“Hey!” they both shouted.
“No devices at the table,” Harvard said firmly.
“Are you going to ground them?” Ryan asked as he laughed.
The concierge chose that moment to buzz up to tell them their pizza was there. Before Harvard could ask someone to get it, Ryan was out of his seat and running.
“There won’t be any left by the time he gets back,” Elle complained, her attention on her laptop. Harvard could have sworn there were tears in her eyes.
“So,” he said, placing his contraband on the seat beside him, “if there has been internal hacking in the system, the ghost program would have found it, right?”
“Right.” Elle nodded.
“Then how are they stealing the files?” Rachel said, looking pretty pissed off.
Pissed off he could cope with; it was miles better than politely distant.
“I don’t know.” Elle’s head dropped to the table and stayed there.
Okay, so that’s what happened when you took away her favorite toy.
Rachel got up and brought back plates, napkins, and silverware, which she put on the table. “There’s no need to be barbarians,” she said when he cocked an eyebrow at her.
It was the first time they’d sat down together at the table to eat. Normally, on the way home from work, Rachel called for delivery from one of the hotel restaurants she liked. When it arrived, they dished it up, and Rachel took hers to her bedroom, leaving him alone. Harvard hated to admit defeat, but he was beginning to wonder if he’d been mistaken in thinking the attraction between them went both ways.
When Ryan came in with the pizzas, he was already eating a slice.
“Told you,” Elle said, her head still on the table, but angled to watch Ryan.
“There’s still plenty left.” He put the boxes down on the table, opened the lids, and started piling up slices on his plate.
“Not for long,” Elle muttered, sitting up to get some before Ryan demolished it all.
Rachel just stared at the boxes. “What is this? Where did we get it? This isn’t the pizza I usually get.”
Ryan shook his head at her, but there was a twitch of a smile around his lips. “That’s because your pizza usually comes from a Michelin star chef and is dusted with gold.”
“As it should be,” she answered with a completely straight face.
“Just try it,” Harvard said. “You might like it.”
When she made no move to get any, he took a slice from the meat lover’s pizza and put it on her plate. She stared at it as though it’d dropped from Mars.
“You can do it, Rachel,” he said with a grin. “I have faith in you.”
Shooting him a glare, she picked up her knife and fork and cut off a piece, which she delicately put into her mouth.
“That’s not how you eat pizza!” Ryan was outraged. He was also covered in pizza sauce.
Rachel ignored him and inclined her head in thought as she chewed. “This is tolerable,” she said at last, making Harvard chuckle.
Harvard went to the wine rack and grabbed a bottle of red wine for Rachel. He put it and a glass beside her. Then he sat back down, picked up his beer, and ate pizza the way normal people did it—with his fingers.
“Okay,” he said once he’d finished a slice, “I have an idea. What we need to do is give the thief a window of opportunity they can’t resist and hope they take it. If they do, and we don’t manage to catch them, we’ll still be able to narrow down the ways they might be using to steal from TayFor.”
“You want to set a trap,” Ryan said.
Harvard nodded. “We tell everyone the network’s compromised, but only for a very limited time. Then we monitor the cameras and run when the system says there’s been a download.”
“That would mean we’d need to access the program they use for flagging downloads,” Ryan said, showing that food improved his mental ability. “And if we start looking at that, we’ll scare people off. I mean, none of us have official access. People are going to talk if we suddenly start checking who’s downloading what.”
“But,” Elle said, her eyes wide, “we’re the only ones with access to the ghost program, and that’s on all computers. I can reconfigure it to send us an alarm when something’s downloading.”
Harvard reached for more pizza and put another slice on Rachel’s plate for her too. “How long will that take?”
“An hour, maybe.” Elle narrowed her eyes at him. “It depends when I get my laptop back.”
“Will this work?” Rachel asked them. “Will it help us catch the thief?”
“It will help us get a damn sight closer, that’s for sure,” Harvard said.
And he got the first smile he’d had from her in days. Of course, she was probably smiling about the end of their mission being in sight, which meant she could get rid of him. But hell, he’d take whatever he could get. A smile was still a smile.
“Coming back here must feel like putting on a favorite pair of shoes,” Jonathan said as he stood at Rachel’s side the next morning, looking out over the TayFor complex. “I never understood why you walked away from this. You were born to run the family business.” He gave her a self-effacing smile. “I wanted that for you. Even though I’m the eldest, I always felt as though I was born to support you.”
Rachel kept her eyes on the manicured grounds. Her brother was right; it did feel a lot like coming home. It was all she’d ever dreamed of—an office in this building, a place in the heritage her family had built. She turned her back on the view to glance around her office. Dreams changed, and she didn’t regret her choices.
“You don’t need me here, Jonathan.” She strode across the thick gray carpet and took a seat behind the sleek glass and steel monstrosity that made up her desk. If this had been her permanent office, the desk would have been gone. At least her gorgeous red office chair sat behind it, and she didn’t have to suffer the torture of the previous chair. “You’ve done a fine job running the company. I know Father’s proud and has no regrets putting you in charge.”
“Oh, I can do the job.” He turned to rest against the windowsill, his hands in the pockets of his blue pinstripe suit. “But you were the one with a passion for it.”
“And what exactly would you have done if I were at the helm? Wandered the world surfing?” Her lips twitched into a smile. It was a standing joke. Jonathan was terrible at watersports.
“I rather thought I’d help with the legal side of the business. After all, I do have a law degree that’s woefully underused.”
“Not sure how Preston would feel about sharing. He does enjoy being in charge of his little kingdom.”
“There is that. But dealing with Preston’s still preferable to being CEO. My job is endless meetings and issuing orders.” He grinned at her, suddenly looking much younger than his thirty-six years. “See what I mean? That’s more up your street than mine. The first words you ever spoke were an order. I remember distinctly. You looked me in the eye and said, Joh, gimme, then pointed at that damn stuffed rabbit.”
“You totally made up that story. I still can’t believe the parents believed it.”
“I didn’t make it up,” Jonathan said. “You’re a born leader and you belong here.”
“Jonathan,” she cautioned.
“Just think about it.” He straightened his suit. “Use this time with us as sort of a trial run—to see if you still have an interest in the place and think you might fit here. That’s all I’m asking.”
“It won’t make any difference.”
Jonathan shrugged before walking to the door. “Then there’s no harm in trying, is there? If you need anything, shout out. I’m in meetings most of the day, but my PA can interrupt if it’s urgent.” He hesitated. “Do you think this trap will work?”
“I have no idea,” Rachel said honestly. “But right now, we don’t have a clue how the information is being stolen. This could give us that, at least.”
“Then I’ll try to act suit
ably surprised when the email circulates saying we have a problem.”
“You do that.” Although his acting sucked, so Rachel wasn’t sure he could pull it off.
“Hi, Jonathan,” Elle said as she passed him on her way into Rachel’s office. “Looking dapper today.”
Jonathan blushed and mumbled something before disappearing into the corridor.
“You do that on purpose,” Rachel accused once the door closed behind her brother.
“He’s so cute when he blushes. I can’t resist.”
“His wife thinks his blushes are cute too.”
“I’m not flirting, Rachel. I’m teasing. There’s a difference. Anyway, my heart belongs to mystery man. Even though I still can’t find him. He’s disappeared off the information grid entirely, and the last thing he did was warn me not to look for him.” She smiled evilly. “Of course, I totally listened to his warning, which means it’s just a matter of time before I pinpoint his location.”
“You don’t even know which security agency he works for,” Rachel pointed out. “It could be the Chinese or the Russians. If you keep looking for him, you’ll end up waking one day to find yourself in a Russian cell, being interrogated about a man you’ve barely even kissed. Ask yourself, is he worth it?”
“It was a spectacular kiss, Rachel. Spectacular.”
It was clear that there was no saving the woman from herself.
Elle took a small signal jammer out of the pocket of her circular skirt, which today was a shocking blue with applique images of white poodles. “Okeydokey,” she said once she’d activated it. “Ryan swept our offices this morning as usual, but I say better paranoid than sorry.”
“What’s happening with the trap? Is it set?” Rachel tapped the end of a pen on the glass top of her desk, hating the sound it made.
“We’re activating it now. Basically, we’re setting it up to look like IT is having issues. An email will go out to everyone shortly, telling them not to transfer any sensitive data between buildings or to the main backup server until the issue’s fixed. We’re letting them think the transfer system’s been compromised and isn’t as secure as it should be. We’ll tell them that we’re adjusting the download protocols to make them more secure, but over the next hour, downloading of information from any server is forbidden. It’s the perfect scenario for a thief. Anything that goes missing within the next hour would be chalked up to a security breach from outside the building.”
“And if they do, your ghost program will find them.”
Elle tapped at her keyboard and didn’t look up. “Fingers crossed. We really need a new name for the program; it sounds like we’re carrying out a paranormal investigation.” She looked at Rachel. “Do you think ghosts are real?”
“I think that if you don’t get to the point quickly, I may kill you, and we’ll find out when you haunt me.”
Elle beamed at her. “And the bitch is back.”
“She never left. Now tell me what’s happening.”
“She might not have left, but she’s been pretty distant for the past few days. Anyway, Ryan’s in security, monitoring the camera feeds from around the building. Harvard is stationed outside, so he can run for whatever building trips our alarm. And we’re in here, setting it all in motion.” She cracked her knuckles. “Ready?”
Rachel lifted her phone, her thumb poised over the ‘go’ message she’d already typed, ready to send it to Harvard and Ryan. “Ready.”
Elle hit the keys. “Then we are Go. The email has been sent.”
Rachel sent the text to tell the boys. And then…
Nothing.
“Well, that was a bit anticlimactic,” she said to Elle.
“People need time to read the email, Rach,” Elle said with a sigh.
“Still, this isn’t the most exciting of missions, is it?”
Elle’s eyebrows shot up. “Better this than people shooting at us.”
Rachel wasn’t so sure. She liked her enemies where she could see them.
Chapter Ten
One hour and forty-three minutes after the email went out, Harvard’s phone buzzed an alarm.
“West Building, second floor,” he snapped into the comm unit attached to his lapel.
“Bringing up all the cameras now,” Ryan said through Harvard’s earpiece as he ran for the building.
They were lucky. It was the closest one to the main office, where he’d been waiting.
Ryan cursed. “One of the cameras is out in that building.”
“Where?” Harvard snapped as he raced through the door.
“The connecting office to the second-floor research lab.”
What the hell? “On my way.”
“That’s my mother’s office,” Rachel’s voice bit out in his ear. “You can’t possibly think she has anything to do with this. Wait for me; I’m coming over.”
“No,” Harvard ordered. “Stay in position. Let me deal with this.”
There was no reply from Rachel.
He scanned his security pass, pushed through the doors, and sprinted up the stairs two at a time.
“Rachel and Elle are heading your way,” Ryan said. “Damn, Rachel can move in those heels.”
Harvard didn’t say anything. There was no point. He’d just have to deal with the women when they arrived, and then later, he’d go over why a member of a team never broke position. In the meantime, he tamped down his anger and focused on getting to that office.
Two more stops to scan his card and he was in the corridor outside the second-floor labs. Each door had a biometric lock that Harvard didn’t have access to, but he didn’t need it because Francesca’s office door stood wide open.
Daily training meant Harvard wasn’t even out of breath by the time he reached the doorway. He scanned the room, taking in everything within seconds—the most important part being Francesca sitting at her desk, talking to Samantha, who sat on the opposite side.
When Rachel’s mother noticed him, she beamed. “Harvard, we were just talking about you. Come in, come in.” She angled her head to look around him. “Rachel isn’t with you?”
“She’s on her way,” he said as he stepped into the room.
“Shouldn’t a bodyguard stay with his charge? Had enough of her already?” Samantha said with a wink.
“Samantha,” Francesca reprimanded, but it was filled with affection. “Not everyone knows when you’re joking, darling. You need to remember that.”
Yeah, Rachel’s mom being one of them, because Samantha had been deadly serious. He glanced around the room, but nothing jumped out at him as being out of place.
“What are you doing over here?” Francesca said, motioning for him to take a seat.
Harvard shook his head, indicating he was happy to stand. “We thought we’d take you out for lunch. I came ahead to make sure we caught you, as Rachel’s tied up in a meeting.”
“Well, you must think it’s safe at TayFor if you’re letting her wander around alone.” Samantha tossed her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder and crossed her legs, making sure Harvard got the best angle. “That’s good news for our security. I guess they’re doing their job.”
The sound of heels on vinyl flooring came from the corridor outside the office, along with panicked whispers. Rachel had arrived. Harvard was watching the doorway when she strode through it. Her eyes went straight to her mother, then to him, where they narrowed, and lastly came to rest on Samantha with interest.
“Darling,” Francesca said, “Harvard just told me you want to do lunch. Let me get my jacket, and we can go.”
“Am I invited to this lunch too?” Samantha purred, her eyes on Harvard.
“No,” Rachel said coldly.
Samantha looked amused while her mother tutted. “Sometimes, I despair of your manners. I often wonder where I went wrong with you.”
Elle hovered in the door behind Rachel, looking a little panicked. Quickly taking in the situation, she approached Samantha.
“Samantha,” sh
e said, “Jonathan’s been trying to get hold of you. He asked me to pass on the message if I saw you. He’d like to see you in his office as soon as possible, something about a problem with the marketing for the new Alzheimer’s relief drug.”
“Copy that,” Ryan said in Harvard’s ear. “Calling Jonathan right now to tell him to manufacture a crisis and expect his cousin.”
Samantha stood with a sigh. “It’s so inconvenient that we aren’t allowed cell phones outside of the office building.” She smoothed down her tight lemon-colored shift dress and smiled at them. “It seems I won’t be available for lunch after all. Even if I was welcome.”
Rachel folded her arms over her black suit jacket and drummed her red nails on the sleeve. The look on her face shouted that she’d run out of patience with her cousin.
“I’ll walk you back to the main building,” Elle said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that wonderful advertising campaign you did last year. It must have taken ages to put that together.”
Samantha’s whole face lit up as she sashayed to the door. As she drew level with her cousin, Rachel’s hand snapped out to take hold of her arm.
“Please remember that Harvard is my fiancé and is therefore off-limits for any kind of flirting, loosely veiled suggestion or outright seduction.” Her tone was a whip that could flay the skin from the recipient.
“Rachel, darling, I would never try to seduce your fiancé; surely you know that.”
Harvard was betting he wasn’t the only one who heard the emphasis on try.
Rachel released her cousin, and Elle could be heard chatting a mile a minute as they made their way down the corridor. As soon as they were out of sight, Rachel closed the door.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snapped at him.
Her mother’s eyes widened as she looked between them. “Aren’t we going to lunch?”
“No,” Rachel said, her body vibrating with fury. “We’re going to talk about why Harvard thinks you’re stealing from TayFor.”
How could he think her mother was involved? Rachel was so mad she could have taken off her shoe and bludgeoned him with the heel.
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