Free Techno Crazed (Hacked Investigations) by Sarah Makela Page B

still understood the pain Leon felt. Hannah had already started walking along the trails behind the houses that allowed them more cover from the eyes and cameras along the roads.
    They hadn’t walked for long before Ian checked the connection back to the house. Focusing on walking with Hannah, while testing the link was relatively easy. The house server let him in without any hassle. The small microphones that used voice commands from the user to change the volume on video streams or the TV were now at his disposal.
    He could hear Leon pouring himself more whiskey and muttering something. He was about to close the connection when he heard a doorbell ring.
    “Hannah, let’s stop for a moment. I can walk with you while keeping my ears on the server, but I’d like to use eyes too. Our new friend Leon has a visitor,” Ian said and leaned against a nearby tree.
    Hannah stood next to him, simply giving him a nod.
    Ian tapped into the security cameras placed around the home and the few on the outside. The vision was initially foggy and the outline was unclear. Blinking and refocusing his eyes, he forced the camera to target the people outside the door.
    A blue van had parked in the driveway; two men in black suits were knocking on the door, their arms bearing the logo of MAX Home Security.
    Leon swung open the door and let the men inside. “Hello, John. I didn’t know you were in the neighborhood. What made you drop by?” he asked.
    “Don’t fuck with me, Leon. Where are they? You know that those two beat up the senator and killed your little bed buddy, right?” the one he’d addressed as John said.
    “Please, don’t even start with me. Those two came right in and started spewing stuff how I set them up somehow. And yeah, I’m well aware that they beat up Senator Kendall. The only reason why I didn’t bother you guys was that I needed to calm my nerves first. Those fuckers are dangerous. Besides, I’m not letting MAX claim the bounty on ‘em. Now that Rich is dead, I need all the money I can get.” Leon swayed his hips like a woman, walking to the living room and back to the whiskey bottle.
    “So they left, huh? Can’t be far. Team, check the surroundings. They’re close by,” John said to a small microphone hidden at the corner of his jacket’s collar before turning back to Leon. “You know where they went?”
    Leon snorted and frowned at John. “I’m not going to say a word, and I need my money.”
    “You’ll get your money. Double, in fact. Want a check right now? Just tell me which way they went so that we can drag their asses to jail, you hear?” John’s face reddened.
    “Write the check, then I’ll talk.” Leon took another swig of whiskey.
    Muttering to himself, John returned to the van and came back a moment later with a check in hand. “Here you go. Now, which way did they go, faggot?”
    “Down the road and to the east. Anyway, now you know. Get the fuck out of my house, unless you are willing to pay me extra, and I ain’t cheap.” Leon snatched the check from John’s hands and slammed the front door.
    Ian grinned and disconnected from the server. “We’re good. Leon is buying us a little extra time. But we’ve got to get moving.”
    * * *
    They ran through the park to their new hideout. It was somewhat dark, but their charged flashlights allowed them a mostly incident-free journey back into the maintenance area, which now served as their home.
    Their main living quarters area was quiet. Ian cautiously walked around, suspecting a trap, but they finally found Bernard in the back, looking over an oddly misshapen plant.
    “Asshole, straighten up. I planted you, a good seed, this is good ground. And you have to mutate here in the dark,” Bernard was yelling at the plant at irregular intervals, unaware that they had gotten back.
    Hannah grabbed Ian’s hand and led him toward the bedroom area. Her breath was still coming out in shallow pants. Then again, neither of them had much reason