Chapter 47 Jagger
JAGGER
I knew they’d fucked as soon as they walked in together.
First of all, Cassie had driven herself into the coffee shop that morning.
And second, Hawk had gone to look into some kind of breach with her router, something his friend Marcus had told him to check.
Now they walked into the kitchen together, Hawk holding Cassie’s hand like they were coming home from prom instead of coming home from fucking.
The smug bastard.
I wasn’t the only one who saw it.
“Congratulations,” Vigo said, his mouth full of Oreos. “You’re a woman now.”
Cassie blushed. “Oh my god, shut up!”
“I hope you didn’t break our mouse,” Vigo told Hawk.
“I’m standing right here,” Cassie said.
I walked over to kiss her. “Feeling okay? He better have made it good for you.”
“Can we please stop talking about it?”
“Seconded.” Hawk walked to the fridge and removed a Coke and a beer, popped the top on the Coke, and handed it to Cassie.
She drank half of it one go I resisted the urge to suggest she drink water because she was probably dehydrated.
I was determined not to make the whole situation even more awkward for her by offering to run her a warm bath and bringing her dinner in bed, even though that was exactly what I wanted to do.
“Did you find anything out about Cassie’s network?” I asked Hawk instead.
I was pretty sure there was gratitude in Cassie’s eyes for the subject change.
Hawk pulled out one of the chairs at the island and Cassie sat, like they’d been doing this maneuver for years when until now, Hawk had made a point to keep his distance from her, like she was a drug that would seep into his skin if he got too close.
And maybe she was.
“Actually, yeah.” Hawk leaned his forearms on the counter.
“The network permissions were changed a few days ago, and if I’m reading it right, someone has been connecting to the network every day since.
Not for long, just a few minutes, but it looked like a ping to me.
I’ll send my notes and screenshots to Marcus, see what he thinks. ”
“What made you check my network?” Cassie asked. “I thought Marcus was a financial guy.”
“He’s a financial crimes guy with the FBI,” Hawk said.
“They have whole teams on this shit, and Marcus is only part of it. Financial crimes are usually only one piece of a greater whole. Marcus is used to having the network guys take over, look for security breaches that might be related to the financial crimes, shit like that. He just thought it was worth looking into.”
“And he was right,” Cassie said.
Hawk nodded. “He was right.”
“What does it mean?” Cassie asked. “What do we do next?”
“I’ll take it back to Marcus, see if he’s made any progress on the Kensington transfers,” Hawk said.
“And maybe the Kings turn something up on the money that was sent to Aventine,” I said. “If we can figure out what the money was used for — or who, specifically, it was directed to — we might have a lead on the Russian who hired Travis Dorsey.”
“You should also change your network settings,” I said. “And— ”
“Already done,” Hawk said.
“Good.” I looked at Cassie. “It wouldn’t hurt to change the passwords on your banking apps, maybe cancel your cards and have them issue you new ones.”
Cassie’s eyes went wide with alarm. “You think they’ll sell my data? Try to use my bank account or credit cards?”
“Not necessarily,” I said. “But if these people are as shady as they seem, you’re better off safe than sorry.”
“Dammit,” Cassie said.
I reached for her hand and squeezed. She didn’t deserve this.
“There is one upside,” Vigo said, scraping the last bite out of his cup.
“Please share,” Cassie said, “because I’m not seeing an upside to having someone hack into my network and having to cancel my credit cards.”
Vigo guzzled the Oreo milk at the bottom of his cup. “If they’re hacking into your network, they’re not close enough to fuck with you in person.”