by Laney Kay
Daisy laughed. “It’s not your fault, Jake, I should’ve warned you before you came out here. Diego has a touch of a drinking problem, and he’s extremely fast.”
Jack nodded as he tried one of the stuffed dates. “That’s true. Last year, a patient brought me a bottle of Elijah Craig 18 year old bourbon and I brought it over here so we could try it. That stuff costs about three hundred bucks a bottle, and that damn little sneak drank two shots before I could stop him. Turns out, he has excellent taste in alcohol.”
Mark nodded as he poked Diego, who opened his eyes, but refused to get up. “You’d think that amount of alcohol would totally waste a twenty pound dog, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all.”
Harrison ate two of the dates in rapid succession. “I think he’s built up a tolerance. I’m surprised he’s tired now after just one beer.” He winked at her. “These are awesome, Daisy. Not as good as your red velvet cupcakes, but really good.”
She winked back and then turned to take the tray inside. “Y’all need anything else?”
Luke grabbed her around her waist and pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled her neck, making her giggle. “How about a little more of everything, but definitely some extra little ham sandwiches?”
She kissed him a big, juicy smacking kiss, and he lifted her back onto her feet. “You got it.” She turned to look at Jake. “Jake, you doing okay out here? Everyone treating you right?”
He grinned. “All good, Daisy. Your husband and his friends are nothing but hospitable. And, can I say, they are much less scary than all of you women.”
All of the men started laughing. At one time or another, each of them had been the subject of that female attention and they knew it wasn’t for the faint-hearted.
When Daisy went back to the kitchen, all of the dogs, even Diego, followed her onto the porch. She replenished the tray, and when she went back through the porch to bring the guys their food, the dogs were sprawled out on the rug under the heater, except for Diego, who had joined Sara and Lola on the glider, hoping for a little rum punch to round out his day of binge drinking. She dropped off the tray and came back to the porch.
Lola was curious. “How’s Jake doing with the guys?”
Daisy smiled. “He’s good. I think he’s very grateful there are a bunch of men here to hang out with instead of having to spend the day with just us.”
Lola snorted. “Please. What are we really going to do to him? Say mean things? Poor baby. I’m sure he can handle it.”
Daisy offered helpfully, “I did ask to see his ass. Maybe he’s afraid of being sexually harassed.”
Lola rolled her eyes. “Oh no. #JAKETOO. Hopefully he’s got a thicker skin than that.”
They all laughed and relaxed, petted the dogs, and talked about their upcoming week.
About forty minutes later, Mark came around the corner. “Ribs are ready, ladies, if y’all want to come on.” Daisy, Sara, Mo, and Bella went to get the side dishes from the kitchen, and Lola grabbed the pitcher of punch and the pitcher of tea, and they all went outside to the pavilion.
It took a few minutes for everyone to get settled down and start eating, and as soon as they did, Jake swallowed and waved his hand to get everyone’s attention. “Hey everyone, I got something to discuss with y’all.” He patted Lola’s leg under the table, because he knew she still wasn’t thrilled about telling everyone about her situation. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her, but she just kept her head down and kept eating. “First, holy shit these ribs are great, and I appreciate the invitation today. But I need to tell y’all about a couple of things that are going on that y’all need to be aware of.”
It got very quiet as everyone looked at Lola and then focused on Jake. Lola felt Daisy’s hand on her other leg, and she put her fork down and sat up, crossing her arms over her chest as Jake continued. “I don’t know if y’all heard, but Lola had a client that ended up dead at the national championship game.”
Harrison looked over at Lola. “That little weasely guy that was annoying you when we were trying to leave?”
Lola nodded. “That’s the one.”
“Well, he slipped a flash drive in Lola’s pocket that had some information on it that some people may not want to get around. We don’t really know who’s involved yet, but someone’s already broken into Lola’s office and there’s a possibility that she might be in danger, so she’s staying with me until further notice and she’s now under constant surveillance. The reason I’m telling y’all this is because you have all been friends for a long time, and although there’s no indication that y’all are in any danger, y’all would be the perfect people to mess with if they wanted to force Lola to do something. I want y’all to pay attention to your surroundings. If you see something or someone who makes you uncomfortable, I want you to let me or Mike know immediately. Don’t go off by yourself, and ladies, I would feel much better if you’d agree to wear one of these.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a box of Jerry Jeff’s tracking jewelry. “These are tracking devices so that we could find you if we needed to. Guys, I also have trackers y’all could put into your clothing, or shoestrings, just in case.”
Lola finally piped up. “If any of you notice anything out of the ordinary, I’ll put you under surveillance as well. If I thought any of you were in danger, I’d do it right now, but we don’t have any indications that’s the case. We’re sure that no one followed or tracked us here today, or we wouldn’t be here. Just please pay attention and please be careful.” She uncrossed her arms and squeezed Daisy’s hand under the table. “And now, let’s please eat and forget about all this stuff.” And with that, she dug back into her food.
But no one else started eating. They all exchanged glances and everyone still looked concerned. Harrison spoke up first. “Who are we talking about here?”
Lola shrugged. “As far as we know, it’s just a corporate issue at this point. But it turns out one of the corporate bigwigs is related to a member of a Mexican drug cartel, which probably means nothing, but I just don’t want anyone taking any chances.”
“I can’t imagine that we are an issue, but I don’t like that someone’s already broken into your office.” Luke’s brows were pulled together and his eyes were narrowed. “Jake, what are you and your people doing to make sure Lola stays safe?”
Lola groaned and dramatically dropped her head onto the table. “For God’s sake, I’m fine. I can take of myself.”
They all ignored her protest, and Jake could see their concern for her on all of their faces. “She’s got trackers all over her, she’s got a burner cell phone with no GPS, she’s not going back to her house because she’s going to be with me 24/7, there are two guys watching this house right now, and if anyone checks, she’s boarding a flight to California this evening and her truck will be at the airport.”
Lola looked at Jake incredulously and he shrugged. “Jerry Jeff took care of it this afternoon. One of our female employees who’s about your size will be made up so she looks like you, she’ll be driving your truck, and flying to LA. And Jerry Jeff will do a little magic so it will be your actual face that shows up on airport security cameras in Atlanta and at LAX, and your phone will be pinging off a cell tower in the middle of LA.” Everyone exchanged a look with raised eyebrows, but Jake just rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Don’t ask me how. Trust me, it’s better not to know how Jerry Jeff does half the stuff he does.” Although Lola made a show of looking exasperated, she was actually impressed at how thorough Jake’s company was being on her behalf.
“Look guys, she’ll be under constant surveillance until we figure this out. And if any of y’all see anything or feel uncomfortable about anything, tell me. We’ll make sure you’re all protected, too. If you need us, you can call Lola on her regular number, which is forwarded to her burner phone. Truthfully, this may be all be nothing, but until we know, I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and Lola dropped her fork on
the table with a clatter. “Is everyone happy now? Can we just eat?”
Jake could tell Lola had just about had enough of everyone fussing over her. He turned to the guys. “Hey, one of y’all pass those ribs over here.”
And with that, everyone started eating again, and Lola started to relax. Daisy caught Jake’s eye and winked at him, and he winked back. They ate and chatted, and within a half hour, most of the food was gone. After they cleaned up, they hung out on the porch and all of the women selected trackers and Jake showed them how to install them.
As Mo admired her new silver tracker earrings in the reflection on the window, she turned to the guys. “Hey, y’all need to put some of these on your clothes. Y’all could be abducted just as easily as we could.”
Harrison, all 6’9” of him, raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Really? You think it’d be easy to take me somewhere I don’t want to go?”
Mo rolled her eyes. “I don’t care how big you are, sweet pea. A gun is a great equalizer. If we’re going to use these, y’all need to do it, too.”
The guys exchanged glances, but they didn’t argue, knowing their women would harangue them until they did. They all took trackers to put in their boots or shoelaces. Once they were done, Jake asked everyone to take out their phones and program his number into their phones and then send him a text so he’d have theirs. They already had Mike’s number, and Jake told them to call either of them anytime.
He looked around the room. “Any questions? Y’all see or feel like something’s going on, you call one of us immediately.” Everyone nodded that they understood.
Jake nodded and smiled at them. “In that case, I think we’ll get going.” He stood up and held his hand out to Lola to help her up. “Thanks for dinner and the invitation. I really enjoyed meeting all y’all and maybe when it gets warmer, y’all can join us up at my lake house.”
Lola looked up at the ceiling and shook her head, avoiding her friends’ eyes. She knew they’d all be looking at her to see her response to his casual assumption they’d still be together in the summer. She tried to make her face completely expressionless as she finally met their eyes, but starting laughing when she saw Sara waggling her eyebrows at her. Sara grabbed Lola and hugged her and said to Jake, “Oh, I’m sure we’ll see you lots of times before then, Jake.” As she held her tight, Sara went up on her toes and whispered in Lola’s ear. “Just relax, enjoy yourself, try not to dump him because you’re freaking out, and please be careful.” She let her go and Lola nodded.
“Will do.” When Sara raised her eyebrows, Lola amended her statement. “I’ll try.”
Sara nodded. “Fair enough.”
Lola smiled back at her friends as they all hugged each other goodbye. “See y’all later. Thanks for dinner, and please be careful.” Jake took her hand and they left.
As they got into the car and buckled in, Jake smiled at Lola. “I really like your friends a lot.”
She smiled back. “Yeah, they’re pretty great. Nosy and intrusive as hell, but wonderful.” She turned to face him and put her hand on his thigh. “They liked you a lot, too.”
“Good.” He started laughing. “I can’t wait for my friends to meet you and your friends. We’re all buddies from college, too, so it’s just a big group of Bama fans. That should make for an interesting get-together.”
Lola figured it would never happen, so there was no need to worry about it. She just said smiled and said, “You’re right. That would be an interesting combination.”
Jake knew she was humoring him, but he let it go. He figured she’d been harassed enough by her friends about their relationship, so he picked up his phone, texted a message and got an almost immediate response. Lola glanced at him as he backed out of the driveway. “Was that B-Ray and Logan?”
“Yep. All clear.” He turned the car toward the highway and put on the radio.
“So they’ll follow us tonight and then keep your house under surveillance?”
“Yes.” He didn’t offer any other conversation, so Lola closed her eyes. They were just about to get on the highway when his phone rang. He answered it immediately when he saw it who it was. “Hey Mike. Got you on speaker. Something going on?”
Mike sounded smug. “I’d say so, considering I’m watching a couple of guys break into Lola’s place as we speak.”
Lola shot up straight in her seat, eyes wide, as Jake spun the car around at the intersection and headed toward Inman Park. Jake asked, “Mike, you at the office or at home?“
“Office.”
“We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Lola couldn’t believe this was actually happening. “Holy shit, Mikey, seriously?”
“Seriously. I was just about to head out and I got an alert that someone was accessing your security system so I accessed it myself. They did the exact same thing they did at the office, where they accessed the live feed and substituted a recorded feed, but they didn’t know about the backup system, so we’ve got them all on video.”
Lola was pissed, but was more upset to realize she was mostly creeped out at the idea of someone violating her space. “How did they do it?”
“They drove up in a white van that looks like a cable or phone repair van, tapped into the building’s lines on the street, and accessed the system. Two of the guys are staying outside by the box like they’re working on it, and two of them got in your garage and accessed your elevator.”
Jake didn’t like the sound of that. “They accessed her elevator? Mike, is that something we need to worry about for the future?”
Mike didn’t sound worried at all. “Nope. I changed this system so it was identical to the one at the office. Normally, I have countermeasures and protections that wouldn’t allow them to do any of this, but we wanted them to be able to access it without knowing we were on to them, so I made it so it looks like she has a decent home security system, but not a great one.” He sounded irritated. “And in the future, if she’ll use the system like it’s designed, none of this will be a problem.”
Lola clenched her teeth and refused to acknowledge Mike’s comment. “Whatever. Can you see what they’re doing inside?”
There was a moment of silence. “Hang on, let’s see. Okay, one guy is in your living room looking through your bookcase, and the other guy is starting to go through your desk.”
Jake honked at a typical Atlanta driver who was too busy on his phone to realize the light had changed. “You have sound, Mike?”
“Yeah, but they’re not talking, they’re just searching. Very thoroughly and professionally, I might add. If we didn’t know they were in your house, I don’t think you’d be able to tell. Everything is back in its original place and condition.”
Lola shuddered involuntarily. “Eewww. That is so damn creepy. I hate the idea of someone touching my stuff.”
Jake squeezed her knee and winked at her when she glanced at him. “We’ll take care of this.”
She crossed her arms and huffed out a breath as Jake whipped the car into one of the parking places outside her office building. “Yeah, I know, but it pisses me off.”
“Yeah, me too.” Jake grabbed his phone and took it off speaker as he turned the car off and he and Lola stepped out of the car. “Mike, we’re here and will be inside in a second.” Jake disconnected the call, and he and Lola headed inside and into Mike’s office.
As they rushed in, Mike waved his hand to two chairs in front of his desk. “Y’all sit.”
They sat, and Mike pointed over to the group of monitors on his wall. “There they are. Still searching.”
Two men, dressed in coveralls with an Atlanta Cable logo, were searching her living room. One looked like he was maybe Latino or Middle-eastern, with dark hair and dark skin, and he had moved from the bookcases to the drawers in the end tables in the living room. The other man, a big, blond, light-skinned man, sat down at Lola’s desk. He picked up a picture of Lola with Daisy, Sara, and Mo, and whistled as he looked at it. “Damn, this woman is ho
t, and so are her friends.” He smirked at his friend. “Depending on how this works out, maybe we’ll get a chance to meet and spend some quality time together.”
Jake’s jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed in anger at the comments, but he didn’t say anything. He looked at Lola. “Do either of them look familiar?” She shook her head, her eyes glued to the men invading her privacy. He looked at Mike. “You?”
He also shook his head. “Never seen either of them.”
Jake looked disgusted. “Me neither. We’ll send the video over to Jerry Jeff and let him run it through our program and if they’re in any database, we’ll find them.”
The blond man opened the boxes and file folders on her desk, and grabbed the bag she used as a briefcase off the floor and carefully emptied it on her desk so he could go through it. When nothing turned up, he replaced everything in the bag, exactly like he found it, and put it back under her desk. Finally, he opened her bottom desk drawer and found her jumbled collection of miscellaneous flash drives, so he turned to his partner. “Alex, I’ve got something. Get your laptop and let’s check this out.”
Suddenly, Jake jumped out of the chair and ran around Mike’s desk. “Mike, can you get into Lola’s local network without these guys knowing we’re on it?”
Mike shrugged. “Sure.” He started entering commands and explained how the system was set up. “When I programmed this system I made sure I had a back door in it that I could move in and out of the network without anyone knowing. I did it for security reasons in the event of a situation where I had to monitor an employee’s actions without them knowing.” He finished typing and stood up so Jake could sit down. “Here. You’re in. What are you trying to do here?”
Jake started rapidly tapping commands into the computer. “If he gets on her network, I might be able to get into his computer. I’m generally pretty good at tracking and accessing someone else’s computer, and maybe we could steal some of their information once they get into their system. Jerry Jeff and I designed a program that can access and copy an entire hard drive in minutes instead of several hours. Basically, it clones it. The best part is, we designed it for the NSA, so when you use it, it’s undetectable on their end and it doesn’t leave a trail. Once we’ve got the info, we can just dump it on our server and then take our time checking it out.”
