Thirty Seconds to Live (The Blackwell Files Book 10) by Steven F. Freeman

Author:Steven F. Freeman [Freeman, Steven F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-25T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 40

Twenty hours later, Alton settled into the passenger seat of a rented Altima. At the moment, even the motion of turning a steering wheel would have increased the discomfort in his tender ribcage. So he opted to program the address for the Newark Hilton into the rental’s GPS system while Mallory drove their temporary transportation from the airport.

That task finished, he dialed up Alice.

“Are the lines-of-force protocol working?” he asked.

“Yes—full potential,” said Alice.

“Thank heavens for small favors,” breathed Alton. “Hey, I need to ask you for help in another area.”

“What’s that?”

“I think the people we’re fighting hacked into the servers of New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service. I’m going to send you an algorithm to seek out suspicious code. I want you to run that algorithm against all their servers. If you don’t find any problems in the Christchurch office, expand your search to all other offices in the country.”

“You got it, Boss. You know this might take a day or two, right?”

“Yep, but no one can do it faster than you.”

“Aw, shucks,” she said with a giggle and mock Texan accent. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“Thanks.”

Alton ended the call. He rode without speaking for several minutes. Fatigue overcame him in a rush. Between the combat injuries, extended travel, and the clock ticking slightly past 2:00 A.M., he wouldn’t have stayed awake at all if not for the looming sense of ever-present danger.

“You’re awfully quiet,” said Mallory, stealing a glance his direction.

“I was just thinking…I’m glad the security protocol is up and running again.”

“Of course. We all are.”

“Sure, but the reason I’m glad is because these guys, our adversaries, have me worried. And not just because of their hacking or combat skills.”

“What, then?”

“I’ve confirmed they didn’t crack our internal NSA communications. That’s good, right? But it also means they reasoned out we’d escape Egypt via the military base, and they used that insight to set their ambush at the gate. That’s exactly what I would have done.” He took a deep breath. “I underestimated them once. I won’t do it again.”

“I see why you’re silent now,” said Mallory. “You’re thinking they might have traced us here.”

“Yes. An agile mind is the most dangerous weapon we can face. The sooner we can reach the hotel, the better.”

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