Misunderstood Hacker

by Linzi Baxter

  I pulled back from Brock’s arms and did a little dance, excited to get out for the day and see my assistant in person. Once the news settled in, it dawned on me—Antonio was taking me. For the past two weeks, Brock had been by my side each day. Since we were working in the same building, we even ate lunch together.

  “Why is Antonio taking me and not you?”

  Brock fiddled with a folder lying on the white granite countertop before answering me. “I need to help Mia with a case. We’re flying out in an hour. If everything works out right, I will pick you up from work.”

  I didn’t like his answer. “What do you mean if everything works out right? What are you going to work on?”

  Brock looked over to Antonio. He just shrugged his shoulders, mumbled something about this not being his problem, and headed toward the couch in the living room.

  I could tell Brock was trying to get the upper hand when he pulled me into his embrace. “Mia and I are going to help the FBI take down a member of a terrorist organization. Everything will work out, and we will be back before dinner.”

  “Are you kidding me? I have a guard on my ass at all times, but it’s okay for you to go play with terrorists?”

  I knew what Brock did for a living. I understood he worked for a mercenary company that also assisted the government. But Brock was the IT guru.

  “Why are you going into the field? That’s not your area.” The idea of going to work was not as exciting anymore. If I worked out of Blackwood Security, I could find out how the op was going from the other team members.

  “Since Sam is in Shialia, I’m in charge. I did plenty of groundwork when I was a Navy Seal. I can handle this. I want you to stay close to Antonio during the day, and I will try to pick you up from work.”

  I was about to protest again when his phone started to ring. I could tell by the strained look on his face that he didn’t want to leave me, but he needed to pick up the phone. “Take the call.” I kissed him on the lips and headed to his bedroom to finish getting ready.

  Working from Blackwood Security had put me behind on my daily responsibilities for Ross Enterprises. I was deep in concentration, looking over the latest project proposals Alex had sent me, when a knock at my door brought me out of my number haze. When I looked up, it was Sophie and Neal.

  “Hey, Numbers Woman. What are you doing for lunch?” Sophie was amazed by how naturally numbers came to me, so she had nicknamed me Numbers Woman.

  At the mention of lunch, my stomach growled and made me take notice of the clock. It was already a quarter past twelve. I wanted to go to lunch with them, but I didn’t want to make Brock upset by not listening about the whole bodyguard thing. The last attempt with the car bomb still had me on edge.

  Neal must have noticed I was having a debate in my head. “Your grumpy bodyguard is pulling the car around. And your angry boss isn’t even here today. Let’s break you out of this place and hit your favorite diner.” The mention of Chubby’s Diner made my stomach growl again.

  Once we were seated in the back booth at Chubby’s, I relaxed. It felt good to be around friends. It would have been nicer if Brock had been there instead of the too-quiet Antonio. The only word the man knew was no.

  “Neal, have you talked to Patty recently?” I asked. I had been dodging her calls. They didn’t want Patty to know what was going on. Everyone thought she would want to come back to the United States, and that could put her in danger or put more stress on the baby.

  Neal responded by pointing his finger at me. “You need to answer her calls. She thinks you’re mad at her, and it’s making her upset.”

  “I’m worried I will slip and say something that will make it worse. Is it a psychological fact that people automatically assume you’re mad at them when you’re quiet?”

  Before Sophie had time to respond, our waitress, Sally, came over in her fifties-style dress and her hair pulled up into a bun. Sally had to be in her late sixties. She and her husband, Duke, had been running the dinner for the last three years.

  “What can I get you?”

  Once everyone ordered, Sally roller-skated off, and Sophie gave us her two cents.

  “Jessica needs to know what the fuck is going on.” Sophie was a no-bull-shit person and laid things out there. She had almost as bad of a mouth as her boss, Bridget.

  It sounded like she was about to say more when Antonio cut her off with his favorite word. “No.”

  “When you learn to use more words, I will let you talk,” she said to Antonio before turning to me. “I’ve contacted some sources and have been looking into your crash and car bomb. Your ex-husband has something to do with these men coming after you.”

  Sophie had revealed two things that threw me for a loop. First, I didn’t know Sophie was looking into my accidents. From the way Neal’s and Antonio’s jaws tightened, they didn’t know she was looking into my accident, either. Second, how could my ex-husband have anything to do with the accident when he was six feet under?

  Talking about my ex-husband always sent a sick feeling through my stomach. I didn’t understand what he could have to do with this.

  “Sophie, you know my ex-husband is dead. I saw his body when the mortician needed verification before burying him.” The thought of seeing his dead body sent another chill down my spine. Doug had no family, and he hadn’t changed his will after we divorced.

  For the first time, I saw a tint of pink show on Sophie’s cheeks. “When it came out what your ex-husband had done, I might’ve looked into to him just in case you needed more dirt on the man. I had a contact help me out.”

  “Who is this contact, and why does he think Doug has anything to do with this?” Antonio asked, finally developing a vocabulary past the word no.

  Before Sophie answered, Sally returned with our food. The smell of my bacon cheeseburger made all worries about Doug fade away. I took a bite of my burger and relished the delicious grease.

  Sophie was digging into her salad, trying to deflect the question. Antonio said, “I won’t ask again, Sophie. Who is your contact?” Antonio’s demand didn’t leave much room for argument.

  Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I can tell you what I know, but not how I got it. Doug was in contact with Jessica’s original kidnap—”

  I didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. I couldn’t hear it. I took off toward the bathroom and made it just in time for my delicious burger to come back up. The thought of those men made my stomach twist ten times more than thoughts of my ex. The men who had tortured me were in jail. This had to be a mistake.

  I slumped to the floor in the bathroom stall, not paying attention to the dirt and grime around me. I wanted to move on with my life with Brock and forget about my past. The problem was that my past wouldn’t go away.

  The main door to the bathroom swooshed open. I could hear the clicking of Sophie’s heels walking toward the stall. Once the clicking stopped, there was a soft tap on the stall door.

  “I’m sorry I upset you. I want you to know what is going on, and I think Brock and Neal are wrong about withholding information. That information might help you keep yourself safe if you knew what you were looking for.” I could hear the worry in her voice.

  Finding out that the men who kidnapped me were behind the attacks didn’t make dealing with it any easier. It just made me more worried. It also made me pissed at Brock for not telling me there was a high chance those men were behind everything.

  “Thank you for telling me. Do you think you can give me a ride back to the office? I’m pissed Neal didn’t tell me, and I don’t want to see him right now.” Brock would also get a talking-to when he got back from his mission.

  “Yes. Let’s go out the back door so Antonio and Neal won’t know we’ve left. It will give us a few minutes head start before they figure it out.”

  I knew I shouldn’t leave my bodyguard, especially now that I knew who was behind the attacks. They were dangerous people.

  Sophie and I snuck out the back door of
Chubby’s Diner. We made it around the corner of the building where we left the car. When I looked up, I saw Neal looking out the window, and a stream of curse words came out of his mouth.

  9

  Brock

  Antonio had called me as he was headed back to Ross Enterprises after Jessica and Sophie ditched him. The thought of her without protection made my skin crawl. I knew she was angry about us withholding information from her. I just hadn’t wanted her to worry.

  The sound of the flight attendant’s voice brought me back to the present.

  Mia was sitting in the cream-colored leather seat across from me. We were heading back to Ft. Lauderdale in the company jet. The information the FBI had on the bust had been bad intel. Luckily, I trusted no one and hacked into the video feed of the warehouse. The building was wired with enough explosives to destroy a city block. The lead technical analyst had given the all clear, stating there were people in the warehouse. It seemed the FBI had a corrupt agent on their team.

  What I couldn’t understand was why the FBI director hadn’t looked over the surveillance before sending in his team. When I showed the director the video feed I pulled, he aborted the mission and sent in the bomb squad. They disarmed the bomb before anyone got injured.

  Director Westblack said he would take care of the corrupt people on his team. I let him know we could help. But with everything happening back home, I wanted to get on the company jet and head back to Ft. Lauderdale. Jessica was foremost in my thoughts, and being away from her was difficult. Just thinking about her would make my pants uncomfortable for the remainder of the trip.

  I sent a quick text to Antonio, letting him know I would pick Jessica up from work. I had a feeling she wasn’t talking to Antonio or Neal at the moment. She would probably take my head off when I walked into her office.

  “Why the pissed-off look? You saved the day with your computer skills. I’m so happy you’re paranoid and double-checked the video feed. We would be crispy tater tots if you hadn’t.”

  Mia was extremely flippant when it came to her life. Some days, it seemed as if she didn’t care whether she lived or died.

  The day had been a clusterfuck. The op had gone sideways, and now Jessica had received intel from Sophie rather than me. She was going to be pissed that I didn’t tell her about the developments in her case.

  “Something with Jessica’s case went sideways.”

  Mia’s body went on full alert, as though she could take down the perp right this instant, which she couldn’t do because we were on an airplane heading home. “What happened? Is she okay?” Since Jessica had been working from Blackwood, she and Mia had been spending a lot of time together. Mia had been after me to keep Jessica more fully in the loop.

  Tension had my shoulders throbbing. Somehow, I had managed to piss off all the women in my life in one day. “Jessica found out that her original kidnappers were in contact with Doug.”

  Mia turned her crystal-blue eyes on me. I could see the fire in them. If the Fasten Seat Belt light hadn’t been on, she would probably have choked me. “What the fuck do you mean she found out? What happened to telling her weeks ago, like I told you to?”

  “I didn’t,” I replied. There was no use in arguing my case. Mia only saw things her way.

  “I see.”

  For the rest of the flight, Mia gave me the cold shoulder. I worked on finding more information. Neal said Sophie had been getting intel from a source she wouldn’t name. I think we all needed to have a full-blown meeting tomorrow with Sam. We needed to figure out how the imprisoned kidnappers were working with someone on the outside.

  The sound of the wheels hitting the runway pulled my focus off my computer. Mia was grabbing her bag as soon as the door opened.

  “Hey, wait a second.”

  My request made her back go rigid. “What?”

  “Get everyone together for a meeting tomorrow morning at nine. Don’t worry about calling Sam. I will take care of that call.”

  She nodded and headed for the door. I heard her mumble something about men finally getting their heads out of their asses.

  Jessica

  The ocean view out my office window did nothing to improve my mood. Antonio had stayed clear of me since Sophie brought me back to the office. Neal had been blowing up my phone. I was surprised Brock hadn’t called to yell at me for leaving my bodyguard. The ringing of my office phone brought me out of my reverie.

  I double-checked the caller ID before answering. I still wasn’t in the mood to talk to Brock or Neal, but I had decided to speak with Patty tonight. She needed to know my kidnappers were still coming after me. It was my decision to tell her. I wouldn’t keep secrets from Patty anymore. Having a secret kept from me was infuriating.

  My assistant’s name came across the caller ID screen. When I returned from lunch, I had told her I wasn’t accepting any calls.

  “Hey, Joana. What can I do for you?” There was no reason to take my anger out on her. Maybe talking with her would distract me from my life.

  I could hear the uneasiness in her voice. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  A couple minutes later, my door swung open, and Joana was standing there with a fresh cup of coffee for me. She handed it over before sitting down in one of the brown leather chairs in front of my desk. Her long blond hair was up in a bun, and her blue suit fit tight against her curves.

  “What’s going on?”

  She was fiddling with an internal office envelope in her hand. “I was going through the interoffice mail for you. This was in there. I didn’t know if you’d want me to contact someone about it.”

  A sick feeling was growing in my stomach. “Can I see it, please?”

  Her hand was shaking as she reached across my desk to hand me the yellow interoffice envelope.

  “I really think Brock should be here when you open it.” She let out a sigh before continuing. “Or maybe get Patty on the phone.”

  I imagined whatever was in this envelope was linked to the events going on around me. Since learning today that Axmed and his crew were behind the car accident and the bomb, I was stressing about what was in the envelope.

  I set it down on my desk and took a drink of my delicious coffee. Joana must have thought I decided not to open the envelope because she visibly relaxed when I didn’t open it immediately.

  Setting my coffee down, I grabbed the envelope back off my desk to take a look. Joana’s worried face had my stomach doing flips. The envelope didn’t have any markings on it other than my name.

  I pulled the flap of the envelope open and slid out a pack of pictures. The second I saw the top photo, I thought I might vomit again. I shoved them all back into the envelope and took deep breaths to get myself under control.

  “Thank you for giving these to me. I’m sorry you had to see them, but please don’t tell anyone I have them. They are a part of my past I don’t like to talk about. If you need to go home for the day…” I could see she was about to protest. “Please, go. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  I didn’t want anyone to see the contents of the envelope, especially Brock. I reached over to my top drawer, pulled it open, and grabbed my cell phone. One person had been there when I was kidnapped and had seen me at my worst. I would let him know what was going on and try to have the case taken away from Brock.

  I swiped across my phone to unlock it and dialed Neal’s number. It only took a couple rings for him to answer, “Jessica, listen—”

  “Shut up. I’m still pissed at you. I need you to come get me now.” The phone was shaking in my hands.

  There was a long pause on the other end before he finally answered. “I believe Brock is on his way right now.”

  “I don’t want to see Brock. I want you to come get me, and if needed, I will stay at your house.” Not wanting to argue with Neal any longer, I hung up the phone.

  Time crawled by as I waited for Neal to show up. I was shutting my computer down when the door swooshed open. It was
Neal, but he wasn’t alone. Brock was with him. I wasn’t ready to confront Brock in person. I had hoped to get to Neal’s house and lock myself away before Brock arrived. Saying what I needed to say in person was going to crush him and me both.

  “Jessica, let me explain,” Brock said, coming toward me.

  I needed to stand behind my decision no matter how hard it was. I held up my hand, motioning for Brock to stop. He did immediately, and he looked lost.

  “Nothing you can say will change the fact that you withheld important information from me.” I was shaking on the inside. I needed this to be believable, but at the moment, all I wanted was for him to pull me into a hug and tell me everything was okay. But there was no way I was going to let him see those photos. He would never be able to look at me the same. He would only look at me with pity.

  “Jessica, I was doing it to protect you,” he demanded, pounding his fist on my desk.

  “No, you did it because you didn’t believe I could handle the truth. I was developing feelings for you, and you chose to hide important information from me, to treat me as if I were weak.” I was past developing feelings for him. Over the last few months, I had fallen in love with him. But I couldn’t say that now.

  It was too hard to face him. I would break down and run into his arms if I stayed in my office much longer. I reached down, grabbed my purse, and headed for the door. I had to dodge to the side when he reached out to grab me. I hurried my steps as I walked by him because tears were running down my face.

  I was leaving the man that meant the most to me because he didn’t need to see those photos.

  I motioned toward the door and tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. “Neal, let’s go.”

  When Neal went to speak, I shook my head, but Brock spoke instead. “This is not over, Jessica. Neal, take care of her. She means the world to me.”

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I hurried toward the elevator, not watching to see if anyone was following.

  Neal was the only one that got on the elevator with me.