I Need You Now

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  I could tell my eyes were huge, but he just nodded in encouragement. “That I love you?”

  His lips brushed against the corners of mine, teasing me, coaxing me. “I like hearing those words come from your lips.”

  I could tell our conversation was starting to get deep, but right as I opened my mouth, a knock came at the door. “Gianna? Nate? Are you in there?” It was my Uncle Alexander.

  Nate stood up and gathered his pants, trying to straighten up his appearance, while I rushed to lower the skirt of my dress and button up the top. “Just a minute.”

  We both turned to each other, horrified we’d been caught. Nate handed me my destroyed underwear and mouthed the words, “For you to clean up. I want them back.” He winked at me.

  It took us a few minutes, but we were able to open the doors to my smirking uncle. “I see the two of you are getting along better. Security alerted me to strange noises coming from your office. I told them I’d check it out, expecting to hear you two fighting again.”

  We both looked at each other and then down at the floor. “No use trying to hide what’s going on in there. You can smell it from here.” It was all he could do to contain his laughter. “You’re both consenting adults and it’s after hours. What you do on your own time is your business. I’m just glad to see you two finally recognized one another.”

  I swear my jaw hit the floor at that instant. Nate looked as confused as me.

  I shook my head, horrified at the thought, but I needed to know. “What are you talking about, Uncle?”

  “Kenny recognized all your attempts to enter the club incognito, Gianna. He saw the confusion you had about your submissiveness. He wouldn’t have said anything if I hadn’t dropped by the club one night and noticed you on one of the security cameras. The same night I noticed Nate joining you.”

  I felt like crawling in a hole, but Nate’s arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his side, giving me strength. “So your desire to employ Nate was all a ruse?”

  He shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. We do have several issues going on with the company. We’d thought about hiring Nate’s firm and having them place whoever was available, but when Nate talked to Dane about wanting to come back to town to find a position locally so he could be closer to his sister and search for the “one who got away” we realized you were the “one” he was referring to. So we made him an offer to come help us. Besides, I’d rather have someone I know working on my system than a complete stranger.”

  I watched as my uncle extended his hand toward Nate. “Listen, I’m sorry if I wasn’t forthcoming with information, but you both needed to find each other on your own terms. All I did was try to help it along by having the two of you live and work around one another. Forgive an old man?”

  He took my uncle’s hand. “Thank you, Alexander. I’m glad you interfered. I’ve missed her.”

  I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I reached out, giving my uncle a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you! I needed him.”

  As I drew back, I suddenly realized something. “Have you been playing matchmaker for all of us? Is that why you put Marissa with Dane?”

  His laughter, along with my uncle holding his hands up in surrender, confirmed it.

  “Uncle! How could you?” I admonished.

  “I only saw what was there already, Gianna.” His hand came up to caress the side of my face. “When you’re my age and have been in love as long as I have, you’ll understand. Love exists all around us, but many of the younger crowd are too focused on life itself to notice, so it sometimes needs a little nudge in the right direction.”

  We both nodded in agreement. If my uncle hadn’t interfered and pushed us together, we would probably never have found one another. Fate could account for some of it, with my uncle being in the right place at the right time, but the rest was put in motion, thanks to him.

  “I’m heading home to Celia. She’s preparing her specialty tonight, stuffed shells, so I don’t want to miss anything, especially with the boys stopping by. Both of you don’t work too late, there’s always tomorrow.” He waved at us as he walked down the hall.

  I looked over at the time and realized it was heading toward seven. “Did you want to run a few of those computer discs tonight? How long should they take?”

  Nate grabbed hold of his files and pulled out the discs. “We can get them started while we clean up in here. I’ll show you what to look for while they’re running. Since the weekend is upon us, maybe we could get Dane, Rafe, and my sister to help Ethan and us out this weekend. It’d make things go a lot faster and probably bring us a quicker resolution to the problem. Ethan will need a seating chart of the department, indicating which computers have viruses attached, so he can figure out what to do with them.”

  “Maybe I could ask my sister to help out, too. It would add an extra set of hands,” I offered as we sat down at Karen’s computer to start the first disc.

  Nate looked confused. “I didn’t know you have a sister.”

  “We don’t exactly look alike, but you’ve already met her.” I didn’t let him ask any questions. “It’s Marjorie. She’s my sister and she lives right across the hall from me at the condo. She moved in after leaving her lying, cheating ex-asshole.” I didn’t elaborate, just giving him enough to know how I felt about her soon-to-be ex-husband.

  I watched as the computer screen alerted us to a virus. “That’s what you’re looking for. When the program is done, it will show you some stats regarding the computer. Make a chart on a piece of paper, mark this computer with a V, and be sure to take a picture of the statistics, noting whose seat it is in the phone, and move on to the next one. I’ll go ahead and get the next two started.” He leaned down to give me a quick kiss on the lips before grabbing some discs and heading over to another terminal.

  Thirty minutes later, we had half the department completed and decided to call it a night, since our stomachs were protesting in need for nourishment.

  “I’m glad we’re on better terms. I had the police drop me off here, while the tow truck took my car to the garage for repairs. I’ll either need to bum a ride off you or borrow my sister’s car for the next week.”

  He wrapped his arms around my shoulders as we headed to the elevator. “Let’s go home, my love.” It was the first time he’d said my love and I was swooning. I didn’t know where this was going, but I was willing to let go of my hesitation and try.

  BY THE TIME THE weekend hit, Gianna and I had managed to get all but two of the computers in the accounting department, but we still had the sales area to do.

  Dane had requested that everyone who wasn’t traveling leave their computers behind for the weekend, citing the need for upgrades as an excuse. He, Marissa, and Marjorie started going through the systems in the sales area, while Rafe and Gianna helped me install cameras in her office, both departments, and Dane and Marissa’s shared office.

  Ethan was busy trying to figure out which computer the virus had initially come from. He was working on a solution to fix it. While he was doing that, he had the mainframe disabled so he could run some diagnostics, using his laptop.

  Everyone seemed in good spirits, except for Rafe. He’d been a bit hostile and moody since my sister’s wedding. I know he’d had plans to hook up with my sister’s friend, but I don’t know if that panned out or not.

  My guess was that things weren’t as smooth as he had hoped. I could see the same moodiness in him that I’d had when I was searching for Gianna.

  I was surprised to see Mr. Prescott stop by to check in on us to see how we were doing. He brought a catered lunch for everyone to enjoy, so we wouldn’t have to worry about stopping.

  We were optimistic that we could get a handle on things when the alarms started sounding like crazy from the mainframe room down the hall. Everyone ran to see what the commotion was all about.

  When we walked in, Ethan was busy typing away at the keys, trying to disable the alarm. He looked up at all of us. “We’ve
got a big problem. The virus is on the main system and it’s a nasty little bitch.”

  Alexander asked what all of us wanted to know. “Do you have any idea where it came from?”

  Ethan ran his hand through his hair. This wasn’t going to be good, because that’s his panicked response to things. “Yes and no.”

  I interjected. “You might want to explain in laymen’s terms.”

  He sat back, while we waited with anticipation. “There are definitely two points of entry on the system. The first was through a computer in the accounting department. The other was a break through the firewall. I’ve gone in and restored the parameters of the firewall, reinforcing the breaks and creating an impenetrable barrier that will sound if anyone attempts anything.”

  I looked around, everyone had clueless expressions on their faces. I gave him a roll of the eyes. “He means he closed all the back doors to the computer system and basically has it encased in a steel vault. If anyone tries to get in, he’s added an alarm to notify someone.”

  Mr. Prescott questioned, “But why didn’t my IT team see this and do something about it?”

  Ethan quickly explained, “They’re looking for the obvious and have become complacent in their duties, whereas, I look for the not so obvious and I’m always thinking a step ahead, trying to outsmart the next person to come up with a new virus or software design.”

  He went on to add, “The internal point of entry was at Karen’s desktop in accounting. However, I’m not sure she’s the one who initiated it into the system. It looks like there were several failed attempts to log in on the day the virus was introduced.” He scratched at the scruff on his face. “I don’t know about all of you, but if I were using the same password for the last couple of years, I know it wouldn’t take me three attempts to remember it, which makes me believe someone guessed her code.”

  He looked up to Mr. Prescott. “Sir, does your security feed for the building run on a loop or is it recorded to tape and stored for a while?”

  I watched as a wicked smile spread across Alexander’s face. “It’s recorded. What date do you need to look at?”

  “It looks like the event happened on Saturday, July 29th.”

  Gianna spoke up. “That’s right around the time Karen reported her security badge missing. We issued her a temporary one, in hopes hers would turn up, but ended up having to make a brand new one.”

  Ethan nodded. “I’m betting she’s being set up as a scapegoat, but by whom, is the question. Still, that leaves an outside source, someone who’s familiar with the creation of viruses and how to get around firewalls of a computer system. I’m working on tracing it back to an IP address. If they were using a personal computer or laptop, unless they went to a public WIFI zone to upload the virus, we should be able to trace it. But that’s not the worst of it.”

  This is something I didn’t want to hear, but his look my way confirmed what we’d already talked about. I simply asked one word, “Ghost?”

  He nodded. “The virus in your system is set on a variety of variables that engage at different set points in time. It’s going through a ghost protocol to make changes to the reports and wiping out different areas of information. The setup has it selecting specific reports and targeting random areas within the files. You don’t see it happening, but the next time you open it, the report has been compromised, but the last person who touched it has their initials, time, and date stamped to it.”

  Gianna’s voice was filled with anger and frustration. “Is there a fix to this or are we going to have to recreate everything from scratch on a new system?”

  I wrapped my hand around her waist, pulling her into my chest to comfort her. I watched as a few eyes went up and I put my finger to my mouth to indicate that it was not public knowledge. You could tell everyone was happy for us, but hadn’t a clue that we were now together.

  I whispered to her, “Ethan’s the best at what he does. If anyone can fix it, he can.”

  He agreed. “I can develop a fix to the virus, but we need to let a few things play out.” He went on to explain, “First we need to determine who uploaded it internally. I’ve got a trace running on the external breach. When we find the person internally, is there any kind of investigator we can hire to follow them and see if they meet up with anyone?”

  Mr. Prescott spoke up. “I can put either Derrick or Rick on the case.” He looked at Ethan. “They’re both former military trained individuals, who act on behalf of the company as our drivers, body guards, and investigators when needed.”

  “So you think they’ll meet up at some point?” Dane had asked.

  My friend nodded. “I do. Whoever is working the computers from the outside needs help from the one on the inside. It’s hard to explain, but without their assistance, they wouldn’t have been able to gain access to the reports. If we can make the internal person feel uncomfortable, they’ll probably run to their contact for reassurance.”

  He paused to type in something on the computer screen to get his system running again. “I’m certain your person of interest lies in the accounting department.”

  “We do have a couple people acting a bit out of character and coming in on the weekends to make up some work,” Gianna noted.

  “Let’s suspend all weekend work. If anyone misses a day, let them take it as paid time off. The person who objects the most to this will probably be the person we need to look into.”

  The others were busy asking Ethan question after question as Gianna leaned back against my chest and turned her head up toward me. “Now I’m glad you insisted on those cameras.”

  Her bottom pressed back against my cock as my hand slid slightly lower than her belly button. I leaned down and whispered into her ear, “Don’t start playing with fire, love. You know I’d love nothing more than to get my bag of tricks and tie you up to your bed and have you beg me to take you.”

  She sighed happily. “Please, sir.”

  She tried to step out of my grip, but I didn’t want to let her go. I pressed my erection into her backside so she could feel what she’d done to me. The little minx wanted to play and I was in the mood to tame her. “Later, love. Now stay put until I go down.”

  She giggled at me, but that was okay. I’d make sure her backside was bright and pink later tonight.

  “What do you mean we have to deal with it for now? Why can’t this be resolved immediately? Why do we have to wait?” Alexander’s voice was rising in frustration.

  “I’d love to fix it for you, sir, but it would cause problems. If I corrected everything now, it would let the culprits know we’re on to them. You’d still have your internal position compromised and you’d never know who’s at fault. They could come back at you again later and hit even harder next time.”

  He looked at everyone and tried to get them to understand. “If I let things play out, then the external source thinks they’ve won. The internal person will either start to get cocky or end up nervous and eventually they’ll out themselves to everyone.

  “Nate has set up fail-safes with the bank so they can’t transfer any money, at least not easily. If that’s what they’re after, they’ll increase their efforts or attempt to deal with things in person.”

  “Why are the bank totals in our system differing from the amounts at the bank?” Dane questioned.

  Ethan’s face was grim. “The virus was set up to gather passwords and key codes for transaction transfers. They’d secured Gianna’s information and used it to transfer some funds. They haven’t managed much, only two transfers so far. My guess is that it was a test of the system. I’m working with the bank to try and reroute the money back into the account. The good thing is that Nate caught it before it got out of hand. The bad news is a false software package is running in place of the actual accounts.”

  Gianna asked, “What do you mean by a false program?”

  “The corrections everyone has been making on the reports are to phony reports. They were copied from the original system an
d set up in a dummy system for you to work on, while the criminal has access to the real accounts.” He looked over at Dane and Marissa. “That’s why your orders have been messed up or not coming in at all. Your department has been entering the information into a phony system.”

  He went on to elaborate. “I have both of these laptops running on the system. I’m trying to see if I can reverse the false software, making it look legit enough to fool our external party. That way you have the ability to restore some order to the actual system, while I have them believing they’re working on the real one. If I can manage that, then I can remove all the viruses off the computers and we’ll be back in business. But I need to keep the virus isolated on the mainframe so it looks like it’s still working. I can plug in some bogus passwords and codes to hopefully keep them appeased.”

  Mr. Prescott, along with everyone else, breathed a sigh of relief. He reached over to pat Ethan’s shoulder. “Son, you had me worried that our company was on the verge of collapse. You have my permission to do whatever’s necessary to get us back in working order and to fool the perpetrator. Whatever it is you need, let us know and it’s yours.”

  Ethan smiled back at him. “I’m happy to do this for you guys, especially after—”

  “Son, you need to get it through that thick skull of yours that you’re not responsible for my daughter’s death. Gabi could have died from the aneurysm at any given time. If anyone is responsible, it’s Tom Reynolds.”

  I watched as Dane embraced my sister, Marissa. She seemed to shake at the mere mention of his name. “It’s okay, sweetness, you don’t have to worry about him. We’ll insist on a deposition so you don’t have to go to court.”

  “No one will need to go to court,” Alexander announced.

  We all looked his way, especially Ethan. “Why?” he asked.

  “I talked with his father on the way over here. He wanted to donate his son’s life insurance money, the sum of a quarter million dollars, to help fund our cause to create earlier detections for aneurysms. He feels sorry for what his son put everyone through.” He paused for a moment. “Tom’s body started shutting down last night. He passed earlier this morning.”