“Bing, bing, bing! That’s the million-dollar question,” Sawyer replied pointing finger guns at Jack and firing.
I glanced at Luc who remained silent, finding his eyes on me.
“What?”
He remained silent.
I turned back to Sawyer. “This is creepy, right?”
“Totally.”
I scratched my cheek. “How did they build it? I mean, apart from it probably being illegal, someone had to notice, right? You can’t get that kind of infrastructure into a remote area without passing at least a few towns.”
“I’ve tasked some of our guys with checking it out. The orders had to come from somewhere. This required serious investment. I’m talking $100 million easy.”
“Christ.” Jack coughed, raising his hand to his mouth. “Where do you even get money like that?”
“Depends,” I answered. “Hackers have options. Put out an ad for services on the dark web. You can hack bank accounts, blackmail people, push out some ransomware.”
“Ransomware?” Jack clarified.
“Yeah,” Sawyer answered for me. “It’s a type of virus that basically locks your computer until you pay the ransom. Sometimes the demand is set in bitcoin to make it harder to trace back to an individual.”
“Geeze. You ever do that, Em?”
“Not to individuals. Big businesses when they forced me.”
“Forced?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged at Jack’s question, eyes back on the computer, fingers navigating around the images on the screen. “We’d be punished if we didn’t complete our tasks.”
“Tasks?”
“Mm.”
“Like what?” Luc asked.
“I don’t know… Hack some websites. Steal some cash. Code a virus. See who can shut down a power grid. You know, stuff.” I glanced up in time to see Sawyer, Luc, and Jack all exchange a glance.
“And if you didn’t complete them?”
“If you failed or refused, you’d be punished.”
“What was the punishment?”
I pressed my lips together, not wanting to answer. The pause drew out for several long moments.
“Emmie?” Luc asked. “You gonna answer Sawyer?”
I drew in a breath. “Punishments depended on the crime and the teacher. Sister Ruth would make us clean toilets. Brother David would force us into the pit or cane us.”
I pulled my shirt up and twisted to show my back. Faint white marks crisscrossed here and there. You wouldn’t notice unless you looked closely. “I wasn’t often bad, but when I was, I didn’t go to the pit, I got the cane.”
“Jesus.”
“Fuck.”
“Em–”
I dropped my shirt and turned back to the computer shrugging. “It’s over, it’s done. Let’s get on with it.”
“Bravest woman I know.”
I blinked looking over my shoulder at Luc.
“What?”
“And that’s our cue to leave.” Sawyer reached across, grabbing the laptop as he and Jack stood.
“Later, kids.” He pressed a kiss to my head. Jack raised a sleepy hand and followed Sawyer out.
We listened as they left, the door shutting behind them. A blush worked its way up my throat flushing my cheeks.
Our eyes locked.
“Bravest woman I know,” Luc repeated, his voice loud in the quiet house.
“Luc…”
“Every moment I think you’re about to break, you stand tall and strong and just beat it back. I am in awe of you, Emmie Franklin.”
His hands crept up my neck and his lips descended. The kiss felt quiet, warm, comforting.
He withdrew only slightly. “The real you is beautiful.”
Then he kissed me again.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Emmie
Work was difficult for a number of reasons. An hour in, I still couldn’t concentrate so I did what I normally did when stuck. I made a list.
Reasons why I am distracted
1. David has found me
I closed my eyes. If I wanted to, I could leave. I could literally get up out of my chair, grab my bag, and leave. No one would know, at least not for a while. I could hide, jumping around cities, doing what I’d prepared for.
2. I don’t want to leave
It was true. I didn’t. I was tired of the fear and the planning and the need to leave. I wanted a home. I wanted a new couch. I wanted a dog. I wanted a family.
I wanted this family. This crazy family full of beautiful, crazy people who all lived incredible loving lives. I wanted this family of friends, chosen by me. My family.
3. Luc kissed me
I underlined it three times, added an exclamation mark, then circled it in blue highlighter. Damn. Damn that man. When I most needed to be level-headed and sane, he messed me up. He destroyed me. I couldn’t lie to myself, I wanted to stay because of him.
After we’d kissed the second time, he’d gently withdrew, his forehead pressed against mine. We’d stood in each other’s arms, heads pressed together, no words spoken. After a long moment, he’d slowly shifted back, his smile gentle.
“Let’s get to work.”
And we had. We’d gotten ready, he’d driven us in, and together we’d walked into the office.
Together.
He’d turned my world upside down by moving us from a me to a we.
My head and heart didn’t know what to think or feel.
4. My friends all know
This was my reality. My friends all knew about my past. They knew about the rape, about my upbringing, about the lies I’d told, and the thefts I’d committed. I had nowhere left to hide.
To be honest, I was surprised they allowed me in the building.
“Emmie.”
I raised my head.
Our floor was bright and colourful and full of people who loved their jobs. Three of the guys stood against our plotting wall, their arms crossed as they stared at the roll out sheet.
We were updating our systems over the next two months starting next weekend. Planning had started three months ago. Patches were easy, fully reconfiguring hundreds of PCs with little disruption to people or bottom line?
Yeah, not so much.
I shoved away from my desk, taking in the whiteboard scribbles.
“I can see the issue.” I pointed to the time curve which linked one batch to another. “Twelve hours? That’s if nothing goes wrong. Pax will say the risk is unacceptable. You need to reduce it.”
Greg grunted, his mouth a straight line, his moustache twitching. “We can’t break it up. Even if we do it over the weekend–”
“We run the risk of fucking it up,” Max chipped in. “If we did it all in one hit, the performance load could overwhelm the system. We’d be fucked.”
“Ha. Thanks for the man-splaining.” I rolled my eyes. “I meant how can we fuck it up doing a staged roll out over a weekend?”
“We’d have to take the external access offline,” Max retorted.
“Why?”
“We need to get it down and done in one hit. It’s too difficult to pull people in, in drips and drabs.”
“Fair call.” I pretended to ponder the timeline in front of me. “What if we rolled out by name?”
“Explain.”
“A-J, K-O, P-T, U-Z. We roll it out one after another, one weekend between. That way we can schedule people on to cover for those who won’t have access.”
They scratched their chins in unison. I struggled to suppress my grin.
“That could work.”
Greg nodded. “Yep. Lots of overtime though.”
I laughed. “Since when has that ever been an issue?”
I twisted to head back to my desk and caught Sawyer’s eye. He glanced at me, then at the guys, then back, one eyebrow raised.
I rolled my eyes in response.
I knew what they were doing. They were attempting, in their own way, to make me feel valued and show nothing had change
d. Patronising as hell, I loved them for trying, in their own way, to make me feel included. These types of roll outs were standard. We did the same thing each time. But I appreciated the effort and the thought. Even if they showed it in a slightly belittling way.
The West Investments account sat open on my computer. I’d finished vulnerability testing. Luc had done physical security checks. West Investments were not coming up gold. If anything, their report card wavered at a C minus, slipping towards a D. Not good at all. I’d gotten administrator privileges two days ago and was currently running a tailored diagnostic software. It would seek out, identify, and classify anomalies. At Elliot Securities, we designed the best.
I unlocked my screen to see a small notification had popped up in my account window. I clicked, then frowned, looking at the diagnostics. Picking up the phone, I hit Luc’s extension. It diverted to his mobile.
“Hey, Keys.”
“Where you at?”
“I’m doing a tour of the Hitchin’s building. What’s up?”
“West Investments. Diagnostics came back. It’s a keylogger.”
A trojan keylogger was a malicious piece of software, this one logged all your keystrokes, sending them off in a file to whoever had created it. The software would record strokes that could point to specific activities, say passwords or online banking information.
“And we got it?”
“Yeah. It seems like fairly rough code. A slapdash of a bunch of older malware someone’s stuffed together. I’m not surprised our systems caught it so quickly.”
“Easy fix?”
“Yeah. The West systems are terrible. This code is so old even a basic firewall should have caught it.”
He laughed. “You’re a code snob.”
“No, I’m a security snob. It’s why you hired me,” I teased back.
“Nah, that was for your− Crap. Gotta go. Anything else?”
“Nope, I got this.”
“’Course you do. I’ll be back in an hour to take you home.”
“’Kay. But we’re cleaning your house tonight,” I reminded him.
He groaned. “Don’t. You sound like my mother.”
“You should listen to her. I’m pretty sure your bedroom is a biohazard.”
He chuckled. “I’ll bring the hazmat suits. Later, Keys.”
“Bye.”
I hung up and stared at the phone for a long moment.
Bravest woman I know.
I am in awe of you.
Keys.
You’re a code snob.
Unless I was mistaken, the man was hitting on me.
The kiss this morning.
The second kiss.
The endearment.
Luc isn’t hitting on you, silly. He’s dating you.
I sighed and looked back at my list.
Yep.
I didn’t want to leave.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Emmie
I frowned at the small white box in my hands. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Em.”
“Luc.”
“Worst case scenario.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it, wrinkling my nose at him.
“Exactly.” His smug face made me want to punch him.
“I won’t use it.”
“You will.”
“I won’t.”
“You will because I’ve already set it up with my favourite apps and a lock screen of my abs.”
I blinked, looked down at the phone box, then back up. “Are you kidding me?”
His smiled coyly. “You’ll have to use it to find out.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m not using the phone, Lucien.”
“It’s Sawyer approved. He disabled the cameras, Bluetooth, and wireless. He’s encrypted all calls. The microphone will only activate for calls. Location services are routed through about three different locales. It’s an overseas SIM card courtesy of a friend of a friend of an acquaintance of a work colleague who owed someone a favour. I’m not joking. It’s got our security loaded on it. You wrote that damn protocol.”
I did. It was good. #HumbleBrag
“You know this thing is the Fort Knox of phones.”
It was.
Shit.
“Okay.” I spat the word. “Fine. But God forbid–”
“It’s going to be fine.” He reached over, pulling me against him, soothing a hand down my side. “You’ll see.”
“I just… I can’t help…” I shook my head. “It feels weird to know it’s all out. That I know that they know that they’ve found me so there’s no need to be as closed as I was. You know? But at the same time, it’s like I just… I need… I can’t help it. Did that even make sense?”
He laughed. “I get you.” He walked backwards towing me along. His legs hit the couch, his arse dropping to the seat before he pulled me down into his lap.
“Here’s the thing. When I came back from A-stan the first time–”
“A-stan?”
“Afghanistan. Now shh, it’s Lucien’s story time.” He pulled me closer, tucking my head under his chin. “When I came back from A-stan the first time I had trouble sleeping. I wasn’t used to not hearing bombs dropping. Not having to be constantly alert. A car backfired, and I tackled my dad in an effort to protect him.” He chuckled. “I’m still not sure who freaked more.”
I drew back, looking up at his face, squeezing him in sympathy.
“It got better and worse. The longer I was over the more things became institutionalized. I sleep light. I automatically check for exits. I scan for threats. Did you know I have an escape plan for every room in every building I walk into?”
“Really? I do that too.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. When you’re living in dangerous situations, you automatically look for ways to protect yourself. Things like scanning for exits keeps the anxiety at bay.” He lifted a hand tapping his chest. “The old heart doesn’t kill me, if up here”– he tapped his head− “thinks I have shit under control.” His mouth quirked up at the corners. “Or as under control as it can be.”
“So, what you’re saying is…?”
“I want you to use the phone for my own peace of mind. Having said that, you’re the priority. You need to be comfortable. Your modus operandi can’t change.”
“Oohhh, breaking out the big words.”
“Let me impress you with my big mouth,” he teased.
“I’d rather you impress me with your tongue.”
His eyes flashed, and his smile turned naughty. “I can do that.” His mouth was hot, hard, and wet as it met mine. Fingers dipped, hands glided, and tongues danced.
Oh yes.
Oh yessss.
I drew back. A little starry eyed. A little breathless. A little dazed.
A lot turned on.
“I’ll use the phone.”
Hair mussed, he blinked slowly, his gaze unfocused. “What?”
I hid a smile. “I’ll use the phone.”
“Okay.” He pulled me back, one hand to my cheek as the other delved into the depths of my hair. “Come kiss me some more.”
I laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Emmie
I quickly learned that a new phone was like a new pair of shoes. It pinched. It required consistent work to wear it in. You could function without it, but everyone gave you an evil side-eye.
A notification beeped, informing me that one of the numerous applications Luc had installed required my attention. Smartphones were nothing but attention sucks. I’d rather read a book.
I unlocked the screen (spoiler− it was a picture of his abs. Addie, Jarret, Kel, and I had already spent an inordinate amount of time in the breakroom drooling) and hit the little bubble.
Luc: I figure you’ve never actually dated
Emmie: Your powers of deduction are astounding
Luc: I shall ignore your sarcasm because I have decided to woo you
Emmie: Woo me?
Luc: That’s right. Woo you through the ages.
Emmie: … I have no idea what that means.
Luc: We shall begin now. With grade school.
Emmie: What the what now?
“Em?”
I looked up to find Max standing by my desk. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.
“Yeah?”
“Umm, Luc asked me to give you this.” He dropped a bright pink A3-sized envelope on my desk. It landed like an atomic bomb, ballooning a mushroom cloud to coat Max, my workstation, me, and everyone within a 2-metre radius in a thin shimmer of glitter.
“What the hell is that?”
“Ah! It’s in my eyes!”
“Get it off me!”
I gingerly picked up the offensive material and turned it over, ignoring the protests from my colleague. The front of the envelope featured a giant stick drawing overlapped in pink, purple, gold, and silver glitter. The back was a giant heart decorated in bright pink. I pressed my lips together to withhold the giggles that threatened to erupt.
Holding it at arm’s length I ripped it open, causing another shimmer shower of glitter. By this stage, a small crowd had gathered around my desk. I raised an eyebrow at the gaggle of geeks.
“Really?”
Sawyer stood front and centre grinning at me. “Come on, Sparky. Don’t leave us hanging.”
I rolled my eyes, but pulled out the giant card. The handmade card was in deep ruby red while a crescent moon sparkled in gold and silver glitter. Luc’s handwriting decorated the front in dark black marker.
Will you be my Sailor Moon?
My heart, already warm and gooey, melted into a puddle of warm Luc-shaped goo.
He remembered.
I opened it, jerked, then started laughing. He’d crafted a giant red pop-up rose inside the card. Green glitter on the stem, red for the petals. It wobbled precariously as I read the thick marker that proclaimed his bold statement.
I know how to do romance.
“Is this an inside joke?”
I looked up at Greg and burst out laughing. His moustache was bejewelled with all the colours of the glitter rainbow. Wiping tears, I nodded. “Yeah, he remembered something I said a while ago.”
Bleeding Edge: Elliot Security (Elliot Security Series Book 2) Page 13