by K. T. Tomb
She pulled on a pair of jeans and a trendy, long sleeve tunic top over her black lace underwear, then gathered her toiletries from the bathroom and packed them neatly into her beauty bag. She made one last look around the bedroom, then the living room, gathered her things and walked out the door. The valet brought her car around while she spoke briefly with the concierge. Aurora couldn’t help but notice the young man’s broad smile as he handed her the car key and held the door open for her to get in.
As he closed her door he said, “Great car, Miss Aldridge. You have a really great car.”
***
Tucker’s Town, Bermuda
Will was waiting at a dark back table in the dining room at Tucker’s Point Club when Aurora arrived fifteen minutes later. He smiled and took a look at his Omega wristwatch. He stood to greet her as she approached the table.
“I knew you’d be here in less than twenty minutes. You and that Audi are a dangerous combination, I think.”
“What can I say? German engineering speaks to me... in English, too.”
They laughed at her quip and Will raised his hand to the waiter for attention.
“We’ll both be having dinner and would you include the wine pairing for us please?”
“Certainly, sir.”
“Mr. G. loves this place. Whenever he comes to Bermuda, he always has me try to squeeze it in though I’ve never had him request to indulge in the wine pairing. It’s always been for a business meeting or client entertaining.”
“From what I’ve heard, it’s a remarkable experience. The wine is always incredibly spot on with the meal. I hope you’re hungry.”
“Of course; that drive shook all the sushi out of me,” Aurora laughed.
As they waited for dinner, Aurora placed the call to her hacker contact, a guy called Milo Svensson. He agreed to meet them at the restaurant in five minutes which would probably mean they could conclude their meeting even before the appetizers hit the table.
Exactly five minutes later, a man who looked to be about twenty two dressed in a plain work shirt and tie walked into the restaurant. He asked for Aurora and the waiter showed him to the table. Aurora handed him the flash drive and an envelope.
“That’s half of what we agreed to. As requested, it’s a temporary prepaid debit card. The other half you’ll get when you deliver the files. Be careful with this information, Milo. I have a feeling there’s something on this that people will kill to keep secret, okay?”
Milo nodded and slipped the flash drive and the envelope into his shirt pocket, stood up from the table and walked out of the restaurant. After dinner, Aurora followed Will through the well-appointed club grounds to his holiday home. How dare he call it an apartment? The villa was spectacular; but she wouldn’t have expected anything less from a Thorn. Seventeenth century plantation living in all its splendor, it had three floors and a facade of timber and red brick. Will disarmed the alarm system as they entered through the patio door.
“There are four bedrooms so if we have to stay here, you don’t have to worry about me trying to shack up with you. You can have either of the two guest rooms on the second floor. I occupy the master suite on the same floor. The upper floor is never opened unless the rest of the family comes to stay. Would you like a tour?”
She certainly would have, but only obliged him to show her to one of the bathrooms. She couldn’t take her mind off Milo and those files. He left her to freshen up and when she got back downstairs, Will had lit a fire in the fireplace and the whole room was warm with its glow. It seemed a little too romantic for Aurora’s taste, but she decided to just hang loose and enjoy the experience. It wasn’t every day she got to be a guest in a fantastic villa with one of her boss’s sons. Opening the cooler bag carefully, she set the still cold bottle of Prosecco on the kitchen counter and searched for an ice bucket. There was a stainless steel one in a cabinet in the island. She filled it with ice from the fridge and a little water, then sank the bottle into it.
“Should I open that?” Will asked from over her shoulder.
“Sure go ahead,” she replied and went to take a seat on the luxurious sofa in front of the fireplace. Soon, Will joined her and they began to talk and laugh about their childhood and school days. He told her about going to college at Princeton, how much he wanted to have attended Georgia Tech and how much he envied her for being able to stay so close to home. She admitted not really having time to think much about anything but schoolwork during her time at GSU. The degree program had been so competitive there and the space extremely limited.
She paused to check her phone. Nothing yet. When she turned back to face Will, he placed his hand on the delicate curve of her cheek and traced his finger down into the soft crook of her neck. Aurora held her breath as he leaned in and kissed her there, nuzzling her and taking in the scent of her Bulgari perfume. Aurora forgot herself for a moment as he trailed soft kisses from her collarbone to her earlobe, but when he moaned her name breathily into her ear, she woke from the spell. She firmly placed both her hands on his shoulders and pushed hard.
“Will, stop it. We can’t do this; you’re my boss now. Technically.”
“Technically, I’m not your boss yet. Not until Monday morning actually. There’s no need for us to stop, unless you really want me to, of course.”
She cocked her head to one side as if she was thinking about it for a bit, but she was really just admiring his face. The same handsome face she had seen in the mirror of the powder room at Thorn Estate as she was sinking into her darkest hour. When Will moved in to kiss her, Aurora did not protest. She surrendered to his hungry lips on hers and pressed her body against his in earnest. His hands found their way under her tunic and cupped the round shape of her breast, sending a gasp up her throat and into his waiting mouth. Will’s’ hand went around her back and began picking at the clasp of her bra when suddenly the phone rang.
“Oh my God! It must be Milo.”
She grabbed the cell phone from the side table and answered it.
“Aurora? It’s Milo. I found something in your files.”
“Did you manage to crack them? What’s on the drive?”
“Hey. One sec, Aurora. There’s someone at the door.”
“Okay.”
There was a short pause and then Aurora heard Milo come back on the line, whispering urgently.
“Aurora, there’s two armed men with guns at my door.”
“Get out of there Milo; get out of there right now.”
There was an immense amount of shuffling and Aurora heard a toilet flush followed by more rustling.
“I’ll send the files to your phone as soon as I can, Aurora. I’ve destroyed the flash drive and I’ll get in touch as soon as I can.”
“Okay.”
“Hey, listen. If this attack is about your info, I’ve got to tell you. Get off this island ASAP. What little I saw on that flash drive was heavy shit. Go back to Georgia, Aurora, and be very careful.”
Then Aurora heard the sound of a window opening and the explosion of gunshots before the phone went dead in her hands. She turned to Will is what felt to her like slow motion and told him what had happened. He was shocked and asked if she thought Milo was okay.
“I don’t know if he got away.”
She didn’t tell him anything else because as she ran through the possibilities in her mind, Aurora couldn’t forget about the phone call that Will had made in her hotel room.
“You didn’t tell anyone where you were going, did you?” she asked.
“Not at all. No one knows we’re here.”
“I only hope he got out with my stuff; it didn’t seem like he had gotten anywhere with it yet and we have no way of knowing if that’s what they were after or if Milo is mixed up in something else. He said he’ll contact me later tonight to tell me what’s happening.”
“We should call the police in the meantime.”
“And tell them what, Will? That some hacker we know named Milo just got his home broke
n into and shot at by gunmen? Maybe that he has a device of ours with secret messages on it that could be highly dangerous information? We don’t even know where he lives.”
“Point taken, Aurora. We can leave it alone and wait for the call. In the meantime, don’t worry about him.”
“In any case, I think that was our clue to get a move on. Let’s head back south and get to the airport.”
“Good idea,” he called after her as she gathered her things.
“Would you call Fitz and see if he’s up for a last minute flight home?”
“Sure.”
Chapter Eight
Tucker’s Town, Bermuda
Milo ducked into a dark alleyway and backed right up against the wall. He held his breath as he watched the two Asian men sprint past in pursuit, looking for him. As soon as he was sure they were long gone, he took out his cell phone and called a local taxi service. It wasn’t long before the cab was pulling around the corner and heading toward him. Milo ran from the alley and practically leapt into the cab’s back seat, yelling at the driver to keep driving.
“Airport! Quickly, please,” Milo said.
As he stood at the leader board scanning through the next departing flights, Milo’s mind was racing. Where could he go? What would he do when he got there? He scanned through his contact list of fellow techies and hackers and paused at the name of a girl he had met at the Apple Forum the year before. Anastasia Ivanovich, St. Petersburg, Russia. Hurriedly he sent her an email to let her know he’d be coming to town unexpectedly and needed a place to crash. Then Milo went to the Lufthansa reservation desk, booked the ticket and checked in at the same time. He didn’t feel safe on that side of the airport security checkpoints.
“Can I just go ahead and make my way through?”
“Certainly, sir.”
As Milo approached the first security check, he took out his cell phone and scrolled up to Aurora’s number. He handed the security guard his passport and ticket, then pressed the SEND button.
“Aurora, its Milo.”
She and Will were just stepping through the door of her hotel room at Carraway Club to wait while Fitz got the jet ready.
“Hey, are you OK?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Listen, I’m sure all my stuff has been trashed by now but as I said, I broke the drive and flushed it down the toilet. Did you get the email yet?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“It should be coming through any second now.”
Just then the phone buzzed in her ear.
“Well, I’m going to leave the country for a bit. If I’m not mistaken, that was yakuza that were chasing after me and that scares me shitless. Thanks for the deposit; the card’s untraceable so it’s what I’ve got to use while I lay low. Don’t worry about the rest of the money; I didn’t finish the job and I wrecked your material. I’ll send you a contact soon but I won’t say anything over the phone right now. Take care ,Aurora. And for heaven’s sake, be very careful.”
The phone call ended and Aurora was left wondering what was happening.
“Hey, was that Milo?”
She hated having to lie to Will but she immediately decided that she was going to play some things a whole lot closer to her chest than she had before.
“Yes, he says he’s fine and he’ll get back to me with some more information soon. That I shouldn’t wait around in Bermuda.”
“Why, hasn’t he figured out the files yet?”
“It seems it’s a lot more complicated than any of us thought.”
Aurora stood up and stretched as if to punctuate the conversation. She’d had enough for one night and made her way to the bedroom door, but then she paused and turned back to Will.
“Could you pour me a glass of that wine, Will? I’ll be in here.”
***
Carraway Club,
Hamilton, Bermuda
Aurora went straight into the bathroom that adjoined her bedroom.
The room was opulent with an enormous walk-through closet between the sleeping area and the bathroom. The bedroom boasted a sitting area that was generously furnished and encompassed the fireplace. A real tiger skin rug lay under a modern glass coffee table and was surrounded by wing chairs and a sofa. She left the bedroom door open and went through to the bathroom.
Hurriedly, Aurora turned on the water in the shower and sat on the toilet. She opened the first file that Milo had sent her. It was a series of documents that seemed to be pertaining to several bank transactions; large ones. She closed it and opened the second one. There were lists in it. Names, addresses, telephone numbers and amounts of money. At a glance, it seemed that Zach had possibly unearthed a cache of unauthorized transactions. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions before actually reviewing the information properly.
“Aurora?” Will called as he entered her bedroom.
“I’m just taking a quick shower, Will. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right out,” she replied.
Aurora forwarded the files to Rebecca with a note that she should start to research the names on the list and their possible connections to Zach, Xaoping and Thorn Industries. Then she forwarded the files to her private email address and deleted Milo’s email. There was no way she could be sure who was spying on her or where the leak about the flash drive and Milo had originated from, so she couldn’t afford to take any chances. She also couldn’t help wondering if Will was involved in what was clearly going wrong at Thorn Industries.
She showered quickly and wrapped her body in one of the plush, white terry robes that were in the bathroom. She pinned up her curly hair seductively and dabbed on a little more of her delicious Bulgari perfume. When she entered the bedroom, Will was also a little more comfortably dressed. He had shed his jacket and pulled the shirt from his pants; looking ready to relax... or for something else.
He stood and beckoned for her to join him on the sofa in the little sitting area. He handed her a glass of the effervescent white wine and clinked her glass with his.
“To us beating a hasty retreat from paradise,” he announced.
She laughed at his joke and then added, “And to us getting to the bottom of this tragic mystery.”
For the first time since she had gotten Milo’s phone call, she smiled.
They drank together and talked for a short while before she rested her almost empty glass on the coffee table and turned to look Will in the eyes.
“Would you like me to pour you some more?” he asked.
“No, thank you. I was actually hoping that we could pick up where we left off before Milo called me earlier.”
“Oh God, Aurora,” Will replied breathily. “I thought you’d never ask.”
He immediately took her in his arms and kissed her. His hands went to the belt of her robe and tugged on it, easily undoing it and allowing his hands access to the treasure within. He cupped the round of her breast, never taking his mouth from hers and she moved slightly away from him to grant full access. When Will rolled the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, she gasped in excitement and began to undo his clothes as well. As the jacket and shirt made their way backwards over his shoulders, Will’s mouth left Aurora’s and dipped to the sweet enclave of her chest. His mouth closed around a nipple and she gasped as his tongue flicked over it. She threw both her arms around him and drew him closer to her, running her fingers down his back in emphasis. Will groaned with pleasure again as he was sucking tenderly at one breast after the other. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. Aurora could see the raw emotion gathered there as the lust and desire for her was mounting in his loins.
As he blazed a trail of wanton kisses down her stomach, she knew what he would do next but nothing could prepare her for that first lunge of his hot, wet tongue into the folds of her sex. Expertly, he licked at the swollen bud that gave her so much ecstasy. Aurora’s hands found their way into his hair once again and as he plundered her with his mouth, she could not stifle the cries that fought their way up her throat.
&n
bsp; “Oh, Will,” she moaned.
He knew she would explode soon if he continued, so he trailed off with deep kisses on the inside of her thighs while she calmed down and her breathing regained a steady pace. She put both hands around his neck as he gently lifted her and took her to the huge four poster bed, laying her down tenderly before discarding her robe and then his now restrictive pants.
The sight of Will’s engorged member brought back distant memories of lustful nights from her past; she could only hope for some of those feelings again. Aurora lay him against the multitude of soft, white pillows and got on top of him. He put his arms around her and drew her close, sitting up in the bed as he did so and took her swollen nipples into his mouth again. She threw back her head as she felt his member pressing against her pelvis. Deftly, she writhed against it, evoking the sounds of unbearable desire she loved to hear from her lover. Unable to abide it any longer, he took her mouth with his, lifted her up and pushed himself deep within her moist loins, thrusting greedily at first until she moaned in delight, then slowly and gently allowing the anticipated pleasure to build. He looked deep into her eyes as he moved and felt her body begin to tremble as her thighs plunged to meet his every stroke. Determined for their encounter to last longer, he pulled out and tossed her on her back, held her to the bed and kissed her deeply. His tongue once again blazed the trail down her neck to her breasts where they teased both nipples until she arched her back.
He moved on, planting tender kisses on her soft stomach and licked the seductive indent of her navel. He traveled further kissing the feminine groove of her sex and parting it with his hot tongue. Holding her thighs firmly, his mouth explored the tender junction. His tongue lashed over the swollen bud that was the object of his desire repeatedly. Aurora reached down with trembling hands to claw at fistfuls of his raven hair. She thought that it would slow the onslaught of pleasure, but she only drove him further on. He made sure to work her into frenzy before he re-entered her. He placed her legs around his waist and pushed his engorged manhood slowly inside her silky sheath. She moaned in pleasure and anticipation. He placed his hands beneath her and held her buttocks firmly, pulling her close and burying his love deeper inside her. He moved purposefully inside her, pulling out and pushing deeper with each thrust. Measuring the pace that would prolong the mindless pleasure they were experiencing. Then she cried out, gripping the sheets between her fingers in abandon.
