We stare at each other. “What now?” I ask.
Oliver’s lips curl into a smile, one that doesn’t reach his eyes. The normally good-natured man is furious, and I don’t blame him. “Let’s call his bluff,” he says, his tone clipped.
“What?” I stare at him, wondering if he’s lost his mind.
A slow smile curves over Finn’s lips. “I agree with Oliver,” he says. “Miki, you’re going to hack into Imperium, and you’re going to give Kent a client list.”
A client list.
A strategically modified client list.
Of course.
Let the games begin.
48
Miki
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte
“Miki!” Janine greets me with a wide smile when I walk into Imperium Tuesday morning. “You’re back. How are you feeling? Still flu-ish?”
It turns out Oliver and Finn told everyone I was out sick last week, which is an advantage right now. “It’s mostly gone now,” I reply, lying through my teeth. A couple of members of the finance team are within earshot, and I want to make sure that Lawrence Kent finds out I’m back. “I spent most of the weekend in bed. I probably would have been fine coming to work yesterday, but I didn’t want to give everyone my germs.”
She grins. “I appreciate that.” She looks at her computer screen. “Lawrence has been asking for an update on the finance work you’re doing. Can you meet with him today?”
That’s perfect. At this point, because of my silence on the DefCon forums and my absence from work, Kent’s nerves must be on edge. Meeting with him and calming his suspicions is exactly what I need to do.
“Ms. Cooper. Nice of you to show up to work.” Kent gives me a supercilious smile, his tone laced with sarcasm. “I sent you a couple of emails last week, but didn’t get a reply back.”
I refuse to kiss this guy’s ass. “I had the flu,” I tell him. “I wasn’t checking my email.”
He gives me a hard look. “With that kind of work ethic, you won’t get far at Imperium.”
This guy is such a jerk. He’d make a terrible CEO. My determination to foil his plot increases. “Yeah, well, I’m not interested in getting very far at Imperium,” I murmur sulkily.
He takes the bait. “You aren’t?”
“How would you like sitting in the same office as your bosses?” I ask bitterly. “Two weeks ago, my mother called me for five minutes, and Finn suggested I limit my personal calls at work. Now, Mary MacDonald is hounding me for a doctor’s note because I was out sick. I don’t want to work in a place that treats me like a child.”
Of course, none of this is true, but Kent needs to believe that I’m ready to burn my bridges at Imperium.
He doesn’t look entirely convinced. “I thought you were getting along quite well with Prescott and Kent.”
“So did I.” I manage to make that short sentence sound petulant and whiny. “I guess I was wrong. I asked Oliver about the doctor’s note, and he just mumbled something about company policy and ran away to another meeting.” I shrug. “Ah well. There are other jobs. You wanted to talk about your project, right?”
For a brief second, there’s a triumphant look on his face. My work here is done.
I don’t log onto the DefCon forums until seven in the evening. Oliver, Finn, and I are at Finn’s place. I was a little nervous about meeting his grandmother, but I didn’t need to be. Mrs. Sanders is lovely and kind and is honestly the most cheerful sick person I’ve ever met. She must be in an incredible amount of pain, but there’s not a word of complaint from her.
She retires to bed early. Once she’s gone, I look at the two men. “Kent totally bought it,” I tell them. “He’s convinced I hate you.” I take a deep breath and click on User0989’s icon. “You’re sure about this?”
“Absolutely,” Oliver replies.
Finn nods as well. “One of these two men,” he says, his voice hard, “put Alessandra in hospital. She could have been killed. This isn’t about the IPO anymore. These guys are dangerous, and we need to stop them.”
He’s right.
I start typing a message. I have good news.
User0989’s reply comes within seconds. You have the list?
Yes. Do you have my money?
Of course. You can trust that you’ll get paid.
I’m not in the habit of trusting strangers, I reply. I name an escrow service that’s popular on the dark web. I’m going to send the list to them. They’ll release a sample to you. If you’re satisfied, then the exchange happens.
Fine, User0989 types. I’m transferring the money to them now.
“He’s in a hurry,” Oliver comments dryly. We wait around Finn’s kitchen island, too tense to speak, until I receive a notification from the escrow service that the money is in place.
“This is it.” I take a deep breath and send Lawrence Kent the client list Finn created for me. Will Kent spot the changes we made to it? We’re about to find out.
He doesn’t. I get a reply in less than five minutes. Perfect, User0989 types. Nice doing business with you.
We have Kent exactly where we want him. Time for the final stage of the plan.
49
Oliver
The next morning, Ambrose Sutton calls an emergency board meeting. As I expected.
This is it.
Five years ago, Finn and I founded Imperium. We worked long hours, we made some smart decisions, and we had more than our fair share of luck as well. We’ve shepherded our company to the brink of going public.
Kent wants to take that away from me.
Fitzgerald wants to see me fail.
I won’t let them succeed.
At the dot of nine, Finn, Miki, and I walk into the boardroom. The other five members of the board are already there. Ambrose Sutton is sitting at the head of the table. To his right is Lawrence Kent, and next to him are seated Sebastian Fitzgerald and Claudia, who doesn’t meet my eyes.
Yes. The moment I see Fitzgerald there, triumph fills me. We’ve gambled and we’ve won.
The moment we stopped asking why Kent would be interested in hurting the IPO, the answer was clear enough. Kent doesn’t want to leak the client list to the general public. He just wants Finn and me gone.
As soon as Kent sees Miki, he’s on his feet, his face red with rage. “What’s she doing here?” he demands. “Ambrose, this is a meeting for the executives. I don’t think it’s appropriate that Ms. Cooper attend.”
“On the contrary,” I reply, “Miki’s extremely vital to this meeting.”
Ambrose Sutton frowns at me. “Lawrence has brought some fairly serious allegations to the board, Prescott,” he says.
“I’m aware of the nature of these allegations,” I say calmly. “I can assure you that Miki’s presence here is related to that.”
“Oh, let the young woman attend, for heaven’s sake, Sutton,” Barbara Rhodes says, rolling her eyes in impatience. She turns toward me. “You’re not wasting my time, are you, Prescott? Sanders?”
“No, ma’am.”
We take our seats. Kent’s expression is nervous as Ambrose Sutton clears his throat. “I want to thank everyone for attending this meeting on such short notice. As I said, Kent called me last night. He told me some things that quite frankly, I found extremely disturbing. Lawrence, why don’t you tell the board what you told me?”
“Sure.” The man’s eyes dart from Finn to Miki to me, then he seems to gather himself. “A month ago, Sebastian Fitzgerald approached me with a serious problem. A hacker had offered to acquire Imperium’s client list for him. For a fee.” He looks up. “The hacker was Ms. Cooper.”
Miki stiffens in outrage at my side, and I place my hand on her lap. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ve got this.
David Blake inhales sharply. “Is this true?”
Sebastian Fitzgerald nods solemnly. “Last night, Ms. Cooper sent me Imperium’s client list, and I
paid her the agreed-upon amount. One hundred thousand dollars.” He holds up a thumb drive. “I don’t need to tell you what a problem this would create if the breach went public. Of course,” he continues sanctimoniously, “I’m not interested in causing harm.”
Virginia Mullins looks troubled. “Ask yourself this,” Kent says, leaning forward and looking at each of the board members in the eye. “Oliver Prescott and Finn Sanders personally interviewed Ms. Cooper and decided to hire her. Our COO,” he says, his gaze swiveling to Finn, “is responsible for our data security. Has either of them done their job to your satisfaction?”
Even Miguel Vazquez, our ally on the board, frowns.
“There’s one more thing. Something Oliver Prescott has kept secret from you. This one is a personal matter, but I still think it’s relevant because it shows another example of poor judgment. Ms. Weaver, if you don’t mind telling the board?”
Claudia looks somber. My ex-wife really missed her calling. She’d do great in Hollywood. “I didn’t want to be here,” she says, her lips trembling. “But Sebastian convinced me that I need to tell the truth.”
Finn coughs into his hand.
Claudia glares at the interruption. “During our marriage, Oliver pressured me to do things that I wasn’t comfortable with. He forced me to attend a bondage club with him, and he tied me up several times in our home.” Her voice catches. “He did more than tie me up. He whipped me, and he took naked photos of me.”
Barbara Rhodes fixes me with a cool glare. “Prescott? Is this true?”
This is our only wild card. Even if we succeed in discrediting Fitzgerald and Kent, the board members could still end up believing Claudia. Still, I can’t cower in fear of the photos, and I’m definitely not giving my gold-digging, cheating ex-wife any portion of my company. “No, it isn’t. I didn’t force Claudia into bondage, and I definitely didn’t take pictures of her against her consent.”
“Oh please, Oliver,” Claudia says dramatically. “Stop lying. Don’t make things harder than they have to be.”
Kent jumps in before I can reply. “I called Mr. Sutton last night,” he says solemnly. “I’m concerned for our company. Is this the kind of leadership we need ahead of the IPO?”
Sutton turns to Finn and me. “Prescott, I’d like to hear from you.”
I smile blandly at Lawrence Kent and Sebastian Fitzgerald. “Let’s dissect this fanciful tale, piece by piece. According to Fitzgerald, Miki approached him. Miki?”
She shakes her head. “On February fourteenth,” she says clearly, “someone I only knew as User0989 approached me on a hacker forum. He offered me a hundred grand for Imperium’s client list.”
She looks around the room. “This person also told me that the only way I could get into Imperium’s network was from the inside, and he assured me he could get me a job here.”
I clear my throat. “Coincidently, at the same time, two things happened. Alessandra Mirova, our security expert on Shield, was in a bad car accident, and Lawrence had borrowed another member of the team. Because we were at risk of missing our deadlines, I asked Mary MacDonald to hire two developers.”
So far, we’ve told the truth. Now, we’re going to bend it a little. I don’t want the board to know that Miki had tried to hack Imperium to find out what her brother-in-law was hiding. That’s between the three of us.
Miki picks up the story. “I’ve known Oliver and Finn for a few months, so naturally, I told them everything. We needed to uncover User0989’s identity.”
Finn speaks up. “Miki was able to determine that User0989 was someone who worked at Imperium.”
Kent’s face goes white. “What?” he blusters. “Are you going to take the word of some hacker against Sebastian Fitzgerald’s?”
“I want to hear her story,” Barbara Rhodes says firmly. “How were you able to reach that conclusion, Ms. Cooper?”
Miki plugs her laptop and casts her screen on her projector. “On the day of my interview, I was supposed to meet Mary MacDonald and Sachin Sharma. It was only after I got into the Imperium offices that Mary told me that I'd be meeting Finn and Oliver.” She gestures to the screen. “This was the conversation I had with User0989 that evening, after my interview. Notice anything strange?”
Everyone’s head pivots to read the conversation between Miki and User0989.
User0989: Well? What happened?
Mouse: What do you mean?
User0989: Don’t play games with me, Ms. Cooper. I know you interviewed with Prescott and Sanders at Imperium an hour ago.
Kent’s shoulders slump. He’s seen it. “How would someone who wasn’t at our offices know about the change of plan?” Finn asks. “So I did a little more digging. That message that Miki put on the screen was, as you can see, sent at five in the evening. We were able to identify the IP address used to access the hacker forum. It came from a conference room that three people were occupying. One of them,” he says, “was Lawrence Kent.”
Multiple people gasp. “This is preposterous,” Kent splutters. “She was paid a hundred grand for the client list that’s in Fitzgerald’s possession. How do you account for that?”
I grin widely. “Ah, the client list. The smoking gun. Fitzgerald, if you don’t mind?” I hold out my hand for the thumb drive. He hands it to me reluctantly, and I plug it in, open up the list and project it on the screen. “Ambrose, you’re a client in the private security division. Notice anything about your information?”
Sutton reads the screen with a frown. “If you can’t see it,” Finn says, “look at the renewal date.”
“January first of this year.” Sutton’s forehead is furrowed. “But we’re closing that division. I wanted to renew, but I couldn’t.”
Finn nods. “Yesterday evening,” he says, “I did two things. I gave Miki a copy of a falsified client list to give to User0989. Prior to that, I uploaded the same fake list to our network. Only one person accessed the fake list last night, most likely to verify that Miki gave him the right information.” He pauses for a second. “It was Kent.”
Multiple conversations erupt around the table. Just then, the doors to the board room fling open, and four cops enter. I recognize Detective Larsen of the NYPD. “Sebastian Fitzgerald,” he says, “You’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder in the hit-and-run accident on Alessandra Mirova. You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”
We watch in shock as Fitzgerald is cuffed and led out of the room.
There is a vote, of course, but it’s a formality. Kent’s out. We’ve won.
“What now?” Miki asks once we’re back in our office.
Finn smiles wickedly. “Well,” he says, “do you remember the time we fooled around in the office?”
Her eyes fill with desire. “I do.”
“Oliver went down on you that day. I’ve been waiting for my turn.”
She laughs breathlessly. “Is this what I have to look forward to? The two of you fighting to pleasure me?” Her smile lights up the room. “In that case, I’m completely on board.”
Epilogue
Miki
True love stories never have endings.
Richard Bach
Thanksgiving Day…
Thanksgiving should be a time of gratitude and reflection.
I’m completely on board.
“This is my favorite holiday.” I jump out of bed in the morning and open the curtains wide. A weak November sun shines into our bedroom, its rays falling over my two sleeping partners.
Oliver groans and buries his face under a pillow. “Miki, for the love of all that is good, let me sleep.”
“I did. It’s almost ten.” Finn doesn’t stir. He’s cocooned in a bundle of blankets, with only his right foot sticking out. With great virtue, I refrain from tickling his toes and make my way into the kitchen. They
’ll get up once I get the coffee going.
At ten in the morning, exactly one year ago, I’d just arrived at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, ready to board a flight to JFK. My life had been in shambles. I had no job, no home, and no relationship.
What a difference a year makes.
Imperium’s IPO was a huge success. Not Facebook-level successful, of course, but pretty damn good. The stock price has risen almost fifty percent since the IPO. Even Ambrose Sutton, the normally pessimistic Chairman of the Board, concedes that Oliver and Finn have done a good job.
Of course, Ambrose’s disapproval had thawed greatly after the Lawrence Kent boardroom meltdown. The older man had been dismayed at his error in judgment. He’d had a long talk with Finn and Oliver later that day, and he offered them his resignation. Oliver had turned him down. “I don’t want someone to rubber-stamp my every decision, Mr. Sutton,” he’d said. “At the same time, I do know what I’m doing. Keep me honest, of course, but we’re both working for the same team.”
Oliver and Finn still grumble about the board from time to time, but the relationship has improved by leaps and bounds.
NYPD arrested Sebastian Fitzgerald and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder for his role in Alessandra’s accident. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald had access to an army of lawyers, who fought like crazy to get his sentence reduced. Fitzgerald should have been locked up for life, but he only got three years.
Still, Kliedara’s board voted to fire Fitzgerald. And of course, Claudia dumped him as soon as the NYPD handcuffed him. Claudia is a gold-digger with very dodgy morals, but even she couldn’t turn a blind eye to what he’d done.
Imperium fired Kent, of course. Word got around about why the CFO was let go so close to the IPO. He hasn’t been able to get another job, and I doubt that that’ll change anytime soon.
Ménage in Manhattan: The Complete 5-Book Ménage Romance Collection Page 103
