Wendy Gee

Side Hustle

Charleston's top investigative TV reporter, Sydney Quinn, lives to expose the city's darkest secrets. So when a former firefighter takes two paramedics hostage, she talks her way inside, offering to gather intel in exchange for a story that could boost her career. But when Sydney finds the body of her friend, a local insurance executive, at the scene, the scoop of a lifetime turns personal. The hostage-taker swears he's been framed, pulling Sydney into a web of cybercrime, stolen identities, and corporate corruption that stretches far beyond Charleston's polished waterfront. As she chases the truth through encrypted files and backroom deceptions, Sydney uncovers ties to a shadow network of hackers. Busting them should be routine...except she's unraveling faster than her investigation. Haunted by the ambush she survived while embedded with the Marines in Iraq, she's been outrunning her ghosts with fast cars and faster pitches at the batting cage. But when the cybercriminals turn their sights on her, Sydney must face her worst memories-and choose who to trust-before her name ends up on the next body tag.