Christmas Data Breach

by K. D. Richards

  She gave a small smile. “Thank you for helping me. I wasn’t sure...after the way our marriage ended and so much time has passed.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’ll always be here for you.” It didn’t escape his notice that those were the same words he’d said to her after their divorce was finalized. He’d meant them then, and he meant them now.

  Their gazes locked for a long moment. Mya slid her hand from under his. “I should go get dressed. If it’s okay, could we stop by my townhouse before we go see your detective friend?” She slid off the stool.

  Gideon rose. “That’s not a good idea. It’s the first place someone looking for you will go.”

  “As nice as this ensemble is,” she said, holding her hands out to her sides and making a three hundred sixty–degree turn, “I don’t think I can wear it all day.”

  He grinned. “You have a point.”

  “And I want to make sure my server is secure.”

  “Your server?”

  “My research backs up to a personal server. It’s a little unusual, I know, but Irwin didn’t trust saving our research to an outside system. I guess some of his paranoia rubbed off. When he retired and turned things over to me, it just seemed best to keep doing what he had in place.”

  “There are better, safer ways to secure data. I’ll help you when this is all over.”

  Her chin went up. “I didn’t ask for your help.” He shot her a pointed look. “Not with securing my research.”

  “Still stubborn.”

  “And you still think everything needs to be your way. I’m not a soldier at your command.”

  A feeling of déjà vu swept over Gideon. They’d butted heads over her independent streak more than once when they were married.

  “I don’t want to fight. If you don’t want my help securing your research, fine. Do you still want my help to find whoever’s targeting you?”

  She hesitated before nodding.

  “We’ll go to your townhouse, get your things, then go see the detective.” He gave her another pointed look. If he was going to protect her, she needed to understand that there would be no time for arguing. “In and out in five minutes. If I say we’re leaving, we’re leaving. No questions. No complaints. Agreed?”

  After a long pause, she nodded. “Agreed.” She slid off the stool and headed upstairs.

  Gideon watched her go. They’d both always been too headstrong for their own good. It was one of the major reasons their marriage failed. But he didn’t care if he was overbearing or pushy. She might not think her colleagues had it in them to attack her, but somebody did.

  But from now on, they’d have to get through him first.

  Chapter Four

  Mya dragged a sweater that was probably three sizes too small for Gideon but that she swam in over her head. Wearing his sweatpants, even just for the short drive to her house, was out of the question, so she slipped back into her dirt-and blood-stained slacks and muddy boots. Her hair still smelled of smoke and ash, but at least the shower had whisked away the last traces of soot from her skin.

  She looked at herself in the mirror hanging inside the closet door. The bump on the side of her head would take a few days to go away completely, and the scrape on her cheek could be covered with concealer. She rotated her aching shoulder. Nothing two, or maybe three, pain pills couldn’t handle. All in all, not too bad considering what could have happened.

  And that thought made her pulse skip.

  Water beat a steady rhythm through the pipes in the house as Gideon showered. A memory floated to the front of her mind—slipping into a steaming shower stall with him soapy and wet. His silken hands gliding over her hip before roaming farther south.

  The memory sent a shudder coursing through her.

  “Knock it off,” she admonished herself. She was here because she needed help. Having her heart broken by Gideon Wright once was more than enough.

  Mya descended the stairs for the second time that morning, this time carrying her laptop. She had more than enough problems on her proverbial plate at the moment. The last thing she needed to be doing was lusting after her ex-husband.

  Mya put the images of Gideon’s wet body out of her mind and dialed Brian’s number. Just as it had when she’d called last night to inform him of the fire, the call went to voicemail. She left another message, asking him to return her call as soon as possible, then called Rebecca a second time. As with the call to Brian, she had to leave a message. She couldn’t imagine they hadn’t already heard about the fire in the lab, but she was the boss, and she wanted to reassure her troops. Hopefully, they’d return her calls quickly.

  Mya popped two slices of whole wheat bread in Gideon’s toaster and dug around in her oversize purse until she found what she was looking for, a flash drive.

  She had spent seven years working with Irwin Ross, a giant in the search for cancer treatments, but a man most would generously describe as peculiar. When he’d retired, Mya had inherited the lab, all his notes and the server where he kept his research.

  Mya checked her voicemail and email and found messages from several board members. She dashed off a quick email explaining the lab fire and promising to set up a conference call. She’d have to set up a conference call with the board members and investors soon, but at the moment she didn’t know much more than they’d get from the news.

  And there was something much more important she needed to deal with first.

  Irwin would have a fit if he knew what she was doing. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t keep her research on a flash drive—it was far too easy to lose those little suckers—but desperate times. She’d done her best not to show it, but Gideon’s suggestion that the potential financial gain from her treatment had made her a target had shaken her. She wasn’t ready to go into a full-on panic but taking extra precautions to make sure she didn’t lose her life’s work didn’t just seem prudent, it was necessary.

  She copied the final portion of the treatment to the drive while she ate the toast. Once the files were saved to the drive, she roamed the house for a good hiding spot for the drive.

  Under the ficus tree in the dining room? No, the dirt might damage the drive. Tape it to the back of a kitchen drawer? Too obvious. Under the armchair in the living room? Again, too obvious.

  The shower shut off upstairs. She trusted Gideon to help her unravel whatever situation she’d gotten into, but her research? That was another story. Maybe more of Irwin’s cynicism had rubbed off on her than she’d like to admit. Or maybe it was just her current situation, but caution seemed well-advised at the moment.

  She walked from room to room, examining and rejecting hiding spots until she opened a door off the kitchen and stepped into the laundry room. Her eyes landed on the ironing board and she smiled. Her mother’s favorite stories. Three-year-old Mya hiding her mother’s pearl earrings. After searching high and low without success, Francine had given the earrings up for lost. It wasn’t until she’d gone to do her ironing that weekend and heard a rattling in the ironing board’s legs that she’d found her earrings and several items she’d yet to notice missing.

  The rubber cap on the leg of Gideon’s ironing board resisted, but Mya finally worked it off and slid the flash drive inside. She replaced the cap and exited the laundry room just as Gideon strode into the kitchen.

  His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine. Just trying to clean up a bit.” She crossed to the kitchen table and held up her laptop. “Do you have a safe where I can leave this?” As a security specialist, odds were good that he had a safe somewhere in the house.

  Gideon led the way back up the stairs and into his bedroom. His room wasn’t much larger than the guest room. The musky scent of his aftershave wafted over her as soon as she crossed the threshold.

  She scanned the room, her eyes landing on a framed print
she recognized from Grandma Pearl’s living room hanging over the dark wood sleigh bed against the wall opposite the door. A matching dresser stood a few feet away. The room, like Gideon, was unabashedly masculine.

  Gideon crossed to the closet doors. Mya followed him into the small walk-in closet and noted the safe tucked in a corner. She handed him her laptop. He put it inside, re-secured the door, and turned.

  The air was electrified. Her heart lurched. She struggled to contain the emotions swelling inside. From the way his gaze raked over her, she suspected Gideon was struggling with the same problem.

  He cupped her cheek and she stepped into his touch.

  She pursed her lips, her heart beating wildly in anticipation of his kiss. A kiss that didn’t come.

  Gideon let his hand drop to his side and took a step back. “The code is Grandma Pearl’s birthday in case you ever need to get in when I’m not around. We should get going to your house.” He turned on his heel and left the bedroom.

  Mya followed him, her entire body flushed with humiliation. She didn’t meet his eyes as they got into his Tahoe. The smell of leather and aftershave tickled her nose, quickened her pulse and heightened her discomfort.

  “My address is—” Mya began, focusing herself on the task at hand rather than her own embarrassment.

  “I got it.”

  Mya slanted a glance at him. She supposed she should have expected as much. She’d heard the firm he worked for, West Security and Investigations, was the best at what they did. No doubt the same research that had turned up her professional accomplishments and the fire at TriGen had spat out her address.

  He certainly looked the part of the elite private investigator. He’d changed into a cream-colored shirt and black wool pea coat that accentuated his broad shoulders and well-defined chest. She couldn’t help feeling a little like Beauty and the Beast, only she was the beast.

  The Gideon of today was a stark contrast from the ten-year-old boy she’d met over twenty years ago. Shorter and skinnier than most of the other kids in their fifth-grade class, painfully quiet and new to the school, Gideon had quickly become a target for teasing and bullying. Not long after he’d started at the elementary school, Mya had found Kenneth Rickshaw and his two minions playing a game of keep-away with Gideon’s backpack.

  She’d caught the backpack midair and swung it into Kenneth’s solar plexus. As a bona fide “nerd” herself, she’d been Kenny’s target and had learned that, like most bullies, he was a coward at heart. Kenny and his crew had skulked away, and she and Gideon became inseparable, especially once they’d learned they lived only a block apart from each other.

  Over the subsequent years, Gideon had shot up to six foot four and cultivated layers of muscles that attracted more than a little female attention. The baby fat in his face melted away, revealing chiseled cheekbones and a square jaw. The reticence that he’d developed in middle school made him mysterious and alluring in high school. Mya had noticed how attractive her best friend was, but there’d been nothing more than friendship between them. Not until their senior year.

  She snuck another glance at Gideon, a deep sigh slipping from between her lips.

  “You sure you’re alright?” he asked, shooting her a curious look.

  “Fine.” She focused her attention out the window again.

  While Gideon had chosen to remain in Queens, she’d purchased a tri-level townhouse close to the TriGen lab on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. “Why are we taking the scenic route?”

  “I want to make sure we’re not being followed.”

  Gideon glanced in the side mirror, for what must have been the twentieth time since they’d left his house.

  She studied the cars driving by looking for any that seemed suspicious. “There’s no way anyone could know I stayed at your place last night.”

  “You said the man who set the fire in your lab was looking for you. We don’t know how much they know about you. I’m not taking any chances.”

  Everything Gideon said made sense. Even so, it was hard to wrap her mind around the conclusion. Her heart hammered against her ribcage. “Someone is after me.”

  Gideon shot a glance across the car, holding her gaze. “And they are very serious about it. The police officer, or whoever it was, had a car that either was or resembled a police cruiser enough to fool you. When we get to your townhouse, it’s best we get in, get you enough clothes for a day or two and get out.”

  “A day or two?”

  “You can stay at one of West’s safehouses until we’re sure you’re safe.” Gideon cleared his throat. “Or you could stay with me. In the guest room.”

  She turned back to the window without answering. Gideon was no doubt right that staying at the townhouse was too dangerous. But staying another night at his place? That could be dangerous in a very different way. Despite the divorce and the intervening years, she felt the same pull toward him she’d felt all those years ago when she’d dreamed of a future together.

  Gideon’s evasive maneuvers had led them blocks from the TriGen lab. “We’re right by the lab. Take the next right.”

  A frown bought his eyebrows together. “Are you sure?”

  Mya inhaled and let it out slowly. “I just...need to see.”

  Moments later Gideon stopped in the empty parking lot, and she got out of the SUV.

  Police tape flapped uselessly from the flagpole in front of the building. The usually impeccably manicured front landscaping was a mess of trampled flowers and muddy puddles.

  Gideon stood at her side.

  Mya shielded her eyes against the sun with one hand and looked up at the third floor. All the windows on that level had been shattered, either by the fire or by the firefighters, Mya wasn’t sure. Black soot painted the brick exterior.

  She was grateful that most of the damage appeared to be limited to her lab and that no one was hurt, but it was clear the building would be uninhabitable for some time.

  “It’s all gone.” She covered her mouth with her hand in an effort to stop the sob that threatened to break through.

  “You can rebuild. You’re safe.” Gideon wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It was a gesture made awkward by how comforting and familiar it was, even after all the years that had passed.

  “I wish it were that easy,” she said, stepping out of his grasp as a red sedan turned into the parking lot.

  She felt Gideon tense at her side, but she recognized the car. “It’s my research assistant, Brian.”

  The declaration didn’t seem to do anything to relax Gideon.

  Brian bounded from the car, leaving the door open and the engine on, and strode to where she and Gideon stood. “Mya, thank God you’re okay.” Brian pulled her into a hug. It was surprising given they weren’t close, but it was an unusual situation. Over his shoulder, she saw Gideon glower.

  Mya pulled back from Brian’s arms. “I left you a message last night and this morning.” Her words came out testier than she’d intended.

  Brian shot a glance at Gideon before focusing back on Mya. “I forgot to charge my phone. I don’t use it that much, so I didn’t notice until this morning.”

  “Awful timing.” Disbelief dripped from Gideon’s words.

  Brian turned narrowed eyes on Gideon. “It turned out to be. Are you going to introduce me to your friend, Mya?”

  “This is Gideon Wright. He works with West Investigations.”

  One of Brian’s eyebrows went up. “You hired a PI?”

  “Gideon’s a friend but, Brian, you should know that the fire wasn’t an accident.”

  Brian’s eyes widened. “Not an accident? What do you mean?”

  Mya gestured vaguely toward the fire-ravaged building. “You know I stayed after you left last night.”

  “You wanted to look at the results from the last round of research again before you lef
t for the night. Even though we’ve both been over it a dozen times.” Brian rolled his eyes.

  Mya knew her need to review and rereview the data got under Brian’s skin, but she was the boss. “Yes, well, I stepped out not long after you left to get coffee and when I returned there was a stranger in the lobby. He didn’t see me because I’d come in from the side, but he was on the phone telling someone that he’d set fire to the lab. I ran up there to try and put it out, but it was too far along.”

  “Mya, you could have been killed.”

  Mya held up a hand, stopping the rest of what Brian would have said.

  “That’s not all. After the police cleared me to go home, I was almost kidnapped.”

  “She was kidnapped,” Gideon growled.

  “What! What exactly are you saying?” Brian’s voice went to a decibel most sopranos couldn’t reach.

  She described the fake cop and the mad dash through the woods to get away.

  “This is incredible. Was it the same man who set the fire?”

  She shrugged, wishing she could answer that question. “I don’t know. I never saw the face of the man in the lobby.”

  Brian dragged a hand over his face. “Well, what are we going to do now?”

  “What time did you leave the building last night?” Gideon asked.

  Brian’s frown deepened. “A little after six.”

  At that moment, Mya realized just how lucky she’d been. She’d left to get coffee right after Brian and had returned at about six twenty. If she’d been a few minutes later leaving or a few minutes earlier returning, she’d have likely run right into their fire starter. What would have happened if she had? The possibilities made her gut clench in terror.

  “Did you see anyone when you were leaving?” Gideon asked Brian, pulling Mya back into the present.

  Brian shook his head. “No one. It was Sunday. All the ground floor businesses had already closed. The parking lot was pretty much empty. Only a few cars and nothing stood out.”