The Hero Contest by Julie C. Gilbert

Author:Julie C. Gilbert [Gilbert, Julie C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-22T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8:

Gifts from Gatton

Following the adventures in the office building holding Megan, Cassandra spent a few hours killing time in a nearby coffee shop, a park, and a diner. She needed to stay close to the target building to monitor the situation. Eagle Eyes made the stakeout much easier on her, but it still stretched her patience.

To pass the time, Cassandra set several alarms and a timer before closing her eyes to do some research via Gatton’s fancy toy. She stuck in earbuds, fiddled with her phone from time to time, and moved every thirty to forty minutes to avoid suspicion.

Eagle Eyes had narrowed down the CIA man’s identity to 416 possibilities. Although far too many to be a useful number, the progress encouraged Cassandra since they’d started with at least twice that.

Nothing much changed on the Cyber League pages devoted to the Hero Contest, but Cassandra explored other parts of the website. It would be nice if Gatton could deliver a computer virus or break into their shady bank accounts and drain the money away, but unfortunately, the monster had many heads. Lopping off one or two would do precious little to stop the beast.

We need to strike at the heart.

The sentiment was easier said than accomplished. Since unraveling tangled internet intrigues wasn’t her strong suit, Cassandra had to wait for Gatton to point her in the correct direction. For now, his priority—and hers—remained the recovery of the stolen Eagle Eyes prototypes.

As she started eating the salad that came with her dinner, Cassandra received a call from a blocked number. She answered, expecting it to be Lia or Owen.

“It’s done,” Lia reported. She sounded tense.

The call ended before Cassandra could thank her apprentice. The young woman would send a more thorough account of the mission to the encrypted email account later. The length of the verbal summary was on par for her, but the tone was unusual. Nevertheless, Cassandra called Gatton to pass on the good news.

“Gatton,” he answered.

The hoarse, strained tone immediately caught Cassandra’s attention. Rising from the booth, she rushed into the Women’s room. This was not a conversation she wanted to hold in a crowded diner.

“I assume you have company,” said Cassandra. “Give him the phone.”

“He’s listening,” said Gatton.

“Jeffrey was just telling me about you, Ms. Mirren,” said the CIA man. He had the smooth, arrogant voice of a man who’d made a career manipulating others. “You’re a legend in the agency, but you’re a tad predictable. That’s a dangerous trait in our line of work.”

Ignoring the insult, Cassandra asked Eagle Eyes for the location of Lia’s current burner phone as well as the current connection with Gatton. Eagle Eyes promptly gave her a series of latitude and longitude numbers and overlaid the information on a map of the United States. The data sets corresponded to a remote area of Texas, and more importantly, showed that the locations were identical.

“Whom am I addressing?” Cassandra’s mind flipped through options. The CIA man likely wanted her to walk away.

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