Love and Wargames: A Bad Boy Hacker Romance Read Online Free

laugh. “Doubt it. I haven’t seen her since…” My words fail. Almost two years later and I still can’t say it out loud. “Since we came back,” I say instead.
    “Just keep your cool and everything will be fine,” Fox says. “I’ll try and get stateside as soon as I can.”
    “Stay away, man,” I warn. “I’m not worth getting caught over.” It’s quite possibly the most heroic thing I’ve ever said but it’s also honest. Fox’s life matters to other people.
    Mine? Not so much.
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Fox says. “I can’t just sit out here and do nothing. I’m coming home.”
    “Fine.” The air around me weighs heavy and smothers my shoulders. I push it aside. “Oh! How about — instead — you stay in Japan and take Dani to one of those love hotels. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”
    Fox chuckles. “I’m not doing that.”
    “Seriously! I read about one in Shinjuku. They’ll deliver a girl to your room and you can eat sushi off her bellybutton. Dani will love it!”
    “This conversation is a pretty sterling example for why you’re still single, Boxcar.”
    “Ooo! Look at me!” I mock. “I’m Fox Fitzpatrick. I’m a man of action. I jump out of windows and date movie stars! We can’t all be James Bond, dude. Some of us are perfectly content with being Q.”
    “Quit stalling and go talk to Caleb.”
    “Fine,” I exhale. “Say hi to your sister for me.”
    “ Step sister.”
    “Still weird.”
    “Bye, Box.”
    “Buh-bye.” I hang up and fall forward until my head hits the table.
    Caleb Fawn.
    The last time I saw her, she told me she never wanted to see my face again.
    Not exactly how a man pictures the end of his honeymoon, but…
    Shit happens, right?

 
    Chapter 5
    Boxcar
     
    Afghanistan
    Two Years Ago
     
    I jiggle my hands, listening to the metal clanging of handcuffs latched around my wrists. The chain is fastened to the floor beneath my chair, making it nearly impossible for me to stand up. I guess this is where they throw prisoners of war they need to question . It sure would be nice if they did that — or, at the very least, made some sort of contact with me. The walls are made of metal and I’ve officially sweat out all the water that soldier gave me.
    It’s been about an hour since they dropped me into this room. I could easily have picked the cuffs by now but I’d really rather not get shot today and it’s not like I could just sneak out of here without someone noticing.
    I’m fucked. No ifs, ands, or buts about that. I’m on the road to Fuckedville with a one-way ticket. No stops. No piss breaks. No way out — but can they really blame me for doing what I did? If they could, I’m sure they would have done the same. Stuck in the desert with no water, trapped in a collapsed room with nothing but a laptop and brains. Of course, I sent out that signal. I’d do it again if I had to.
    Finally, the door opens and that same tall, butch son-of-a-bitch that threw me in here steps inside. Sergeant Rhys, if I recall?
    “Excuse me,” I say, clearing my dry throat. “May I have some water, please?”
    He slams the door behind him and lingers over my chair. “You’re in some trouble, son.”
    “I’m also an American citizen,” I point out. “Last I checked, that warrants a sippy cup.”
    He smirks and crosses his arms over his chest, flexing his mighty biceps as if it would intimidate me. “How did you hack our equipment?”
    “I already told you,” I sigh. “Your equipment functions through satellites, which transmits waves—”
    “You’ve said that already.”
    I pause. “Well, sir, you asked twice —”
    “Where’d you learn to do that?” he asks.
    “I looked it up.”
    “Where?”
    “The internet.”
    He chuckles but he’s far from amused. “You looked up how to hack into highly sophisticated government equipment on the internet?”
    I scoff. “Your equipment is hardly sophisticated , Sergeant. In fact, I can list off about a half