Free Breach of Trust by Jodie Bailey

she’d sought the sequence, praying she’d never see it again, yet hoping to track the man who had driven her to go against every moral fiber she possessed.
    Round two. Meghan pressed her palms against her eyes. Somehow she’d always known he’d return to haunt her. He wanted her to hack for him again. This time he’d gone to great lengths to make sure he had her attention, trying to steal her from the school where she’d found peace. If he was willing to step into the real world and physically bring Meghan to him, he really needed something she could provide. Problem was, she couldn’t even begin to guess what that was.
    â€œHow’s it work?”
    Forcing a chuckle, Meghan opened her eyes to check the status bar. “Explaining would go beyond layman’s terms.” Their teams had been carefully put together, one partner with the muscle, one with the skills. As much as he often liked to pretend otherwise, though, Tate was no dummy. He’d helped her trace more than one hacker, whether tech was his specialty or not.
    â€œWhy’s he after you, Meg? This isn’t random.” Tate turned the chair slightly so he was facing her. “He watched you for a long time.”
    Meghan busied herself with the laptop, scrambling for a way to shove off the question without lying. She’d never been successful at getting one over on him.
    Invisible fingers crawled across her skin, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Tate had said earlier Phoenix had been surveilling her for a year. It was possible she’d spoken to him, stood next to him...
    Of all the dangers she’d faced in her entire life, this one chilled her more than any other.
    Fear wasn’t an adversary she battled often, but it leaped on her with all the fury of a silent stalker, digging into her shoulders and stiffening her muscles. This hacker knew where she was, could even be watching her right now, and she didn’t have the first clue what he looked like, sounded like, walked like...
    Meghan slid away from the desk and paced to the window to stare at the trees bordering the horse pasture. Breathe. “I’d need more information. You probably know more about him than I do. But I know this...” She gathered herself and turned toward Tate. “We drop the curtain on him. Now. We can’t let him kill the power and send us to the Stone Age. It would be chaos.”
    The hacker might think he had her by the throat and could force her to work with him again, but the truth was he’d made a fatal error coming after her now that she knew how to defend herself. In college, Meghan had been forced to fight alone. Now she had Tate and an entire team of military experts on her side.
    But if she trusted them with her past, the truth could cost her the future.

SIX
    T raffic on 475 heading into Flint was fairly light, but Meghan checked her mirrors again, alert for any sign they’d picked up an unwanted guest. Driving the huge pickup the Snyder Foundation had purchased for the farm had proven a smart move, camouflaging them from anyone trying to find her car or Tate’s truck.
    They were more likely to gain company the closer she got to the school, the most obvious place anyone would be watching for her. Afraid the dream of her own foster home would go away if she talked too much about it, Meghan had kept details close, even from her principal. Only Phoebe Snyder, who ran the foundation that owned the farm, knew Meghan was connected with the place, so no one would be searching for her there.
    With everything going on, she ought to call Phoebe and wave her off. One of her closest friends since college, Phoebe would be at the house in a few hours to work on hanging the front door and painting the living room. Problem was, Meghan needed the physical labor. And Phoebe was nosy. Telling her not to come would only bring her faster.
    Meghan grinned and glanced at Tate, who was racked out with his