The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie

Author:Nick Petrie [Petrie, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Mystery
ISBN: 9780593540558
Google: S1CMEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0593540557
Barnesnoble: 0593540557
Goodreads: 63018960
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2024-02-06T06:00:00+00:00

34

On the center screen, the orange text continued to scroll. Goetz was typing furiously on his own keyboard, managing something on his servers. “Turn that thing off,” he said. “You’re done, girly.”

“No, I’m not.” June put her hands on the laptop and hit reply. Who are you?

The response came back immediately.

I work for your enemy.

You’re just the help? Who’s your boss?

A serious player. The last person you want coming after your small-time crew.

She looked at Goetz, who was still working his keyboard. “Are you getting anywhere?”

“Not yet, but I will. Kill that machine now.”

“Thirty seconds.” She turned back to the laptop, typing, Why is he our enemy?

Another quick response. You’ll find out when you meet. You will not enjoy the experience.

June tried to channel the personality of a Ghost Killer. You’re overconfident. The Albanians are dead. She remembered what Fratelli had told her. In Milwaukee, between the house and the burned car, you lost six people. We almost got the seventh. But we have lost nobody.

But the house is totaled. You’re on the run.

How would he know that? she wondered. All the attackers were dead except the man with the rocket launcher who took the laptop. Maybe that’s who she was talking to. He would be a field man, though, not the hacker.

Did you get the glass out of your topcoat? It was a guess. But the reply told her that she was right.

The six dead were contract employees. Your enemy has many more. But you have lost all your money.

This confirmed what she’d been thinking. The enemy was a big player, and he’d hired out the hit. That would be useful in narrowing their search.

She sent back the laughing-so-hard-I’m-crying emoji. We have more than enough to find you and your boss. What do you think will happen when we do?

She waited, but there was no answer. Beside her, Goetz muttered to himself. His fingers flew across the keys. He had two more monitors lit now, each filled with orange text that scrolled upward relentlessly.

June hit reply again. There is a way out for you. Keep the money you stole from us. Consider it a finder’s fee. All we need is the name and address of your employer.

The reply came. Why would I bargain? I have you where I want you.

“He doesn’t know where we are,” Dinah said. She’d gotten off the couch and come to read over June’s shoulder. “Does he?”

“He’s bluffing.” June tried to mouse to the reply button, but the pointer wouldn’t move. She realized she was sweating. Had the room gotten warmer? “Hiram, you’re running proxy servers, right? Tell me he can’t get our physical location.”

“No.” A pause. “Probably not. I told you, kill that machine.” Goetz pulled another keyboard toward him and the remaining three monitors came to life. The orange text was scrolling there, too, faster by the second. Goetz shook his head, lips moving silently.

“Should we leave?” Dinah asked.

The Albanian’s laptop screen flared white for a half second, then a popping sound came from somewhere inside it.

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