by Desiree Holt
Table of Contents
Legal Page
Title Page
Book Description
Dedication
Trademarks Acknowledgement
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
Also available
About the Author
Publisher Page
Double Deception
ISBN # 978-1-78686-429-1
©Copyright Desiree Holt 2018
Cover Art by Cherith Vaughan ©Copyright August 2018
Edited by Rebecca Baker
Totally Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2018 by Totally Bound Publishing, UK
Totally Bound Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Burning and a Sexometer of 2.
Corporate Heat
DOUBLE DECEPTION
Desiree Holt
Book two in the Corporate Heat series
No one knows who’s telling the truth.
For Liam Benedict, the merging of Software By Design into the Arroyo mega-conglomerate is a dream come true—until someone on his staff screws with critical software and puts the company and its future in grave jeopardy.
Suddenly life is not so euphoric for Liam. His contract with a defense contractor is now on shaky ground, he doesn’t know who to trust on his staff and there is a distinct possibility that a foreign power is behind the whole thing.
When forensic data analyst Eric Braun discovers who it is and how they did it, he is killed before he can tell Liam he’s discovered the mole. Framed by the killer, Liam is arrested for the murder.
It will take the combined resources of beautiful criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore, the woman Liam loves, and the huge Arroyo Corporation to solve the riddle…but can they do it in time?
Dedication
First and foremost, this book is dedicated to Sydney Alfrido, an incredible individual and outstanding friend. She was the inspiration for Sydney Alfiore. My friend, I hope I did you justice.
To George, who needs to be named, for all the information on coding and writing programs and the ways it can be manipulated. Any mistakes are mine.
To some very special people, without whom none of this would ever happen: Margie Hager, Joseph Patrick Trainor, Janet Rodman, Shirley Long. And to this group add Misty Dawn, Mary McCoy, Denise Chapman-Hendrickson and of course all my wonderful readers out there. We take this journey together. I love you all.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Diamond Silver Mercedes Maybach: Daimler AG
Gulfstream: General Dynamics Corporation
Hard Rock Café: Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc.
Jack Daniel’s: Brown-Forman Corporation
Skype: Skype Technologies S.A.R.L
Skyplace FBO: San Antonio Aviation Department
Starbucks: Starbucks Corporation
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Glazer family
Uber: Uber Technologies Inc.
Prologue
“You understand if you fail we will have no choice but to erase you. We cannot leave any loose ends.”
Eightball—or Eight, for short, a nickname chosen in recognition of expertise with a pool cue, although lately it also seemed to reflect the reality of what was happening—took a slow sip of water, swallowed back a surge of fear and studied the person across the table. Fingers tightening on the glass were the only outward reaction to the frightening statement. It didn’t take an interpreter to know what “erase” meant.
This situation had become a chokehold. Working for Software By Design had been the best job ever. Liam Benedict was one of the best in the business and chose his programmers very carefully. Even though Eight had worked with him at Winters and Pryce, Liam had spared nothing in the intense vetting process. It was a damn good thing Eight’s dirty little secret had somehow not shown up. The gambling problem was under control, out of necessity. But then a discreet invitation to a private poker game came from one of the players at the casino. Who knew that such an invitation would create such havoc?
“I do not intend to fail. I will not fail. I keep telling you that.”
Shan leaned forward slightly. “Just so you understand the price of failure.”
“Just so you understand that if this is some kind of trap, you won’t like the outcome.”
God! If only gambling hadn’t grabbed hold like a leech, refusing to let go. If only she was better at it instead of losing again and again. Even a fat salary didn’t cover the losses now. If only the people holding the markers offered more than two choices—payment or death. This had seemed so simple to Eight after that first contact. Obvious now that they’d sniffed the situation out, offering sympathy at first. Then the carrot on the stick.
The risks were significant but the money! That much money would make it all go away. And with it a vow never to gamble again. Ever.
Their conversation paused when a waiter stopped at their booth, bringing them a fresh pot of tea. Meeting in a restaurant hadn’t been Eight’s first choice of location, but Shan always insisted. Probably because the place was owned by either a friend or a relative and they had a small room with absolute privacy. Even so, prior to beginning conversation, Eight always used a tiny little gizmo to sweep the room for bugs of any kind, audio or visual.
“So suspicious.” Shan’s mouth curved in a slight condescending grin.
“Because it’s my ass on the line,” Eight said, emphasizing each word.
“Perhaps we should not proceed with our arrangements.” Shan lit a cigarette and deliberately blew the smoke at Eight, knowing how annoying it would be. “But then, of course, you would still have that obnoxious debt hanging over your head.”
Eight gripped the tiny cup that held the steaming tea, determined not to give any sign that Shan’s little games and tricks had any effect. This was the source of the money—a great deal of money—so there was a logical reason for putting up with it. Enjoying the sparring, though? Not so much. Just the price to pay for the money Eight would be receiving.
Dirty money.
But at once Eight shoved the thought aside.
“Well?” Shan prompted.
Eight forced a calm that was necessary and blew out a slow breath. There was only one way to play this.
“If you are pulling out of this, just let me know.” Eight stared across the table. “There are other customers equally as willing to pay the price, you know.”
“But would they dissolve your unmanageable debt as well as give you money to hide away someplace?” Shan laughed, an unpleasant sound. “I do not think you want to fuck with me and my friends.” Narrowed eyes telegraphed a warning. “We would not take kindly to it.”
Eight leaned forward. “And I would not take kindly to being jerked around. Liam is planning to run three final tests on the program. Then I can insert the altered code and make sure it works without leaving a trace.”
Shan blew another stream of smoke. “And how soon will that be?”
“Soon. Possibly next week.”
“You guarantee it?”
Eight shrugged. “Nothing is guaranteed and you know it. Just be assured that before the software is delivered to the client, the hidden codes will be inserted and you will receive a thumb drive with them.”
“Tell me again why you can’t just give us the program itself on a thumb drive?”
“I told her.” Eight bit back another surge of anger. “I already explained this. When Liam runs the final test, he inserts what are called duress words that will signal him if anything is being copied. He’s paranoid about it. I have one shot to insert the back door and, trust me, I will get it taken care of.”
“You’d better. If you yank our chains, you could stop breathing without warning.”
And that was no lie. She knew it. But they were in this too deep to back out now. The image of all that money overrode everything else.
“No problem.”
“And what if your boss finds out?” Shan persisted. “How will you handle that?”
“He will never find out.” Eight made a face. “I’m smarter than he gives me credit for. Anyway, right now he’s too busy with a proposed offer from a big conglomerate to buy an interest in Software By Design and fold him into the corporate structure.”
“An offer? From who?” Shan’s eyes narrowed, body tensing. “You did not tell me that. What if the dynamics of the company change? What if he wants to bring in more people? How will you handle things? This could make things difficult.”
Eight glared across the table. “I don’t see how. I’ll be doing this the same way if there are two people or ten there. It won’t disrupt our business at all. In fact, it might even make it better. He’ll be too busy to pay a lot of attention to me. Besides, I’ve been with him from the beginning. He has no reason to suspect anything.”
“I still say this could be a problem.” Shan leaned forward. “What is the name of the corporation? Do you even know? That could make a difference, too.”
“Yes. Wait.” Eight thought for a minute. “It’s some company out of Texas. Arroyo, I think.”
“What?” Shan’s anger was almost visible, the controlled rage vibrating in waves. “And you didn’t think to inform us of this before?”
Eight frowned. “Why would I? What difference would it make? Big companies acquire smaller ones all the time. Then they let them operate independently. Big fucking deal.”
“You idiot.” Shan’s voice had a lethal edge to it. “Arroyo is one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. The woman who owns it sticks her nose into everything. This could put a serious dent in our process. How could you not mention this before?”
Eight made a rude noise. “I just told you. Because it didn’t seem like such a big deal to me, except for the possibility of a fat raise in salary. Why are you so worried about them, anyway? They aren’t even in this state.”
The look in Shan’s eyes was enough to shrivel the hardiest person. “They will want to change things at Software By Design. Alter the process of everything. Perhaps even want to bring in their own people as supervisors.”
Eight’s stomach clenched at the words. “I don’t think that will happen.”
“But you can’t guarantee it. If I had known about it sooner, I could have sabotaged the situation.”
“And ruined everything?” Eight slapped a hand on the table. “Trust me to handle this. No one will ever know about our arrangement or be able to trace what I will do.”
“Perhaps we should consider removing you from Software By Design altogether. Isolate you to work on your own.” Shan took a sip of tea, staring at Eight over the rim of the little cup. “We are about to have too many cooks in the kitchen.”
Eight just glared, beginning to get pissed off. “I need to stay there until the beta testing is finished. Only then can I alter the code. I cannot do that unless I am there. I have to be able to do it after all the testing and before they’re locked down. There’s a small window of opportunity I cannot lose. Besides, if I leave, I might as well send an email saying I did this. No, I can handle my boss and Arroyo.”
“Overconfidence can be one’s downfall,” Shan said. “Don’t sell Arroyo short. Taylor Cantrell has an international reputation for being sharp, intelligent and very aware of everything going on. And your boss will be on edge making sure nothing goes wrong with any of the current projects. Who knows what he might stumble over?”
“I’m clever enough to do this without ringing any warning bells.” Eight was ready to smack the other person. Only the knowledge of the big payoff prevented it. “We design software that theoretically prevents hacking into the buyer’s computer system and stealing files. Protects the highly sensitive files on their computers. Liam creates the original software, at least right now. But then he assigns it to two of us to tweak for the specific client.”
“Why two?” Shan interrupted.
“So there’s always backup. If I can write that kind of code, don’t you think I can incorporate a back door into it without tipping anyone off?”
Shan released a deep sigh. “Fine. As long as there are no traces that would track back to you—to us—there will be no problem. We will still be keeping an eye on things to make sure nothing interferes with our plan. So. Shall we say one week from tonight? For the next report and update?”
Eight’s jaw tightened. “Yes. One week from tonight will work.”
“Then we will meet here again. Same time.”
Eight really did not like the choice of meeting place. This was Shan’s territory and anything could happen. However, they were close to delivery of the software. No more than a couple of weeks away. Once the code was delivered, the first payment would change hands. A thrill of excitement danced in the air.
So, Eight nodded. “Same time, same place.”
The meeting was over. As always, Eight left first, knowing Shan had people watching every move from the restaurant to the car. If Shan decided to counterattack the Arroyo connection in some way…
No. Victory was on the horizon! Keep that in mind. Victory and untold wealth by the time this was finished. That was enough to banish any and all reservations and leave a smile on Eight’s face.
Chapter One
“Son of a bitch!”
Liam Benedict leapt out of the way to avoid the car barreling down on him in the parking garage. At the last minute, it appeared to swerve, passing so close it almost touched him. And would have if he hadn’t been quick on his feet.
“Asshole!” he shouted after them.
What was wrong with the people in this city? Didn’t they know how to drive? He sprinted for the elevator before whoever it was decided to take another run at him.
Come on, Liam. Take another run? This isn’t some spy movie, for god’s sake.
Well, maybe not, but it was certainly something. This was the third time in two days he’d had a close call like that. Three near misses, three different cars. If he were given to paranoia, he’d think someone or several someones had it in for him. But what the hell would an
yone want with him? He hadn’t had time to piss anyone off. He was too busy trying to deal with the sudden explosive growth of his young software company and the huge opportunity that would make him a major player in the business. And while it was exciting, it was certainly nothing to make anyone try to run him down.
He’d been living, breathing, eating and sleeping this company for the past two years. A sudden avalanche of new clients had created the need for more software engineers. Right now, he needed at least six more hours in each day just to keep up. With the programs his company created, there was no such thing as totally satisfied with their work. He could not afford for one piece of software to leave unless he put his own stamp of approval on it.
But tonight, all that could change. Tonight’s meeting could take Software By Design to a much higher level. Give him the capital to hire more people, expand to larger office space, add more equipment. And have a less insane schedule for everyone.
His assistant nagged him about it, his overworked software designers bitched about it and he was just lucky clients were so anxious to get his product they put up with it. He supposed that was what happened when a little startup company suddenly exploded. The boss was needed everywhere at once, including at his own computers to work on software.
These days, it seemed he was always running late for everything. Today, he’d even set his watch ahead ten minutes, but that hadn’t helped. As usual, he got involved at the office, then didn’t adjust for evening traffic. Now he was running late for the meeting that could change his life.
So what else is new?
At first, he’d thought the letter from Taylor Cantrell, CEO of Arroyo Conglomerate, was a joke. He’d been sure someone was punking him. He had a nice little software company growing at a rapid rate, mostly because of the unique way they designed cyber security software. But he had no illusions about its place in the universe. Why would a multinational conglomerate even be interested in him?