Free Dark Web (DARC Ops Book 2) by Jamie Garrett Page B

make sure that never happened. The rest he’d let the FBI deal with.
    “Hey, Jackson,” Tansy said in a phone call back at his car. “Do you know what our Sagebrush friends are up to today?”
    “Yeah it’s all over the news,” said Jackson.
    “What is?”
    “I don’t know. Still trying to find out.”
    That wasn’t a surprise. The whole nation would probably have been kept guessing into next week were it not for Tansy making a new friend in Parsnip, Nevada. “Well, you might find out sooner than later. I just gave some local news crew a little tip on decrypting FBI radio channels.”
    “Tansy,” his boss said disapprovingly. “You were only supposed to give away free tips at DEFCON.”
    That used to be the plan, anyway. Land in Vegas to finish some last obligations at DEFCON, and then head north to run a secret DARC Ops command center.
    “How did that go, by the way?” asked Jackson.
    “Fine. They almost completely fucked it up. But fine.”
    “Are you ready to tell our boys how we can hack the new defense? Or have you not figured that out yet?”
    He’d figured it out well enough. He worked most of it out, theoretically, on the plane to Vegas, before completing it in the few hours he’d had in his hotel room prior to the show. The only problem was that it was now the furthest thing from his mind.
    “I’m still working on it.”
    “Fine,” said Jackson. “I guess for now you should just work on getting to the command center.”
    Jackson had been running things there for over a week, manning a team of hackers between meetings with local FBI agents. And although he was there with his newest employee, Mira, who also happened to be his new significant other, it was clear he was itching to get back to Washington.
    “What’s the problem?” said Tansy. “You and Mira getting bored out there in the desert?”
    “I convinced her that it would be like a vacation,” he said. “And then we got here.”
    Tansy laughed. “And you expect me to be rushing to this place?”
    “Well, it’s not a vacation for you . Where are you, by the way?”
    “I don’t know. Turnip?”
    “Turnip? What the hell is that? Are you far?”
    Tansy looked down the street, watching his news friend carry the police scanner into the back of his Channel 7 van.
    “Tansy, you need to get your ass over here so I can skip town. And so we can actually get some work done on this fucking militia. Do you have any leads on who they’re trying to recruit?”
    “Not yet,” said Tansy. “But I have my suspicions. Put it this way—I’m probably gonna know the person.”
    “Well? Have you talked to your friends?” Jackson was asking about the original members of Tansy’s hacking community. His only true friends, even though he hadn’t met most of them.
    “I have,” said Tansy, lying again.
    Tracking down any of the members was difficult enough, technically. But for one member in particular, the difficulty went far beyond any technology.

7
    Carly
    B efore getting patted down , Carly was sure to speak up about her piece, her legally purchased gun for which she had a concealed-carry license. The officer made no comment, only placing it on the hood of the van with the rest of her band’s pocketed possessions—including a lighter from Megan, and a fucking roach clip from the still-half-asleep Taylor.
    “What’s that supposed to be?” asked the officer. “Tweezers?”
    “Yeah?” said Taylor, feigning ignorance as she idly scuffed her shoe against the salt rocks.
    Carly interrupted their exchange, asking for her phone so she could video record and document the search. For evidence, for court. Another tip from her uncle.
    Somewhere along the way, she’d forgotten his all-important tip about not getting drunk and passing out in a van parked illegally on a national landmark—especially if there were drugs on board.
    “I have no problem with your filming, but I just need you to hold tight over there, okay?”
    Carly started