbs just two months ago. He couldn’t be coming for her this soon. Could he?
Sure he could, if he’d indeed located her online. But had he? “I didn’t see any evidence that he found me.”
“Then you’re losing your touch.” Nick frowned. “My alert kicked off fifteen minutes ago. Been trying to call you to warn you.”
She pointed at her earbuds laying on the desktop. “I was listening to music. Didn’t hear the phone.”
“But you have online alarms set too,” he said. “So why are you just sitting here?”
“Clearly they failed to activate and warn me.” Failed big time. The warning system she’d created should’ve sent an alert of Typhon’s handle appearing online in relationship to her, like Nick’s had done.
So why did it fail? Were her skills not current enough or her equipment not robust enough to run her algorithms on a speedy basis?
