The Hacker

by Herkness, Nancy

  An odd expression crossed his face. “I did but not on the most useful of topics.” He eased out of his chair with a surprised grimace. “I stiffened up. You get the credit for that. My muscles are accustomed only to swimming.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She stood too. “See you tomorrow at three.”

  “You’ll hear from me before then.” His expression turned serious. “It’s a good bet that something shady is going on here. I wouldn’t mention it to anyone you don’t trust one hundred percent.”

  That was pretty much her motto for life nowadays. She nodded. “Only Alice knows about this from me.” Although she might talk to her friend Natalie. Nat owned the Mane Attraction hair salon and knew more about what was going on in Cofferwood than even the police chief. And she was totally trustworthy.

  “Excellent.” He smiled, his eyes glinting behind the glasses. “Maybe you should walk me to the door in case the muscles you’ve tortured can’t hold me up.”

  The hollowness was banished by a wave of pleasure. He wanted her company a little longer too. She gave him a scan up and down. “I think catching you would be a job for Ramón, not me.”

  “You are stronger than you think.” He moved to her side and put his hand against the small of her back to nudge her forward. The casual touch vibrated into the marrow of her bones while his words zinged around in her brain.

  He saw her as strong, but he meant physically. He didn’t know who she really was.

  Chapter 4

  “Yo, Leland!”

  The boom of Tully’s voice dragged Leland out of his focused probe into the data traffic at Work It Out. He spun his chair around to see his partner, arms crossed, hip hitched against a workstation.

  “No need to shout,” Leland said, tamping down his irritation at being interrupted.

  “Are you kidding me? I tried twice at normal volume and you didn’t even twitch.” Tully nodded toward the monitor Leland had been engrossed in. “Is that the Mentix data theft you’re working on?”

  Guilt jabbed at Leland, an emotion he rarely felt at work. He’d pushed the high-profile Mentix project down his list of priorities, partially because the traffic problem was more interesting and partially because he wanted to have an answer to share with Dawn. “No, this is a Small Business Initiative project. The gym in Cofferwood.”

  “I thought they got that problem fixed.”

  “Another rose up in its place. An even more interesting one.”

  “Uh-oh, I recognize that expression. You’ve gotten hooked on a puzzle.” Tully snagged a wheeled chair with the pointed toe of his cowboy boot and rolled it over so he could sit beside Leland. “What’s up?”

  Leland watched his partner stare at the monitor with its scrolling code as though Tully could actually interpret any of it. “Tell me what you see,” Leland challenged, knowing his colleague wouldn’t have a clue.

  “A shitload of meaningless mumbo jumbo.” Tully grinned. “I was trying to look interested in your problem.”

  “You failed.” But Leland’s irritation had faded. “Someone has turned all the cell phones connected to the gym’s Wi-Fi into an almost untraceable node for the dark web.”

  “But you traced it because you’re that good.”

  “No, I traced it because I was pointed in the right direction by a concerned citizen.”

  “So what do you do about it?” Tully glanced at the screen again.

  “Monitor it. Pick it apart until I can figure out why. Make sure it’s not being used for something illegal.” Not to mention, the longer he monitored it, the more training time he would get with Dawn. He massaged one of his aching thighs. She was damned good at her job.

  Tully rolled his chair away from the monitor. “How come I never get any SBI assignments?”

  “Because most small business owners aren’t threatened with actual bodily harm. Not enough money involved.”

  His partner’s expression turned grim. “You’d be surprised by how little money it takes to tempt people into violence.”

  The word triggered a chill in Leland as he pictured Dawn with her well-honed body and glossy ponytail. He hadn’t lied when he’d said she was strong. She was an expert in self-defense, but the dark web was by definition a lawless place, which meant their project might get dangerous.

  Leland resolved to proceed carefully for Dawn’s sake. “Did you come here to discuss something with me?” he asked.

  “Hell, yes!” Tully’s face lit up. “We’re Derek’s best men so that means we have to plan a bachelor party.”

  Leland winced. He’d forgotten about that particular responsibility. Or maybe he’d hoped to avoid it. “You plan it. I’ll pay for half.”

  “No way, bro. You’re part of this. I need input.”

  He recognized Tully’s insistence for what it was: an attempt to drag him away from what his partners viewed as his unhealthy devotion to work. He hated social events of any kind, and he was less in the mood for them now than ever before. A bachelor party, even for a man he considered more than a brother, sounded like the worst kind of torture. Leland would be a fish out of water, the same way he always had been among the privileged kids at his private school. Some things never changed. “Tully, I suck at that kind of stuff.”

  “No, you just think you suck at it.” Tully tilted the chair back. “Vegas is too obvious, and he’s traveled to all the usual places in Europe for work. We need something out of the ordinary. What do you think of a white-water rafting trip in Idaho?”

  “Well, at least there wouldn’t be any strippers.” Leland considered the idea and thought maybe it could work. Weirdly, he had a vision of Dawn in the bow of a raft, a paddle clenched in her strong, slender hands, her face lit with exhilaration as she steered past jutting rocks and through frothing waves. There was one issue with Tully’s suggestion, however. “Has Derek ever expressed any interest in white-water rafting?”

  “He’s never expressed an interest because he hasn’t thought about it. It would be a great bonding experience.”

  Leland had never thought about it either. Rapids and computers weren’t compatible. “Have you ever been white-water rafting?”

  Tully’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, in Alaska last year. It’s a rush and a half when you hit Class V rapids and the water just picks your raft up and hurls it down the river.” He rolled his chair forward and air paddled. “You paddle like hell and you’ll still get dumped. The water is colder than a polar bear’s butt on an ice floe, which motivates you to get back in the raft pronto.”

  Maybe the water in Idaho was warmer than in Alaska. “I’d be useless at planning the expedition.” Yet Tully’s enthusiasm had transmitted itself to him, especially because then the “party” wouldn’t be a social occasion. Also, while he was genuinely happy that Derek had found the love of his life, Leland knew it would change the dynamic among them. One last time with just the three of them working together to get their raft through Class V rapids would be a trip to remember.

  “I know a real good guide outfit to set it all up,” Tully said. “Now we have to decide if we should tell him ahead of time or keep it a secret until we get him on the plane.”

  Leland didn’t remember agreeing to the idea, but it was growing on him. However, he knew how much he personally hated surprises. “We tell him ahead of time.”

  Tully stared at the ceiling for a long moment before he shook his head. “Nope, we surprise him. We’ll tell Alice, though. She can keep a secret and she’ll organize whatever he needs to take without him having a clue.”

  “If you’ve got all this figured out already why did you come in here and interrupt me?” Leland made his tone as dry as dust.

  “I needed your valuable input.” Tully grinned and stood up just as Derek walked in.

  “You look guilty,” Derek said, his gaze moving between his two partners. “Conspiring against me?”

  “Just planning your bachelor party.” Tully clapped Derek on the shoulder. “How many strippers did
we decide on, Leland?”

  “Twenty-five, I believe,” Leland said.

  “Thank God I don’t believe either one of you.” Derek sat in the chair Tully had vacated. “Leland, I hesitate to tell you this, but we just got the RFP from Fincher. The deadline’s a bear . . . end of next week. Have you got time or should I tell them we’re not going to respond? It’s a nice piece of business but we can easily say no if you’re swamped.”

  “Leland never says no nowadays.” Tully threw a warning frown at Derek. “So I’ll say no for him. He’s got a full plate and I just found out he’s also working on an SBI project.”

  Leland cast his best look of disdain at Tully. “I can manage an RFP without any problem.” His plate was overflowing but he’d work more hours. If he was exhausted enough, he could sleep through the night. Otherwise he would lie awake in the dark, swamped by waves of grief and regret.

  Derek gave him a searching look. “It’s a short deadline for such a complex RFP.”

  Leland raised his eyebrows. “Have I ever missed a due date?”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s okay to kill yourself doing it,” Tully said. “Let this one go, partner.”

  “You’re determined to annoy me today,” Leland said.

  “I’ll send you the RFP and you can decide after you read it.” Derek nodded toward the computer monitor. “Is the SBI project the one at the gym where Alice goes to work out with her friend Dawn? She told me the data traffic picked up again, only on cell phones.”

  “Indeed it has. There’s something very strange going on in Cofferwood, New Jersey. Who’d have thought?” It was odd, but hearing Derek mention Dawn’s name gave Leland a little kick of pleasure, as though it had brought Dawn into the room with them.

  “Well, it got you out of the office for a few hours this morning, so I’m in favor of it,” Derek said.

  “Amen to that!” Tully exclaimed.

  Leland refused to rise to their needling. “I believe I accompanied Derek to a client meeting for an entire half day last week.”

  “Only because the client insisted on meeting our computer genius,” Derek said. “His IT guy wanted to touch you.” Derek glanced at Tully. “You should have heard the jargon flying between them.”

  Tully chuckled before he headed out the door. “I gotta get to a meeting with a client myself.”

  Derek locked his eyes on Leland before he said in a low, commanding voice, “No strippers. Swear it!”

  Leland just smiled.

  Dawn had checked her phone between every client, but no email from Leland showed up. She shoved her arms into her jacket with unnecessary force before she stalked into the lobby to head home.

  Chad was propped against the front desk, flirting with Tiffany, the nineteen-year-old night receptionist. When he saw Dawn, he straightened and walked over to fall into step beside her. “You look like you’ve had a bad day. Let me buy you a drink to cheer you up.”

  He snaked his arm around her shoulders, sending her nervous system into overload. She twisted out of his grasp to face him. “How many times do I have to say no to you before you get the message?”

  Chad held up both hands, palms out. “Hey, just being friendly. A beer is all I had in mind.”

  “Sorry, I’m just cranky.” Disappointment over Leland’s silence made her irritable and she’d overreacted. “Long day.” She waved her hand in apology and jerked open the door.

  “Rain check,” Chad called out as the door swung closed behind her.

  Jesus, the man really didn’t quit. However, he flirted with everyone, so she decided it was nothing more worrisome than an exasperating personality trait. It wasn’t his fault that his clueless persistence triggered her reflex to knee him in the balls.

  She walked the five minutes to her apartment building, sticking to the bright pools of illumination cast by the streetlights. She made sure that the entrance door to the building was locked before putting her key in. Then she scanned the small front hall and staircase before she stepped inside to check her mailbox. Bills and junk mail.

  She jogged up the stairs to the second floor, where she keyed in a six-digit combination to open her apartment door. The solid thunk of the high-quality dead bolt sliding back always reassured her. Once she was inside, she disarmed the alarm and then rearmed it the moment the door was closed again. The tension in her shoulders eased and she blew out a breath of relief.

  After dropping her gym bag on the table by the door and shrugging out of her jacket, she headed for the kitchen. She had the ingredients for a broccoli-avocado tuna bowl spread out on the granite countertop when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the phone but didn’t recognize the number. “Stupid telemarketers,” she muttered as she sliced up the avocado.

  But a ping indicated the caller had left a voice message. Curiosity got the better of her, so she punched her voice mail button.

  “Dawn, it’s Leland. I hope you don’t mind that I called in a favor to get your cell number from Alice. She thought it would be all right with you since we’re working together now.” Leland’s honey-smooth drawl seemed to stroke over her skin. “Please give me a call when you have a free moment.”

  So they’d escalated from email to phone calls. That seemed like a good sign. Her stomach grumbled as she debated whether to respond immediately or eat first. However, the thrill of hearing Leland’s voice won out. She settled on her sofa, added Leland’s number to her contacts, and hit the call button.

  He answered after the second ring. “I appreciate the quick return call. Sorry to bother you so late, but we need to talk about things that should not be put in writing.”

  So he hadn’t just wanted to hear the sound of her voice. She slumped back against the sofa cushion as her little fizz of excitement died a sad death. Following his lead, she stuck to business. “Sounds sinister. What did you find?”

  “The phones are definitely being used as a dark web node. It makes for a very secure node since it’s scattered through multiple devices. Which is clever but also illegal because their owners haven’t given permission to use their phones for this purpose.” By the time he finished, his drawl had nearly disappeared.

  “Not to mention that the customers grouse about the high data drain. But who the hell is doing it? And why?” she asked.

  “I’m digging in to see if there are any known hacker signatures on this, but so far, no luck. That’s why I called. You know the people at the gym. Does anyone come to mind who would demonstrate this level of technical sophistication?”

  Dawn choked on a laugh of disbelief. “At the gym? No one. I mean Vicky is the gym’s so-called IT expert and it took her a week to get the Wi-Fi fixed. She hates to use a keyboard because it messes up her fancy manicure. Ramón can’t even find a document on his computer five minutes after he saves it. As for the rest of the staff, I can’t think of anyone, except a couple of video gamers. Maybe they’d be computer savvy enough to do this?” She considered whether Josh or Ripley would be surfing the dark web. “Nah, I don’t see them getting involved in dirty stuff, even if they had that kind of smarts.”

  “It could possibly be a gym member,” Leland said. “However, they would have to get access to the router to set this up. Do you have any new staff members?”

  Dawn sat up straight. “Chad?” She didn’t like him because of his refusal to take no for an answer, so it seemed unfair to put him on the list of suspects. But he was new.

  “Who is Chad?”

  “A new trainer. But he can’t be a computer wizard. He’s one of those backslapping ex-jocks, still riding on the glory of his high school football career. He speaks in sports clichés.”

  “That’s a scathing condemnation. I find it in my heart to feel sorry for him.”

  “Trust me, you shouldn’t. He thinks he’s hot stuff.”

  “It could be a facade meant to disarm those around him.”

  Leland sounded as though he knew something about facades, which made Dawn wonder about his. She got daring. “
You mean like that southern accent of yours that comes and goes depending on what you’re talking about?”

  He gave a little huff of amusement. “Northerners tend to think speaking slowly means thinking slowly. It’s often too late when they learn they’re wrong.”

  It was a tantalizing glimpse into the man behind the computer genius. Alice had once said that Leland looked like a preppie pretending to be a nerd. The T-shirts and jeans couldn’t entirely counteract the cleanly defined planes of his jaw and cheekbones that screamed blue blood. Not to mention his smooth accent, precise word usage, and last name for a first name. Which was facade and which was Leland Rockwell?

  “I’m not seeing Chad as evil genius but let me talk to him. Maybe there’s more there than I think.” She grimaced at the thought of deliberately seeking out Chad because he would interpret it the wrong way. “I haven’t spent that much time with him because he’s a jerk.”

  Leland’s chuckle was like the smoothest bourbon, dark and sexy. “You don’t pull any punches. I like that about you.”

  His words soaked into her as though she’d taken a gulp of the liquor, loosening her muscles and firing a glow in her belly. “Honesty between partners.”

  “I suppose you could call us partners.” He sounded as though he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

  “I didn’t mean we’re like you and your KRG partners. Just that we’re working together.”

  “You definitely don’t want to be like Derek and Tully. They’re both pains in the ass.” His tone was dry.

  “You and your partners appear to be pretty solid with each other.” Dawn had watched the three men at Alice and Derek’s engagement party. They seemed more like brothers than business partners, ribbing each other but with affection. Like her family had done when they were all kids. She missed it now that they were grown and scattered around the country. She felt like an outsider anyway, although that was her fault, not theirs.

  “Derek and Tully aren’t your average partners. We’ve been all over hell’s half acre together, which creates a certain bond.”