Lock and Load (SEAL EXtreme Team) Read Online Free Page A

everything. Quickly. Then crash the system.
    She narrowed her eyes. So this is how he wanted to play it?
    Jacques would copy the coding she’d used and add it to what he’d done for the past four months to create a complete system break-in pathway. Later, when Director Lau was present, Jacques could restart the system, break through the many firewalls, and point out ways to fix the holes. Jacques would take all the credit. She’d get none.
    Over her shoulder, she locked eyes with him. “Are you sure about this?”
    A line of sweat beaded on his upper lip. He handed her a memory card. “Yes, I am sure. It will mean financial freedom for both of us. I promise. Do your best.”
    He was working an angle, some deal to pay off his debts.
    “Trust me,” he whispered.
    Trust. That was a hard thing when it seemed like he was trying to burn her. And she’d been burned many times before and the last one still hurt. It was funny, but there was only one person she really trusted. Unfortunately, he wasn’t here.
    She looked into Jacques’s dark eyes and saw desperation. “I’ll try.”
    He nodded, as if he understood the war going on in her head.
    “But this firewall is really tough,” She said louder than normal as she popped the memory card in. The download began immediately.
    “A few more minutes. That’s all we need.”
    A number on the rocket ship caught her eye. She zoomed closer. There! In a circle around the nose cone— U.S. Department of Defense and a serial number. Wow, Global Games was really going for authenticity. Who would think to add such fine details in a video game? Man, I’m going to create killer games with this stuff.
    Jacques snagged the memory card out of the machine and whispered in her ear, “Now!”
    She crashed the server and the computer went black. The guard threw open the door and complaining voices drifted in.
    “Whoops.” Amber tried not to smile. “Must have hit the wrong button.”
    “What happened? What did she do?” The guard demanded using real Cantonese words, not caveman grunts. He didn’t know that she spoke the language almost as well as Jacques.
    “She crashed the system. It’s no good.” Jacques sounded angry. In the couple months that she’d known him, he hadn’t used that tone. “Take her away. We can’t use her.”
    The guard hauled her up by her arm. Her heels lifted off the floor.
    “Let go of me!” She yanked her arm out of the guard’s grasp. “Jacques!”
    “Just go, Amber. Walk away,” Jacques warned, in English. “I am sorry it had to end like this. That is—how you Americans say—the way it goes.”
    Was this a joke? It had to be a joke. A very bad one. Her head started spinning. Dread settled in her chest. We can’t use her . Had she been used? What was happening?
    “Jacques! Tell me what’s going on!”
    “ Ma bichette , some things are better left unsaid. Our time together has been sweet. I will miss you.”
    She studied his face. It was calm, smooth. “I don’t understand.”
    He shrugged. “What is to understand? It is over. I have what I needed from you and now it is good-bye.”
    He had what he needed? The shock slapped her hard. She cared about him—not love, but tenderness, mutual understanding—and he’d scammed her. She’d broken her promise to help him and this is how she was repaid? “Why are you doing this?”
    Jacques didn’t answer. He cocked his head at the guard. “Take her away.”
    Ugly’s large hands pinched her shoulders. He shoved her toward the open door.
    “I can walk, moron!” Pulling herself up straight, she tossed her hair out of her eyes and walked of her own accord. The guard shoved her again for fun, causing her to stumble and smash her palm into the corner of Jacques’ desk.
    “Stop!” Jacques ordered. “Search her. Make sure she did not steal anything.”
    “Steal anything? You know I didn’t—” Her words were cut off when the guard slammed her up against the cubicle outside Jacques’