by S. E. Rose
“That was,” I start.
“Hot,” she says with a grin.
“Fucking hot,” I correct.
“We need to do that again soon,” she says with a smirk. I nod.
“Name the time and place,” I say as I reach for a Kleenex to wipe myself off, and she grabs her robe.
“I should get to bed,” she declares, and I can see she’s sad and it kills me to have to let her go.
“Yes, you should. I’ll call you tomorrow night,” I say.
She sighs. “Can’t. I have some benefit tomorrow night. Wednesday?”
“I have a meeting.”
We both say Thursday and laugh. “I’ll have Rick pencil out some time, so nothing gets booked.”
“I’m going to try lto eave for Moorea a week from Thursday,” she says.
“I’ll be leaving Saturday. I have a Thursday meeting.”
“Alright,” she says. “Any progress with stuff?”
“Not yet,” I answer.
“I figured. I just…”
“I know, mon étoile, I know. Goodnight, baby.”
“Goodnight, Jesse.”
We hang up, and I smile for a brief moment before I finish emails and head to bed. It’s going to be a long two weeks.
The next day I hear from my two college friends, Brian Aston and Walsh Hamlet. We were supposed to have gone to Kauai, until my whole typhoon debacle, and I still haven’t rescheduled. Brian conference calls me in with Walsh.
“OK, dickhead, we are abducting you. You are getting your ass down to the Keys for the next three days, we are going to rent a boat and go fishing and diving,” Brian says.
“Guys, I’m really slammed at the moment.”
“So, get un-slammed,” Walsh says.
I roll my eyes.
“Come on, dude, we never fucking see you anymore. Don’t be a pansy ass, just come down here. It’s only for two nights,” Walsh says.
I text Rick and clear my schedule. “Fine, fuckers, it’s done. I’ll see you in Florida in three days.”
“Yes, nicely done, dickweed,” Brian says to Walsh.
Walsh smirks. “I’m the king of guilt tripping, cupcake.”
Chapter 20
Jesse’s Playlist: “Good News” by Ocean Park Standoff
I spend the little time I have over the next three days analyzing the data in that file Zoe sent me. I just can’t figure it out and it’s killing me. There are clearly encrypted dates, names, locations that have already been used and wouldn’t be useful any longer. But I know there has to be something more or this Saeed dude wouldn’t be trying to find this file.
By the time my plane leaves, I’m still on the damn computer looking at each file again. It’s not till Brian texts me that I actually look away for two seconds.
Brian: Bro, call when you land. We got the boat and it is SICK!!!!
Jesse: You are seriously flawed.
Brian: Point?
Jesse: Nope.
Brian: Didn’t think so, asswipe.
Jesse: Fuck off. I’ll see you thirty minutes.
Brian: Sweet Baby Jesus.
Jesse: Gone religious on me?
Brian: No. Seriously, pick up Sweet Baby Jesus on the way, I’m thirsty.
I roll my eyes. Of course, the motherfucker wants beer and of course he didn’t get any, scratch that, he probably already drank the shit he picked up.
We land uneventfully, and I head toward a Suburban where my driver takes me by the liquor store on the way to the marina. Why is it always a Suburban? I ponder as I grab some Sweet Baby Jesus and some Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. I feel like getting shitfaced and this will do it. I decide on a bottle of tequila anejo as I make my way to pay. Pierce has come along for this trip but agreed to tag along on a separate vessel nearby after I laid down the law.
We’re at the boat in less than ten minutes, and Walsh waves to me from the port side. Pierce nods in my direction as he boards a nearby vessel.
“Get your motherfucking ass in here!” he yells with a giant grin on his face. He gives Pierce a look, but thankfully I’ve explained that I have security now and they would be nearby on this trip. Yes, I got a lot of shit for that, but it is what it is.
I shake my head. “Nice to see you too.”
He gives me a bear hug with the required pat on the back and then releases me and surveys my alcohol purchase.
“Shit, bro, this stuff will get us seriously fucked up, nice,” he adds.
I laugh. Walsh is like a giant puppy dog. He’s actually super smart and played around on the dark web for a bit, but now he works at some big IT firm. He basically gets paid to try to hack their system every day and makes a killing for doing it. Lucky prick! I met Walsh when we both pledged the same fraternity in college. Brian was his roommate before that and even though Brian didn’t go Greek, they remained really good friends and the three of us just hit it off. Brian is the more serious of the two, but his job as a fire chief in a small town also makes him a great wingman. Brian studied forensic science, but he also volunteered at the local fire department all through college. He was trained as an EMT and on top of that he also started doing fire investigations. He’s a fascinating dude, but when the old fire chief suddenly died, he found himself in the unlikely place of being asked to take the guy’s position. He’s not even forty and felt weird about it, but he did it anyhow. Of all my friends, I’m closest with these two knuckleheads, even though they sometimes drive me crazy. But they have remained true and loyal through everything.
I send a quick text to Vanessa before we pull anchor since I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get a signal once we head out to open water. We’ve been texting the last few days. However, I’m trying to keep my distance since I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention toward her.
She responds and says she hopes we have a great trip, and I smile at her smiley emoji with palm trees and tropical drinks emojis. Damn, I miss her! After so many years of pushing people away after my dad died, I’m finally letting someone in, and I have to admit it feels right.
“Dude, you ready?” Walsh asks. I nod, and we pull anchor. The boat is a fifty-foot sailboat with four small cabins, a tiny galley, and sitting area. It’s perfect for the three of us. We toss our stuff in the extra cabin and then proceed out to open water.
“So, what’s going on in your world?” Brian asks as we break into the beer while Walsh captains the boat.
“Crazy-ass shit,” I say.
“Such as?”
I launch into a CliffsNotes version of the past few months and Brian’s jaw drops. He’s quiet for a minute after I finish and both he and Walsh look stunned. Although, I am not sure which part has stunned them the most.
“Well, that explains your new security situation. So, you like this Vanessa chick?” Brian asks.
I nod.
“Damn, she’s a great singer and she’s H-O-T!” Walsh laughs.
We all laugh. “Yes, she is. She’s also fucking adorable, sweet as can be, and super smart,” I say.
Brian turns back to me. “So, you don’t know what this Saeed guy wants?”
I shake my head and further explain what I think he wants.
Walsh shrugs. “You look for an embedded file?”
I laugh. “Of course!”
“You look for one embedded across all the files?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
I stop. “No,” I say with a frown.
Walsh explains that it is possible to embed parts of files with a bunch of files and then fit them back together a certain way like a puzzle and then and only then can the embedded files be read. He also says that unless you fit them back the right way, it is nearly impossible to find the embedded files.
“So how the fuck would I know how to fit them back together?” I ask.
Walsh smirks at me. “That, my friend, is why you have me.”
I look at him. “Just give me your dang computer later and I’ll figure it out.”
I nod and watch so
me dolphins that are swimming alongside the boat.
The next three days fly by between fishing, drinking, and Walsh trying to decode the data we hardly sleep, but it’s great to see these guys. By our last day, Walsh is cursing to himself as he downs a fourth cup of coffee.
“I need more time, dude. Whoever embedded these files, and trust me there are files embedded here, did a stellar job,” he huffs as he continues typing on my computer. “FYI—your software is totally dope by the way. I dig it.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate that. I just wish I’d known about this crazy puzzle embedding stuff. I didn’t even think of that shit.”
“Almost no one does because it’s fairly new and quite complicated. I might be only one of a handful of hackers who know about it, and I can’t say the others that I’m aware of could have done this. It’s scary good, which means a) some super hacking whiz from China did it or b) one of my hacking buddies moonlights for the dark side.” He frowns as he says the last bit.
I scratch my head. “Well, there are folks in China involved remember, but I don’t know where this stuff originated from,” I say, reminding him of the data dump I gave him in the last seventy-two hours. I felt bad dumping it all on him since we were supposed to be chilling and catching up, but after I explained my predicament, Walsh was one hundred percent on board.
Brian claps me on the back as he walks by and laughs. “Walsh, man, you gotta cut down on that coffee. You’re gonna die of a coronary.”
Walsh waves a hand at Brian. Brian’s been steering us back toward Key West all day. We are nearly there, and I can’t wait till I can get cell reception, so I can text Vanessa. I haven’t been able to get any reception since we left. And my hotspot only works when the satellites are in the right location, so of course that hasn’t been the case. Walsh offered to jerry rig something, so I could get Wi-Fi, but I decided not to since that might draw unwanted attention to us.
Brian grabs a bottle of water and goes back to captaining the boat. I join him so that Walsh can work in silence.
“So, shit’s really serious with Vanessa, huh?” he asks me as he sips his water with one hand and steers with the other.
“Yeah, yes. She’s…well, she’s fucking hot, but there’s so much more there. I haven’t felt this way about a woman in a very long time, really ever,” I admit with a shrug.
He smiles. “I’m glad you’re happy, dude. We were worried about you for a bit. All you did was party, party, party, and shag, shag, shag. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party and a good fuck, but I also love living in the real world.”
I laugh. “Jesus, what’s next, a shmoke and a pancake?” I laugh, quoting Austin Powers.
Brian chuckles and flips me the bird. “You know what I mean, asshat.”
I shake my head and grin. “Perhaps.”
We make it back in record time and I see the first signal on my phone as we begin to head toward the island that is now visible on the horizon. I frown when I see all the missed texts I have.
Jack: Call me when you get this.
Bryce: Where the fuck are you? I can’t even see you on a radar. Call me.
Bryce: Seriously, why aren’t you or Pierce answering me?
I laugh at that one because apparently Pierce didn’t have cell reception either, although I know he has a satellite phone, so who the hell knows why he didn’t have that set up. I roll my eyes and wonder if Pierce used the last three days as a vacation of sorts.
Rick: Uh, you may want to call Bryce and Jack…oh and your mom.
Vanessa: Call me when you get in.
I flick through another ten texts, but they are all business related…until I get to the last text.
Unknown: Sending her away won’t protect her. We know you have the data.
I freeze and read it again and then again. What. The. Fuck.
I run into the cabin where Walsh is still working on breaking through the embedded puzzle. “Walsh! Can you track this text?” I ask him and toss my phone on the table.
He looks up from the laptop and sees my screen. “Jesus, that…they know about her. Fuck…Jesse, you need to call Bryce.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to, but I need to know if you can trace this?”
He shrugs. “Not legally…give me thirty minutes. Don’t you have some CIA connections now, they can do this shit.”
I give him a look that says, “don’t fuck with me” and he shrugs and takes my phone from me for a minute. “OK, I got what I need, here’s your phone,” he says and tosses it back to me.
I immediately call Jack.
“I saw your text,” he says answering without a hello.
“What the fuck?” I start. “Who sent it?”
“I’m having someone look into that, but I’ve alerted Bryce and he spoke with Dean. They are going to get Vanessa on a private plane tomorrow to get her to Moorea sooner rather than later. We are sending her on a private flight so it’s untraceable. We want you there too, but not yet.”
“Why?” I ask, not at all happy that I can’t be with her.
“We need you to be back in New York for a few days, so we can prep a cover story and divert these guys while we send you out to the islands too.”
“Fine, do what you have to,” I grunt.
“Jesse, these guys made a big mistake. They’re going to play right into our hands now. This will all be over soon,” he tries to assure me.
I laugh bitterly. “Right.”
“Trust me,” he says. “I have to go.”
“Wait, you need to know that there may be embedded data in the files I sent you,” I say to him.
“What? No, we checked them for embedded files,” he assures me.
“Did you check them for partial embedded files that need to be decoded and rearranged like a puzzle?” I ask him.
“What?”
“I’m with my friend Walsh, you know, the hacker?”
“Yeah,” he acknowledges. Jack isn’t too keen on my friend Walsh because, apparently, he runs with a borderline shady crowd, but Walsh only does that so he can play Robin Hood.
“Well, he is one of a few hackers that knows about this new way to embed data and he’s trying to work on it. He says he’s sure it’s there, but so far he hasn’t cracked the codes to make it work.”
“I see,” Jack says quietly. “OK—well, I’ll trust Walsh on this, but as soon as he finds something, you have to let me know.”
“Of course,” I say. “I gotta go. I have to call Bryce.”
“Yes, he’ll give you the details on Vanessa’s detail.”
I hang up with Jack and call Bryce.
“About fucking time,” he answers.
“I was on vacation,” I say. Wait, what? I pay him. Why the fuck is he talking to me like that?
“Well, we saw the text on your phone since we have it under surveillance. Vanessa’s being transported early.”
“I know. I just talked to Jack.”
“I see. We are going to get you back here, and then we’ll make it look like you have business in D.C. I’ve arranged a different private jet for you to take from Dulles to Tahiti. Expect to stay there for a few weeks while we finish this.”
“So, you’ve tracked the call on my phone?”
“We are working on it now. It came from Saudi Arabia, but the exact location is still being determined.”
“Saeed?”
“Most likely someone working for him.”
“I see,” I say and sigh. “I have a friend working on decoding that stuff in the files. Looks like there might be more.”
“Well, that explains what the fuck they are looking for,” Bryce says. I decide perhaps I don’t hate Bryce. Perhaps, Bryce is just being Bryce. I can appreciate someone who doesn’t hide their true self. “Listen, I know you have to be frustrated and all, but just give me a few more days. My team is making progress, but we have a lot of moving targets and, quite frankly, they have some stellar IT folks working underground for them.”
; “Yeah, I figured that already,” I say.
“You say you have some friend who does hacking?” he asks.
“Walsh Hamlet,” I say.
“Hmmm…sounds vaguely familiar,” he adds.
“Well, he’s been a hacker his whole life, so maybe you all have crossed paths before,” I explain.
“Perhaps,” he agrees. “I got to go. I’ll have Pierce debrief you while you fly back up here.” I secretly wonder how the conversation between Pierce and Bryce went since clearly Pierce was off the grid as well.
“Yep.”
“Later,” he barely says and hangs up. I stare at my phone and shake my head.
Then I call Vanessa.
“Jesse?” she answers.
“Hey, baby,” I say.
“Have you talked to Bryce or Jack?”
“Yes, I just got off the phone with them.”
“So, you know?”
“Yes. I don’t want to say much on the call since your phone isn’t secured. I’ll send you a message through a secured server later, so check your email.”
“Alright…how was your trip?” she asks.
“Great,” I answer while smiling. God, I missed her voice. “How’s the record coming?”
“Oh, really good actually. I wrote a new song last week and we laid it down the next day. I think it’s going to be a hit,” she squeaks with excitement.
I laugh. “I can’t wait to hear it, mon étoile,” I say.
“I miss you,” she whispers.
“I miss you too, sweetness. I’ll see you soon,” I say. “I should go. I have to head back to New York.”
“I know,” she says sadly. “We’ll talk later?”
“Of course, mon étoile, of course.”
We say our goodbyes, and then I notice we’re pulling up to a dock.
