Page 30 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“I have her phone locked at a small motel in Tillamook. Since the call, she hasn’t moved. I’ve had the motel manager do a welfare check, and all of her stuff is still there, her suitcase and purse. The woman at the motel wouldn’t look in her purse, but she did confirm that Jada’s car is still in the parking lot. I told her that was great, that my wife has diabetes, and since I hadn’t heard from her, I was concerned. We both agreed she was probably out seeing the sights.”
“Tillamook has sights?”
“Don’t be an ass.”
“For real, the manager didn’t mention any sign of a struggle? What about her computer?”
“I asked about her iPad, and that wasn’t there, but again, the manager and I agreed she could have taken it with her.”
“But Gideon, no signs of struggle, that’s good news.”
Gideon nodded, then turned his concentration back to his computer tablet. Now that he was in Jada’s Cloud, there was a shit-ton of information that he had to go through. Jada was one busy woman.
* * *
Ryker wentinto the motel and got the key to the room that Gideon had rented online. From where Gideon was sitting in their rental car, he would bet his last dollar that the woman manning the front desk was the same one he’d talked to ten hours ago to check out Jada’s room. That was the reason he didn’t want to go in with Ryker, he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself and have her remember his voice.
Ryker slipped back into the driver’s seat. “We’re at the back of the motel, close to Jada’s room.”
“Good.”
“Have you had any ah-ha moments yet?”
Gideon shook his head. No fucking ah-ha moments, and if he had any hair on his head, he’d be ready to pull it out. Jada was doing work for a new company, a legitimate company called Risk Guard, and its mission was to protect other companies from cyber-attacks. Jada was doing freelance work for them, and she was getting paid a huge chunk of change for once.
Gideon’s lips twitched as he remembered all of the shoes she had packed for baby Neil’s christening; the womanneededmoney to support her shoe habit.
Her job was to probe the clients that hired Risk Guard and see if she could get past their security and firewalls. She’d been assigned twenty-three companies, and she’d already breached five. It looked like she’d managed to break into their systems within twenty-four hours.
Twenty-four hours? She must be losing her touch.
She had various scripts running against the other eighteen companies. Offhand, Gideon recognized the basic components of half of the scripts. They were pretty slick and should get the job done. He didn’t have time to break down the code for the other nine. He needed to pull in some of the other SEAL team tech gurus.
Once again, Ryker found a dark place to park and they grabbed their bags and headed to their room.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, she said there was only one room left, and it had just a king-sized bed, even though you had booked us two doubles. I said that wouldn’t be a problem. I call dibs on the bed,” Ryker said as he slid the card key into the slot.
“Asshole.”
Ryker pushed open the door and Gideon immediately saw the two double beds.
“So did she get it wrong, or did you feel a need to fuck with me?” Gideon asked Ryker as he threw his suitcases on the bed closest to the door.
“Fuck with you. Wanted to see you smile.”
“After we find Jada,” Gideon said as he pulled out his gun and rifle from his case, then threw on a shoulder holster. He took a second look to make sure his Sig Sauer was locked and loaded and watched as Ryker did the same thing.
“Ready?” Gideon asked.
Ryker grabbed his wallet, then pulled out what looked like a hotel key, only it had many holes in it. Gideon recognized it. “You think a hotel punch card will do it? That’s pretty old tech.”
“This is a pretty old motel,” Ryker said. “But if you’re thinking I’m relying just on this, you’re wrong. Trust me, I’ve got you covered.”
“I really don’t want to use the boot to the door method,” Gideon said wryly.
Ryker looked at him with surprise. “Breathe in some calm. Seriously, have I ever let you down?”
Gideon rubbed the back of his neck. “No, you haven’t.”
