Page 2 of Nightstalker

“Fuck, man, he must have invested all of his money into machines. Garrett is going to go ape shit over this equipment. I hope Z has found another specialist to help him analyze all of this. He is already three cases deep,” Drew replied as he gently placed a tower into a case, the two inch foam giving way under the weight of the heavy machine.

“Yeah, this guy hasn’t been laid in years. He has two air conditioner units on full blast in his bedroom and a dirty mattress just lying on the floor. It looks like a server room met hoarders in there. I need another case for all the drives in that room alone.” Leo waved a hand in front of his face as he walked back into the main room, presumably to get the piss smell to dissipate.

I stood over the dead guy and watched the blood ooze out of the bullet wound, down the bridge of his nose, and over his cheek. Finally it joined a growing puddle of thick red liquid on the filthy, stained carpet next to his ear.

It was a damn clean shot. One and done.

“Yo, Jasmin you thinkin’ about helping here, or you gonna just keep staring at the stiff?” Colin spoke from across the room where he was gathering up flash drives.

“Just admiring my shot placement, Cap. I swear I get better every time.” I flashed my best, “I’m the shit” smile and looked over Louis Clark, better known as Darkweb336 one last time, “Perfectly placed, right between the eyes. The bastard ought to thank me.” I made over to help the guys finish up.

Louis, or Darkweb336 to the slimy underbelly of the deep web, lay dead in the middle of his living room. He barely had the chance to react before I made my way into his apartment, and took my shot. The two deadbolts on his door were a joke; it took me all of five seconds to pick each lock. For a world class hacker he was pretty lax on his personal security. Single cylinder deadbolts were child’s play.

“Ya’ll are a bunch of pansy asses complaining about the smell. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear you were all trained by the girl scouts.” I loved to tease the guys when I could. It was a rare occasion they acted like a bunch of sissies complaining about smell and filth.

“Fuck me, Jas thinks she has jokes. Who do you think contracted the douche to hack into the spooks database?” Eric asked with a look of distain on his face. The CIA had burned him on his last assignment. They fucked him over so badly that even years later he still refused to even be in the same room with an agent. “My guess is the Russians.”

“Eric your guess is always the Russians,” Colin threw in as he latched another container and placed it on a dolly.

Deepweb336 had been on radar for years. He was a low level hacker when we first caught up with him. He slowly made a name for himself stealing corporate secrets and selling them to any competitor that was willing to add a bunch of zeros to whatever number he threw out.

Z Corps, and the government agencies that ran contracts through us, never gave two shits what Deepweb336 did, only that he was quickly making a name for himself as one of the most sought after hackers in the world. That is, until he tried to hack into the CIA database that held information on where undercover agents were on assignment. Stealing that would have led to an outrageous number of casualties, pissed off most foreign governments, and made the people in power have to answer some very uncomfortable questions.

Deepweb336 needed to be eliminated before those questions were asked. Z Corps took the contract to do just that. That and to recover any information he might have already stolen. Red Team was the best recovery team the company had ever trained; the team that got sent out on the highest priority ops. And this op was high priority. It was top secret shit that was so far above my paygrade I didn’t know all the players involved and never would unless Zane, my boss, felt that information was required for me to do my job. Z Corps recruited and contracted some of the world’s best hackers and deep web information brokers; it would be their job to sift through all the machines we brought back. It would also be their job to find out who had hired Darkweb336. It’s a shame Darkweb336 turned out to be such a douche and played for the wrong team his skills could have been an asset to Z Corps.

“We need to be out in six minutes. Cargo will be out front.” Colin, the team leader, yelled, reminding us of our deadline.

“Aye aye Cap.” The team echoed in unison.

We were six minutes until, out the door, all electronics needed to be packed up and ready for transport. The last of the hacker’s equipment was dismantled and placed into plastic containers. The rest of the team speedily donned mover’s coveralls created for today’s transport. Today they were “Movers on the Go”. MoGo. A cargo van would be waiting for them at the entrance with a MoGo logo on the side.

Colin and I stayed in the everyday clothes we wore in, nothing too flashy that would make us stand out. This was a shit neighborhood after all; we needed to blend in like we belonged in this rat infested apartment complex. We would not be going out with the “movers” today we would act as their back up.

“We’re out. See ya back at HQ,” Drew said as he pulled his hat lower on his head in an effort to shield his face, a habit we all had. The team had already done a sweep of the apartment complex checking for any video surveillance inside of the building. It was no surprise that the old, shithole complex had no such devices. That only left the traffic cameras to be disabled en route. The guys back at HQ would handle that. Eric, Jaxon, and Leo followed Drew out the door. Each had a dolly stacked high with black plastic hard cases.

Colin grabbed my hand once we were in the hallway, and walked us hand in hand out of the building. Once we were on the street we could watch the team as they loaded the cargo van. With a quick sweep of the street Colin kissed my forehead and walked us across the intersection like an everyday couple.

Pulling my secure, encrypted cellphone out of my pocket, careful not to advertise the pistol strapped underneath my jacket, I punched in my ten digit security code.

“Cleanup is a go.” I ended the call and slid my phone back into my pocket. I looked up at Colin and smiled brightly. Another successful mission. The cleaners would be there soon and it would look like Louis Clark never lived there at all.

Chapter Two

Jasmin

“Debrief in five. I have to hit the head. All you asshats better be ready with after action reports in the conference room, Z is on his way in,” Colin barked at us as he passed the armory where we were unloading our kit.

“Hey Drew, you sure you ready to give all this up?” I asked, spreading my arms wide and turning in a circle, gesturing to all the weapons on the wall.

Z Corps’ armory was something of beauty. We were the envy of every security contract company worldwide. Zane kept us in the latest and best gear - guns, knives, and night observation devices were displayed proudly around the room. We had everything from small compact Smith and Wesson .22s to the AX50 bolt action .50 cal, and every caliber in between.

The AX50 was one heavy bitch, weighing in at twenty-seven pounds unloaded. I’d been stuck carrying that beast many times when I first made the team. As the only woman on the payroll that was an active operator, I had a lot to prove to earn the trust and respect of the men on my team. Hell, the company for that matter. It was something I reveled in. I did not give my respect easily and my trust was reserved for those who fought for it; each person in my circle had to earn the right to be there. I learned that the hard way as a fresh faced high school graduate in the Army.

“Baby girl, I got ten years on you. My old and broken body has put in enough time. It’s time I let the young bucks take a turn.” Drew flashed a smile and flexed his perfect biceps.

Old and broken body my ass! At thirty eight he was in better shape than any young buck I had ever seen. Every man on my team was shit hot. It was like super heroes bred with the hottest male review you had ever seen. Each one drool worthy and cocky as hell, not that I could blame them. They all came from elite Special Forces teams from various branches of the Military. It really was unfair that I was surrounded by eye candy all day, yet they were off limits.

It was a prerequisite for working at Z Corps. You had to be former Special Forces. I was the only exception, but I had damn well earned my place in the company. I had made it to Red Team, the top tier, and each of my teammates knew I belonged there.