Free Taking Passion by Storm by Ravenna Tate Page B

conversation?”
    George
shook his head. “I wish it was. This was something different. We’re not sure if
someone tried to access it, or if it was simply a solar flare or something
else. It’s non-functional again, so we may never find out what was going on.”
    When
Lee asked George another question, Nadine leaned closer to Addison. “What did
you mean when you said you had collected conversation from a satellite?”
    “ Homeland Cyber Security and Barclay Hampton, the data
mining expert among us, managed to snatch conversation between what we now
believe are the hackers either responsible for the Tommy Twister virus, or
close to them. They tried to use a weather satellite as a relay station but
encrypted data on the hard drive instead. We imagine that bit was accidental.
The satellite was either shut down by them or someone else, though, so that’s
all we recovered.”
    The
others were engaged in conversation with George, so she scooted away from the
group and Addison followed. “What did you do with the information?”
    “ Nothing yet.” He grinned. “First, we need a laptop
that friends of Viggo’s plan to procure from a home
in NorthCentral on Saturday. Then we’ll have more
answers.”
    She
didn’t have the chance to ask him any further details because George took out a
large map and unfolded it against the wall of the bunker. Suzanne produced a
roll of two-sided sticky tape from her backpack, and George used pieces from it
to pin the map to the wall.
    “ Why would she carry that with her?” asked Nadine.
    “ We use it to leave notes inside structures where we’ve
recovered items. We record what storms we encountered on the way there, what
day we encountered them, and where we traveled from. It’s a way to keep each
other apprised of what’s going on in a small area. Then when we return
underground, we give all the data on the storms to the Storm Troopers.”
    “ Won’t the notes get destroyed eventually?”
    “ Probably, but it’s not unusual to find a team someone
else has employed searching in the same area, or even for the same item. The
notes are primarily for the Storm Troopers. If there are any in the general
area, they serve as an old-fashioned, unreliable form of communication, but up
here that’s often all we have for the short term.”
    “ Do you update your website with the items you’ve
found?”
    “ Not always. Most of our clients don’t want to
advertise they have certain things in their possession, for obvious reasons. We
specialize in secrecy.”
    She
turned her attention to George when he mentioned her father’s name.
    “ This is the area where Dixon was last seen.” He
pointed toward an area about two miles from where they now were. “The Storm
Troopers who were with him are searching the caves in what’s left of the North
Cascades. We’re headed for the caves that now line the Pacific Ocean coastline
and were formed by what’s left of the Olympic Mountains.”
    He
gave them all a chilling gaze. “I don’t have to tell you how dangerous this
will be. The coastline is constantly being eroded from flood waters. We not
only have tornadoes to contend with in this area, but hurricanes now. Last week
a group of Storm Troopers in what used to be New England swore there was a very
powerful earthquake. Anything can happen to us up here.”
    He
fixed his gaze on Nadine. “If you want to go back underground and wait for
word, any one of us will be happy to escort you.”
    She
squared her shoulders and sat up straighter. “Not a chance. He’s my father. As
long as you all don’t mind how green I am, I want to stay.”
    George’s
huge smile reassured her he’d only been giving her an out, not telling her she
wasn’t wanted. “I’d have expected nothing less from Dixon’s daughter.” George
took down the map. “We’re honored to have you with us.” He addressed Addison.
“You’re the boss of this expedition. Okay if we leave at first light?”
    “ I’m counting