“Put a ring on it.” This came from Sawyer.
“Thanks, mate.” I rolled my eyes. “Bit early for that.”
“If it’s right, it’s right.” He nodded, then clapped his hands sending a new glitter cloud flying.
“Now, I think that”– he pointed at my card− “deserves a place on the winner wall.”
I groaned, pressing a hand to my eyes. “No!”
“Yes!”
“Win-ner wall! Win-ner wall! Win-ner wall!” The chanting started, and the card was liquidated from my hands and positioned on our wall of pride. There, in a cloud of glittery goodness, rose now lopsidedly bobbing, Greg pinned it to the board.
I laughed, tears prickling for reasons I couldn’t explain.
“Thanks, guys.” I stood, brushing my hands over my top and lifting a hand to show them the obscene amount of sparkle on my palm. “I may look like a kindergarten teacher–”
“I’d say closer to stripper.” The suggestion came from the doorway. Luc’s broad grin and casual stance told me he’d been there a while.
“You are so cleaning this up, Falco.”
He laughed. “I already paid the cleaners extra.” He pushed away from the door and stepped into the room. “Besides, who do you think made the damn thing?” He shook his head like a dog, sending a cloud of shine tumbling from his hair.
We all roared with laughter. He stalked to me, pulled me into his arms, and pressed a quick closed-mouth kiss to my still laughing mouth. He dropped his arms, stepping back with a wink. My face flushed as I realised all eyes were on us. Surprisingly, I was okay with that.
I… I think I like being claimed.
“Grade school.” He looked at the ruin of my desk. “My work here” −he twinkled, actually-physically-goddamned-twinkled− “is done.” Turning on his heel, he left.
“Em.”
I looked over at Sawyer.
“If you don’t put a ring on it, I will.”
I threw back my head and laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Emmie
The West Investment case continued to niggle me. I’d started crafting my report, outlining my findings and our recommendations for immediate, short, medium, and long-term security upgrades. My IT side would be combined with Luc’s physical findings over the next few days, and we’d present a summary to Mr Stoltz and his board next week.
I’d been working through the data and spent hours analysing how the malware had integrated into the investment system. Essentially, it started with the trojan keylogger. This allowed the hacker to gain entry to the system by installing a backdoor. A backdoor was a hidden program which provided remote access to the system. They’d used this backdoor to install the algorithm and build the accounts that allowed the money to pool and then be funnelled out. Unfortunately, the accounts were shifting money to offshore bank accounts, which was beyond my legal reach. Unofficially and off the books, I could definitely continue to track the transactions.
I wasn’t, because that would be illegal, but I could.
None of that bothered me. No, it was the way the money shifted. I’d moved to Fleas, our name for a series of computers that were specifically set up for testing. Their entire purpose was for us to be able to safely test new and emerging threats. This testing allowed us to identify patterns, understand how a virus would infect a system and then develop solutions and improve our own software.
I’d been scenario running to map how the algorithm selected accounts, how it gathered and transferred money, and whether we could reverse engineer it to work out exactly how much money they’d stolen and from which accounts.
The reverse engineering was easy. Now I knew about the fake accounts and how they acted, I could run a patch to search for them, and then we could track back the transactions. Easy. But there was still… something that didn’t sit quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on the reason, so I was running test number fifty-six while I typed up the report.
“Yo, working beauty.” Luc propped a hip on my desk. “Emergency staff meeting.”
“Mm?” I continued typing, frowning at the screen.
“Emergency meeting. Now.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured, tilting my head as I deleted a sentence and reworked how I described my findings.
“Em.”
“Mm?”
He waved a hand in front of my face. I blinked twice, turning to look up at his half-smile. “Oh, hey.”
“Hey, gorgeous.”
Cue my underwear miraculously disintegrating.
“Wait. Meeting? What?” I asked, ducking my head and glancing at the clock in the corner of my screen.
“Yep. Come on, Keys. Chop-chop.”
I pushed off the desk, rolling the chair back. “Who called it?”
“Pax. We’re headed to the war room.”
In the basement, Sawyer, Kel, Pax, Brean, and Jack were bent over a table, looking at photos.
“What we got?” Luc asked, dropping into a chair. He shoved the chair beside him out, casually draping an arm around my shoulders as I settled. Kel started us off.
“Less than twenty-four hours and this is what we’ve found so far.” She handed me the printouts. The first was a series of council applications and building approvals. “AFP pulled some strings in their WA office and managed to get the council files. They shipped them to our contact via an officer returning to Canberra last night. As you can see, it makes for interesting reading.”
I flicked through the papers, looking at the information lodged. David and Edward’s names were all over this, but it was the solar farm application that caught my eye.
“My father,” I whispered, a shiver running down my spine.
“Yeah,” Kel agreed. “As the story goes, they piggybacked off a federal grant for remote indigenous communities. The application shows they represented the commune as being owned by traditional elders who have ties to the land.”
“Which, unsurprisingly, is bullshit,” Sawyer interrupted. “Unless they actively recruited members from a local mob, they’re lying.”
“My father’s name is on the application. We aren’t Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. My grandparents were Irish.” Rage simmered just under the surface.
“We have suspicions they’ve forged their ORIC registration.”
The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations regulated which corporations were recognised as indigenous and therefore able to apply for specific grants.
“But even with an ORIC, their application should have been denied. It’s not building a community; these financials show they’ve used the cash for solar panels,” Luc pointed out.
“This is where it gets complicated, and where the AFP are now interested,” Kel replied, tapping the desk. “Page five.”
I flicked to page five of the stapled documents. “They were found compliant?”
“Oh, yeah,” Kel answered. “The auditor signed them off. But that auditor? He died three days later.”
We all stared at Kel.
“Died how?” Pax asked.
“Suspected suicide. Only, he erased every piece of technology before the deed.”
“Shit.”
Goosebumps prickled along my skin.
Sawyer made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Just a friendly reminder we found all this after only twenty-four hours. One day, people. One.”
Paxton rubbed his chin. “Do we think any of this was flagged? Are we worried we’ve tipped anyone off?”
Sawyer shook his head. “Not yet. This was all off system.”
“AFP want a meeting. This shit is…”
“Big,” Kel agreed. “Bigger than us. We’re talking potential federal fraud, blackmail, cover-ups, cybercrime, murder, not to mention any abuse on the commune.”
“We received another letter today.” Jarrett held up the ziplocked bag. “It’s dated yesterday.”
I bit my lip.
“Delivered via priority mail. There’s no evidence to suggest they’ve real
ised Emmie’s aware of this shit.”
“Wait.” I blinked. “You think they don’t know that I know?”
“Your norm is to run when they find you. You’re still here. I think it’s why they’ve ramped up the letter delivery.”
Well… hell.
This completely changed the way I viewed the situation.
Mind. Blown.
Pax blew out a breath. “Okay, we need to be on guard. Here’s how we play this. We go about our business as normal. Nothing strange, nothing out of place. No meeting emails about this, but we meet here every day at three. You work the case, you work it from here. Nothing out. If they don’t know that we know, then our power is in their ignorance.”
I watched as everyone nodded.
“How do we explain Emmie moving into Luc’s?” Kel asked.
There was a pause.
“They’re dating. Have been for a while. Finally coming out and moving in together.” Pax looked to Luc who nodded. I opened my mouth to argue but Pax kept talking.
“Emmie, are you on rollout?” Pax asked, referring to the first round of software upgrades due that weekend.
“No, but–”
“Good,” he interrupted. “This weekend, we’re going to Luc’s gig. We drink, we dance, we have a good time. We go to work. We go out. We pretend like nothing is happening. We good with this?”
Again, nods.
I opened my mouth to protest, but Pax ignored me.
“Kel, I want you to follow that lead. Work with AFP on the ORIC issue, see what that generates. Sawyer, good work with the sat-images. I want more from those friends. See if you can’t pull some favours. I don’t care what you need to promise. I’ve got contacts who have a few markers they owe me. Luc, you’re on Emmie duty until further notice. Brean will be days, Jack nights.” He paused, considering.
“Anything else? No? Good. Dismissed.”
I slumped in my chair, arms crossing as I watched them pack up papers, handing them to Sawyer to lock in our safe.
Luc squeezed my shoulders. “You good?”
“No.”
He chuckled. “You’re pissed. You’ll get over it.”
“People have died, Luc. This isn’t some–”
He stood, ignoring me. “Let’s go.”
I threw my arms up. “Honestly, this is insane!”
He walked towards the door, ignoring my protestations as he exited the room.
Sawyer chuckled. I pushed up from the chair, spinning to pin him with a glare. “You know this is dangerous. You of all people know this is shit.”
He shrugged, twisting the handle on the safe and spinning the lock. “No less dangerous than anything else we do.”
“Bull,” I spat. “This is–”
“Em.” He straightened, head shaking. “They love you. I don’t care how many times we all have to say it, we’re going to keep saying it until it finally sinks in. We all love you. We’re doing this because we love you and want to help you. We want you safe.”
I blew out an exasperated breath. “But–”
“Nope. No complaints. Accept this is happening and it’ll be easier for everyone involved.”
I sighed. “I just…”
He waited, hands tucked into pockets.
I shrugged, battling tears of frustration. Fear. Anger.
Sawyer sighed. “Guess I need to spell it out. You’re our friend. You’re practically family. And now it’s bigger than just you. You were the catalyst, but there are other people involved. It’s bigger than just your life.”
My chin wobbled, but I nodded, sniffing.
“Good. Now go find your lover boy and get him to kiss you better.” His lips quirked. “I’m off to do what I do best.”
“Eat too much?”
He laughed. “Save the day.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Emmie
We arrived home to Kel getting ready to exit Luc’s house. I paused in the doorway, coat half-off.
“Kel?”
“Hey, babe.” She came over, a quick hug for me, a kiss on the cheek for Luc, handing over his keys. “Everything’s set. Have fun you two.”
Her eyes shining with amusement, she disappeared out the front door with a wave of her long fingers.
“What’s going on?”
Luc ignored the question, instead turning to lock the door.
“Luc?”
He made a small non-committal sound in the back of his throat and gestured for me to take off my coat, before disappearing into the house. I made a small sound in the back of my throat, one which eloquently described what I thought of this treatment before jerking the coat off and tossing it on his stand.
I paused in the mouth of his lounge room. The TV had been shifted to the side of the room, making way for a projector. Pillows, cushions, and blankets were strewn across the floor and piled upon mattresses to create a nest of comfort. An esky full of cans of soft drink and chocolate bars sat off to the side, chilling on a bed of ice.
“What…?”
“High school.” Luc stood amongst the pillows looking way too pleased with himself. “I can’t take you to a drive-in because The Man has shut them all down, but I can bring a movie marathon to you.”
My stomach dropped, and I felt a little like I was falling. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant experience. On the contrary, it felt like living. Like I’d stopped existing and had finally begun participating in life.
My lips curved up to answer his infectious grin. “And what is the dress code for this fancy shindig?”
“Skimpy lingerie.” His quick reply had me laughing.
“Try again.”
“Nudist beach.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Lumberjack?”
“Ohh! Sexy.” I laughed, turning to go change.
“Emmie.”
I paused, glancing over my shoulder.
“Be serious. Today was shit. We don’t have to do this tonight if you don’t want to. Is this okay?”
“Oh, yes.” I let him hear just how much this meant. I wanted this. I wanted the teasing, the normality, the wooing. “You have no idea how okay this is.”
His eyes warmed, and the grin slowly came back. “Good. Now, go have a bath, warm up, and when you’re out we’ll order pizza and watch dinner and pig out until we’re both fat little piggies.” He made shooing motions with his hands. “Go!”
I smiled. “Going!”
“I suggest taking the phone!”
“I’m not taking nudes!” I called back, walking away.
“Ha! The camera is disabled smartarse!”
I giggled. “See? I don’t need it.”
“Just take it!”
On cue the phone dinged. I opened the notification. Luc had shared a new playlist with me- Cliché Mixtape.
I smiled.
The power of Luc was his joy. He loved to laugh. He loved to make people laugh. He charmed everyone, and I’d fallen under his spell.
After relaxing in the bath (in which I’d spent half the time alternating between swooning and giggling at Luc’s music selections) I’d dressed in comfortable PJs and come back out to the lounge room. Luc had pizza laid out and a movie I’d never seen ready to go.
He rubbed his hands together, grinning. “Ready?”
“For?” I asked, taking a slice of pizza.
“The best movie ever created! Evvvv-ah.”
I rolled my eyes. “Puh-lease. Everyone knows the best movie ever created is Wolf Children.”
“I… have no idea what that is but get ready to be proved wrong.”
I sat cross-legged on the pillow pile, balancing a plate on my knee as I lifted the slice to my mouth. “Go on, then,” I said, munching on the deliciously cheesy slice. “Just try and prove me wrong.”
The movie opened. And I got lost in the utter ridiculousness
“How do you even know this?” I laughed, throwing popcorn at his head as he sang along to the opening rap.
“Men in Tight
s is an institution! How do you not?” he replied, pulling me under him, his fingers tickling my sides. I screamed with laughter, trying to fight him off as we wrestled. He pressed a kiss to my laughing mouth before letting me go. We settled back, still grinning, still chuckling, to watch the movie.
The power of Luc. I wasn’t thinking about David. I wasn’t thinking about working. I wasn’t thinking about running. I was thinking about lips and hands and glitter and men in very tight tights.
And perhaps that’s why when I fell asleep, I dreamt of Luc in green tights.
FYI, he looked smashing.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Luc
I’d never been opposed to the concept of domesticity. I liked the idea of waking up beside my woman, sharing breakfast, maybe going for a run together.
But this?
Sign me up.
The waffles on my plate glinted temptingly with maple syrup.
“You made me waffles?” I didn’t try to hide the glee.
Em placed another plate beside mine, slipping onto the stool. “Of course. You’re letting me stay here.”
“Wait. Are you saying you stay in my house, and I get this every weekend?”
She rolled her eyes, picking up a fork to cut through the soft pieces of carby goodness. “Maybe.”
“Well, welcome roommate, rent shall be free.” I sliced the waffle lifting the fluffy deliciousness to my mouth. I groaned, actually groaned.
I found Emmie staring at me, her mouth slightly opened.
“What?”
She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “I just”−she shrugged− “I never knew you had a breakfast fetish.”
I cut another piece, lifting it to my lips. “Oh, baby, you have no idea.”
After breakfast we sat about, Emmie reading a graphic novel, me sorting through the tasks I’d neglected that week.
Music played in the background while I sorted mail. A letter killed my mellow vibe.
Dear Luc,
It’s time.
Marie.
“Fuck.” I blew out a breath, slumping back in my chair.
“You okay?”
Bleeding Edge: Elliot Security (Elliot Security Series Book 2) Page 14