by Kenya Wright
“You shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Actually, I should have brought this up long before. The problem is that too much has gone on.” He left the wall and walked out of the bathroom.
Hurrying, I shut off the water, took a towel, and rushed out. “Now I’m worried.”
“Don’t worry.”
The picture from the desk caught me. I remembered my other question as Misha dressed.
“What does this Hiro want you to do?”
“Shut off all the power in Japan.” He put on his boxer briefs.
“Holy shit. The whole country. You can really do that?”
“I should be able to.”
Terror hit me. I swallowed through it. “When you do it for them, you’re done?”
“With the contract for you.”
“And you?”
“We’ll see what happens.”
I rushed over to my suitcase. “How can I help?”
“Don’t leave me.”
I stopped opening my bag and turned to him. “Misha, I’m not going anywhere.”
Remaining silent, he stepped into his pants.
“I’m not.”
He shrugged. “I shouldn’t worry about that, but I do.”
“You shouldn’t.” I left my bag alone. “Okay. You’re shutting off a country to save my life.”
“I am.” He went to his closet and opened it.
“That’s. . .I don’t know what to say. . .Thank you?”
He glanced over his shoulder and smirked. “There will be ways for you to thank me later.”
In no mood to joke around, I went back to the earlier topic. “What is the problem with Valentina? Just tell me. Whatever it is, this thing must be weighing on your shoulders. Take it off. Make your load today lighter. I’m here to protect you just like you are keeping me safe. Tell me.”
He dropped his hands and turned to me. “Valentina had a little girl.”
I nodded. “Last year, Olesya told me that she was pregnant.”
“Before all of that, Olesya took Kazimir’s semen.”
I blinked.
“Olesya slept with Kazimir to get back at Valentina for breaking up with her. Apparently, Valentina only did it because she didn’t have a penis to impregnate her. But who really knows when it comes to Valentina? She likes drama.”
My head spun. “Okay. I didn’t think Olesya would have anything to do with whatever problem this was.”
“She’s the backstory to the news. One-night Olesya went to Valentina and they had sex.”
“Okay. They were always off and on. Very volatile.”
“She slipped Kazimir’s semen into Valentina.”
I tensed.
“At least that what she claimed to Valentina one night. No one knows if that is true.”
“She. . .” I shook my head. “O did what?”
“Horrified, Valentina rushed off and convinced me that Kazimir was sleeping with you.”
I touched my chest. “Me? How did I get involved in this?”
“Valentina knew that I was obsessed with you, so she lied to get me to do something for her. When I confirmed that Kazimir had left Olesya and your penthouse, I assumed Valentina was correct.”
I rubbed my head. “You didn’t know that Olesya was messing with Kazimir? He was the one who bought the penthouse and moved us in.”
“I didn’t know all of that until later. So. . .” He sighed.
So confused, my head spun. “What?”
“Valentina took me to my place and boozed me up. I was depressed and drunk. Had it been any other man that I thought you were with I would have. . .”
I blinked. “What?”
“I would have figured out a way to get rid of him.”
“You would have killed him?”
“Not all my solutions deal with death.”
I didn’t know what to unpack first. All I could do was stand there in a daze.
“But you supposedly were with Kazimir. I wouldn’t hurt him. So, nice and drunk, Valentina began to come on to me. . .”
Stunned, I hugged myself.
“We had sex and then she left.” He studied my reaction.
Shock and jealousy mixed inside of my head.
Misha continued. “Months later, I discovered that she was pregnant. I went to her. She refused to tell me if I was the father or not.”
“Why not?”
“Unfortunately, she thought it may have been Kazimir’s child. That night of sex with me was to give her an excuse just in case rumors were started.”
“But she didn’t know for sure?”
“She didn’t.”
“That’s why she killed O?”
“Yes. Several months after she gave birth.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. I didn’t know what I was expecting him to confess, but it hadn’t been this.
“A few days ago, I took the baby’s pacifier and sent it to a lab. I’m the father.”
“Does Valentina know?”
“I recently told her.”
“And now what?”
“Nothing yet. One must understand the difficult relationship that Valentina and I have. We despise each other, yet will fight anyone that comes against us. We loathe the other’s image, but will always care and support each other. We’re fucked up unrelated siblings.” He cleared his throat. “Now we have a child together. And I can’t think of a more nightmarish co-parenting situation.”
Stunned, I whispered, “You’re a father.”
“I am.”
A knock came.
Circuit yelled, “We need you. The power plant is presenting a problem—”
“I’m coming!” But Misha didn’t turn back to the closet. He studied me some more. “How do you feel about all of this?”
“How do I feel? That’s not my concern.” I blinked. “How do you feel? You’re a father. And it came unexpectedly with a person you dislike.”
He walked over to me. “You’re in my life which means. . .you’ll be in my daughter’s life. You’ll be around to deal with whatever my parenting situation will bring. I’m still not sure of how this will work with Valentina or what a father truly is. Surely, my father never presented a proper example. All and all, I just don’t want you to leave because of this.”
I gazed up at him. “I can’t walk away from you just because you had a daughter before me. That would be wrong.”
“It would be the choice of some.”
“She’s a baby. I haven’t seen her, but how could I be mad at her existence?”
He closed the distance and pulled me into his arms. “This is why you’re mine.”
I pressed myself against his hard body. “That was still a lot to unpack. Holy shit.”
“There’s no time to deal with that now. We have other rising problems.”
“Like shutting off Japan’s power? You have to get on that, Misha.”
“But I would rather—”
“Really, Misha? Focus.”
Groaning, he left my arms and hurried to the closet.
“Will people be hurt from this?”
“We’ll do our best to make sure no harm comes from this.”
“That wasn’t a yes or no.”
“That wasn’t a yes or no question.” He took out a shirt from the closet, hurried to put it on, and buttoned it up. “Don’t worry about any of this.”
“I can worry if I want to.” I returned to my suitcase. “I’m helping you with this. Whatever I can do please let me know. Even if it’s something as simple as making you a cup of coffee.”
“I do like coffee.”
“I’m serious.” I took out a pair of jeans.
“No.” He whispered from behind me.
Not knowing he was so close, I jumped a little. “No what?”
“Wear a dress and sit next to me. I want to be able to slip my hands under it and finger your pussy when I feel like it.” He kissed my cheek and rushed away.
Chapter 14
/> Misha
The philosopher Nietzsche said that “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
The internet served as the dark abyss—a mysterious space that had no form. Very liquid. Full of rising fog and the distant screams of those either being tortured or making love. One would never find out what the screams were about unless they dove into the black liquid and followed the noise—the dark web.
In the abyss, hackers represented the monsters. Sometimes the public loved them. When groups like Anonymous hacked into political machines and showed all their secret crimes, the audience cheered. Most of the time hackers were despised. They stole identities. They inserted viruses into banking corporations and polluted thousands of accounts. Love or hate, hackers were the heroes of techno romantic horror.
What else could people do with monsters? One could love a monster. That brutal evil beast could also love the person back. Still, the monster never changed. That was what made it a monster.
And hackers represented the biggest monsters of all.
I stood in my combat room with my hands in my pockets.
A map of Japan decorated the entire wall in front of me. The noise of typing filled the air. Circuit flanked my right. Naveen was on my left. Maxwell had gone up the stairs and through the bar to smoke.
Munching on a chocolate donut, Circuit pointed to the red blinking dots in Japan. “We have sixteen nuclear power plants spread across the island. The Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant is near Tokyo and one of Japan's first commercial nuclear power plants.”
Naveen leaned forward and looked at him. “Why is that important?”
I answered for Circuit. “Fewer bells and whistles. Much easier to hack into.”
Circuit munched on the donut and spat crumbs as he talked. “I say we get all of the nuclear plants around Tokyo. Shut that out and then—”
“Hiro wants all of Japan without power.” Naveen waved the comment away. “That’s what we’ll do. We’re not going to play around with Hiro.”
Circuit shook his head. “I don’t know Hiro, but already I don’t like him.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Naveen scowled. “This is about keeping Misha safe.”
“And Ava,” I added.
Naveen shrugged. “My loyalty is to you. Ava will have to grow on me.”
Carrying two cups of coffee, Ava strolled into the room. “I’ll do my best, Naveen.”
Naveen uncomfortably stirred on my side.
I turned to Ava, giving her all my attention. “Did you enjoy breakfast?”
“I did.” She handed Circuit and me a cup of coffee and then sat at the desk behind us.
Naveen glanced at my coffee. “I don’t get one?”
She shrugged. “I guess you will have to grow on me too.”
He frowned.
“I’m glad breakfast was good.” I turned back to the map. “And are you still hungry or—”
“We have other things to worry about.” Naveen cleared his throat. “I’m sure Ava can take care of herself for a few minutes while we attempt to keep Hiro’s blade out of your chest.”
Ava blinked. “Naveen is correct. Focus, Misha.”
Naveen quirked his brows. “Thank you, Ava.”
Setting my coffee down in front of me, I grumbled and directed my attention back to the screen. “Circuit, we start controlling all of the plants around Tokyo. Those go out first.”
Circuit finished his donut and sipped some coffee. “I believe that’s the best step. However, what about the other plants? Nuclear is fine, but Japan also uses solar, wind, and biomass.”
“We’ll deal with those too.”
Circuit pulled out his red towel and wiped his forehead. “Isn’t it enough to take out most of the power?”
Naveen glared at Circuit. “What part of shutting all of Japan off aren’t you understanding? Stop being lazy.”
“Lazy!” Circuit faced Naveen. “It’s easy for you to work so hard when all you have to do is stand and bitch. Let’s switch places and we’ll see—”
“If we did, we would see me do a 100 times better,” Naveen countered.
“Oh really?” Circuit laughed. “Then, why are you over there and I’m over here?”
“We’re both in the same room, dickhead.”
“Yes, but I’m the one that was put in place by Misha to run the combat room. You’re just a visitor.”
“Misha put me in place to run his security—”
“In America, not Russia.”
“Because he doesn’t need security in Russia. He has the entire backing of the Brotherhood—”
“Or he wants you far away to let me take care of everything—”
“Or—”
“Everyone put their dicks away.” I took my hands out of my pockets. “They’ll be plenty of time to measure them later.”
Ava chuckled behind us.
I glanced at Naveen. “Supervise the people watching the codes in Paris. What do we have on them?”
“The Devil is monitoring Jean-Pierre’s condo. He rented the unit below. They’ve brought equipment in and out of the building. They are preparing for us to go inside soon.”
I let out a long breath. “Are you sure the eclipse night will work?”
“We believe Jean-Pierre will keep the codes at his place.”
“Even though he doesn’t know he has them?”
“We now believe that Eden knows.”
I turned back to the screen. “We believe but we don’t know. Get a clearer picture.”
Naveen walked off to the other side of the room where five techs’ only job was to monitor the codes in Paris.
I looked at Circuit. “I want two people to solely keep their eyes on Hiro and his Xecutioners. He knows we’re watching. Good. Let’s continue.”
“I’m a step ahead of you. They’re already on him.” Circuit pointed to the pair in the corner, staring at their screens.
I walked over there. I would have rather stayed next to Ava and chatted with her, but these days would be my last in finishing up this craziness. When I arrived, I stood behind them. “Anything interesting?”
The redhead pushed up her glasses. “We’re inside his phone.”
“Hiro?”
“Yes, sir. Man A.”
“What do you hear?”
She pulled up a voice clip and handed me her headphones. When I put them on, she pressed play.
A woman’s rushed voice came on. “The Dragon will leave with the Tiger at 1 p.m.”
Hiro spoke, “Where are they going?”
“They’re taking the twins to the park.”
“Get everyone ready to go. Women and children first. Men next.”
“And if we don’t have time?”
“Trust me, Mom.”
The clip ended. Excitement coursed through my chest. I checked the time. We still had an hour and a half before 1 pm.
Mom? Why would Hiro’s mother be at the Dragon’s compound?
“Naveen.” I held the headphones up. “Listen to this.”
He hurried over and put on the headphones. “What?”
The redhead replayed the clip. Worry creased his face. He gave her the headphones. “His mother is with the Dragon?”
“This could be useful information.”
“Or dangerous.”
“We should keep eyes on his mother.”
Naveen held his head with one hand. “We’re not doing that.”
“Why not?”
Naveen sighed. “Misha—”
“Fuck him and his family. If I can’t end this contract, we’ll get a team in there. We grab his mother and—”
“Are you doing drugs?”
“Then we renegotiate the contract.” I winked and walked off.
He called back at me. “That wasn’t worthy of a wink, Misha. That plan would come with a suicide letter.”
“Draft o
ne after you get a team ready.”
“I’m not getting a team ready to kidnap his mother.”
“Just have one on standby. We may never need to use them.” I returned to Ava and sat down next to her. “Hello there. Are you waiting for anyone?”
She grinned. “My boyfriend.”
I put my feet on the desk and leaned back in the chair. “Is he a nice guy?”
“Sometimes. Currently, he’s doing big things all over the globe.” She took in all the screens. “Scary things.”
“Scary things? How could you have him as a boyfriend?”
“It’s hard not to want him. He’s seeped into every part of me.” She moved her attention to me.
“He’s under your skin?”
“And everywhere else it counts.” She gestured to Naveen. “Why is he worried?”
“I’m considering a chess move that could put my queen and king in a lifetime of danger.”
She swallowed. “Can I help with anything?”
“Stay by my side.” I took her hand and squeezed it. “Your presence keeps me calm.”
She bit her lip and went back to taking in the room. “I heard you call this the combat room.”
“It is.”
“And yesterday, Circuit and you kept saying Rainbow Hats. Is that what you call the people that work for you?”
I nodded. “Everyone at a computer is a top-notch hacker. In our world, there’s different colored hats that a hacker would wear. Most know of three main types—black hat, white hat, and grey hat. However, in here my people are a mixture of those colors and more.”
“I’ve never heard these terms before.”
“A grey hat hacker is what you see in the movies. Nerdy kid in his parent’s basement. Breaking into systems is his naughty hobby. He’s not good or bad. It’s like the hacker group Anonymous. They exploit systems only to make the information public and to bring to the limelight vast datasets of information that contain wrongdoings.”
“So, you’re not a grey hat?”
“Not at all.”
“But you started off that way?”
“I did.” I pointed to Naveen. “You would call Naveen a white hat hacker. He always did ethical hacks like testing existing internet infrastructures to research loopholes in the system. He creates algorithms to strengthen my system.”
“He’s security.” She bobbed her head. “So, Circuit is a black hat hacker?”
