The Blueprint (The Upgrade Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

free-lancer, he officially made over a half million dollars a year testing firewalls for big corporations. That figure didn’t include a number of private donations that he received from slightly less legitimate sources. His luxurious SoHo loft, located just a few blocks away from Hunt’s penthouse, had seen its fair share of extravagant parties, and Max’s skinny frame seemed to be permanently attached to one or another beautiful woman.
    By the time Max had made his way over to Hunts’ place, Jason and Rachel had already unpacked and were having drinks in the kitchen. Somehow the huge formal dining room didn’t seem to be the right place to be. He gave a bear hug to Jason and kissed Rachel on both cheeks.
    “It’s great to see you both, despite the fact that I’m angry at you at the moment for not letting me know that you were coming.”
    “Missed you brother,” said Jason.
    “If you missed me, why didn’t you call me? Enough with this suspense already. What the hell happened?”
    “Well, we just got into a taxi and were heading to our place when we got attacked by somebody in a black SUV,” Jason said.
    “Attacked? What do you mean, attacked?”
    “We got shot at,” Jason continued. “Somebody shot at us with assault rifles with silencers. If it hadn’t been for the driving skills of our cabbie, there’s a good chance we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”
    Ex-military or not, the driver was remarkably calm,
he thought, reflecting back on the car chase.
I must be missing something here.
    “I’m actually happy that you didn’t pick us up,” added Rachel, holding her drink with both hands. “The cabbie was just out of the military, and if not for his skills—”
    “Just out of the military? That’s quite a coincidence.” Max mixed himself a drink and leaned on the counter for support. “I’ll check him out for sure. What about the police?”
    “Never showed up.”
    “Ah, of course. Then tell me from the beginning.”
    Jason told the story, starting with his wife’s job offer and culminating with the highway chase and automatic fire.
    “Suppressed rifles, you say.” Max continued to be sipping on his drink as he gave Jason a hard stare. “I’ll see if I can pull surveillance footage from the traffic cameras. Maybe we can figure out who was chasing you.”
    “As long as you don’t get in trouble yourself,” said Rachel. “The last thing we would want is to get you into this mess.”
    “Don’t you worry about me. I’m not going to knock on people’s front doors. I’m a sneaky bastard,” he said and took another swig of his drink again.
    “But what are you two going to do? Maybe you should stay in my place until the dust settles?”
    “Thank you, man, but I don’t think we can,” said Jason. “Rachel starts the new job on Monday, and I should start looking for
a
job. Not the best time to go into hiding. Besides, I don’t think Rach would let me try to hide her anyway.”
    “No surprise there. In that case I’m going to finish my drink and head out. I’ll let you know if I dig something up in the next couple of days. Oh, and I’ll take that cabbie’s number as well.”
    Max finished his drink and started putting on his coat. “You two please be careful.” He kissed Rachel goodbye and, turning to shake Jason’s hand, positioned himself so she couldn’t see his face.
We gotta talk,
he mouthed to Jason.
    As he exited the building and turned left, he walked by a maintenance van with tinted windows parked on the side of the street. Max stopped for a few seconds just few feet away, looking at it while buttoning his coat and fixing his scarf. After a moment he approached the van and knocked on the window. Nothing happened and after standing there for another moment Max continued to walk.

CHAPTER 4
    Although his rugged face with a two-day stubble and piercing gray eyes betrayed no emotion, Jeremy was worried. Standing with his arms behind his back, he silently