Chapter 4 4

Alanis pushed through the side exit of the hotel and stepped out onto the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue.

The cool night wind hit her face. She pulled the lapels of the oversized men's jacket tighter around her chest, avoiding the curious stares of passing pedestrians.

Her operative instincts kicked in. She never wore anything without checking it first.

Her fingers slipped into the inner breast pocket of the jacket. She felt the sharp edge of a stiff card.

She pulled it out. It was a pure black, matte card. There was no name, no title, no phone number.

She flipped it over. Printed in silver ink on the back was a highly complex, non-standard QR code.

Alanis walked over to a streetlamp. She reached into her clutch and pulled out the original owner's cheap, cracked smartphone.

She didn't bother with the standard camera application. Instead, she opened a hidden directory she had compiled earlier and launched a custom-coded decoder script disguised as a basic calculator. She scanned the code through the app's interface. The screen instantly went black as the script bypassed the visual layer. A second later, lines of green code began cascading down the cracked glass, requesting port access and decryption keys. She recognized the architecture immediately. This wasn't a simple web link. It was a digital beacon requiring specialized tools to unlock-a military-grade, encrypted peer-to-peer communication protocol.

A cold smirk touched the corners of her lips. Someone was actually trying to play a cyber-security game with her.

Within seconds, a ghost application with no icon installed itself on her phone.

A chat box popped up. There was only one message.

Remember to pay the dry-cleaning bill.

Back in the penthouse suite of The Plaza, Kane was sitting on a leather sofa, staring at his tablet.

He had embedded a tracking script in the QR code. He fully expected to pull the girl's real name, location, and entire digital footprint within seconds.

Suddenly, the tablet emitted a sharp, piercing alarm. The screen flashed neon red.

Kane's eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise.

The tracking program showed the target's IP address bouncing across three different continents in a fraction of a second.

Then, the final location pinged.

It showed her sitting directly inside the core servers of the Pentagon.

Standing under the streetlamp, Alanis's thumbs flew across the cracked screen, typing out a brutal counter-tracking script. She hit send on her reply.

Bill it to Wall Street.

Kane stared at the reply on his screen. The amusement in his eyes vanished, replaced by a raging, consuming desire to conquer.

Alanis closed the app and completely severed the phone's network connection.

She looked up, preparing to walk toward the subway station and leave this disgusting neighborhood behind.

The screech of expensive tires tore through the night air.

A sleek black Maybach slammed on its brakes, stopping inches from where she stood.

The rear door was shoved open violently. Richard Copeland, her adoptive father, stepped out. His face was flushed red with absolute fury.

Eleanor Copeland followed closely behind him. Her eyes were narrowed with deep-seated disgust and blame.

"You ungrateful little bitch!" Richard roared, pointing a shaking finger directly at Alanis's face. "You have disgraced this family for the last time!"

The sudden shouting drew the attention of the wealthy socialites strolling down Fifth Avenue. People stopped walking and began whispering.

Eleanor let out a loud, theatrical sigh, making sure the crowd could hear her. "I told you, Richard! I told you we never should have brought this trash out of Appalachia. You can't wash the dirt off a stray dog!"

Alanis stood perfectly still under the streetlamp. She looked at the two hypocrites performing their little play. Her face was a mask of ice.

Seeing her complete lack of remorse, Richard's anger boiled over. He raised his right hand high into the air, fully intending to slap her across the face in front of half of New York.

Alanis's eyes dropped to absolute zero. Her muscles coiled tight. She prepared to catch his wrist and snap his forearm in half.