Hacking Mr. CEO by Anna Hackett
He Wouldn’t Leave Me
Mav
Fuck. Fuck.
Mav yanked out his phone. The lights on the ceiling flickered, then steadied.
He pressed the button and called Zane.
“Mav. Shit.” Zane’s voice was tense. “Liam and I are parked on the street here. We called 9-1-1.”
“Vander?”
“No sign yet. Hold tight.” Zane ended the call.
“Oh, my God.” Remi was pale faced. On the CCTV, they watched the fire intensify.
The Shadow wasn’t playing around.
Mav tapped his foot on the floor. They’d underestimated this bastard. And right now, he just prayed that Vander and Ace were okay.
Mav pulled Remi into his lap.
“What if—?”
“Shh,” he said. “It’ll take more than some traitorous asshole to take out Vander Norcross.”
“The Shadow won’t stop, Mav. We’re all in danger. You, my family.”
He pressed a hand to the back of her neck and squeezed. “I’m mean, and I have resources. We will take him down. I promise. I won’t let him hurt you, or any of your family.”
The computer chimed with a call. Mav swiped the screen.
Zane was sitting in the front seat of his car. Behind him, in the backseat, Ace and Vander came into view.
Relief punched through Mav, and he heard Remi let out a hard breath.
Ace’s long hair was loose and tangled, brushing his shoulders. Vander had a smudge of black on his cheek.
And Vander was angry. Icily angry.
“You okay?” Mav asked.
Vander gave a curt nod. “We got out a window in time.”
“What happened?” Remi asked.
“The place was rigged to blow,” Ace said.
“At first, it looked normal,” Vander said. “Like someone lived there. But something felt off.”
“Staged,” Ace said.
“But we did get into a locked office.” Vander ran a hand through his hair. “And a safe I don’t think we were supposed to find. I’m guessing the asshole figured it would go up in the explosion.”
The tone of Vander’s voice made Mav’s insides go cold. “You found something.”
“Your guy is organized, keeps good records. I found a list of the jobs he’s done.”
“Jobs?” Remi frowned. “Like hacking jobs?”
“No, The Shadow is a jack-of-all-trades.”
“So, he isn’t a foreign government, or a terrorist?” Mav asked.
“No, but he sells to them. He’s someone who sells to the highest bidder. He carries out impossible, high-risk jobs—steals items, espionage, and doesn’t just acquire hard-to-reach info.”
“Vander,” Mav growled. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“He’s an assassin.”
“What?” Remi’s eyes went wide.
“A good one.” Vander’s gaze bored into Mav’s. “Mav, you and Remi need to get back to the city, and we’ll get you to a secure location.”
Remi sucked in a breath. Mav ground his teeth together. “What did you find?”
“He knows this job has gone bad, and he’s the kind of man to tidy up loose ends. He’s coming after you and Remi.”
“Fuck. Okay, we’ll head back now.”
He had to keep Remi safe. That was all that mattered.
Suddenly Vander’s image distorted.
“Mav… You… Fast…”
Dammit. “Vander, you’re breaking up.” Mav tapped the keyboard. “Wait, I’ll—”
They were plunged into darkness.
Remi gripped his arm. “What happened to the backup power? Um, this isn’t good, right?”
“Right.” Mav pulled out his cell phone, and turned on the flashlight function. It bathed them in a bluish-white glow.
Faint lights were still lit up on the floor. The emergency lighting.
“The backup power is gone.”
She lifted her chin and swallowed. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
“Maybe.” Mav looked at his phone. “No signal.”
She frowned. “You think he’s jamming us?”
“Yeah.”
“Does the emergency power run the computer system?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Only the emergency security terminal in the main security hub will be active.”
“So we go there.”
Or they could hide here, and hunker down. Mav hated the idea of doing nothing, but keeping her safe was his top priority.
Hell. But this asshole was hunting them.
“Wait.” He pulled his phone out again. “We have an internal comms system.” He checked. “It’s still operational.”
He touched a contact.
Ruben’s face came up on the small screen.
“Ruben, I think we have a dangerous assassin on site.”
“What?” His head of operations squeezed the bridge of his nose. “God, you throw some interesting curveballs at me, Mav. You aren’t joking?”
“No.”
“Are you safe?”
“We’re thinking about getting to the security hub. Get the power back on, and call for help.”
“Shit.” Ruben paused for a second. “Look, I’m closer to the hub. The damn security team is out chasing Tisdale.”
Mav paused. Hell, had The Shadow somehow arranged that?
“I’ll make my way there and contact you again,” Ruben said.
“Thanks, Ruben.”
“No problem, I—”
There was a flash of movement, followed by a grunt, and a shout. Ruben’s phone skidded across the floor.
“Oh, no,” Remi gasped.
They now had a view of the wall, and Mav heard the sounds of a fight, then nothing.
“Ruben? Ruben?”
Fuck. Dammit.
A black-gloved hand came into view. The call cut off.
Remi was breathing fast.
“Get your phone,” Mav bit out. “We have to go.”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “Wouldn’t it be safer to stay here?”
Mav understood the urge to hide. To stay safe.
“He’s coming for us. We need to get to the hub.”
She pressed a shaky hand to her face.
“Trust me?” Mav asked.
She hugged him. “Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
Mav lifted the panel beside the door. The electronic lock was dead, but beneath it was a manual door control.
He heard the click, then the door opened.
He took her hand.
Out in the hallway, blue emergency lighting glowed, giving the place an eerie feel.
They moved quietly down the corridor, then turned a corner. Ahead was a wall of windows. The sun was setting, flooding the back in orange-gold light.
Remi’s fingers clenched on his.
“This way,” he whispered.
A noise echoed from somewhere deeper in the complex, and they froze.
Nothing moved.
Shit. Mav wished he had a weapon. He pulled Remi closer.
“Come on.” He tugged her out of the atrium and down the hall.
They needed to get to the security hub.
* * *
Remi
I was freaked.
My heart pounded and my mouth was dry.
An assassin was hunting us. It felt unreal. Like a horror movie, or bad dream.
Mav squeezed my fingers and I released a breath.
I wasn’t alone, and I knew he wouldn’t leave me.
My chest locked. He wouldn’t leave me. That certainty rocketed through me.
“Down here,” Mav whispered.
He towed me down another corridor. It was so dark, but thankfully empty. I swallowed. We had to get that call out.
There was a door at the end. Mav tried it, but it was locked, and he muttered a curse.
“Let me.” I connected my phone to the lock, and tapped.
Beep. The door opened.
Inside was a large kitchen and dining area. It was much larger than the one near Mav’s private lab.
We skirted the long rows of tables.
Then I heard a noise coming from the opposite side of the room.
“Down,” he whispered urgently.
I dropped to the floor, crouching by a table. My heartbeat echoed in my ears.
Mav pointed.
Through the legs of the chairs, I saw a dark shadow moving at the edge of the room. I soundlessly sucked in a breath.
It was him. The Shadow. The person who’d caused all this trouble.
And for what? Money? Greed?
The Shadow was a man who stole and killed, for his own benefit.
I looked at Mav in the gloom.
He was the opposite. A man who also made so much money, but by creating, allowing his employees to collaborate and invent needed tech.
The Shadow disappeared. God, where was he? My pulse was racing so fast that I was worried my chest would burst open.
After a long moment, Mav nodded. We rose and continued onward.
We slipped down another hall. That’s when I saw a dark form on the floor.
“Ruben,” Mav said.
We rushed to the man and dropped to our knees. I watched Mav feel for a pulse and I touched Ruben’s head. I felt something sticky.
Oh no. Blood.
Mav released a harsh breath. “He’s alive.”
“What do we do?” We couldn’t carry him out of here.
“Put him on his side. The best thing to help him, is to get to the hub and call for help.”
I nodded. I helped him gently roll Ruben onto his side. I unbuttoned Ruben’s shirt and maneuvered it off him, leaving him in a T-shirt. I used the shirt to staunch the bleeding, tucking the fabric under his head.
“Hold on,” I whispered.
Mav pulled me up.
We jogged down the hall, and I stayed close behind him.
He paused, listening. “Almost there.”
We rounded another corner, and picked up speed.
“That door.” He pointed.
I saw it. It had an emergency light above it and the sign was marked Security. I felt a rush of giddy relief.
Suddenly, a tall form shot out of a doorway right at us.
Mav knocked me back and I swallowed a cry.
Mav moved and rammed a punch at the man, then grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
“Mr. Rivera!”
Mav stilled. “Tisdale?”
The disgruntled employee.
“I didn’t do this.” The man swallowed. “I only wanted to help.”
He was thin, pale-faced, with greasy, dirty-blond hair. He swallowed again and his large Adam’s apple bobbed.
“I know, Tisdale,” Mav said. “You need to hide. There’s a dangerous person in the building.”
The man’s eyes went wide. “The Russians?”
Mav sighed. “I don’t think so.”
“The Chinese?”
“No,” Mav growled. “Look. Can you hide until I come and get you?”
Tisdale straightened. “I want to help.”
“Great, let’s—”
There was a sound behind us. A scraping. It echoed down the hall.
My heart jumped into my throat and I spun. I didn’t see anyone in the darkness. “Mav, we have to hurry.”
Tisdale stepped forward. “I can lure him away.”
“Tisdale, no.” Mav lunged, but the man took off, surprisingly fast. “Fuck.”
“Hellllooo,” Tisdale yelled, disappearing around the corner.
I saw that Mav wanted to go after him. “The best way to help him is to call the police.”
Mav nodded.
We reached the door to the hub. I connected to it and tried to hack it. I frowned. “It’s not working.”
“Security rooms have enhanced security.” Mav’s jaw tightened. He opened the panel, and yanked the wires out. He fiddled, and connected some.
The door opened.
So much for enhanced security.
Mav shot me a look. “Yeah, I know. Not the problem right now.”
I shrugged in reply as we hustled into the room. Mav slid a deadbolt across the door behind us.
Inside looked like a standard security office, complete with a wall of screens. They were currently blank.
I sat in one of the chairs. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Mav pressed his hand to a scanner. It beeped and the system unlocked, the main screen flaring to life.
“Hmm.” I frowned. I needed to find the power system for the building. “Where’s the power system?”
He rattled off where I needed to go and I tapped quickly.
“I like watching you work,” he said.
I glanced at him. “Hey, no flirting. At least, not while a deadly assassin is after us.”
His teeth were white in the low light.
I lost myself in the system. Ah, I saw what the asshole had done.
There.
I tapped the Enter key. The lights came on.
“You did it,” Mav said.
Security screens flickered to life one by one. I saw lights coming on in different spaces around Rivera Tech Park. I could see that outside, night was falling.
“Look,” Mav pointed.
I saw the assassin. He had his back to the camera and was dressed in black. His hair was black as well, and he had a mask over the lower portion of his face.
He raised a handgun.
Oh, no.I saw Tisdale running.
I couldn’t hear the report of the gun, but I imagined it.
Tisdale fell.
Mav cursed. “We need to stop his jamming and make the call.”
“On it.” I looked back at the computer screen. My fingers flew. Come on.
This asshole couldn’t be as good as Mav and me.
Mav was tapping on the other desktop.
“I can’t stop the jamming,” I said. “However he’s doing it, it isn’t through your system.”
“We need to block the frequency he’s using.” Mav stood and started yanking things out of the cabinets.
He pulled out some items, found a screwdriver. Next, he yanked out some electronics. He muttered as he joined wires and pulled parts of things and joined them together.
On the screen, I saw the assassin head into a corridor.
The next second, he was gone.
My insides crawled. “Mav, I lost him.” I frantically searched the screens.
Where the hell did he go?
Then I saw a flicker of movement, and glimpsed him.
Bile rose in my throat. “Mav, he’s coming this way!”
“Okay, hang on.” He plugged his makeshift device into the computer.
He thumbed the keyboard—Mav’s fingers didn’t dance, they punched.
I heard a ping. I smiled. “Jamming is down, we have phone signal!”
He leaned down and pressed a hard kiss on my lips.
Then Mav yanked his cell phone out and tapped in a text.
“I’m texting Zane. Now for 9-1-1—” he pressed the phone to his ear. “Yes, it’s an emergency. I’m Maverick Rivera, and I’m at Rivera Tech Park. We have a security breach, and a murderer on site.”
I half listened as he spoke to the 9-1-1 operator.
On-screen, I saw the assassin getting closer.
“Mav, he’s coming.”
Mav swiveled and looked at the screen.
“He can’t get in, right?”
A muscle ticked in Mav’s jaw.
“Right.”
“Fuck, we can’t take that risk.” He shoved his phone into his pocket. “We have to move.”
