by Ravenna Tate
She nodded several times. “Yes. That’s right. Blown away. All of it. My daughter’s birth certificate isn’t in electronic form either. Nor is Keith’s death certificate.”
Her voice had dropped to a whisper, and Emmett felt like a giant shit. He hadn’t meant to cause her pain by forcing her to relive this. The urge to touch her arm in a gesture of comfort was strong, but he held back. Instead he told her he’d never take the information she gave him today beyond this room. “No one will know the truth about this website. I promise you that.”
A look of relief crossed her pretty face. He’d never seen hair the color of hers. It reminded him of sunsets—real sunsets. The kind he remembered above ground. All gold and red at the same time. And her eyes were as brilliant as the rarest emeralds. The moment he’d seen her face online, he’d wanted her. Not only on one of his special teams, but in his bed.
But first he had to get past this. He had to know she wasn’t also a threat to him. Because the skills necessary to build this website and then upload it onto the university’s servers, and keep it running undetected for over six months, didn’t grow on trees. You couldn’t teach skills like that in a classroom or from an online textbook. You were born with them. They were part of your DNA makeup. He needed this woman for that reason, as much as he needed her for those eyes, all that hair, and that lush, curvy body hiding underneath a very pretty and expensive suit.
“Keith and I were in most of the same classes together, and we were friends before we started dating. The people who helped us build this were our friends, and we were simply sitting around one Saturday night, watching old movies, and came across one called War Games. Have you seen it?”
He shook his head.
“It was made in 1983, if you can imagine. It was so outdated, of course, but we enjoyed the concept. A teen whom we’re led to believe is a computer whiz accidentally connects into a top secret super-computer which has complete control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It challenges him to a game between America and Russia, and he innocently starts the countdown to a world war. The idea is that he has to convince the computer it’s only a game and not real. It reminded us of the nuclear war scare of 2072, and that led us to a discussion of the first time hackers tried to access The Madeline Project.”
He nodded. “I remember that. It hadn’t even had a real time test yet.”
“That’s right. Only a lab test. As we discussed the attempt, we began to toss out reasons why someone would want to break into it.”
“What did you come up with?”
She hugged herself. “A surprisingly accurate scenario of what actually did happen.” She narrowed her eyes. “You know, a lot of people I’ve spoken to believe that was an inside job.”
A shiver ran down his spine. Dominic Greco, another close friend of his and Ace’s, had always believed the same thing.
“I mean think about it. Not only were these people able to break into one of the most secure networks on the planet at the time, but they knew things only those working for NSSL would have known.”
Emmett had heard these same theories for years, but it wasn’t until Harper Mathews, working on Ace’s hacker team, had recently discovered the identity of one of the possible hackers that the men had realized Dominic wasn’t too far off. The man’s name was Rob Marin, and up until several weeks ago, he had worked for Ace. “We’ve considered that, but the information they knew about NSSL was also obtained by hacking into those servers.”
The public didn’t know that, of course, and he was taking a chance on telling her, but the confusion and surprise on her face assured him she’d had no idea either. “I’ve never heard that.”
He smiled. “There are a lot of things with respect to Tommy Twister that Ace, myself, and the others keep to ourselves for obvious reasons.” The “inside job” that Dominic, and now the rest of them believed might be part of this referred to people working for those trying to take back The Madeline Project, not to former NSSL employees. But he wasn’t going to share that with Liane yet, either.
“So why have you told me that little tidbit?” she asked. “That the NSSL servers were hacked into?”
He leaned forward and caught a whiff of her perfume, delicate and flowery. It suited her. “I want to hear the rest of the story surrounding this website.” Up close, her eyes were stunning. His dick was rock hard as he watched her face for subtle clues to what was on her mind.
“All right. As I said, we started tossing out reasons why someone would want to hack into the program and of course came up with the obvious one. Control the weather, and you control the planet. That led to a discussion of other websites or programs that we’d like to control, and what we would do with them if we could. We were freshmen in college, away from home for the first time.”
Emmett could see she was uncomfortable now, but he had to know the truth. He said nothing. Instead he studied the expression in her eyes as she talked.
“It was a juvenile thing to do.”
A smile played at the corners of his mouth, and he watched annoyance cross her face. He liked the fire in this girl. Was she that passionate in bed? He intended to find out.
“Breaking into the university’s website and changing grades or something was too easy. Too mundane. We wanted to do something that would leave a lasting impression.” Her gaze cut to the tablet. She was clearly embarrassed now, but he didn’t stop her. It was important he find out where her head was at the time, and whether she’d ever done anything like that since. He needed to know she understood the difference now between breaking into a site for shits and giggles, and doing so for the greater good.
“So we built the site. At first it was just for fun. Practice on what we were learning in class, but of course we couldn’t use something like this for an assigned project.”
“Who retrieved the footage from the security cameras inside the professor’s home?”
“Billy Herschel. He simply took frames from each one and made the videos into whatever he wanted them to be.”
“What was Keith’s part in it, other than helping you build the site?”
“He and I both hacked into the university’s system and uploaded the site to their servers.”
Emmett chuckled. “Impressive. Who masked it for that long?”
A slow blush crept up her neck and face. “That would be me.”
Perfect. “You’re all lucky you weren’t expelled.”
“I know.”
“The only reason you weren’t is because of your parents.” Her parents had been professors themselves, and had donated money and equipment to the biochemical warfare research program. Otherwise she’d never have earned her degree, and who knows where she’d be right now?
“I know that, too.”
He leaned closer, and this time he touched the sleeve of her jacket. When she didn’t flinch or react in a negative manner, he had a sudden urge to pump his fist in the air. He closed his hand around her forearm. “I’m not trying to dredge up painful memories for you, Liane. I can read what happened for myself in the transcripts, but I do need to know why you did this. What was your motivation? Was it merely to see if it could be done, or did you have something else in mind?”
“We only wanted to see if it could be done.”
She was lying. He saw it in her eyes and heard it in her voice, but what was she lying about? “Why the footage from this particular professor’s home?” Professor Manny Alvarez was a psychology professor who had been tenured at the university at the time. Surely they must have known how dangerous it was. So why had they done it? Was it personal?
Liane averted her gaze and snatched her arm from his hand. The entire set of her body changed, just like that. “We had our reasons.”
“I need to know what they were.” He kept his voice quiet, but judging by the quickness with which she looked into his eyes again, he knew she’d caught the undertone. He wasn’t used to playing games, and he couldn’t afford to do so with this issue.
“He was a s
cumbag. He raped one of our friends, but no one believed her. Even after she told them he had footage of it from the security cameras all over his house, they did nothing.”
He hadn’t been expecting that. “I’m sorry. So this was revenge.”
“You’re damn right it was. We wanted to nail that bastard. If we couldn’t do that, we wanted to embarrass him.”
Embarrass him they certainly had. Liane and her friends had put together montages from Manny’s security tapes that showed him as a comedic old fart, and unable to get it up even when he filmed himself masturbating to porn. But it was still wrong.
“Our friend left school over the rape.”
“So did the professor.”
“Good. That way he couldn’t do that to anyone else.”
Not at that university, at least.
“So what happens now?” she asked, her voice small and slightly shaky.
There was no point in dragging this out any longer. “Ace and I belong to a group of business owners who have made it our life’s mission to find the people responsible for hacking into The Madeline Project. We are also trying to find ways to take back control of the program. Up until a few weeks ago, we each had a team of people focusing on popular sites where hackers gathered to trade tips, passwords, and boast about their latest conquests.”
“Have you had any luck?”
“Yes and no. Certain sites were set up in the early 2100s to deal with weather control and early computer programs that tried to do what The Madeline Project did.”
“That sounds like a good place to start.”
“We thought so, too. In six years we’ve isolated hundreds of message boards that contain clues to what we’re looking for. But our first real break didn’t come until a few weeks ago. A woman named Harper Mathews discovered similarities between usernames she came across on the PR message boards and forums at ACE Communications, and names on the message boards we’ve been finding backdoor ways into.”
“So Harper was working on both projects for Ace?”
Emmett bit back a smile. “Yes.” He didn’t think it was necessary to tell Liane why Harper had ended up going from a plush office where she had been an analyst for Ace’s PR site, to the dingy lower floors of the building as part of his hacker team. Not yet, anyway. He’d save that story to illustrate what happens when employees hack into places they don’t belong.
“Now we’re each doing the same thing at our individual companies. Comparing names we’ve found on other parts of our own sites to names we’ve been isolating for six years on certain message boards. We’re looking for the same usernames, or other patterns that would lead us to investigate a bit deeper. One of the names Harper found turned out to be the username of a man who was working for Ace on his hacker team.”
“Whoa. That’s not good.”
“No, it certainly isn’t, but it did help us focus our efforts better, so something good came out of it.” And now Ace and Harper were engaged. Who would have believed that could happen? Emmett shuddered at the thought of spending his life with only one woman.
“I take it this person who worked for Ace was fired?”
“Yes, he was. Unfortunately he’s also off the grid and no longer using his prior name, so we’ve lost him, but we’ll find him again.”
“That means anyone working for you could be part of the team who hacked into The Madeline Project to begin with.”
“Yes, it does. Or anyone working for one of my friends.”
She stared at the tablet again. “You want me to do that, don’t you? Work on your hacker team.”
“Yes and no. Your skills would certainly be useful there, but I need something from you that’s a bit trickier. I want you to build me a database where I and my friends can store all the information we find. We each have our own databases, but we’ve never combined them. Too risky. Hack into one, and you’ve got everything we’ve found so far.” He grinned. “But this … Liane, you have the skills to not only build us such a database, but you can hide it from prying eyes as well.”
She blinked a few times, and he watched relief and intrigue pass across her pretty face. “Wow. I never thought that website would come back into my life, and in a way that lands me a position like the one you’re offering.”
“You’d be doing the entire planet a world of good.”
“I realize that.”
“What do you say? Will you do it?”
Her smile lit up the room, and his damn dick jumped. “I’d be a fool to turn down an offer like that.”
Chapter Three
Liane glanced around at the dark wood paneling and somber colors of her new office. This was a fabulous job, and she’d never had her own office before, but she’d be moody and depressed sitting in it all day. “May I bring in some artwork to hang on the walls?” she asked Emmett. “You know, to brighten the place up a bit?”
He chuckled. “We can always get you a few more sunlamps.”
“No, I don’t mean it needs more actual light. I mean the colors are so dark.”
“The entire department is decorated in this way. I like it.”
She gave him a sideways glance as she laid her bag down on the desk. “Maybe that’s the reason all your employees look like they need to laugh a bit more?”
“They maintain an air of professionalism. I expect it of everyone.” His gaze traveled over her again, more slowly now than it had in his office. “The way you’re dressed is fine for routine workdays. If you have occasion to meet with clients or one of my other friends, such as Ace, be sure to remember that as my employee, you represent me.”
“I understand, but do I have to smile coldly at others and not shake their hands, too?”
A grin played at the corners of his mouth. “Tania isn’t here to make friends. She’s very busy as my administrative assistant. She also oversees a team of personal assistants, one of whom will be yours. I’ll send her in to help you get oriented to our structure here and to the building. She’ll also make sure you have any supplies you need, as well as take you to HR so you can get access badges.”
He pulled a business card out of his jacket pocket. “This has my personal Internet phone number on it. I’m available anytime for work-related issues.” As she reached out to take it their fingers brushed, and there was that damn spark again. He held her gaze. “As for the database, I’ll leave that to your expertise, but I want to see the progress on it every day for a few weeks. After that, depending on how far you’ve come, we may drop that back to two or three times a week.”
“All right.” She hadn’t realized she’d be working that closely with him every single day. It was suddenly too warm in the office.
“Your work laptop needs to stay with you. I don’t want it left in the building overnight or over a weekend. Besides, you’ll need to bring it to my apartment each evening to show me your progress on the database.”
What? She licked her lips because her mouth had gone dry. “I’m sorry. Did you just say I need to come to your apartment each evening to show you the progress?”
Those ice blue eyes were as dark as sapphires now, and every inch of her skin felt alive, as though an electrical current had passed through the room. “I don’t have time during the day, Liane. It’s not unusual for me to take work home. You’ll grow used to long hours, too. However, since you have a new place to organize, I won’t expect you at my place after work until tomorrow evening.” He cut his gaze to the card she still held. “My address in on there.”
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. Her mind reeled with everything he’d just told her.
“I’ll send in your assistant. Keep me apprised of the situation at your new apartment, and let me know if I can help in any way.”
“Thank you.” Her response came out in a squeak.
“Any questions before I go?”
About a dozen. “Yes.” He’d never answered this question, and she had to know. “Did you hire me to try to get me into bed?”
H
e didn’t look even slightly embarrassed. In fact, she could swear he was delighted she’d asked. “I never hire anyone to try to get them into bed, Liane, but if it happens, I don’t fire them either, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
Oh, what arrogance! “I’m not afraid of being fired for sleeping with you.” Why the fuck had she said that? It made it sound like she’d be open to hopping into bed with him. Well, are you?
“Good to know. I’ll remember that.”
Fuck. He was nothing but a game player. The predatory look was back, but she still found it difficult to glance away from that ice blue gaze. His eyes really were stunning, and they pulled her right in.
She forced herself to blink. There was one more question she’d filed away to ask later. She knew there was, and she struggled to remember it. Finally, it came back to her. “Why did you tell me about the NSSL servers being hacked into?”
His grin made her pussy wet. This man had sexual charm like no one she’d ever met, but she wasn’t here for that reason. She had to get a grip. This wasn’t a game. She was stronger than this. “Because I trust you.”
She had no response this time, but she knew that no one trusted someone so quickly. His reason for drawing her into his confidence had nothing to do with trust. He turned to go, and she followed him to the door of her office. “Thank you again for this opportunity, Emmett.”
He faced her before opening the door. “You’re welcome. Don’t let me down, Liane.”
“I won’t.” Not where work was concerned, at any rate. If he was hoping to seduce her, he was in for a disappointment.
They locked gazes for long moments, and Liane knew that despite her resolve, she’d have to do more than keep a tight rein on her emotions not to end up in bed with this man. She’d need to build a cage around her body. All the determination in the world couldn’t erase that slight stubble on his chin, or the way his gaze held her spellbound.
She wasn’t used to such an immediate visceral reaction from any man, and she didn’t know how to handle it. She had no frame of reference. It hadn’t been this way with Keith. They’d eased into their sexual relationship. Both had been virgins, and it had been the first time she’d loved a man that deeply. What their relationship lacked in heated passion it made up for in faithfulness and devotion. Liane truly believed that in time, their marriage would have grown stronger.