After Cole left the crowd, he tracked Dade across campus to a side building with a plaque on the door that read Computer Club.
Through the small window, Cole saw Dade hunched over a laptop, dueling another student—a short-haired blonde woman with two machines open before her.
"Kate, we pick a senior's profile from the database," Dade said, fingers moving in a blur, voice cocky. "First one to breach his system wins."
Kate blew a bubble of gum, smirked, and said, "Deal. Loser owes the winner one favor—no limits."
"No problem, sweetheart."
Though he used the handle Crash Override these days, Dade Murphy had once been the world's top hacker—code-name Zero Cool.
The two hammered the keyboards; the sound of mechanical keys echoed as strings of code scrolled faster than most eyes could follow.
After a minute, Dade grinned and hit Enter. He expected triumph.
Then he heard another rhythm: the same keystrokes, the same tempo, from Kate's side. His head snapped up. Her hands were moving in perfect sync with his—she was matching him command for command.
Outside, Cole smiled faintly, holding his phone. "Genius kid," he murmured. The intrusion Dade had targeted was his phone. The live signal Kate had just intercepted was his.
Inside, Kate's eyes narrowed. "Dade, something's wrong."
Dade froze, realization hitting him like a slap. If the person he was hacking was close enough to mirror the key-click latency, that meant he'd been found. Again.
He'd already faced court once—for hacking Wall Street and the FBI. Another charge would bury him.
"Kate, move," he hissed, grabbing her hand and heading for the window.
"Take it easy, kid."
The classroom door opened. Cole stepped in, a suppressed pistol already drawn, muzzle steady.
Both froze. Neither moved.
"I'm sorry, sir," Dade said, voice tight. "This is my fault. Just let her go."
Cole didn't lower the gun. "If I wanted you dead, Zero Cool, you'd already be bleeding."
The name hit like a punch. Dade went pale. Kate's gum popped between her teeth as her jaw dropped.
"Zero Cool?" she whispered. "That's you?"
Dade swallowed hard. "How do you know that name? Who the hell are you?"
His record as a child prodigy hacker was sealed; only a handful of insiders knew the details. Whoever this man was, he shouldn't have had access to that information. Dade had already skimmed Cole's data when selecting his target—nothing but an ordinary entrepreneur.
Cole holstered the weapon and smiled. "Relax. I'm not your enemy. I'm here to keep you alive."
He stepped closer, voice low. "You've met The Plague, right? You know what he wants?"
Dade's throat tightened. He did know. He and his friend Joey had broken into Ellingson Mineral's network, found hidden financial worm code, and got caught. The Plague had baited them out using the Da Vinci virus—one powerful enough to detonate oil-tanker systems remotely. Joey had been grabbed; Dade spared, for now. The Plague had offered him a job the next day.
"Who are you?" Dade shouted. "What do you want?"
Cole's tone stayed calm. "I told you. I'm a friend. You want your family safe? You come to my place tonight—you know where it is. Bring the lady, too. I don't like being stood up."
He turned and left them standing in stunned silence.
When the door clicked shut, Dade slumped into a chair, pale. Kate stared after the stranger. "What the hell was that?"
Back on the quad, music still thumped from the stage. Cole's eyes caught three men working "maintenance" near the lighting rig—Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, and Yin Yang.
He frowned. Their presence could mean only one thing: someone had paid the Expendables to investigate the college.
Cole drifted past them casually, phone to his ear, pretending to take a call. He watched their hands, their posture, their awareness. All pros.
As he passed, Ross's eyes flicked up. A subtle tension crossed his jaw, but he kept working.
When Cole was gone, Yin Yang muttered, "Boss, that kid was watching us."
Christmas wiped sweat with a rag. "Probably just curious."
Ross shook his head. "No. He clocked us. Young and sharp electric blue eyes—ring any bells?"
Yin Yang and Christmas shared a look. "The merc who cleared the pirates?"
Ross nodded slowly, gaze following Cole's retreating figure. "Maybe. Keep an eye open. That one's not ordinary."