How to Hack a Hacker (Unholy Trifecta Book 3)

by AJ Sherwood

  Brannigan dried his hands off quickly and joined them. “I’m all ears.”

  “Three stage attack.” Carter tapped a finger to the paper filled with scribbles and messy handwriting on the table. “First, Kyou hacks their banks and phones. We start tracing everything they’re doing and where everyone is. We do this for two days until we find the time when the most people are at HQ. Probably sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Even hardened criminals tend to sleep by then. While Kyou’s working his magic, Ivan and Ari will do theirs. They’ll sneak into HQ and start planting bombs, something with a trigger remote. We’ll be careful to keep this just powerful enough to limit damage to the surrounding area. Third stage is cleanup. We’ll take anyone on that isn’t in the building at the time of the explosion. I expect this to take about four days. How does that sound to you?”

  Ruthless. That’s what it sounded like. Brannigan felt only vaguely uneasy about the idea of massacring an entire family. In truth, they were very bad people, so it was hard to dredge up true sympathy. He had only one real concern. Two, really. “Do we know if there are any innocents in the line of fire?”

  “Njet,” Ivan answered readily.

  “By that he means, yes we do know,” Carter clarified. “And no, there aren’t. No kids, at least. These are all adults.”

  Okay, that was a relief. “Second question, doing it this quickly isn’t going to put any of you in danger, is it?”

  For some reason, everyone smiled at him as if he’d just said something sweet.

  “No,” Kyou assured him dryly. “It wouldn’t even take four days if we had explosives on hand. That’s what’s adding a day on to this.”

  That gave him some relief. “Good. Uhh…not sure how to bring this up, but I feel that I should be paying for some of this? As it is my mess you’re cleaning up. Your time and expertise alone is invaluable—”

  Ari put up a hand before he could trot the full sentence out. “Your money is no good here, Genovese. Frankly, you’re too precious to Kyou. He’d be devastated if anything happened to you. For that reason alone, we’ll do this.”

  “But if you want to pay for the explosives and some of the gear we’ll need, that’s fine,” Carter offered. Carter struck him as the peacekeeper of the group. “It’s not going to be cheap.”

  Brannigan did feel better at this offer. “Yes, let’s do that. Hell, Kyou has access to all of my accounts, have him just transfer over what you’ll need.”

  “We’ll do that.” Carter rapped his knuckles on the table. “And that’s enough for one day. Let’s all relax, get some sleep. We need to be up and moving early in the morning to get all of this done. Ivan, Aiden, you want this side?”

  “Sure,” Aiden agreed easily. “You three taking the other?”

  “Makes the most sense to me.”

  “Beds are made up!” Remi reported, still tapping away at the laptop. “Brannigan and I did that earlier.”

  “All the better.” Ari went and scooped her out of the chair. “Come on, my little hacker.”

  Remi squirmed in his grip, still reaching for the computer. “No, wait, I’m not finished!”

  “Uncle Kyou will finish for you. And then promptly go back to bed.”

  “I had a nap,” Kyou pointed out righteously.

  Carter gave him a look that did not convey warm and fuzzy feelings. “Which means, what? That you’ve slept six hours in the past eighty? Go back to bed, you crazy man.”

  Kyou frowned at him and then ignored Carter entirely as he went to the computer. He settled in with the air of a man who did not intend to move again for a long time.

  Oh boy. Brannigan had no doubt Kyou would work all night unless someone intervened. Was the man just a workaholic? Was that the issue?

  Ari dumped Remi into Carter’s arms, which her other father accepted without even a blink. This exchange seemed to happen often. While Carter carried her out of this side of the duplex and into the other, Ari snagged Brannigan’s elbow and drew him to the far side of the kitchen. “Scusa, parli italiano?”

  “Si.” Brannigan was a bit surprised at the fluent Italian pouring out of the man’s mouth. Was Ari of Italian heritage?

  A little relieved, Ari switched entirely to Italian. “Can I entrust Kyou to you? He really needs a proper REM cycle.”

  “Yes, of course,” Brannigan assured him. “I know his habits by now. I’ll give him about three hours and then drag him up to bed. Again. Why is he like a toddler?”

  “We’ve questioned it for years. Really, I think it’s because he has anxiety. His way of coping with it is to focus on fixing the problem. When it’s fixed, the anxiety goes away. Sounds good in theory, right?”

  “It would even work if life wasn’t one problem after the next.” Well, that definitely explained a few things. “It’s fine. I think I have a good way to convince him to sleep tonight.”

  Ari’s expression politely said doubt in capital letters. But he shrugged as if he agreed. “Fine. I’ll leave it to you. And this goes without saying, but please don’t leave this house until we give you the all clear.”

  “I have no intention of it. I’ll work from here.”

  “Okay.” Ari gave him a slight smile before ducking out and through to the other side of the duplex.

  Brannigan eyed the man sitting at the computer for a long moment. Funny, how all of the others trusted him with Kyou. Just how much had the hacker told his family about Brannigan? Enough, apparently.

  Because he really did know better than to force Kyou’s hand at anything, he went and took a relaxing shower. Ivan had kindly brought everything Brannigan requested, so he had his own pajama pants to sleep in. He almost put on the sloppy, oversized Henley he normally wore to bed too, but a bit of mischief struck him and he left that in the bag. He had a few text messages and emails, mostly family worried about him, and he answered them as honestly as he could. He also sent some preemptive emails to people, nipping trouble in the bud so that he didn’t get panicked employees making stupid decisions. There, that should do it for the night. It had been a little over two hours, which was close enough.

  Plugging both devices in to charge, he wandered downstairs again.

  Kyou was hunched in his computer chair like a golem sorting through various bits, seeking for treasure. He grunted as Brannigan came up to stand at his side.

  What was on the screen didn’t make much sense to Brannigan. He didn’t expect it to, either. “Hacking their bank already?”

  “No. Setting up to hack and transfer everything. I don’t want to do it now, it’s the wrong timing for it. It’ll tip our hand.”

  “Ah. So actually, this is something you can do in the morning.”

  “Or I can get it done now and not have to worry about it later,” Kyou fired back, eyes still locked on the screens.

  Ari was right. Kyou really didn’t like to leave anything until later. Well, Brannigan had a way to distract him tonight.

  Without compunction, Brannigan seized the back of the chair and pulled it sharply backward from the desk. Kyou’s hands flailed in front of him as his balance was upset, and he growled in aggravation.

  “Bran, quit it!”

  Grabbing those hands, Brannigan pulled him up, then turned him so that his back was against the edge of the makeshift desk, caging him in neatly. Kyou’s hands flattened against his chest, as if to push him away, but the hacker didn’t move beyond that. He seemed frozen as Brannigan closed the little remaining distance, putting their bodies flush together.

  “Wha—” Kyou swallowed hard, a blush heating his cheeks as he looked up. He seemed to be having difficulty meeting Brannigan’s eyes. “What are you doing?”

  “We,” Brannigan said with weighty significance, “have a little unfinished thing between us, Kyou. For years we’ve been flirting with each other. For years you’ve been teasing me. We’ve got some privacy now. How about we settle that?”

  “S-settle?”

  “Sure. I, for one, would love to see wh
at kind of chemistry we’ve got.” Brannigan smoothed a hand around Kyou’s hip and up his back, the touch just firm enough to be sensual.

  Kyou’s breath shook as Brannigan closed in that last remaining few inches, putting them within kissing distance. Kyou seemed honestly torn between giving into the moment or wriggling free. Brannigan’s own blood heated up quickly at the idea of finally getting a taste of the man who had been driving him crazy for years. But he could tell from Kyou’s expression and body language that he wasn’t ready for this encounter. That it unnerved him.

  He’d half-expected this reaction. Flirting over a phone, or text, that was harmless fun. Nothing could possibly happen with a safe distance between the two. But he’d lay odds that Kyou was not accustomed to having a lover, and it would take a while for the man to wrap his head around the idea.

  So Brannigan paused, smacked his libido with orders to behave, and went with the safer option for tonight. “Of course, if you’d rather put that discussion off tonight, we can go to bed. Talk about it later.”

  Kyou nearly melted in relief, hands falling to his side as if he no longer felt the need to restrain Bran now that he was getting his way. “Yes. Later. Later’s good. Go to bed.”

  Brannigan didn’t budge. “I’m only going to bed if you are. If you’re still up, I assume you’ve got the time to…talk…about us.”

  Those dark eyes snapped up to his, and the blush faded from his cheeks. “You’re underhanded and manipulative. Are you really blackmailing me into going to bed?”

  “I’m a bad man,” Brannigan replied unapologetically.

  Kyou stared at him hard, judging his sincerity on this. Brannigan was perfectly sincere. Really, he’d win either way. Either Kyou would get some real, solid rest or he’d finally get a chance to seduce the man. (And hopefully wear Kyou out to the point that he’d sleep.) Either option was perfectly fine by him.

  Swearing, Kyou let his head drop back. “Fine. Fine, you win. Let me shut something down, get my web crawlers working. Set up a few alerts.”

  “You’ve got ten minutes.” Bran moved two steps back, giving him room to maneuver.

  “Fucking slave driver,” Kyou grumbled, going back to the computer. He didn’t sit down, just stood over the keyboard and pounded away at it. Brannigan waited nearby as he worked. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Kyou.

  He just couldn’t trust him.

  Kyou grumbled some more, locked the computer, then glared at Brannigan. “There. Happy?”

  “Ecstatic.” Brannigan made an elaborate after-you gesture.

  Huffing, Kyou stalked for the stairs, still muttering under his breath. He did stop stomping about like an elephant as he reached the second story, probably to avoid waking Ivan and Aiden up.

  Now a little sad that he was sending the man to bed mad, Brannigan caught him by the waist before he could disappear into his room. Kyou was ready for a fight, but he only closed in long enough to kiss the man chastely on the forehead. Easing back, he gave him a warm smile. “Buonanotte, caro.”

  Flustered, Kyou couldn’t seem to look at him. “Yeah. Uh, good night.” He escaped into his temporary bedroom and shut the door with less anger and more confusion.

  Aiden had been dead on the money, earlier, when he’d observed that Kyou wasn’t good at interpersonal skills. And if Kyou’d ever had a lover, Brannigan would shave his head. The man was far too shy for that.

  It seemed as if he had his work cut out for him.

  10

  Kyou

  Buonanotte, caro. Kyou knew what those words meant. He’d heard Ari say them often to Carter. He knew exactly what they meant. Why the hell was Brannigan saying them to him?

  “Fucking Italian men,” he cursed as he ripped the covers further back and flung himself into the bed face down. Against the mattress, he kept swearing. “Shit, shit, shit. Don’t they understand most of us have personal bubbles? That you can’t just stand that close and get all handsy? And now I’m all hot and bothered, thanks very much for that, and there’s no way to deal with it in a house this crowded and Ivan’s fucking bat ears, and…god, I’m going to kill him.”

  Brannigan Genovese was damn attractive. Kyou wasn’t blind, he could see that. It wasn’t that he was immune to the man. And yeah, he’d flirted with Brannigan for a while now because he couldn’t seem to resist flirting a little. He liked Brannigan, the flirting just kind of happened of its own accord. And what was the harm? Nothing would come out of it.

  Clearly, Brannigan had an entirely different opinion about that.

  Hell, Kyou’s entire family seemed to have a different opinion about it. Kyou hadn’t thought it a good idea to even meet Brannigan, much less attempt dating. And he knew Brannigan very well—the man didn’t do casual sex. He liked to be in a relationship. His use of caro spoke volumes. He wanted to date, and dating meant the whole lock, stock, and barrel, because Brannigan Genovese didn’t do anything by halves.

  This wouldn’t work. Kyou felt frustration rise, burning in him, twisting and tugging painfully. He slammed a fist against the mattress. This wouldn’t work—he was terrible at dating, truly lousy at it. He got sucked into work and forgot to do the romantic things. The two times he’d attempted dating had been unmitigated disasters, ending with both men frustrated with him. For good reason. Kyou hadn’t invested the time or energy into their dates. He’d been distracted the entire time. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been interested in them, either, it was just that protecting Brannigan and the others had taken up most of his time and attention. He hadn’t any mental energy to spare.

  His anger fell to a simmer and he lay there, feeling vaguely sick. If Brannigan ever broke things off like the others had—with such finality, with such cold expressions—well. Kyou wasn’t sure how he’d handle the aftermath, but it wouldn’t be good. No, better to avoid that road. How he’d convince Brannigan of that, he didn’t know.

  With all of these emotions tangling up in him, it left Kyou too wired to even think of sleeping. He gave up with a huff—it wasn’t like he’d wanted to go to bed to begin with—and on silent feet he snuck back out of the bedroom. Both bedroom doors across the hall were also closed, lights off, so odds were people were already asleep. Satisfied, he snuck down the stairs. He’d just get some more work done. Set up a few things. Maybe he’d settle enough to get a few more hours of sleep that way. No way he wanted to spend the rest of the night stewing.

  Halfway to his makeshift work station, two arms caught him around the waist and pulled him to an abrupt stop. Kyou had a split second of panic before a voice he knew well growled in his ear.

  “You are not going back to work.”

  Shit. Brannigan had not, apparently, been asleep. “You were waiting for me to sneak out, weren’t you.”

  “I had a feeling you would.”

  Resigned, Kyou let his eyes fall closed for a moment. Alright, how to approach this? “Let go, Bran.”

  “I really don’t want to.” Those arms tightened a bit more.

  His irritation rose quickly. “Fine. Fine, alright, let’s just get this out in the open. You want to see if we have chemistry, you said. If it’s sex you want, I’ll oblige you.”

  Brannigan went very, very still behind him. “Caro, if you think—”

  “Do not call me that,” Kyou snarled at him. With a wrench, he pulled free, spinning so he could face the man. “I know what that means. Ari calls Carter that all of the time. And I am not that to you.”

  Brannigan’s eyes narrowed, and Kyou’s stomach dropped out. He knew that face. When Brannigan got that expression on his face, mergers happened. Impossible deals were somehow made. People folded. Brannigan Genovese may be charming about it, but he always got what he went after.

  “You are not what? Dear to me?”

  “Don’t do that face,” Kyou pleaded wearily. “God, I hate that face. It makes trouble for me every time.”

  “Answer me, Kyou.”

  “You fucking know the answer.” Kyou was already d
one with this argument, but he could tell Brannigan wasn’t. He tried reason instead, hands spread as he pleaded his case. “Bran, I know you. You’re unreasonably attached to me, and you think, or at least you’re acting like, you want us to be together. You’ve latched onto me—”

  “Of course I have. You’re acting like you’ll disappear once this situation is dealt with.”

  Kyou shook his head. “It’s not disappearing, I’ll still be watching your back—”

  “You really think I’ll be happy with that?” Brannigan advanced on him, and there was anger there, burning brightly in those green eyes. “I’ve been advocating for years to meet you. It’s been obvious to everyone around us that I’m interested. That I want to date. Don’t tell me that you didn’t pick up on that, Kyou.”

  Kyou really wanted to curl up somewhere and avoid the rest of this argument. This was killing him by degrees. Why the hell did he have to be the responsible one? “I’m not the right choice. For you. I can’t be what you want.”

  Brannigan stopped dead, staring at him incredulously. His mouth moved once, twice, searching for words before he rasped, “That’s it. That’s the real reason, isn’t it?”

  “I suck at relationships, alright? I’m not a romantic at heart, I can’t focus on a person enough to really build a relationship with them, hell I’m not even really good at being a friend half the time. All I’ll do is frustrate you. I’m not right for you either. Shut the hell up! You asked and I’m telling you why. I’m a fucking criminal. I’m not like you, I’m not good enough for you—”

  Brannigan shook his head, a protest on his lips.

  “And assume we start dating, you realize what that means? I have fourteen- to sixteen-hour work days, not only because I’m hacking for the guys, but because I’m protecting you.”

  Those eyes went wide with surprise. “I knew you worked long hours, but Kyou—God, are you chained to that desk? Is that what you’ve sacrificed in order to safeguard me? Life itself?”

  “That’s what it fucking took. And you know, I’d do it again in a heartbeat because I don’t regret the decision, but you have to understand that there’s only so much time in a day. If I spend time with you, I sacrifice the ability to watch over you, to keep a lookout on your six. If I spend my time guarding you, then I eventually lose you because we’re not spending quality time together. Do you see? I lose you either way!”