The Hacker’s Trap
1438 Words
The war room door swung open.
Every head turned.
Remi walked in first.
Rae followed beside her, already typing rapidly on her phone.
Del came in behind them, carrying three coffees.
She stopped when she saw everyone staring.
“What?”
Trey pointed at the cups.
“Please tell me those aren’t all yours.”
Del looked down.
“No.”
Trey relaxed.
“Thank God.”
“One’s mine.”
She handed another to Rae.
Rae immediately took a sip.
Elijah glanced at Trey.
“Apparently the coffee ban didn’t work.”
Rae ignored him.
She walked straight to the table.
“Did you guys get a threatening message too?”
Will’s eyes narrowed.
“Too?”
Remi crossed her arms.
“Yeah.”
Del nodded.
“Technically, Remi and I got one too.”
Trey stood.
“What did it say?”
Remi pulled out her phone.
“The same kind of message.”
She placed it on the table.
You should leave.
Another message had followed.
Now.
Will’s expression darkened.
“Who sent it?”
Rae finally looked up from her phone.
“The genius hacker who thought sending us threats was a good idea.”
Elijah’s eyebrow lifted.
“You know who it is?”
Rae smiled.
“No.”
Elijah stared at her.
“Then why did you call them a genius?”
“Because they’re good.”
She took another sip of coffee.
“Not better than me.”
Trey smiled.
“There she is.”
Rae pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
He raised his hands.
“Didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was.”
Elijah chuckled.
Rae rolled her eyes.
“Anyway, they made one mistake.”
Will stepped closer.
“What mistake?”
“They sent the message from a device connected to a network.”
She turned her phone around.
“I traced the connection.”
Luke stepped toward her.
“Can you locate them?”
Rae smiled.
“Already did.”
Noah looked impressed.
“That fast?”
Rae shrugged.
“I’m good.”
Elijah leaned forward.
“What did you do?”
Rae’s smile became mischievous.
“I sent them a virus.”
Silence.
Trey stared.
“You what?”
“A virus.”
“Rae.”
“What?”
“You can’t just—”
“I can.”
She tapped her phone.
“And I did.”
Will’s voice was calm but firm.
“What does it do?”
“It quietly infected their system, identified connected devices, tracked their network activity, and sent the location back to me.”
Luke frowned.
“You infected their network?”
Rae nodded.
“Yep.”
She looked around the room.
“And before anyone starts lecturing me about cybersecurity…”
Her eyes landed on Luke.
“Maybe fix your own network first.”
Luke blinked.
“What?”
Rae pointed toward the war room computer.
“Your pack network is terrible.”
Trey frowned.
“Terrible?”
“Painfully terrible.”
She walked over to the computer and tapped the screen.
“I hacked into your security system the first week I got here.”
Will’s eyes narrowed.
“We know.”
“I also hacked into your phones.”
Elijah’s eyebrows rose.
“You did that too?”
Rae smiled.
“Of course.”
She looked at Trey.
“I made Elijah’s phone play Barbie Girl.”
Trey immediately laughed.
Elijah glared at him.
“That wasn’t funny.”
“It was hilarious.”
Rae continued.
“And none of you noticed how easy it was.”
Luke looked increasingly uncomfortable.
Rae pointed at him.
“Your firewall is outdated.”
She pointed toward Noah.
“Your authentication protocols are worse.”
Then she pointed toward the main screen.
“And your internal network has enough holes in it to drive a truck through.”
Noah stared at the system.
“That’s… concerning.”
“Very.”
Rae took another sip of coffee.
“Especially considering someone is apparently hacking your phones now.”
Will’s expression hardened.
“You’re saying the attackers could have gotten into our system?”
“I’m saying whoever is behind this knows technology.”
She shrugged.
“And if they got through your network?”
Rae smiled.
“That’s not exactly difficult.”
Trey looked at Luke.
“She’s insulting our security.”
Luke sighed.
“She’s not wrong.”
Rae pointed at him.
“Thank you.”
Will looked at her.
“So you sent a virus back.”
Rae nodded.
“Exactly.”
Elijah leaned against the table.
“And what happens now?”
Rae’s smile became mischievous.
“Now the genius hacker gets to learn what happens when they mess with the hacker who’s better than them.”
Elijah looked genuinely intrigued.
“What have you not hacked?”
Remi immediately muttered,
“You don’t want to know.”
Elijah looked at her.
“Why?”
Remi gave him a look.
“Because if you knew half the things she’s hacked, you’d probably sleep with your phone under your pillow.”
Rae nodded.
“Accurate.”
Trey looked between them.
“Should we be concerned?”
Del took a sip of her coffee.
“Probably.”
Luke looked at Rae.
“How long until you have a location?”
Rae’s phone chimed.
She looked down.
Her expression changed.
“Got it.”
Everyone moved closer.
Rae pulled up a map.
A blinking red dot appeared north of the pack’s territory.
She zoomed in.
“There’s the signal.”
Will studied the screen.
“Where?”
Rae pointed.
“Northern Ridge.”
Luke leaned over the map.
“That’s just outside pack land.”
Noah nodded.
“About fifteen minutes from here.”
Elijah’s expression hardened.
“Close enough to watch the pack.”
“Exactly,” Rae said.
Trey looked at Will.
“They’ve been sitting right under our noses.”
Will stared at the red dot.
“How many?”
Rae shook her head.
“I don’t know yet.”
Elijah looked at her.
“Can you find out?”
Rae smiled.
“Give me five minutes.”
Trey groaned.
“Why do I feel like that’s going to end with another drone?”
Rae looked offended.
“Why wouldn’t it?”
Del laughed.
“Because last time you almost got us killed.”
Rae pointed at her.
“Technically, I saved us.”
“With a drone carrying enough tranquilizer to knock out a wolf.”
“Exactly.”
Elijah looked at Rae.
“You’re terrifying.”
Rae grinned.
“Thank you.”
Elijah smiled.
“I wasn’t complimenting you.”
“I chose to take it as one.”
Trey looked at his brother.
“Don’t encourage her.”
Elijah shrugged.
“I’m starting to understand why you like her.”
Trey froze.
Rae froze.
Remi’s eyes widened.
Del slowly lowered her coffee.
Luke suddenly became very interested in the map.
Noah coughed.
Will looked at Trey.
Trey glared at Elijah.
“I do not—”
Rae interrupted.
“Can we focus on the armed people watching us?”
Trey nodded quickly.
“Yes.”
Elijah smiled.
“Absolutely.”
Will pointed toward the map.
“We move now.”
Rae shook her head.
“No.”
Will looked at her.
“No?”
Rae crossed her arms.
“They’re expecting you.”
Will’s expression hardened.
“Then we’ll surprise them.”
Rae smiled.
“Exactly.”
She tapped the red dot.
“But we’re not going in through the front.”
Elijah leaned closer.
“What do you have in mind?”
Rae’s eyes gleamed.
“A trap.”
Remi smiled.
“Now you’re speaking my language.”
Del nodded.
“Finally.”
Trey looked at the three women.
“I have a feeling we’re going to regret asking.”
Luke sighed.
“I already do.”
Noah chuckled.
Will stared at the map.
The enemy thought they were watching the Bayou.
They thought they had the advantage.
They thought threatening the Alphas would make them run.
They were about to learn something very different.
The three Carter brothers weren’t alone anymore.
And the three women standing beside them were far more dangerous than anyone realized.
Rae’s phone chimed again.
She looked down.
Her smile disappeared.
“Guys…”
Will looked at her.
“What?”
Rae slowly turned the phone around.
The blinking red dot had multiplied.
There weren’t five people at Northern Ridge.
There were twelve.
And they were moving.
Straight toward pack territory.
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