Technical Threat (Westin Force #4) - Julie Trettel Page 0,5

but Shay always made excuses on why she shouldn’t be working or helping me.

My routine was a simple one. I got up early and worked at the restaurant all day long. I came home having already eaten dinner at the diner, and then I took a shower. After that I hid in my room and worked on my search for Sonnet.

After only six months my mother declared it too painful to even hear her name. She seemed to prefer to just forget her, but I couldn’t. I knew in my heart that Sonnet was alive and still out there—somewhere.

A year ago, I discovered a secret human organization called the Raglan. From the few rumors that had surfaced they were kidnapping shifters for scientific experiments. It took months to track down their systems online.

I’d managed to get through their firewall just long enough to confirm enough to solidify my suspicions. I was now convinced that Sonnet had somehow managed to get caught up in this mess, and I was determined more than ever to find her and bring her back home.

I couldn’t share that information with anyone. Shay would be pissed. Sage always got upset and ran to our mother at the mere mention of our sister’s name. Sapphire was the one that always believed me when I said she was still alive out there somewhere, but the last time I’d gotten close she’d cheered me on every step of the way. When it hadn’t panned out, I feared my older sister was going to slip into a real depression.

I couldn’t do that to her again, so until I had something concrete, I wouldn’t discuss it with Sapphire again no matter how much she suspected I was still on the hunt.

So, I kept this to myself and shouldered the additional burden just like everything else in my life. I couldn’t let myself truly think about it or else I would be crushed under the weight of it all.

Every single night I meticulously searched following even the smallest crumb of a trail that could lead me to Sonnet, and finally last night, I’d struck gold.

It was a complete accident really, an unnamed firewall that appeared to be an easy block in the road. Most unobtrusive obstacles were simple to breech, but when I pressed forward, I found this one was different. Very different.

What looked like a simple setup was one of the most difficult hacks I’d ever seen. Curiosity alone had kept me going, but when I broke through a layer to discover a file titled Raglan my heart had nearly leapt from my chest.

It took everything in me not to scream out in frustration when someone kicked me out. I immediately tried to get back in, but everything had changed. I knew this had to be a group of professionals I was dealing with. The excitement of that made the day drag by. I couldn’t wait to get back to my laptop. I had to know what was in that Raglan file and there was nothing that was going to stop me now.

Tarron

Chapter 3

My alarm went off and I reached over to smack it. Nothing happened.

Groggily I opened one eye and saw it was two in the morning.

I groaned. Had I dreamed it?

The noise sounded again. This time I was just coherent enough to understand it was my phone, not my alarm clock.

I picked it up and saw an alert. There was a breech to the firewall.

I bolted upright, fully awake now. I nearly fell out of bed getting tangled in the sheets. This was the third time this week.

Exhausted, I pulled myself up from the floor where I’d fallen and grabbed my briefcase. Shoving my feet into slippers, I ran from my room and down the hall to the elevator.

I’d been contemplating getting a house in town something small and near Nonna. If this continued, I’d be scrapping that plan for sure. There was nothing I could have done from home without leaving a hole in the firewall which could leave it even more vulnerable. It was too big of a risk.

Of course, Archie lived on site as well and would always be able to hold the fort down until I could arrive. I hated the thought of that though.

The elevator felt like it was running in slow motion. I couldn’t get down to the top-secret basement and Westin Force headquarters fast enough.

As soon as the doors opened, I took off running again stopping only long enough to swipe my