I chewed my lip. Entertaining a relationship without putting my all into it felt wrong. Still, it wasn’t the worst idea.
Better than being celibate until I find a knight in shining armor.
James was more like a conquering dark prince.
“That’s a good point, Beth. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, does it? And I know the sex is going to be out of this world. He went down on me the other night and I swear I’m still seeing stars. It rocked my world.”
Beth whistled. “Forget everything I said, Kat. Hold on to a man who knows how to work his tongue like that. Hell, can I have his number? I want to send Steve to take lessons.”
“I’ll see if James will start up a school to teach ignorant men how to lick—for the benefit of women everywhere.”
We shared a laugh.
“So, was there something else you called for? I love catching up, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t call during work hours unless it was something a bit more important.”
“Yes, there is.” I hesitated to think of the best way of broaching the subject. “I need your insight on something. I’m at a new job now as the head of marketing for a company called ARCANE. It’s a data security and encryption company, and we focus on ensuring that our clients’ data is unhackable. We have proprietary algorithms that have proven to be impossible to exploit.”
“That’s not possible, is it?” Beth asked. “I thought any encryption could be broken if you had long enough and a powerful enough computer.”
“I’m not sure what the exact details are—I’m a business major, not a software engineer—but from what I understand, the encryption uses a new class of algorithm. The company’s name stands for Advanced Relativistic Cryptography Algorithms and Novel Encryptions. But it’s a mouthful, so everyone only ever says ARCANE.”
“Huh. Okay, so where do you need my help?”
“I have to find new markets to expand to that could use our services, and I thought of you and those types of charities. Seed to Grow connects lenders and donors with entrepreneurs in the third world, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. We act as a marketplace to allow charitable investors to finance aspiring businessmen and women in small villages with micro loans to get their ideas off the ground.”
“So you are handling hundreds of financial transactions per day, and store the sensitive banking information of lots of people, right?”
“That’s right. Are you trying to say your services would be a good fit for us?”
I winced. I didn’t want to come across as only calling Beth because I wanted something from her.
“It’s obvious that you’re the type of client we’re aiming for. I want to get your insights and thoughts about whether charities like yours could be a fertile ground for us.”
“I mean… of course more and better security is always a good thing. But we’re locked in with the security software used by the banks. We have to deal with them anyway, so it makes sense to use the software that talks to their systems the best. Plus it’s all integrated and cheaper this way. Something tells me that switching to ARCANE would be expensive.”
The service wasn’t cheap. It was part of the reason it was so hard to sell. Nick insisted that top tier technology deserved to be paid at the top level.
“It is expensive,” I acknowledged. “We feel the added cost is worth it for most organizations, but like I said, we haven’t focused on charities before.”
“To be honest, I can’t see us switching, Kat. More expensive, more of a hassle, and it’s not like we’re getting hacked all the time. Plus that’s what we have insurance for, and I doubt we could just drop the insurance if we switched, even if your system is more secure than what we’re currently using.”
I frowned. Everything Beth said made total sense, and it was a variation of the same thing I’d gotten used to hearing every day. There were already so many encryption methods out there, and the vast majority were “good enough.” So what if ARCANE was more secure—if it cost so much more, not many people would want to pay for little additional benefit.
“Thanks for the insight, Beth. That does help a lot, gives me some things to think over. We might have to change our tactics to achieve any market penetration.”
“Anything I could do to help, Kat. We need to get together for a girls’ night soon. Although with this little one growing inside my belly, it might have to be more popcorn and movie than drinks and dancing like we used to.”
I smiled, even though Beth couldn't see it. “That sounds lovely, Beth. I’ll get in touch and set something up! I can’t wait to meet your little munchkin when he or she shows up.”
“Talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
Crap.
The conversation hadn’t gone the way I’d hoped. Instead, it had been a rude wake-up call from the echo chamber of the ARCANE office. Inside these walls, it was so clear that ARCANE encryption was the future and it was only a matter of time before the world saw the light. It was jarring to speak to a member of the public who had no connection to the company and couldn’t see a use for it.
Are we doomed?
If I couldn’t persuade a good friend to even consider bringing her organization over to our services, what hopes did I have of reaching dozens of new clients to keep my job?
I slumped onto the desk and rested my head on my forearms. There had to be something I could do. The main problem was lack of awareness—nobody has heard of ARCANE or why it’s better than every other service or method out there. The secondary problem was the value proposition—whether ARCANE was better enough to justify the switch and extra cost.
Ugh.
As the head of marketing, the lack of awareness was under my purview. I had to figure out a way to put ARCANE on the map.
My phone beeped from its place on the desk right beside my head. I lifted my head to check the message—it was from James.
My heart sped up and tingles raced down my spine to gather between my legs. Just the sight of his name was enough to rev my body's engines.
Hey Kat, have you eaten yet? Grabbing lunch in the city near you, want to meet up?
My stomach grumbled. That wasn’t the only part of me that felt needy at the thought of meeting up with James.
Lunch is fine. You won’t be able to have sex with him over lunch. It’ll be a nice, safe way to talk with him more.
Sure! There’s a vegan Mexican place nearby that I’ve been dying to try. Does that work for you?
I couldn’t focus on work until he responded. Every time I turned to my computer, my eyes unfocused and thought of the other night. That turned into day dreams about James bending me over the table in the restaurant for everyone to see.
I shivered, and it wasn’t from cold.
That works. Want to do noon?
Only an hour away. Somehow I’d have to cool off by then or else I’d risk not being able to even make civilized conversation with the man.
10
~ James ~
Just like that. You will scream for me once I’m all the way inside of you.
It was almost time to leave for lunch with Kat, but I couldn’t help but fantasize about what it would be like when I finally fucked her. I’d waited years for it, and I wouldn’t let it be anything other than the best sex she’d ever had. She would beg for more after I was through with her.
“Shouldn’t you be leaving now?”
Addison perched on the edge of the couch—I hadn’t even seen her.
“Jesus, fuck, Addison!” I sat up from where I sprawled out and took my hand out of my jeans. “Warn a guy, would you?”
The petite redhead shrugged. “It’s not anything I haven’t seen before. Were you thinking about her?”
I glared at her. “That’s none of your concern.”
“I’ll just assume you were. You’re falling for her so hard.”
“I am not!” The denial was too quick and loud. I took a deep breath. “I’m not, Addison. Just gettin
g myself into the right headspace. Don’t worry about the plan, I’ve got everything under control.”
She tilted her head, her big green eyes narrowed. “You’ve been in love with this girl since you were five years old, James. You may have convinced yourself otherwise, but it’s obvious.”
Addison was a pain in the ass sometimes. Despite our past, she was like a little sister who spoke inconvenient truths just because she knew it would get a rise out of me. She knew me too well.
“Let me deal with this, okay? I’m the con man, you’re the hacker. I know how to play people and that’s all I’m doing here.” If I said it enough, maybe it would become the truth.
“Whatever. Like I said, I’m just here for my cut. You could marry the girl for all I care, so long as we still pull off the job.”
“Ha. As if.”
Addison’s words sunk in—it was an option that hadn’t even occurred to me. I shook myself internally before the thought could settle. The whole point of involving Kat was to fuck her and embarrass her the way she’d humiliated me. Not to try to end up with her.
“Before you go, I have the package ready for you.”
Addison held out a tiny piece of plastic.
“This is it?” I took it and held it between my thumb and index finger as I examined it. “It’s so small.”
I took a small cap off to reveal a USB plug. The plug accounted for ninety percent of the device. A small LED sat in the black casing of the other part.
“I’ve programmed it to work on its own. All you’ll have to do is insert that into the USB port of one of ARCANE’s internal servers. They’ve shut themselves off from the internet so I can’t hack in remotely, but this little guy will pull their data from inside the firewall.”
I raised an eyebrow, impressed. Addison was getting even better at what she did. Not for the first time, I thanked whatever god led to her being on my team instead of working against me.
“Just plug it in?” I asked. “How do I know when it’s done?”
She pointed to the LED. “While it’s working away, the LED will be red. Once it’s gathered the data it can, it’ll turn green. Then you pop it out and return it for analysis. Hopefully we’ll get lucky and it will tell us everything we need to know about ARCANE’s operations and Nick’s accounts. Remember, one of their servers, not just a random computer.”
“So now I just need to figure out a way to get into ARCANE’s offices and server room and plant this. What a coincidence I have lunch with one of ARCANE’s senior executives in ten minutes.” I winked.
Addison laughed. “Just don’t get carried away and elope with her or something. I have expensive tastes and I’ve already planned what I’ll do with the money from this job.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve got this handled. Go watch your anime shows. I’ll get you the data soon.”
San Francisco at noon was the perfect temperature, and I took a minute to enjoy the sun and the view along the boulevard. I had enough time for a leisurely stroll before lunch.
I scanned the faces of each person approaching on the sidewalk far before we passed each other, a habit I’d picked up and trained my subconscious to handle. My identity was different to so many people—it was always a good idea to make sure it never bit me in the ass.
A man in a black suit striding up the hill caught my eye. He walked with a purpose, and although he didn’t openly display any identification, his demeanor screamed FBI.
Agent Clark.
My lip curled at the sight of the man’s mustache. What were the odds that the agent assigned to catch me would be walking down the same street at the same time?
Thankfully, he wasn’t expecting to see his quarry on the street in the middle of the day. I used my phone as an excuse to duck my head, knowing that any sudden changes in direction or attitude would tip off the agent that something wasn’t right.
We passed each other with no incident, and I resisted the urge to look back to make sure he’d kept walking. Breathing didn’t come easy until after I turned onto Market and lost myself in the greater pedestrian traffic there.
That was close. What the hell is he doing in San Francisco? I thought I’d left him back in New York.
I would have to be more careful in the city from now on.
Kat’s office wasn’t far from the condo building, and the Mexican joint she’d suggested for lunch lay in between. I timed my arrival to line up with the precise moment the clock struck noon.
Kat waited in the entrance of the restaurant with her phone out. She looked from it to me with a wide grin. “Right on the dot again, Mr. Marine. How do you do that?”
“Magic. It’s the only explanation.”
Her face lit up with a genuine laugh. The sight of her breathed fresh air into my lungs, as if I wasn’t a complete person outside of her presence.
“It sure seems like magic. Let’s sit down.”
The restaurant was decorated like a typical white-owned Mexican venue. Stereotypes abounded everywhere, from the oversized sombreros hanging off every surface to the mariachi music in the background. Hopefully the food would be better.
“Vegan, huh?”
Kat shrugged. “I’m not a vegan, but I’ve been trying to eat less meat. Help out the environment, you know? I have a few friends who swear by this place and I’ve been meaning to try it out.”
The menu looked… interesting.
“Cashew cheese? That’s different.”
Kat chuckled. “I might avoid that one. These faux pulled pork tacos sound fantastic though.”
“Faux pulled pork?” I flipped through the menu. “Huh. Jackfruit. They’re creative, I’ll give the vegans that.”
We picked through the menu, joking and laughing about the substitutions we found before settling on orders.
“How has it been at work this week? Has your boss made any moves on you?” I asked casually, but the core of my being strained forward to hear the reply.
“Not yet. I haven’t even seen him since then. I’ve been doing everything I can to avoid him, and he’s been out of the office a lot which has helped. Otherwise, it’s been… okay. Still not sure how I can salvage the situation. It might be time to start looking for other work now, so I can just leave on my own terms.”
Muscles I hadn’t even known were clenched relaxed. “It’s still early. The quarter just started. If you ramp up a new strategy over the next month, you still have two months to sign new clients and meet your targets, right?”
She bit her nail. Kat had developed that habit back when we were younger and it must have stuck with her all this time. I had to strain to not see fifteen year old her sitting across from me.
“That’s true. I have time to work with. The problem is that I don’t have any great ideas for anything that will make a huge difference. I have to show the entire country what ARCANE is and why it’s something they need.”
I nodded. “That’s a tall order.”
“It is.”
“Have you looked into the charity thing, yet?”
She winced. “I did. My friend pointed out they couldn’t justify spending the money on our services when what they have already works fairly well. It would probably be the same story for most of the charities we could contact.”
“Ah, well. It was a thought. You could just donate services to them if you wanted to help them out.”
Kat tilted her head to the side and looked beyond me. It was her thinking face, and I knew it well. “We could…”
I let her work through her thought process—it was always better to let her finish. Otherwise, she wouldn’t hear half the words I said.
She looked up and put her hand on mine, the touch light but electric. “I’m sorry, it feels like we always talk about me and my work. You must be so sick of it.”
Your work is very much my concern.
“Oh, that’s all right. Unless you want to talk about credit default swaps, then I’m fine with talking about your work.”
She stare
d at me. “I have no idea what the hell you just said.”
I laughed. “Exactly. So where are these ARCANE offices? I’d love to see them sometime.”
“We’re just on Fourth Street, south of Market. We don’t have many visitors coming in; it’s a secure office. You’d have to get clearance from a third party company we use for background checks. It’s a hassle, and honestly not worth it. There’s nothing special about the office—like any startup, I imagine.”
Not a promising start. Undeterred, I pressed on with the questions. “How many people work there?”
“There are about forty. We rent a floor in the building, so there are more overall, but that’s it for us.”
“People work late? It sounds like you’re there all the time. That’s a lot of dedication.”
Kat shook her head and snorted. “I’m only there so long because I’m screwed. Most people are out of there by five, but lately I’ve been staying until eight or nine. There’s always so much work to do and so much to catch up on. It hurts I have to double-check everything my team does. I don’t know if they’re doing things wrong on purpose to get me in trouble, or if they’re actually that incompetent, but it’s a serious problem.”
“You should fire them.”
Kat’s eyes widened. “What? I’m brand new—I couldn’t do that!”
“Look, you’re new to management, so it might feel wrong to you, but it sounds like your employees are just taking advantage of you. If you don’t show them you’re a force to be reckoned with, then they’ll just keep walking over you.”
She nibbled on her lower lip again. It was just an unconscious move she did while thinking, but it drove me crazy.
“My life would be much easier if they did everything I assigned them and did it well… I’ll have to think about it.”
“Do you think you’ll be there until nine tonight?”
She nodded. “Maybe even later, tonight. You’ve given me stuff to think about, and I might come up with a plan now. It’ll just take a lot of brainstorming to figure out what exactly that will look like.”
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