Hacker Enclosed: A Bodyguard Billionaire Romance (White Hat Security Book 8)

by Linzi Baxter

  The transfer was finalizing when the gold doors to Mr. HUE’s office burst open. I dropped to his chair and stuck my head in my hands.

  “What are you doing here?” my mother demanded.

  Instead of answering, I rocked back in the chair, glancing at the drive. One hundred percent. When I stood, I stumbled next to the computer tower and grabbed the drive. “I didn’t feel good, so I came in here to use the phone. I planned to call Abe, but I couldn’t think.”

  “You’re so dramatic. You could’ve just walked back down the hall.”

  Abe rushed over to my side and put his hands in mine. I transferred the drive to him, and he smiled. “Do you want to go back to the hotel?” Abe was doing an excellent job of playing along. For the first time, my panic attacks were working in our favor.

  “Yes, I don’t feel good.” I continued playing along.

  “We can spend the night in DC. Since your mom and Vincent have a function tonight, maybe they can meet us tomorrow.” Abe’s mouth twitched for a second. “President Tucker said we could come to the White House for dinner tomorrow.”

  My mom’s eyes nearly exploded when she heard the president’s name.

  “I wouldn’t want to put my mom and Vincent out. I’m okay with us just going.”

  Blair cleared her throat. “We would love to go with you guys tomorrow night,” she invited herself. “Vincent and I have been working on a lot of new technology for the government and would love to talk with the president.”

  “I’m not sure I will feel up to it.” President Tucker wasn’t even in DC at the moment. He was at his vacation home in Colorado. Sophie, his sister-in-law, and Zane were heading to Colorado after the wedding to spend time with the family.

  “I didn’t know you knew the president.” Vincent stepped closer to Abe. “Maybe you and Addie could join us tonight at the Gala. My youngest daughter runs the HUE foundation charity, and tonight is the annual fundraiser.”

  “We’ll think about it,” Abe quipped.

  My mother shrugged. “Or you could come. Addie doesn’t need to be there. I’m not sure she would fit in with the people at this event.”

  “I think it’s time we leave.” Abe pulled me into his arms. “Addie has your number.”

  Before my mother could say anything else, we walked out of the office—with the information I hoped would bring down HUE.

  15

  ADDIE

  “Y ou stole the evidence,” Director Charles Westblack of the FBI growled from his high back leather chair.

  Abe and I had driven straight to the director’s office after the meeting with my mom. Abe wanted to hand the information over to his friend in the FBI before we even looked through the thumb drive. Director Westblack though, seemed uninterested in even looking to find out if HUE was the owner of Stark Night.

  I really wished Abe had listened to me. He’d been way too convincing on the car ride from HUE Enterprise. Every time I looked into Abe’s eyes, I tended to agree with him and go with his plan.

  I reached for the drive in the middle of the table. “Abe, let’s go. It seems like the FBI doesn’t care about the bad equipment being sent to the men and women fighting for his country.”

  I knew the director was trying to stay above board, and the comment was a low blow, but every minute we weren’t working on taking down the person selling the equipment put more men and women in harm's way.

  “Leave it,” Director Westblack growled. “A few years ago, we went after HUE Enterprise, and they drowned the FBI in lawsuits. You didn’t tell me who the information was on when you called to tell me what you think you found. Hell, neither of you know if the information is even on the drive. That right there,” he pointed to the thumb drive, “could cost me my career. I have many years left and don’t want to go out because of what you might have.”

  I understood he didn’t want to lose his job, but putting people’s lives in danger meant more than a paycheck to me. Every time I took a case, it was to find the truth, even if the truth might not net my business as much money.

  “I’m sure if the FBI fires you, Antonio will give you a job,” Abe countered.

  “It’s too humid in Florida.” Charles leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. His stark gray eyes stared me down. “You know you could cost me my job if there isn’t something on there right.”

  “Only if someone finds out you looked.” I tapped my hand on the chair. “I could always look for you and bring you back what you need.”

  “You have your computer with you?” Charles seemed to be changing his mind, the longer we sat in his office. He stared down at the black bag beside me. I’d tried to search the drive on my computer when we drove to Charles’s office, but Abe told me to wait.

  “Yes.”.

  “I know I’m going to regret this,” Charles grumbled.

  Abe pulled up next to me, and his leg brushed against mine, making it hard to concentrate on the screen.

  “I’m going to see if I can find any information linking HUE to Stark Night.” I double-clicked on the USB folder. “What kind of information would help you get a warrant to take them down?”

  Charles let out a sigh. “Anything you find, we can’t use unless you’re able to find the actual location of Stark Night. The invoices we have are to an empty field. You’re not the first one to find the connection. We have a task force working to find them when the equipment shipped, and we’ve sent out memos to stop using it.”

  “You didn’t send the memo to private contractors,” Abe quipped. “AA Security received defective devices, and we almost lost one of our own.”

  My stomach turned as I thought about Abe losing a man he worked with. Abe used the same equipment—it could’ve been him on that job. I ran a scanning program against the files, looking for any keyword related to Stark Night. When the search came back blank, I let out a frustrated sigh. “I didn’t get anything.”

  “Try the address of Stark Night and see if something comes back,” Abe said.

  I flipped through my notes until I found the address. I typed it in and waited while the search ran. The program processed thousands of documents each second, but it felt like it was taking a lifetime. One file popped up. My finger hovered over the mouse as I opened it. A land deed.

  “We got them,” I said.

  It was proof of the tie between HUE Enterprise and Stark Night. After a year of digging, I’d found the link to who owned the shell company.

  “That isn’t enough evidence for me to storm the castle,” Charles sighed.

  “I know, but it’s a start. You can dig deeper into finding a solid link.”

  “Or you can turn the case over to AA Security, so you keep your career path clean,” Abe said.

  “Fuck you,” Charles shot back. Then a smooth smile crossed his face. The director was a good-looking man, but he didn’t ignite my body with one look. When Abe smiled, it almost took my breath away. “I’ll take a look into the connections. There is no point in me telling you to drop looking into them. So, if you find anything else, send it my way.”

  “Will do,” Abe said. The director asked Abe a few more questions about another case they were working on together. Neither of them was paying attention as I cloned a copy of the files to my drive. If we couldn’t find a way to link them to Stark Night, I might find something else on the drive to take down HUE Enterprise myself.

  I didn’t even care if I took my mother down with them. The woman I’d had lunch with was not the same person I’d known as a child—or maybe she was, and I didn’t remember the bad parts of my childhood. John had never wanted to talk about her when we got older. He bottled up everything and always said we didn’t need our parents because we had each other. I wished I’d listened to him years ago and not spent so much time looking for the evil woman. But the person who’d shown up to my house only a few months ago hadn’t acted even close to as mean as the lady we saw today.

  “Ready?” Abe asked, and my heart rate tripled when I
caught the heat in his eyes.

  “Yes.” The word came out more like a squeak.

  Dear God, one look from the man and I turn into a schoolgirl. My body had been on edge ever since Abe carried me off the plane, and even after all the sex, I still melted under his gaze.

  The first night we were together, I’d told myself it would be only one night. That had turned into a few though, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to say goodbye to him at the end of the week. An expiration date sat waiting for us, and neither one of us had brought up the subject of what would happen when Abe had to go back to Florida.

  Charles Westblack shook my hand then shook Abe’s.

  Abe didn’t say anything until we exited the building. “Did you get the files downloaded to your computer?” he asked like he already knew the answer.

  I pulled my hand from his. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

  “Really?” Abe clicked the unlock button to his truck.

  Suddenly, the truck exploded on the other side of the garage. Debris flew through the air, and smoke filled the area around us. Car sirens echoed through the cement walls. The blast threw us to the ground. Abe rolled with me, so that I landed on top of him near another SUV. His lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear a word he said. I looked to the side and saw my laptop had fallen out of its bag and broken in half.

  “Addie!” Abe’s voice cut through the buzzing. “Are you okay?”

  Abe rolled me to the side, blocking my body from another attack. The only reason we were still alive was because Abe had hit the truck’s door locks from thirty feet away. Someone wanted us dead. My thoughts turned back to my mother. She’d tried to have me killed and almost took out Abe because he was helping me.

  I nodded, and Abe stood, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. A tiny red dot danced over his white button-down shirt. “Get down!” I yelled and jumped at his legs.

  Abe fell to the ground, hitting his arm and dropping his phone. “What the hell?”

  “There was a red dot on your chest.”

  Across the garage, the elevator door’s opened, and so did chaos. Bullets sprayed. Abe moved me between two cars and pulled his gun from his ankle holster. More gunshots sounded, and Abe worked his way around the SUV pulling me with him until we were behind it. He shot two bullets before dipping back down.

  “How many shooters?” I asked, my voice shaky. My vision was starting to fade. “I need you.”

  “You’re a rock star, Addie. Keep breathing. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Abe grabbed my hand, his voice completely calm.

  “Abe, are you guys hurt?” Charles shouted over the gunshots.

  “No, we're not hit,” Abe yelled back.

  “Cover me,” Charles shouted.

  Abe stood and fired off four shots. The person attacking us sprayed a round of bullets from what had to be an automatic weapon. Charles ducked behind the SUV with us. Another round of bullets hit the SUV before I heard tires squeal. Seconds later, an explosion shook the ground we stood on. Abe covered me with his body. Then everything went quiet. No more shooting. No more explosions. The only thing I could hear was my heart beating.

  Abe knelt in front of me, his hands gripping my arms. “Addie,” Abe yelled. “Breathe, Addie.”

  When I didn’t respond right away, Abe lifted me into his arms. Charles stood next to him, and they walked quickly toward the elevator we exited. “Are they gone?”

  Charles gave me a tight nod. “Take her up to my office. I’m going to work with the men down here and see if we can figure out what happened.”

  The elevator door closed behind us. Bullet casings lined the floor. The silver elevator door had holes in it. There were so many things I wanted to say, but my mouth wouldn’t work. The buzzing in my ears hadn’t stopped.

  My hand moved to Abe’s side, and it was wet. I pulled back and looked at my hand. It was red. I needed to get out of my own head, Abe had been hit. Breathing deeply a couple more times, I found my voice. “Put me down. You’re hurt.”

  Abe didn’t listen. I only knew he’d heard me because he grunted. He kicked open the door to Charles's office and sat me down in the director’s chair.

  “Abe, you’re bleeding. We need to get you to the hospital.”

  “It’s only a flesh wound. I’ll clean it out when we get to the hotel.”

  Ten minutes later, the director came marching into his office. He didn’t sugarcoat anything. “Someone wants you dead. I assume it’s because of the information you guys took today.” He ran his hand over his face. “You guys need to stay in DC. I can find a safe house for you, but you can’t leave town yet.”

  Worry washed over me. The longer I stayed around Abe, the more I put him in danger.

  16

  ABE

  I was relaxing on the couch, a glass of scotch in one hand, remote in the other, and on TV, the highlights from the Orlando Magic game played across the screen. The large grandfather clock in the corner chimed, letting me know another hour passed.

  My nerves were still on edge from the bombing. The ringing in my left ear hadn’t stopped.

  Addie demanded I go to the hospital to have my flesh wound checked out by a doctor. It wasn't deep enough for stitches, but I went anyway. The nurse in the ER cleaned the cut and sent us on our way.

  On the drive to the safe house, Addie shut down. When we walked into the large home, she grabbed her bag and went to the bedroom. I wanted to barge into the room and demand she talked to me, but I didn't want to scare her.

  I felt like I was walking on fucking eggshells.

  The floor creaked behind me, and I looked over my shoulder. Addie stood at the bottom of the stairs in a white tank top and tiny shorts. She looked sexy as hell, and my body responded immediately, even though I was irritated with her.

  “Finally came out of hiding?” I growled.

  "What?" Addie's eyes narrowed, and her back went straight.

  I wanted things out in the open. We didn’t know how long we would need to stay in the safe house. If she stayed in her room, it would be a long few days.

  "I asked if you're done hiding."

  "Why are you being an ass? I was in my room doing research."

  “With no laptop? Is that how you’re going to play it?”

  She took a step toward the couch, “At least one of us was trying to find evidence. And I can do searches on my phone.”

  “So, you’re the only one working this case, and I’m just the dumb muscle?”

  “No, you’re the asshole who’s starting a fight.”

  “We wouldn’t be having this fight if you didn’t shut down the second we left the hospital.”

  "You almost died because of me." She sat on the couch next to me and I could see a tear formed in her eye.

  "It's going to take more than a car bomb and a few stray bullets to take me out, Addie. The injury didn't even need stitches. Yes, my ears ringing like hell, and I have a few cuts, but we're both okay. If you shut down and don't talk to me, the person after you wins."

  Addie jerked away from my touch. The drink in my hand sloshed and spilled over the couch. The comment was almost like a physical blow.

  “I’m being rational.” She stood and paced in front of the tv. “I don’t want to see you or anyone else get hurt.”

  “But you’re not the only one that wants to find the people behind Stark Night. Even if I wasn’t with you today, I would go after these people. They are the reason people have died in the field."

  “HUE is behind this,” she whispered before sitting back down. “That means it’s my fault for not seeing it sooner.”

  "It's not your fault," I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to me. "Do you think this is your brother's fault, also?"

  Addie’s eyes went round. “Why would you say that?”

  "You said it was your fault because your mom works for HUE. Well, that's also John's mom."

  “I hate when you point out the obvious,”
she mumbled. “I was scared today, and I don't know how to process how I'm feeling."

  “You need to talk to me, not run and hide.”

  "The more I'm around you, the deeper my feelings are getting."

  She rested her head against my shoulder. "I've never been in this kind of situation."

  Her fingers traced over the Navy Seal trident tattoo on my chest. She traced the words under the symbol. You can run, but you will just die tired.

  "Not many people can say they've been in that type of situation. They were dumb to hit an FBI parking garage. That tells me two things about the people we're dealing with. They aren't very smart, and they're desperate."

  "Shouldn't we call some more of your teammates up here? If we find the information, how are we going to take them down."

  “We won’t,” I replied. “The FBI will handle the case.”

  “Then why do we need to stay here.”

  My heart ticked faster, knowing she wanted to go home. I didn't know where that would leave us, and I felt I had to tread lightly with the subject.

  “If it’s HUE, they know where you live. It would be safer to drive back to Florida than to go to your house.”

  “I don’t want to go back to Florida,” Addie snapped.

  There was my answer about her ever wanting to move to Florida or even visit. Sadness crept in.

  "Then we stay here until the person is caught."

  “You make it sound so simple.”

  "All we can do is take one day at a time, Addie. I promise I will get you back to your house."

  Addie traced a black heart tattoo. “Then you will go back to Florida?”

  “Is that what you want?”

  "It's not that simple of a question to answer. I would love for you to spend some time in Boston, but it will be harder when you leave."

  “You were already planning for us to end before we even got to know each other.”