<b>Briar </b>headed upstairs and took a shower. She didn’t bother drying her hair–just threw on some pajamas and started towel drying it as the powered herptop.
She hadn’t brought it with her while hanging out with Ellen, so it had been off all day.
The second it booted up, messages started pour <ol><li>in. Before she could even open any of them, a voice call popped up </li></ol>
Briar paused, slipped on her headphones, and answered, “What’s up, Alex?”
“Good news,” Alex said, sounding way too cheerful. “Someone just dropped a huge chunk of cash on the Hacker Alliance, trying to dig into what <b>you’ve </b>been doing since you got back.”
Briar shrugged. “That’s nothing new. People have been trying to dig into my background.”
“True,” Alex said,ughing. “But guess how much they o
aid this time?”
“How much? Am I finally worth more?” Briar asked casually.
She remembered someone once tried to pay 30 million dors for her intel, but that deal never went through.
“Not quite that much. They’re not asking for your full résumé–just stuff about your life here with the Jennings family. They’ve got no clue how big you are overseas,” Alex said, clearly hyped. “But get this–they’re offering 15 million dors just for that!”
Briar paused. She hadn’t realized her connection to the Jennings family was worth that much on its own.
Alex continued, “What if we tell them you’re a top–tier professor at Atrington University and Tristan’s only student? I think we could squeeze another 15
million dors out of them.”
He still hadn’t forgiven himself for passing up the old 30 million dors offer. Now he was broke and desperate to make up for it.
Briar rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me that Alexia froze your ounts again.”
Alexia was his wife. Whenever Alex did something dumb, she’d lock him out of his money. No matter how rich he was, when she cut him off, he was dead
broke for months.
“You know me too well.” Alex smiled, a little embarrassed. “She’s go
<b>O </b>
s got me on financial lockdown for two months. I gotta make cash somehow.”
“Try taking that job. I dare you.” Hair half–dry, Briar tossed her towel aside and opened the Hacker Alliance site. There it was, right at the top–thetest bounty, targeting her.
酒
Only the other four current leaders of the Hacker Alliance knew about her real background. She figured the messages piling in were from them teasing her about it.
People had started digging <i>into </i>her the minute she came back. Trouble always seemed to find her no matter where she went.
Alex hesitated. “Forget it. You sound mad. I’m not touching it. I’ll reject the job.”
Briar might’ve been the youngest of their crew, but even if all four of them teamed up, they still wouldn’t be able to take her down.
Briar didn’t say anything, just waited.
After a beat of awkward silence, Alex let out a guiltyugh. “Okay, okay–I already took it. Just figured I’d give you a heads–up. I mean, <be </b><b>on</b><b>—</b><b>it’s </b><b>15 </b>million dors! I couldn’t say no.”
For a man who wouldn’t have a dime of pocket money for the next two months, this cash felt like a lifesaver.
<b>Chapter </b><b>20 </b>
<b>Briar </b><b>chuckled</b>, <b>“</b><b>Fine</b><b>. </b><b>Go </b>ahead and sell them whatever they want. It might help me figure out <b>who’s </b>behind H.-
<b>Money </b>matters more to me than you do but as your friend, I figured I should warn you. You’re being watched the second you step back into the <b>country</b><b>. </b>The Hacker Alliance doesn’t wanna lose another leader,” Alex said seriously.
The Hacker Alliance started out as a small team of six elite hackers. Alex, Alexia, George, Georgiana, and Briar were handpicked from around the world by
groups in the world, on par with the <b>Dark </b>Netz a guy named Dexter. Under his lead, they got so good that they became one of the top ha
But five years ago, during a mission, Dexter was killed outside Spoivania. No one ever found out who did it. That loss hit the Hacker Alliance harder than anything else.
“Don’t worry. I’m not that easy to kill,” Briar said, then hung up. She sat there, staring at her screen, deep in thought.
Someone was clearly on edge about her return. There was no way anyone would spend 15 million dors just to track her movements.
They were probably watching her to decide whether she posed a threat–whether she needed to be taken out, just like her mother,
Meanwhile, in Spoivania, Dark Net received a 15–million–dor job from someone in Dasmieca. Usually, Xavion–who ran the group–wouldn’t even <b>blink </b>at a job like that. But when he saw the name Briar Jennings, he paused.
He looked deeper and confirmed it was the same Briar his boss Ashton held in such high regard.
Just to be safe, Xavion gave Ashton a call. “Mr. Wade, someone’s digging into Miss Jennings. They wired 15 million dors to find out everything she’s doing <i>in </i>Dasmieca.”
Spoivania and Dasmieca were twelve hours apart. It was 10 AM for Xavion, but 10 PM for Ashton–tight in the middle of his nightly hypnosis therapy.
When the call came through, Ashton, who’d <i>been </i><i>on </i>the verge of sleep, snapped fully awake. Frederick, the psychologist helping him, looked like he wanted to throw something. He knew Ashton probably wouldn’t sleep at all now.
Five years ago, Ashton had nearly died after getting shot in the head during less than four hours of sleep a night.
an attack abroad. Since then, he’d struggled with severe insomnia, averaging
Frederick was <i>one </i>of the best in his field, but even he couldn’t do much. If Ashton managed to drift off once or twice out of ten attempts, Frederick called it a win.
Only a handful of people knew about Ashton’s condition. In the entire Wade family, only Griffin was aware. Not even Ashton’s parents had a clue. Tonight, Frederick had been so close to helping Ashton fall asleep until Xavion’s call ruined everything. He was so mad he nearly snapped at the phone.
Ashton hadn’t slept well in a week, and the dark circles under his eyes were noticeable enough.