I Need You Now

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  I put the bag with the sandwiches on his tray and took a seat next to his bed so we could talk. He must’ve been hungry, because he ripped it open and started devouring it. “Man, this stuff tastes a lot better than the shit they serve here. Thanks to you and Marissa, I’ve been getting some decent food lately.”

  “Not a problem. I’m glad to hear my sister’s been visiting you. You know she thinks of you as an extra brother.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I know. I love her like one, too. You guys are family to me.” He took another bite, took a swig of his beer and asked again, “So is it the girl or work that has you looking like shit?”

  I threw my hands up in the air. I didn’t want to admit it, but I knew the sooner I did, the better I’d feel. “Both. Okay . . . it’s both!”

  “You going to spill it?” he asked around a mouth full of sandwich. How he managed it, I don’t know. I almost laughed at his expression.

  “What?” I took a bite of my own sandwich. I felt the need to eat quickly. The way Ethan was devouring his sandwich, I was sure mine would be next.

  It took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts, wondering which subject I should broach first, realizing work might be the easiest. “I’ve either lost my touch with work, because I’m coming up empty on who’s causing problems within Prescott International, or I’m too emotionally involved, because my sister and Gianna are being implicated.”

  I rubbed my hands against the temples of my head, trying to ward off the headache that was building. “I don’t know what I’m missing. I’ve gone over the reports, the personnel profiles, befriended several of the suspects, and I’m either not seeing what’s in front of me or it’s more involved than I first realized.”

  He handed me a bottle of ibuprofen. “Here, take a couple of these, it should help. Let’s finish our food and maybe by then the medicine can take effect and you can give me the quick 411 on what’s going on.”

  “Thanks, man! I’m sorry to come to you with this, but I owe you. I’ll be happy to pay you your consulting fee, because I don’t think I can figure this out otherwise.”

  “Absolutely not! I won’t accept payment. Mr. Prescott has been too good to me, helping me find this rehab center and, I suspect, paying for some of my bills. I owe the man big time, and if I can help figure out the problem, then I’m doing it free of charge.”

  “Damn it, Ethan, you need the money. You’re out of work and I want to pay you,” I insisted.

  “Not happening, bro. It’s gratis or no help, your call.” He sat back in bed, having finished his dinner, crossed his arms over his chest, and just dared me to challenge him.

  “Fine, have it your way.”

  “I always do.” He finished off his beer. “So what’s going on?”

  I explained how Marissa first discovered errors in her sales reports and then in her spreadsheets. “She uses them to help forecast what items will sell well, keep track of the employees’ sales figures, and whether they’re meeting their monthly goals, and the like.”

  He nodded, taking it all in. “Are her corrupted figures causing a ripple effect anywhere else within the company? Did the tampering start out small and then grow in size? What is the frequency of the errors? And when did this start happening in relation to when she was first hired on to work with Dane?”

  This is why I came to the man, nothing got past him. I watched as he took out a laptop and started creating an organizational chart with all of the issues and linking any connections with lines.

  I’d already told him about the corruption with the sales figures and people not getting their full sales bonuses. I went on to explain how the errors extended into the purchasing department, some of the buyers’ payments went missing, they were short on items to send to the stores, and all the other messes that eventually trickled into accounting.

  I paced as I recounted what was going on with the accounts. “The spreadsheets from Sales are linked to some of the spreadsheets in Accounting. I can either enter in or double check the numbers as soon as they’re done, and within anywhere from a half hour to four hours, the information is changed. It never seems to be at the same time. The changes are happening at different intervals.” I stopped in my tracks and faced him, throwing out my hands for emphasis. “But it doesn’t stop there. Even the hard copies being scanned in are being altered.” I scratched my head with my hand. “How is that even possible?”

  Ethan kept typing in information and drawing lines from one area to another. “This makes no sense.” I watched as he tried to set up some kind of reasoning, shifting the squares around to find the right combination of items that would add up to something, but nothing seemed to work.

  I wasn’t sure how much information he needed, so I continued. “I have a list of a couple suspects in Sales and a few in Accounting. The ones in Sales were instant dead ends. They definitely hate my sister for stealing their man.” I had to laugh. “Dane has some enamored employees in his midst. They’re pissed he’s now off the market. Apparently they’d had hopes of becoming Mrs. Dane Prescott.”

  He looked at me like I’d spoken another language. “Women really get bent out of shape over this shit?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I did some digging into their backgrounds and talked with them in detail.”

  “Which means you flirted.” He snickered.

  I picked up a napkin and waved it around. “Okay, I surrender and admit it freely. I had to flirt in order to get them to talk to me. I don’t think either one could have pulled it off. They’re already lusting after their next victim, Dane’s brother, Rafe.”

  “But isn’t Rafe interested in your sister’s friend, Dawn?”

  “I didn’t have the heart to tell them they were wasting their time. I don’t think they would’ve listened if I had.”

  “How about the suspects in Accounting? Any luck there?” I watched as he added a few more boxes and awaited names.

  I nodded. “I hate to say it, but yes. Karen Carlson despises both my sister and Gianna. She resents both of them having any position of power, believing she needs to be the one in charge. But I’ve seen her work, while she’s good with numbers, she can only do basic bookkeeping, none of the more advanced principals of accounting. She’d never be able to handle a depreciation schedule to save her life. She has motive and determination, but I don’t think she has the knowledge or skill level needed to pull this off.

  “However, Cameron Heath, he has all of that. He was the prick that caused Marissa so much grief. Well, him and that Connor kid, who stole her ideas. Connor has recently been fired due to his poor performance, while Cameron was demoted from the manager of the intern program to working for Gianna. He’s seething mad over having to work for a woman, especially one he pretty much guaranteed would never get hired—”

  Ethan raised his hands a second to stop me. “If he was responsible for deciding who got hired out of the internship program, then how did Gianna get her job? Wouldn’t it seem reasonable that she would’ve been passed over?”

  He had a point. I’d been wondering the same thing. There was something that she was hiding. Looked like my manager had a secret and I wanted to know what it was. “That’s a good question. I know she stated that the former manager liked her eagerness and went out of his way to get her on in his department. But how she got her job and was pushed up through the ranks so quickly is a mystery. One I intend to solve.”

  “Okay, so we have two people who are motivated, but does Cameron have the background to pull this off?”

  I tried to recall Cameron’s file from memory. “He has knowledge of the workings of all the departments, that’s why he was in charge of the interns, but just how much computer knowledge he has to be able to access things—I don’t know.”

  Usually the organizational chart would indicate some kind of pattern or help point toward the party responsible, but everything came back inconclusive. Ethan even began cursing at the thing and running his hands through his hair in frustration.

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p; I watched as he snapped his fingers. “Wait a minute!” His eyes widened and he looked at me with enthusiasm. “Didn’t you have a case in Texas a couple years back where things were kind of similar to this?”

  I sat back down in my seat and thought back. I’d been to Texas numerous times for a variety of cases. “Which one are you talking about?”

  “I think you were in Ft. Worth at the time? It was some cellular company.”

  Oh my God! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. “Are you thinking this could be similar?”

  “I’d almost bet on it.” Ethan never bet anything unless it was a sure deal.

  “So you think all this nonsense with the figures is trying to distract us from what’s really going on?”

  “Why not? It worked at the cell company. Didn’t you say a disgruntled worker kept management so busy with damaged reports and small issues within the system that they were too busy to notice the accounts being siphoned off and transferred into off shore accounts in the Bahamas and Grand Cayman?”

  I got up and punched the wall. “Damn, I must be slipping. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. You’re right, this has to be a diversionary tactic so we can’t see what’s really going on. But how? Nothing seems to be coming in externally. All the errors seem to be internal.”

  I turned back to Ethan. “What am I missing?”

  He laughed. “Dude, think about it. They claim their firewall is safe, but is it really? They have virus protection, but what if they have a newly created virus? If I have your permission, I’d like to poke around to see if it has any holes. When I find one, I can let you know and we can test just how safe the system is and see how far I’m able to get before I’m actually detected.”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” This was becoming much more involved than I’d ever imagined. No wonder I couldn’t solve it. It wasn’t just my talents needed, but Ethan’s too.

  He nodded. “I’ll create you a couple of discs so you can go through some of the systems. If there’s anything there, we should be able to spot it. All I need to do is have the discs analyze what we have and then I can create a bug to destroy it.”

  I hadn’t seen my friend this animated about things in a long time. He always enjoyed the challenge of creating new software and the thrill of seeking out nasty viruses. He was in his element, looking like his old self again.

  I looked down at my watch and noticed they’d be kicking visitors out in a few minutes. “I need to head out, but thanks. You’ve helped put things in perspective. Let me know when you’re able to test the system’s limits and when you have the disks ready. In the meantime, I’m going to check out their bank statements and see if the bank has the same figures reflected on the accounting software. My guess is that we’re already out of balance.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Nate. You know I live for this stuff. Plus, I feel I’m actually giving something back to the Prescotts—kind of a personal redemption of sorts.”

  I went over and fist bumped Ethan. I felt on top of the world, knowing that this case was looking up. Now, we needed to find out if our suspicions were accurate and see if we could trace an IP address back to the person responsible for this mess.

  I grabbed my laptop and headed toward the door. “Can you leave the laptop overnight? I’d like to take a look at it. If your device is already infected with a virus, I can pull it out and make discs based off that.”

  “Sure thing. But I need to swing by and pick it up in the morning before I head in.” It was already late. I didn’t know how he thought he’d be able to do anything tonight, but I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

  I watched as he turned my laptop on, began grabbing discs out of his bedside drawer, and went straight to work. He looked up for a second. “Thanks for coming by and giving me something to do. This is making me feel more like myself for a change—like I’m useful and wanted again.”

  He paused for a moment when the computer had a ding pop up. “You’ve definitely got something on your system. I’d bet most of the company does.” He tapped on a few keys and got things running again. “I should have your laptop ready for you before you need to go to work. You can pick it up in the morning.”

  I didn’t like how Ethan saw himself. I was beginning to think he needed something major to pull him out of this funk he was in. At least this project would keep him happy. I held my hand out and shook his. “Thanks, man. You’re a life saver! I’ll catch you bright and early tomorrow.”

  He just waved me on and kept at both the computer screens.

  AFTER I LEFT ETHAN’S room, I dialed Mr. Prescott. It was a bit late, but I knew he’d want to hear what we’d come up with.

  I mentioned some of the ideas we’d come up with, not mentioning that I’d turned to Ethan for assistance—I’d bring that up the next day. “I’ve got an expert looking over the laptop you gave me for work to see if there are any signs of viruses. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but that might be the cause of all our problems. I’ll be coming in late tomorrow after I swing by to pick up the computer.”

  Mr. Prescott told me it wouldn’t be a problem. I was already planning to slip a note underneath Gianna’s door so she’d know I would be delayed in the morning.

  “I’d like to meet with you tomorrow morning, if you’re available to discuss a few things that are best handled in person.” I never liked requesting access to the company’s bank accounts over the phone.

  I got back to the condo around ten that night, after stopping for some groceries at one of the 24-hour stores. I needed to kill some time. There wasn’t much I could do without my laptop for work.

  I’d noticed when pulling into the garage that her lights were still on and she was asleep at her dining table again. I could tell the pressure to figure out why things were happening was taking its toll on her. I hated seeing the toll it was taking on her health.

  Why do you care? It’s not like you’re going to sleep with her or anything. My subconscious needed to mind its own damn business. Even if Gianna didn’t want friendship, I was still concerned for her well-being.

  I couldn’t explain the draw she had on me or why my body surged to life at even the smallest touch she had on my skin. There’d only been one person who had this effect on me—Vixen. I’d dreamt about her often, but the dreams were becoming fewer and farther between as Gianna began to take over her role. Why is that?

  At times, she seemed too pure to be bound to a spanking bench or bent over a table or sofa. But the more I thought of Gianna wearing Vixen’s dress, the more it appealed to me, making me hard for her.

  I’d been trying to push her lately, seeing if I could bring out the subtle hints of obedience I’d seen earlier. I needed to know if there was a true submissive lurking beneath the layers. I’ll admit her dominant nature toward her employees threw me for a loop. I would’ve easily pegged her for a Domme. But it was the moments behind the doors, behind the scenes that made me wonder.

  I needed to stop thinking about this shit and get my stuff put away. The elevator had been torture, smelling that damn strawberries and champagne again. My mind flashed back to the club and relived the encounters with Vixen. Thank God I had grocery bags to cover the major wood I was sporting.

  Once inside my place, I put everything away and grabbed a pad and pen to write a quick note to Gianna.

  I knew I was probably throwing gasoline on the fire with the “Dream of me!” statement, but I didn’t care. She needed to be riled up a bit. I quickly threw the note in an envelope, wrote her name on the front, and headed down the stairwell to her door.

  My senses were assaulted when I opened the stairwell door to her floor. Wow. Someone on her floor must be the one wearing my favorite fragrance. I followed the faint scent through the hall and to her area. It seemed to come from two different directions, her place, and one almost across the hall. I guess it really was a popular scent.

  I didn’t want to knock and piss her off, so I put my ear to the door to see if t
here was any movement inside. I could tell she was snoring gently, so I slipped the note under her door, hoping she’d find it in the morning.

  I began to step away when I heard her talking in her sleep. “Stay with me, please. I need you, but do I have you? I love you.”

  My thoughts ran to the night at the club with Vixen. I’d been cold toward her, not wanting to feel any emotion, but she’d opened my heart that night to the potential of a future again. Too bad I didn’t know how to find her.

  My ex, Erin, had betrayed me to the point I didn’t care to have any relationship with a woman beyond a one-night stand. I’d build walls of protection around my heart, trying to avoid ever dealing with that kind of pain again. But somehow, Gianna’s found a crack in my exterior, making me wish her words were for me.

  “Take me, please!” she moaned out in her sleep, making me grasp the wall hard, trying to block out the image of her tied to my bed, naked and wanting. I needed to get out of that hallway fast, or I’d embarrass myself by blowing my load over the inside of my pants.

  I didn’t know who she was dreaming about. I could only hope it might be me. But whoever her thoughts turned to—he was one lucky bastard! Now if I could only make her forget him and notice me.

  The rest of the evening was spent taking an ice cold shower to smooth away my needs. Next I researched some of the ideas Ethan and I had come up with. I wanted to gather as much ammunition as possible when discussing things with Mr. Prescott. I was surprised to find a case about an employee who tried swindling the company who fired her for millions using her brother’s knowledge of computers. The process was different, but there were enough similarities to use it as a reference to prove my point.

  I stayed up for several hours examining every possible link I could find that explained viruses and bugs that were close to what we were dealing with. The more I read, the more convinced I was that Ethan might be the only person who could save them from a potential disaster.