by Jen Talty
“I need to find my damn shirt.
She unplugged her laptop. “Let’s go, I don’t want to lose him.” She squeezed Logan’s bare shoulder, before racing across the room.
He continued to scan the floor when Mia pulled open her door and skidded to a stop.
“Morning, Dad,” she said.
Logan put his hands on his hips and closed his eyes, heat rising to his cheeks. At least his pants were actually on this time.
“No time to chat, Dad. I’ve finally gotten that bastard Rock to come out and play.”
Logan opened his eyes as Mia scooted around her father, who stood in the door way, staring at Logan with narrowed yes. “Good morning, Mr. Vanderlin.” Logan eyed his shirt under the bed and knelt, snagging the cotton fabric and pulled it over his head, hoping Mr. Vanderlin had left.
But nope. There he stood. Hands on his hips, still glaring.
“I need to go see what Markus and Mia are doing and figure out our next move so I can eliminate the threat,” Logan said, sucking in a deep breath.
Mr. Vanderlin stepped to the side, holding his arm out.
Logan headed toward the door, contemplating if he should have a man to man talk now, or later.
He opted for later.
“Logan.” Mr. Vanderlin grabbed Logan’s arm just as he was about to pass.
Guess this talk was going to happen now. “I don’t know if this is going to make this situation less awkward or not, but I spent the last fourteen years of my life looking for the one thing that told me I was in the right place, doing the right thing. I never expected that I would find what I’d been searching for back here, but I did and—”
“Logan,” Mr. Vanderlin said with an arched brow.
“Please, sir. Let me finish. I went off to college believing I would someday be a pitcher in the major leagues and in the back of my mind I figured Mia would be at my side. When my father died, I lost it and pushed everything I loved away, including baseball…including Mia. I chased the adrenaline rush, which doesn’t do anything but leave one dissatisfied after the rush is over. Being back here, with Mia, well, sir, it feels like home. I care a great deal for her and I would never do anything to hurt her.” Logan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Are you finished?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay. First, cut the Mr. and sir crap. You’re not seventeen anymore. Call me Brett.”
“Yes, sir…Brett.” Logan swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Second. That is all fine and dandy, but not necessary and not what I wanted to talk to you about.” Brett placed a hand on Logan’s back and started walking toward Marcus’s room.
“Oh,” was all Logan could manage.
“I know you wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt my daughter. But that asshole Rock did. I don’t know if Mia or your father ever told you what happened.”
“Mia told me.” Logan clenched his fists. “Yesterday.”
“Seeing my little girl with her shirt torn and bruises on her arm was a million times worse than catching her in bed with a decent young man who cared about her.”
Logan stopped and faced Brett. “My father was called that night. Was Rock arrested?”
Brett nodded. “We filed charges, got a restraining order, and Rock had to go to another school and I thought that had been the end of it. It wasn’t until the state science fair her senior year that I found out he’d been tampering with her projects, but we couldn’t prove anything and he seemed to have disappeared after that.”
“When we find that asshole, I’m going bruise both his eyes.”
“I wouldn’t mind punching the weasel once. I tried to that night, but your father stopped me.” Brett put his hand Logan’s shoulder. “Your father was a good man. We had drinks about a week after you went off to college. He was very grateful he never had a daughter.” Brett let out a light laugh.
Logan cracked a smile, but didn’t dare make a noise.
“Logan!” Mia’s voice echoed down the hallway. “Get in here!”
Logan took long strides, Mia’s father right behind him.
“What is it?”
“You’re not going to like it.” Mia sat on Markus’s bed, legs crisscrossed with her computer on her lap staring up at him with determination glowing in her soft, caring eyes.
“He should be sitting down for this,” Markus said, pounding away on his keyboard.
“Spill it.” Logan planted his hands on his hips, keeping her gaze.
She set her laptop aside, uncrossed her legs, setting her feet on the floor. “Rock says he has a proposition for me and wants to meet.”
“Over my dead body,” her father said.
“Like hell.” Logan narrowed his eyes. “But I’ll meet with him.”
She shook her head. “That won’t work. He wants me and I think—”
“Well stop thinking,” Logan barked. “Because there is no way in hell I’m letting that asshole anywhere near you.”
“Let me finish.” Mia stood and closed the gap. “He says he’ll put an end to destroying my career if I’ll help him with something.”
“He’s not going to stop.” Her father stood next to Markus’s desk, peering over his son’s shoulder, looking at all the screens. “And you know I’m right.”
“We can make him stop.” Mia rested her hands-on Logan’s shoulders.
“Bingo!” Markus pushed his chair back and swiveled in a complete 360. “Rock is STEALTH, which is why STEALTH denied the hack.”
“Fuck,” Logan muttered. “All the more reason you’re not meeting with Rock.”
She shook her head. “I have to meet with him. It’s the only way we can nail the bastard. We pull him off his system, away from the only world he knows and understands and we can not only bust him for the DANA Corp hack, but we can bust up his entire operation.”
“No.” Logan shrugged her hands off his shoulders and started to pace. “You are NOT meeting him. End of discussion. I’ll call my boss and get our IT girl on all this.”
“She’s already in on it,” Markus said. “Everything we do, Jacqui sees.”
“Good, but I’m still not using Mia as bait. The members of STEALTH are dangerous and not just in cyber space.”
“I’m with Logan on this one.” Her father leaned against the back wall. “Can’t you work behind the scenes? Meet with him in cyber space or something?”
“That’s what he wants,” Mia said.
Logan scratched the back of his neck. “That, I’d let happen.”
“Don’t you get it? He’d only be distracting me so that he can get back into this system and find where I parked those files.”
“That’s what he wants help with?”
“I suspect that’s part of it, but based on what is in those files, I’m going to wager he wants me to hack into the Department of Defense and find military tactical plans for specific locations relating to what DANA Corp is doing.”
“But the CIA has those files.” Logan stopped and stared at her.
“They do, but I had to shut down before I wiped the server of all traces of those files and the moment I logged in last night, Markus has been shifting things around, keeping Rock from hacking in again, but it won’t last. If I meet with him in the cyber world, he’ll get those files and he’ll destroy me.”
Logan rubbed his neck, letting her words sink into his brain. “You’re saying he’s better than the two of you combined.”
“He’s not,” Markus said, peering over the screen. “But he’s got a top-notch team he’s and we can’t keep up with them. Not even with Jacqui’s help and we don’t have enough time to assemble a team we trust. But if we force him out to where he’s not communicating with his team for a long enough time frame, Jacqui and I can get in, get what we need, then you or whoever can arrest him.”
“After I hit him,” Logan said under his breath. “Do we know where Rock is?”
“He’s somewhere in south Florida, but we don
’t have an exact location,” Markus said.
He turned to face Mia. “Have you asked to meet him in person?”
She shook her head. “I wanted to talk it over with you. Figured we’d need to formulate a plan before I did that and we also have to make sure Markus and Jacqui have my back while I go into cyber land.”
Logan let out a long breath. “Get him to agree to meet you, but I pick the location and I’ll need enough time to call in a few more favors because no way are you going in without at least a dozen sniper rifles aimed at Rock’s ugly ass head.”
CHAPTER 13
The following evening…
LOGAN ADJUSTED HIS EARPIECE.
“We’ve got hostiles,” Dylan’s voice crackled over the radio. “Two SUV’s parked a half mile down the road. Engines running.”
“Fuck,” Logan muttered. “Where the hell is Ramey? He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago.” Number three brother would be late for his damn funeral.
“For fuck’s sake,” Ramey’s voice echoed. “Relax. I ran into some bad weather on the flight over here. It does take a while to fly from Vegas to Florida, just saying.”
“Where are you?”
“At the house with my buddies. We’re getting into place now.”
Logan gripped the weapon in his lap as he raced across the bridge, listening to Mia order a drink. “You have to leave Markus alone, but keep an eye on him. I couldn’t risk moving his computers or take him off STEALTH’s tail.”
“He’s still one weird dude,” Ramey said.
“Nick?” Logan questioned.
“Mr. and Mrs. Vanderlin are tucked away at a hotel, under the watchful eye of one of Jupiter’s finest,” Nick said.
“You’re sure Rock is headed this way?” Ramey questioned.
“I’ve got a man up in the Lighthouse with eyes on him now. He’s sitting in a boat, waiting for Mia. If our intel is correct, he plans on using Mia’ or her brother’s system to hack into the Department of Defense.” Logan slammed on the breaks as he skidded into the marina.
“You’re really going to let him and his goons walk into the Vanderlin home?” Ramey asked. “Putting Markus at risk.”
“Markus knows exactly what we’re doing. He’s the one who helped dig up the intel.” Logan snagged his duffle bag from the back of his jeep.
“I can’t believe Mia went for this plan,” Nick said.
“She doesn’t know all the details.”
All three of his brothers, along with the rest of the team he’d assembled, muttered various superlatives.
“Shut up, all of you,” Logan growled. “She’s not stupid and she’ll figure it out when I don’t stop her from getting on that boat. I prepared her for various scenarios.”
“You are so sleeping in the dog house tonight, big brother.” Dylan laughed.
“Screw you.” Logan tossed his bag into the small single engine pleasure boat. “At least I have a woman to put me in the dog house.”
“Ramey,” Dylan said. “Make sure your men are in place, the SUV’s are on the roll.”
“On it,” Ramey replied.
“Let’s shut the chatter down unless necessary. Watch your backs.” Logan jumped into the boat and focused on the sound coming from Mia’s wire.
I’ve got your back, baby.
***
Mia sat at an outside table at one of the restaurants on the Jupiter Inlet directly across from the Lighthouse. Red, orange, and purple streaks lined the sky as the sun set over the bridge. She sipped her club soda that she’d gotten at the bar, looking around for Rock, trying to look casual. She wished she had one of those wire things jammed into her ear so she could hear the cool timber of Logan’s voice.
One of the waitresses working the outside tables rushed down the stairs, toward her.
“Are you Mia?” the waitress asked?
She nodded.
“This is for you.” The waitress handed her an envelope. “Can I get you anything else while I’m here?”
“No thanks.” Mia tensed her arm, making sure her hands didn’t shake as she took the small white envelope. “Who is this from?”
“I don’t know,” the waitress admitted as she looked around. “The hostess asked me to bring it to you.”
“I see.”
The waitress shrugged, then turned and scurried off to another table.
Mia fiddled with the flap, waiting for a sign she shouldn’t open it, but that didn’t happen. She tore off the front flap and pulled out piece of paper. She decided that whispering the note with tight lips would be a good idea.
“Mia, go to the last dock and walk to the end. There is a small boat waiting for you. If you don’t, not only will I ruin you, but I’ll put a hit on Logan, and trust me when I tell you I’ve got an army of ex-military on my payroll. Raisin was here.”
Her hands trembled. She scrunched the paper and fisted her hands. Mother fucker wasn’t going to mess with her or anyone she loved any more. She chugged her club soda and slammed the empty plastic cup on the table. As she stood, she rolled her head, contemplating putting in her earbuds and blasting Guns and Roses. It would be the only thing that could possibly reduce the speed at which her heart hammered in her chest. Pure adrenaline, she could handle. But not a pulse raging out of control.
The salty air mixed with the tacky humidity clung to her like honey on a spoon. She counted five pelicans perched on tall posts as she slowly walked down the far dock, putting new meaning to ‘walk the plank’. She spied a mini-sized pontoon boat parked at the end. One man sat behind the center console. He looked her way, and waved.
She put a hand over her eyes, blocking the setting sun, but still couldn’t get a look at the man. At least she assumed it was a man.
By the time she got to the end of the dock, she figured Logan was peachy keen with her getting in this boat.
“Mia Vanderlin?” A familiar voice smashed into her ears, causing her to shiver.
“Rock,” she spat out the single word. She stepped onto the bow of the boat, still unable to get a clear view of his face as he’d turned sideways to push the boat from the dock.
He wore a Marlin’s baseball cap. His long wavy brown hair flowed over his shoulders. He was broader than she remembered and his taste in clothing had gone off the rails with his orange pine tree shirt and blue cotton shorts. It hurt her eyes just looking at him. Not wanting her back to the asshole, she sat on the front side seat where she could see him and where they were headed.
“You look well,” Rock said. He pushed down on the throttle and maneuvered the boat down the inlet and toward the ocean. A breeze kicked up, but it didn’t cool her down. It just reminded her how much she’d been perspiring as her shirt gripped her body.
“Cut the small talk and let’s get down to business.”
He laughed. “Your feistiness has always been such a turn on.”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously. I don’t have time to play anymore games. What do you want from me?”
“I want a lot of things. But let’s start with access to the real files you stole from me.”
“I didn’t steal them from you, I simply prevented you from having them.”
“Now who’s playing games.” He turned the boat toward Indian River, also known as Jupiter Sound.
She swallowed. Logan had mentioned many possibilities regarding her meeting with Rock, but not one of them mentioned returning to her family home. At least not tonight.”
“What else?” she asked, casually leaning back in the seat, draping both arms over the railing as if she were enjoying an evening on the water. To keep her body from trembling, she focused on the hum of the engine and the voices echoing across the water. It wasn’t head banging music by any means, but it helped.
“You’re going to hack into the Department of Defense and get me their tactical plans for a nuclear threat on American soil. Specifically, the specs on the HOOVER-PIN and where it’s located.”
“What’s that?”
&nb
sp; “Don’t play dumb with me. It’s not attractive on you.”
“If I do this and that’s a big if.” She tried not to scan other boats, hoping to see Logan, or one of his brothers. “I’ll have only ten minutes to get in and out before they have a lock on my IP, even routing it through five different third world countries.”
“I’d say we have closer to twenty with you, me, and your brother working on it.”
She let out a long sigh. “Who then, is responsible for the hack, because I’m not doing it if you’re just going to take me and Markus down. The only reason I’m meeting with you is to be able to clear my name.”
Rock laughed that God-awful snorting laugh. Talk about unattractive. “STEALTH will take credit, but you and Markus are going to have to make sure I’m protected.”
“But you are STEALTH.” She blinked, trying to mute his stupid laugh.
“No one knows that and you’re going to make sure it stays that way. You get me what I want and protect me, I will make sure the allegations of you stealing from DANA Corp goes away and Logan gets to live.”
“You can’t touch him.”
She noted they were only a mile from her childhood home. A mile from where either shit was going to go right, or very, very, very wrong.
“My organization goes deep and dangerous. Don’t underestimate me.”
Don’t underestimate Logan and his brothers. Or me.
“The only way I’ll do it is if you have STEALTH take credit, and prove they did the hack on DANA Corp. That I was collateral damage. Then, and only then, will I hack the Department of Defense.”
“Deal.”
In her mind, he said that a little too quickly, but what did it matter? He wasn’t going to follow through with his end of the bargain and neither was she. The only issue now was if her brother and Jacqui had enough time to get the Department of Defense to agree to their plan and whether or not Rock believed she’d do what he asked.
He pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen before putting it to his ear. “Clear Mia,” he said, then set the phone on the consul. “You’ll be getting notification before we hit your dock that STEALTH is responsible for DANA Corp. Formalities of you being cleared will take place in the morning. I promise.”