My Forever Hero

by Karen Legasy

  Abigail smiled and pulled Marlee into her arms. “Oh, Marlee, that’s not it at all. I spent a lot time thinking about you last night. I can’t seem to ever get you off my mind and you make me feel so good. I want you in my life. This is so crazy, but I don’t care what Hannah says. I love you.”

  “Oh, Ab, I love you too.” Marlee gave a kiss then clung to her with relief and joy. “I was so terrified of what you were going to say. When you led me out here instead of to your room, I was sure you were going to dump me.”

  “I didn’t know what you were thinking of me anymore,” Abigail said. “I left in such a hurry yesterday, expecting you to deal with Hannah on your own, and put you in an awkward spot. I imagined you being furious and thought it more appropriate to talk out here instead of in my room.”

  “You did, did you?” Marlee squirmed in delight as she began to tug at Abigail’s blouse. “How appropriate would it be for me to rip your clothes off right here and now?”

  “Not very. I’m already late for a meeting at the office.” Abigail giggled as she tried to stop Marlee’s hands. “As much as I’d love to let you strip me naked and jump in the pool with you, unfortunately I have to go to work now.”

  “Oh come on, you’re the boss.” Marlee slid her hands under Abigail’s blouse and cupped her breasts. “Skip the meeting and let’s have some fun.”

  “I can’t.” Abigail wriggled away. “I need to meet with Hannah before she leaves for Canberra this afternoon. She’s waiting for me at the office.”

  “Oh.” Marlee stepped back. “Are we going to have to include her?”

  “No.” Abigail shook her head. “Not when she tried contacting me three times yesterday after I asked to be left alone.” She embraced Marlee. “It meant a lot to me that you respected my request for some personal space last night. I’ve decided to keep our little team the way it is for now.”

  “I’m glad.” Marlee kissed her. “I was preparing myself to include her if you insisted, but I much prefer the status quo.”

  “She’s quite upset with me right now.” Abigail rested her forehead against Marlee’s. “A week away at our Canberra office will be good for her. She’s been carrying a lot of the workload lately and really has been a big help.”

  “I’m sure she has. Do what you have to do, but be careful. Okay?”

  “I will. You were my first priority this morning and I’m so happy we talked.” Abigail gave her a lingering kiss then moved away. “I’d better go now.”

  “Hurry home.”

  Marlee practically skipped back to the workroom, smiling and breathing a sigh of relief as she plopped into a chair beside Tyler.

  “All’s good with the two of you?” He kept his eyes on the computer screen.

  “Yes. She had to hurry into the office, but wanted to let me know Hannah won’t be joining our team for now. Thank God.”

  “I was afraid we were in shit or something.” Tyler looked up. “Did she notice us spying on her at the marina yesterday?”

  “No.” Marlee checked an email that had just come in and gasped. “Fuck. They won’t extend my leave from work.”

  “Oh shit. When do you have to go back?”

  “In less than three weeks.” She stared at the message, ears ringing from the sudden throbbing in her head. “I can’t leave now.”

  “Then quit and apply for your Australian citizenship,” Tyler said. “You could try to get on with the New South Wales Police Force.”

  “I can’t quit my job right now,” Marlee said. “That was the deal on my leave. I have to go back for at least three months. What am I going to do?”

  “Don’t worry about it for now,” Tyler said. “Focus on helping Abigail. A lot can happen between now and then. Look at the last few weeks and how much your life has changed since you met her. Live for the moment and whatever’s meant to be will be.”

  “I wish it was that easy,” Marlee said. “I just met the love of my life and can’t leave our future up to chance.”

  “Yes you can.” Tyler tapped her knee. “Look how fast the two of you supposedly fell in love. In three weeks from now you’ll probably be planning a family together and you’ll become a stay-at-home wife to a multimillionaire.”

  “You’re forgetting one critical detail,” Marlee said. “Abigail and her company are being exploited by criminals trying to engineer bioweapons. In three weeks from now we could all be in jail or, worse yet, dead.”

  “I doubt it.” Tyler shook his head. “We’re not breaking any laws, so jail is out of the question, and I don’t see someone like Hannah being capable of murder.”

  “Don’t kid yourself about Hannah,” Marlee said. “If she’s behind this, killing us would be minor compared to the mass murders bioweapons could cause in the hands of terrorists. And if you think you can’t be tossed into jail over this, think again. Just being associated with anything related to terrorism can get you thrown in prison these days.”

  “You’re scaring me.” Tyler’s eyes widened. “What have I got myself into?”

  “The chance of a lifetime to use your illegal hacking skills for something good and help save the world.”

  “You’re so dramatic,” Tyler said. “Seriously, how dangerous do you think this is?”

  “Dangerous enough that we need to be extra vigilant with everything we do.” Marlee ran a hand through her hair.

  “Do you think our lives are at risk right now?”

  “Everybody’s lives are always at risk.” Marlee met his gaze. “Just crossing the street can put a person at risk. Will somebody try to kill us over this? Maybe.”

  “Do you have access to a gun?” Tyler paled.

  “No.” Marlee shook her head. “I don’t want to complicate my life any more than it already is by trying to get a gun in a foreign country.”

  “We’re dealing with criminals who probably have guns,” Tyler said. “We need to protect ourselves.”

  “Do you know how to use one?”

  “No, but you do. I could help you get one.”

  “How? Through some illegal Internet connections?” Marlee rolled her eyes.

  “No. My ex has one and I still have a key to his place.”

  “Forget it.” Marlee didn’t want any part of a stolen firearm.

  “Why not? He legally owns it and keeps it hidden in the back of his closet. We could get it while he’s at work and he’d never know it was missing.”

  “I’m not going to steal a gun,” Marlee said. “What kind of police officer do you think I am?”

  “One who can’t protect us,” Tyler said as he began to rock back and forth in his chair. “What good is a police officer who doesn’t have a gun?”

  “I rely on my brain a lot more than my gun when I’m working. My police experience is going to protect us more than any gun would.”

  “How? By talking a terrorist out of shooting us? I doubt that.”

  “By calling the police for assistance with guns if it’s needed,” Marlee said. “The last thing I want is to get arrested in Australia for having a stolen gun.”

  “At least you wouldn’t have to worry about going back to your job in Canada.”

  “I will not break the law.” Marlee stood up and moved to the door. “I’m going for a swim to clear my head and think about our next steps.”

  “What if I steal the gun?” Tyler asked.

  Marlee swung around. “It’d be a dumbass thing to do. You’d be putting your life at risk if you got caught and breaking the law if you didn’t. I don’t want to hear anything more about it. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Abigail. I mean Marlee.” Tyler saluted as she left the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Marlee was in bed when Abigail got home from the office late that evening. It had been a long day for both of them. They clung to each other.

  “I hope you don’t mind I didn’t wait up,” Marlee said. “I had a headache and needed to lie down.”

  Abigail kissed her forehead. “Of cours
e not. Too bad about the headache.”

  “I think I got too much sun today.”

  “And here I thought you were cooped up inside, hard at work with Tyler. What did you get up to?”

  “I spent the day outside, doing a security check around the house and tidying up the bushes so Hannah can see a difference when she gets back from Canberra.”

  “Good on you. Thanks. Any headway on your work with Tyler?”

  “No.” Marlee sighed. “There’s not much we can do right now but monitor activity on the network to see if anything unusual pops up.”

  “Unusual like what?”

  “Any kind of a blip, something that looks out of place,” Marlee said. “That’s what makes it hard. We don’t know what we’re looking for. Yet. Now tell me about your day. How was it?”

  Abigail sighed. “Long, but not long enough. Hannah wanted to cancel her trip to Canberra, but I finally convinced her to stick with her plans. She left this afternoon. She didn’t want to leave me alone right now and is so upset I won’t tell her what’s going on with the two of you staying here.”

  “I’m glad she’s gone.” Marlee kissed Abigail’s forehead. “I don’t want any more knocks on your bedroom door in the middle of the night.”

  “There shouldn’t be any tonight,” Abigail said. “How’s that headache of yours?”

  “It’s gone.” Marlee rolled on top, ran her fingers through the blond tresses, and began to rub her knee between Abigail’s legs. “I’m glad you came to bed prepared.”

  “Prepared?” Abigail cuddled closer.

  “Yes. Naked and wet.”

  * * *

  Instead of a knock on the bedroom door, the ping of a text to Marlee’s phone woke her. Abigail was in a deep sleep, their two bodies entwined. Marlee carefully dislodged herself and grabbed her cell. Tyler wanted to know if she was awake and able to come to the den.

  She slipped out of bed, pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt then rushed to the room. “What is it?”

  “Something strange is going on with the network.” Tyler’s hair was disheveled. He squinted as he stared at the computer screen. “There’s lots of online activity for the middle of the night. It looks like files are being downloaded to an external source.”

  “Let me see.” Marlee leaned over his shoulder to look at the display of filenames flashing across the screen. “I’ll get Abigail.”

  Marlee raced back to their bedroom and nudged Abigail awake. “We need you to see something on the network. It looks like someone is downloading a bunch of company files.”

  “What files?” Abigail sprang out of bed and threw on a robe.

  “I don’t know. That’s why we want you to have a look.”

  Tyler stood up when they walked into the den. “Take my seat, Abigail.”

  Abigail gasped when she saw the screen. “Those are some of our most confidential research files. Can we stop it from completing the download?”

  “I can try,” Tyler said.

  “Then do it.” Abigail moved out of the way.

  “Where is this being orchestrated from?” Marlee asked.

  “It could be anywhere,” Tyler said, “but if I had to guess, I’d say somewhere here in Sydney.”

  “Someone could be doing it from the office?” Abigail asked. “Right now?”

  “It’s possible.” Tyler pounded on the keyboard.

  “Alert your building security,” Marlee said. “If anyone’s there, they should be able to see who badged in and catch them.”

  “I’ll call right now.” Abigail hurried from the room.

  “Good work.” Marlee tapped Tyler’s shoulder. “How did you notice? Surely you haven’t been up working all this time.”

  “No. I created an app for my phone that alerts me to any unusual activity on the network, such as the downloading of internal files. Yay.” Tyler leaned back. “I crashed the system so the transfer has stopped.”

  “Perfect. We should wait for Abigail to get back to see what she says before doing anything else.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Abigail clutched her phone as she returned to the room. “Security’s going to do a complete building check, but no one’s badged in right now.”

  “Someone could have launched the download before leaving today,” Tyler said. “I’m beginning to doubt a big file transfer like this could have been initiated from anywhere else except at the main server.”

  Marlee turned to Abigail. “Ask security to check on who was last to badge out.”

  “That would have been me,” Abigail said. “I turned out the lights when I left.”

  “Then get them to check to see who else worked late,” Marlee said.

  “Okay.” Abigail typed a message on her phone. “I’m relieved Hannah left for Canberra this afternoon. It couldn’t have been her at the office. She was long gone by the time I left for the day.”

  “Tyler crashed your system and stopped the download,” Marlee said.

  “Brilliant, Tyler.” Abigail patted his shoulder. “You’d think I’d be able to rely on my highly paid IT team to prevent something like this, but for all I know, they could be involved.”

  “Whoever was doing this will know we aborted the download,” Tyler said.

  “They’ll be desperate to find another way to get the files.” Marlee turned to Abigail and took her hands. “You could be at risk and need protection.”

  “What about Hannah?” Abigail’s eyes widened. “She’s by herself right now in Canberra and could be in danger.”

  “I think it’s time to involve the police,” Marlee said.

  “Wait.” Abigail tensed as she read a message on her phone.

  “What is it?” Marlee tried to see the words.

  “I don’t believe it.” Abigail shook her head. “Hannah was the last one to badge out tonight, an hour after me. She told me she was leaving in the afternoon.”

  “Caught in the act,” Tyler said. “Let’s call the police and have her charged.”

  “We can’t do that.” Abigail snapped her tongue. “There has to be some other explanation. I won’t have her picked up for questioning. I know how humiliating that is.”

  “I agree,” Marlee said. “Let’s wait a bit and keep an eye on her to see what else we might find out.”

  “We can watch her,” Abigail said, “but I’m still not convinced Hannah’s behind this. I want to talk to her first thing in the morning to see why she was in the office when she should have been in Canberra.”

  “We might as well go back to bed,” Marlee said. “I’ll double-check the house’s security system then try to get more sleep. There’s not much else we can do right now.”

  When Marlee crawled back into bed, Abigail held on to her. “I can’t fathom the thought of Hannah betraying me like this. I’ve done so much for her over the years and it hurts.” Her voice started to shake. “It’s so sad to think of being betrayed by a close friend.”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Marlee rubbed Abigail’s back. “I’m sure she has a good explanation. Try to get some sleep and you can talk to her in the morning to see if you can sort things out.”

  “You’re right.” Abigail wiped a tear and they kissed. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Good night.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Hannah says she lost her company security pass.” Abigail lay on her stomach in bed, naked and straddling elbows as she read the message on her phone. It was early morning and they had just woken up. “Someone must have stolen it to use last night.”

  “Is she in Canberra?” Marlee reclined on her back and tickled her nose with Abigail’s flowing hair.

  “Yes. She’s at her hotel and about to head to the office, but can’t find her pass.”

  “Ask what time she checked into her hotel yesterday.”

  “Okay.” Abigail keyed in the question. “I think she’s afraid I’ll be upset over her losing the pass, but this is such
a relief because it proves it couldn’t have been her in the building last night.”

  “Did she drive or fly?” Marlee asked, her suspicions not so easily dropped.

  “She took her car.”

  “How long would it have taken her to drive to Canberra?”

  “Around four hours, maybe less if she didn’t stop and traffic was good. Here we go.” Abigail read the reply. “Hannah said she checked into the hotel about six yesterday then went out for dinner. It would have been impossible for her to be at the Sydney office last night.”

  “Sounds like it,” Marlee said. “Has she ever lost her company badge before?”

  “No.” Abigail rolled over and started to get up. “I lost mine once, though. It can happen to anyone.”

  “Did you ever find it?” Marlee sat up.

  “Yes. I found it about two months later when I was reorganizing supplies underneath one of the seats on the boat. It must have slipped off and I never noticed.”

  “It’s good to know it wasn’t stolen,” Marlee said. “Maybe Hannah’s wasn’t stolen, either.”

  “Of course it was stolen.” Abigail slipped on her robe. “Who else would have used it to enter the building?”

  “You’re right.” Marlee decided to drop it for now. “Are you having a swim this morning?”

  “No, there’s no time. I have to get to the office, but go ahead. I’ll have my shower now and pop by the pool to say good-bye before I leave.”

  Marlee put on her one-piece bathing suit and stopped by the den on her way to the pool to find Tyler hunched over his computer.

  “Didn’t you go back to bed last night?”

  “I couldn’t sleep after that,” Tyler said. “I’ve been trying to source where the files were going.”

  “Any luck?”

  “Not really.” He straightened up and stretched his neck. “All I know is that the destination server is somewhere outside the country, most likely in the Middle East, maybe Russia, but that’s all I can decipher.”

  “Probably some terrorist group,” Marlee said. “Thank God you stopped the download.”