"That was me," Knock admitted. "And this? It was everything I hoped for. The family is finally whole."
"Yes, we are," Riley agreed, taking Logan's hand. "I want lots of pictures."
"Tons," he agreed. "And one goes on the wall beside your parents. Deal?"
"Definitely," she agreed.
Chapter 44
Braden sat at his computer in the War Room. People milled about, but his eyes were scanning the screen, trying to find something that would lead him to who this asshole was. The whole situation felt a little bit like they were back at work, yet this was different. What they were hunting wasn't merely a bug in a game. It was a monster in the real world.
Knock's friends had been tracking down the ad data from the website and correlating that to potential people in some convoluted social media chain. The funny thing was that people assumed hacking was all about breaking code and cracking into data. It wasn't. Most hacking had to do with finding openly-available information and using it to your advantage. Things like all of those silly social media games, which was what Braden was looking at now.
Those things led him to passwords for long-forgotten email accounts. In there, he often found auto-generated messages from the KoG forums. Things like failed login attempts, reply notifications, and so on. And from that, he could easily gain access to someone's user data, matching a forum name to the real person behind it.
This was how Knock and his friends had found so many of the minor members of this group. Quite a few had been arrested already. The trick was to locate those who hadn't been. To find the scummiest of them, and figure out how all of this had even started. With the amount of emails trashed in those years, and the broken chains because of closed accounts, it wasn't an easy task, but they were all down for a little online sleuthing.
Around him, everyone was getting ready for an evening of serious work. Across the room, Psyc had stopped Rhaven by the bar. She was holding a bottle of Pepsi. He had a beer, but it was still full. Clearly, the conversation was more important than what either one was drinking. Braden went back to his code, but he couldn't miss that they weren't heading back to their machines, nor how Psyc was standing just a little too close.
They were cute. He hated to admit it, but they were. The way she blushed proved that her feelings for the guy were real, and it looked good on her. Braden hated that. Right now, he even hated Psyc - although that was the jealousy talking. Mostly, he hated his stupid fucking idea to convince Rhaven to try this, and yet that little look on her face made it all worth it. Taking a deep breath, he pushed that feeling down and did his best to ignore it again. He'd get over this. His problem wasn't who she slept with. In truth, it was that he was terrified that she'd like Psyc more, which was the only thing that made his hate rear its head. Braden was scared of losing her to the man he'd convinced her to be with.
But she deserved this, and it felt like something had changed between all of them. Rhaven's resistance was gone. Psyc had stopped holding back. The man caught her fingers, not caring who saw, and twined his with them. When Rhaven ducked her head away, Psyc leaned in to whisper something in her ear. A smile touched her lips. Damn, she was beautiful like that, and he couldn't blame Psyc at all for noticing.
The sound of the main door banging open made everyone in the room stop and turn. A moment later, a laugh flowed into the room. Then a giggle, and a couple more guys laughing with them. Like a whirlwind, Riley burst into the War Room, dragging Void behind her, and then she lifted his hand.
"We made it official!"
"Stealing my thunder?" Jason asked from his desk.
"Sharing the anniversary weekend," Logan corrected. "Now, we have an excuse to get together."
"Nice," Jason said, crooking his finger at his own wife, and calling Zara closer. "So," he said, "we have a little more news."
"Oh?" Kate asked, sitting up. "Because if you're going to steal the show..." And she held up her left hand, showing off the diamond on her finger. "I figure I should just drop this out there, huh?"