Page 11 of The Geek and the Sheikh

Junebug bit her lip. DW, or Dragon Wars, was a cool new game that had been released to a few Beta players six months ago. The developers were in Brazil and had an amazing line of miniatures that went along with the game. Junebug's right foot twitched as a silent tempo of nervous energy gripped her.

Her eyes flashed to the many windows she was monitoring before she made the decision. She was on vacation… sort of. It wouldn't hurt to play DW for a short time. Besides, it would give her a chance to chat with RC. The woman was always talking about the guys she was dating… or thinking of dating… and maybe RC could give her a few tips that might come in handy with Jam-man.

Let the games begin.

Alright!

Junebug checked her security settings, adjusted her headphones, tested her voice distorter software, and entered the game. She missed having multiple screens. It was hard to stay focused with just one screen and her phone. Her eyes kept drifting to the messages tab, waiting for Jam-man to contact her again.

It's only been an hour since you last messaged. Give him time,she thought as she countered an offensive attack by RC.

"Nice move!"

"Thanks. It's a pretty good level. I think they need to add more complex traps in the woods. That was too easy."

"I'll let them know."

* * *

London, England

Allison sat back in her gaming chair with a smug smile and turned off her mic.

"Got you—finally!" she crowed.

Her phone rang, and for once, she wasn't annoyed. She had good news.

Pressing her mic button, she quickly said, "Brb, Bugs. Work is ringing, and you know it'salwaysso urgent. Sorry, just a sec."

"K," Bugs replied.

Allison released the mic button, and Bugs' character started dancing and jumping while she waited. Allison's code continued searching for a weak point in Bugs' security in intervals that only lasted milliseconds.

"I'm connected," she told Andrius in greeting.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"I'm narrowing it down as we speak," she replied.

Andrius's savage curse made her wince. "I thought you said you were connected."

She wrapped one of the curls by her cheek around a finger and breathed. "I'll have her exact location within the next few hours. I have to be very careful. She is possibly the best hacker in the world. The last thing I want to do is to alert her to what I'm doing. I told you before, you have to be patient," she said.

A deafening silence met her admonishment. She forced herself to breathe normally as she waited.

"Give me her location within the next twelve hours, Allison, or my team will pay a visit to you," Andrius replied.

Allison breathed out slowly. "I'll get it for you," she promised.

The click on the other end sent a shiver through her. She slowly lowered her cellphone and looked at her computer screen. She knew the other woman was scanning the code from the game.

She would have just one chance at this. Leaning forward in the chair, she continued chatting with Bugs as they played. Her lips tugged in an amused smile when Bugs began asking her questions about what it was like to date a guy.

"Geez. Where has she been living, under a rock?" she muttered.

It took nearly twenty minutes before the code she had inserted into the game pinged an outside IP address.

She had Bugs' IP address! The virus deleted itself immediately. She needed that safeguard in case Bugs noticed it.

---