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  THE HACKER

  The Dregs Book 6

  Leslie Georgeson

  Copyright © 2018 Leslie Georgeson

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author.

  * * *

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Other Titles by Leslie Georgeson

  About Leslie Georgeson

  Connect with Leslie Georgeson

  PROLOGUE

  Noah

  As the guard turned away, closing my cell door, I slipped his phone from his pants’ pocket and stuffed it in my own.

  He locked my cell, oblivious to the fact that I’d just stolen his phone, then strode down the dark corridor, his footsteps echoing behind him.

  The brute had just returned me after my “update” with The General, who had informed me I was doing well in the program and that I had surpassed all his physical expectations so far.

  I’d been here for three years now. Three years of hell. I was now sixteen, but I felt more like forty. Several of my roommates had perished over the years, the last one dying yesterday afternoon. So, for now, I had no roommate.

  I dropped onto my bed and swiped the screen on the guard’s phone, excitement coursing through me.

  The screen was locked. It required a password to access.

  No problem. I would figure it out.

  And figure it out, I did.

  A half hour later, the guard returned, finally figuring out who had stolen his phone. But he was too late. I’d been playing around on his phone for the past twenty-five minutes. I’d discovered he was a sick perv who liked boys.

  He glared at me through the bars. “You little punk. You think you’re smart, don’t you?”

  “He is smart,” a voice said from behind the guard. The guard stiffened and quickly raised his arm in a salute as The General stepped forward. “Noah is highly intelligent. He has a genius I.Q.” Even as he spoke, The General eyed me sternly. “You have broken the rules, Noah. You know you must be punished.”

  I’d known they would punish me when they found out what I’d done. But any punishment would be worth it for those few minutes I’d spent on the guard’s phone. It had given me something to do with my mind. Something besides sit and stare at the wall.

  The General sighed and shook his head, then nodded at the guard. The guard opened my cell and stalked toward me. He yanked me to my feet, snatching his phone from my grasp, and shoved me roughly toward The General.

  I lowered my gaze. “I’m sorry, sir. But I was so bored. And I got through his password. It was easy.”

  The guard let out an angry huff, but The General shot him a look that silenced him. “You can punish him after I’m done.”

  The guard’s eyes gleamed with malevolence as he raked his gaze over me. I glared back. I had learned early on not to show any fear in this place. Only the strongest survived. And this guy was one of the monsters who got off on raping boys. I had no doubt that once The General turned me over to the guard, that the man would do his best to break me.

  “Leave us.”

  The guard turned away at The General’s command, sending me a final glare before marching off.

  “Come with me, Noah.”

  I followed obediently as The General led me through the facility.

  “You like electronics, boy?”

  I hesitated, then nodded eagerly. “Yes, sir. Computers. Phones. Information technology. The binary system. The internet. All that tech stuff. I like all of it.”

  The General smiled. “Then we shall test your brain with all that technical stuff. We shall see if that analytical mind of yours can be put to use in this program.”

  He led me into a room filled with all types of technical things—computers, monitors, cameras, keyboards, iPads, cellphones, and other electronic devices—shoving me down in front of a computer.

  “Show me what you can do, Noah.”

  At first, it was overwhelming, all those things tempting me with the possibility of what they might do. I wasn’t sure where to start.

  I spied a packet of breath mints sitting on the desktop and popped one in my mouth. Then, suddenly, my mind cleared. A calmness settled over me. I clicked on the mouse and began checking everything out. The swirl of confusion turned into an immediate understanding. I hacked through the password on the computer within a matter of minutes.

  “Impressive,” The General murmured. He gave me a task to complete. Then another. I successfully completed every task he assigned me. As long as I had a mint to suck on, I was unstoppable. Peppermint calmed my mind the way it soothed most people’s stomachs, the Menthol relaxing my brain and allowing me to think.

  So he gave me more tasks, each one more difficult than the last. But nothing stumped me.

  After several hours, he stepped back. “You’ve done very well, Noah. I believe your technical skills will be very useful in the program. But now it’s time for your punishment.”

  I tried not to cringe, my heart pounding as the same guard appeared to lead me back to my cell.

  “I’ll give you fifteen minutes,” The General told him. “No more. I need his mind intact for the program.”

  The guard smirked, his gaze raking over me again. “That’s all I need.”

  Instead of taking me back to my cell, he marched me down the corridor to one of the prostitute’s rooms. The General didn’t follow. I was on my own with this brute. He had fifteen minutes to do whatever he wanted to me. This was my punishment for breaking the rules. />
  The guard shoved me into the room, slamming and locking the door behind him. Then he turned to face me, his eyes gleaming with something sinister. He was big and bulky. I was just a wiry teenager.

  I had a choice to make here. I could let the brute rape me, break me. Beat me down.

  Or I could fight back.

  He strode toward me, grinning. “You’re prettier than some of the others. I’m going to enjoy breaking you, boy.”

  Most of the guards carried several weapons. A baton. A gun. A knife. A Taser.

  I had no weapon. But I was quick on my feet. I was good at stealing things.

  Like phones.

  As he stalked closer to me, I lunged for the knife at his belt, yanking it free.

  “Why, you little punk…” He bounced back, yanking his Taser free. “You’re going to pay for that. I’m going to fuck you up.”

  If he shot me with that Taser, I was doomed. He would break me. And I wouldn’t be able to stop him.

  I darted to the side and summersaulted away just as he pulled the trigger. The Taser probes shot through the air, narrowly missing me. He cursed and yanked his baton free, marching toward me. He swung out at me with the baton at the same time I attacked with the knife.

  The baton cracked into the side of my head just as I plunged the knife into his chest.

  We both fell back.

  I crashed into the bed, my head spinning.

  He gasped, collapsing against the wall. “You little…punk.”

  I stared, dizziness swirling in my head, as he bled out in front of me, the blood pooling around him, then slowly running toward me in a sickly red stream.

  He was the first man I ever killed.

  When The General arrived fifteen minutes later, I expected a severe punishment for killing the guard. Instead, I got a reward. The General was so impressed that he allowed me access to the tech room every day after that. With each day, my skills strengthened and grew.

  And I soon became The Hacker. My “analytical mind” as The General termed it, was easily able to decipher codes and the binary system. I had the ability to get inside any type of computer or other electronic device. I could hack into anything, phone, iPad, tablet, laptop, and collect your secret data. My brain quickly plowed through any firewall. Nothing could keep me out. I found a way in and I quickly learned all your secrets. Don’t keep any personal information on your computer. That was sound advice. Because if you did, I would find it. I would learn your age, birthdate, place of residence, employment, your spouse, children, relatives, all your passwords, your bank account information, your social security number…

  I created programs that were designed to spy on others, to find your sensitive information, and to exploit it if necessary. I was also a research junkie. I was able to find out anything about anyone. No secret was safe from me. I could help someone hide, make them completely disappear. I could create a whole new identity for you. I could create a virus that destroyed your hard drive. I could repair any issues that might spring up on your computer. I soon became a very valuable member of the program. I was unique. No other soldier was like me.

  I was one of the chosen. One of the few with special talents. A dreg.

  The General used my abilities as often as he could, forcing me to invade people’s privacy, to retrieve sensitive data, and to help locate the enemy. I had no choice but to do what he ordered.

  Several more years passed, and I went through numerous other roommates—all of whom died—before The General hooked me up with my permanent partner Logan. We were distant with each other at first, but over time, our friendship grew.

  The bond a dreg shares with his partner is inevitable. Even if we tried not to care about each other, the close confines of our cell, being in constant contact with each other, being sent out on missions together, forced us to develop a friendship. The General wasn’t stupid. He paired us with someone he knew we would get along with, with someone whose strengths and weaknesses were the opposite of ours. When The General paired us with a partner, it was intentional. He wanted us to bond. He wanted us to be loyal to each other. To save each other on missions. Logan and I soon became best friends, and our bond grew even more, strengthening as the years went by. Logan was one of the few people I allowed myself to care about. To trust.

  During the day, and when I wasn’t out on a mission, I kept myself busy with electronics, with technical things. With research and information. With fixing things. The General allowed me to visit the electronics room for several hours each day, always under observation. Nothing I did ever went unnoticed. I was constantly monitored. Kept under close watch. And my abilities were honed, strengthened, and put to The General’s use. I soon became one of the best hackers in the world.

  The General never expected my abilities to come back to haunt him. He never expected me to use my dreg talent against him. The day the dregs escaped, I hacked into The General’s server and transferred twenty million dollars into another account. I stole most of his fortune and shared it with my dreg brothers. If I’d had time and the means, I would have also stolen all The Company data, but we’d been fighting for our lives that day, and escaping was our main priority. The other dregs managed to hold the soldiers off long enough for me to complete the financial transaction, then we smashed the main computer system, and fled.

  While I might despise The General for what he’d made me do, and for all the despicable things he’d done to me, I couldn’t deny that he’d helped turn me into what I was today.

  And because I’d stolen that guard’s phone, The General had discovered my abilities, and I became one of the chosen. Unique.

  A dreg.

  I became The Hacker.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Noah

  I was one hundred percent dreg—cool, calm, collected, always in control, all about the mission—until I met Shannon Collins.

  Then, I became a man with feelings. With desires. I began experiencing normal human emotions. I understood how a woman could become a man’s biggest weakness. And also his greatest strength.

  Meeting Shannon Collins changed my life, my entire world.

  And this is how it all happened…

  “Mayday! Mayday!” Tommy’s voice shrieked over the two-way radio. “Hot blonde heading your way, Noah!”

  Shit. I should have anticipated this. I snatched up the radio from off the hood of my Jeep. “How far out is she?”

  “Uh, not too far. Maybe fifteen minutes?”

  “Okay, thanks for the warning, Tommy.” It looked like we had an intruder to deal with.

  But wait…no. That’s not where it all began.

  Stop. Rewind several hours...

  I had just come in from the forest after reading a few texts from Logan and Nishi when my notification system chimed a warning that someone was researching me online. I had set up a tracker program a few months back that would notify me if anyone investigated me or any of the other dregs online. Though there had been no searches for any of the other dregs recently, someone had started looking into my identity a few days after I’d killed the senator.

  Now, they were once again searching for information about me.

  Unzipping my coat and pulling it off, I tossed it over one of the extra chairs in front of the long desk. Then I slid into my chair and sent my tracking software after the searcher, trying to find out the person’s identity. Whoever it was, was smart. Possibly another hacker. They knew how to hide their tracks. Last time I’d almost had a location on them before they’d quickly gone offline and I’d lost them.

  Because our true identities had been wiped away when we’d been recruited with The Company years ago, technically none of the dregs even existed. We were all ghosts, untraceable. Our fingerprints weren’t in AFIS, and I’d provided each of my dreg brothers with fake identities that if run through any background checks, would only reveal the normal, every-day lives of an average, law-abiding citizen. It was very possible that whoever was searching for information abou
t me was one of the two remaining Company shareholders, hoping to find a lead to our whereabouts. If that was the case, then I needed to be extra careful. Hence, the tracking software.

  My system chimed a location.

  Yes! Caught ya!

  I enlarged the screen, zooming in on who was trying to find out about me.

  MK Investigations in Atlanta.

  I quickly researched the company, discovering it was a private investigations firm owned by a man named Michael Kent. Then I spent several moments trying to hack into MK Investigations’ server. It only took me a few tries before I was in. Once inside, I located their client list. Then I began downloading their entire client database. While waiting for it all to download to my hard drive, I checked into the tracker again. It beeped a sudden warning and shut down, the signal cutting off. They had discovered my tracker and gone offline. Mr. Kent was smart.

  Too bad for him, I had already discovered what I needed to know. Someone had apparently hired MK Investigations to find out information about me. Who and why? Now I just had to go through all of MK Investigations’ client files to find out who had hired them and why that person wanted to know about me.

  Yeah, I’m still here in Georgia. Still in the underground maze...

  A week ago, I had promised my dreg partner Logan that I would leave here soon, and catch up with them in Idaho where the other dregs had gone. I had told him I was working on something and that I wanted to take care of it before I left. I didn’t tell him or the other dregs what I had discovered—a folder of encrypted Company documents—because I wanted to know what was in those files before I told them and if we needed to take any action before we left for Idaho. I didn’t want to worry them needlessly.

  But that wasn’t really why I was still here. I could decrypt documents from anywhere. I’d just used that as an excuse to stay. There actually was a reason I wasn’t leaving yet.

  Ryan and Luke were getting anxious to get out of here. They were only hanging around because of me. Because they hadn’t wanted to leave me alone. While I appreciated their loyalty and their willingness to stick around until I was ready to go, if I told them the truth about why I was still here, they would only mock me.