Page 21 of Passion

With the business we were in, we made some enemies, but never anything that made me worry about my safety. Though, with the rollout of our new cybersecurity initiatives for public transportation, we’d caught heat from the FAA and certain airline representatives. Still, none of that was as serious as having someone follow me.

I tried not to let it bother me much. Hector turned into the parking garage, where he pulled to a stop near the elevators. I thanked him for giving me a ride and climbed out of the back seat, phone in hand. When the black sedan that had been trailing us pulled into the garage, I was ready. I snapped a photo with my phone’s camera and saved it. The driver passed my car and exited the garage on the other side of the building, out onto the street, and vanished.

Hector climbed out and stood next to me. “You had photo?”

“Yeah, I got it. I’m going to see if my security guys can find out who this clown is.” I pocketed my phone and patted Hector on the shoulder. “Have a good day, man. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

Hector smiled broadly and clutched his cap in his hands. My staff was easy to please and wonderful to work with. Hector was one of my favorites, willing to please and eager to do so. I left him standing by the car as I entered the elevator and rode it up to the offices, letting the question of who was following me tumble around in my head. I didn’t have service in the elevator, but as soon as I stepped off the thing, I sent the picture to Frank, my head of security.

“Good morning, Mr. Smith.” Tina’s cheery voice greeted me before she joined me on my walk toward my office. Her pointy heels clicked on the floor of the foyer until we stepped onto the new carpet. “You have a board meeting in twenty minutes, followed by a call with Señor Bertruccio from Portugal about the security patch. After that, you?—”

I waved her off with a flick of my wrist and she silenced herself. “Get me Frank on the line, will you? I have something to discuss with him. And thank you, Tina, for making sure you are on the ball with my itinerary. I’m good on this morning’s details. Let’s chat after the board meeting, before the conference call with Portugal.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll get Frank for you.” She turned and headed back to her desk, and I continued to my office. Before I even sat down, my line was ringing through. The phone chirped until I pressed the intercom button. “Sir, Frank on line one.”

“Thanks, Tina.” I loved how efficient she was. Time was money, and she knew how I didn’t like to waste either of those things.

I sat and picked the receiver up. “Frank?” I waited for his grunt acknowledging that he’d heard my voice, then I continued. “That photo I just sent you, can you clean that up a bit, maybe toss that plate number at your detective friend? That car was following me on the way to work this morning and I want to know who it is.”

“Sure, no problem. I’ll get on that immediately, and I’ll get back with you as soon as I hear something.”

I knew I could count on him. “Thanks, Frank.”

I hung up and put the quandary out of my mind for the moment. It would only distract me from the focus of today’s board meeting. Henry was likely already waiting in the conference room, and I promised him I’d be at this meeting, so I collected my files and headed that way. I found him reclining at the table, scrolling his phone as he waited. He perked up when I entered.

The view of the sky out the stretch of windows revealed a gloomy day. We were expecting a few thunderstorms this morning that would give way to sunny skies later today. It made the room less cheery, but also less blinding with so many windows. Henry wore his usual suit, but his coat was draped over the chair next to him.

“Luke, buddy, this meeting is going to knock the socks off the board. Our investors are pleased. We have major growth projected for the fourth quarter because of the deal with Portugal.”

“Yeah, I have to talk to Bertruccio later. I think we’re going to make this one a slam dunk.” I dropped my files on the table and headed straight for the Keurig to brew a cup of coffee.

“I still can’t believe the damn code you wrote in college when you were nothing more than a hacker is paying off so well.” Henry joined me at the coffee station and selected his own K-cup, holding it in his hand while I used the machine. I poured my cream and sugar into my cup as the coffee started to stream from the spout. I loved the smell of fresh-brewed coffee.

“I can’t believe you can’t believe it. I mean, we were hacking circles around everyone back then. You know that. The professor had to ask us for help so many times.”

“Yeah, I know.” Henry chuckled. “But most people never thought we had it in us. Hackers don’t amount to anything but thieves or maybe CIA agents.”

I rolled my eyes at him and waited for the last few drops of coffee to fall into my mug before I lifted it to my lips. Henry immediately lifted the lever and took out my pod to replace it with his. I turned and leaned on the counter, staring at the raindrops that began to speckle the window.

He was right. No one had expected us to do as well as we had, and it came down to a major hack I’d done on some government software—by their order, of course. They’d selected me from a list of potential candidates. Most of my rivals went to CalTech or MIT, but I had bypassed those flashy names and chosen Georgia Tech, mostly because it was close to home.

I left Henry to make his coffee and sat down at the table, ignoring the files I brought. My mind was elsewhere yet again. Prepping for the board meeting wasn’t necessary because the topic was something I knew inside and out. I reminisced for a moment about my college days and how long ago that seemed. Then I thought of Vera and how she was roughly the same age I was when I finished college. That seemed like a lifetime ago to me, but she didn’t seem that young.

Henry had cautioned me about dating a woman so much younger than me, and I disagreed. I felt two souls should be free to fall in love no matter how far apart in age they were, so long as they were both consenting adults. Love is love, and age is just a number.

I stared out the window and wondered what Vera was doing right at this moment. Her photo shoot was supposed to have been outdoors, but maybe they moved it inside or they would reschedule for this afternoon. I almost reached for my phone to text her and ask what she was doing but the board members started to file in. One after another, they found their places at the table and started small talk, the hottest topic being the weather.

I got a text from Frank that said,Private investigator… more details later.I scowled. Who would have hired a private eye to do a workup on me?

“You ready to start?” Henry gripped my shoulder. I felt him standing behind me. I had to focus on the meeting first, and then I could call Frank. Whoever was looking into me wasn’t going to be happy when I started looking into them.

17

VERA

“Alright, now chin up, look toward the ceiling over there.” The cameraman pointed behind his left shoulder and then aimed the camera at me. I did exactly as he requested, praying he’d let me take off these damn heels soon. The heat of the lights—no fans to cool me off—was making me so sick to my stomach that I might hurl any second.

“Excellent, a few more.” The camera shutter clicked furiously, and I tossed my hair. I hadn’t done a shoot forVoguein months, but they needed someone to do a perfume spread. It required several shots of me with the bottle in hand or dressed in the right color. I thought it would be nice when we were finished.

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