Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
DELANEY RHODES TAPPED THE stylus against her tablet screen, barely paying attention to the firewall schematic in front of her. Lines of code swam into each other like an anxious current, and her brain had snagged on something it couldn’t quite name. A whisper beneath the noise.
Obsidian Analytics, the company she founded, was there at the request of the casino to do an audit of their security team, and so far, while she had been told this assignment should have been smooth as silk, it left something crawling beneath her skin like static.
Perhaps it was the cybersecurity summit going on at the same time, one they had invited her to attend while she was there as a bonus to entice her to take the job.
And she would, of course. Why not? It was a high profile conference with international stakes that could open doors for her and her company down the line.
She’d done bigger assignments, of course.
Dirtier and even hotter, but this might just be the opportunity she needed to take her company to the next level, even if Deke was completely against it, which he was extremely vocal about.
“You’re doing that twitchy thing again.”
She didn’t look up, her eyes still scanning the lines of code in front of her, looking for anything that didn’t belong. “What twitchy thing?”
“You know, the one where your mouth goes all murdery and your eye does this weird squint like you’re solving a conspiracy from season three of Homeland.”
She sighed as she scrolled through her tablet. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. And for the record, I prefer NCIS. That guy who took over for Mark Harmon. Yowzaa. You and I have been together for three years. You should know this stuff by now, Roman.”
Roman Calloway grinned as he pushed his wire-rimmed glasses back up his nose, showing how much of a pain in her ass he had been over the past few years.
“I call it like I see it, D. And what I’m seeing is your Spidey senses tingling.
Again. And that’s not good. You promised me this would be a calm trip, with no surprises.
I have the text to prove it too. I was looking forward to some slot machines, a few drinks, maybe finding a redhead to corrupt me. ”
“What is it with you and the redheads?” She shook her head. “And they’re not tingling.” She tapped a few keys as she pulled up the digital surveillance logs. “They’re… just concerned.”
“Like that’s a better description.” He shook his head.
She finally glanced up at him, exasperated.
He sat there wearing black-rimmed glasses with his hair too messy to be accidental, and possessing a sarcasm addiction that should’ve come with a twelve-step program.
The man looked like a college TA, even though he was in his early thirties, just a couple of years older than her, who’d just rolled out of bed and into a hacker collective.
Which, to be fair, was mostly accurate because that’s where she found him when she approached him about a job.
“I don’t get why they called us in now,” she said, dropping her tablet to her side.
“They got this big summit going on, which is taking up almost the entire hotel. They even called in another security firm to bolster their own men. Wouldn’t it have been better to wait until it was a quiet week to let us do the audit? ”
He shrugged, seemingly nonplussed. “Maybe that’s the point. They want us to see them at their busiest to know if something’s off or not. Easy to hide things when it’s quiet.”
She sighed. “Perhaps.”
“What do we know about the additional team?” he asked. “Anything we should worry about? And doesn’t the fact they had to call in extra help say something about their weaknesses?”
She moved over to sit in one of the desk chairs.
“I know they weren’t the first asked to fill the spot.
The casino asked for a firm called Garrison Security Innovations first, but they were shorthanded.
Instead, they recommended Silver Security out of New Orleans.
From what I gather, it’s a group of brothers whose sister works for GSI. ”
“Ah, nepotism. Gotta love it.”
“They’re good,” she said with a shrug, setting the tablet in her lap. “And I agree. If the casino’s own security is so underwhelming, why didn’t they simply replace them altogether? I mean, these people are not cheap muscle.”
“Neither are we.”
“That only adds to my point. They hired them to shore up their own security and then brought us in to make sure things were being done right. That’s a lot of bodies to have around unless there’s some intel pointing to a credible threat.”
“And you think there is one?”
She hesitated, looking around the room as she considered it. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of computer nerds here this weekend.”
“Present company included.” Roman sobered, sitting up straighter and pulling his glasses off. “You do know, don’t you? You’re just not saying it yet. That’s why all the twitching.”
A moment passed between them, the air laced with the hum of casino energy, muffled by thick conference room walls.
Downstairs, the slot machines spun and blinked like a never-ending light show, with servers walking up and down row after row, filling the gamblers with free booze.
Upstairs, international cybersecurity dignitaries gathered with billion-dollar secrets and the egos to match.
And somewhere in all that noise, something untoward waited. She could feel it. She just wished she knew what it was.
“I think I want to walk the floor one more time,” she said finally, pushing herself out of her seat.
Roman cocked a brow at her. “Thought we were doing server room integrity next.”
She gave a curt nod. “We are. Just after. I want to look at the setup on the floor once more.”
He studied her for a moment, then shrugged.
“All right.” He pushed himself out of the chair, sliding his glasses back in place.
“When you get that look in your eye, I know better than to argue. But if you see anything spooky, I’m demanding hazard pay.
I took this gig for a vacation. Not to actually work. ”
“You do remember I’m the boss, right?” Delaney shook her head as she shoved the tablet into her bag and swung the strap over her shoulder. “Come on. Walk with me.”
They exited the security command room and made their way down the long corridor that connected to the main casino floor.
It smelled like citrus and desperation, just like every casino she’d ever walked into where they pumped smells in to help give the gamblers a pleasant experience while masking the smell of mold.
Still, it was clean; the machines polished, the lights bright.
At least on the surface.
The corridor spat them out into the buzz and pulse of the main casino, the noise suddenly ratcheting up five levels.
Lights flashed in hypnotic rhythms as people leaned over their machines, growling at the spinning wheels.
Roman muttered something about the reek of body odor as he scanned the high-limit area, his hands stuffed into his back pockets.
They walked along one of the far walls, her eyes already scanning the room, looking for patterns broken or someone acting odd.
She swept her gaze over cameras and sightlines, examining access points as people moved around, ignoring her in their haste to find the right machine, the one that would pay off their losses and fulfill their dreams.
“Do you really think someone will try something with all these hackers around?” Roman asked. “Seems kind of ballsy.”
She scoffed. “Coming from a former hacker. Tell me this wouldn’t be a challenge too good to pass up.”
“True. True.” He bobbed his head. “But the consequences if caught…” He shrugged. “Not sure it’d be worth the risk, if you know what I mean. These people could fuck with your life good.”
She rounded a bend in the machines and noticed two men moving, easing their way down one row. However, they weren’t scoping out the machines or looking for the scantily clad server. They were looking up at the cameras, eyeing security guards, doing exactly what she was out there to do.
She eased a few steps further, keeping them in sight.
One man was tall with a lazy swagger, and the other seemed more compact and alert, both moving in sync but not too obviously.
They did nothing to draw attention to themselves as they moved, but they didn’t seem to care if someone noticed them, smiling and nodding at the people who glanced at them.
They weren’t gamblers, obviously. Nor were they wearing security or delivery uniforms. And she knew they weren’t from her team. So…
Then she spotted the badge dangling from the tall one’s waist.
Silver Security.
“Hey, look,” Roman said, pointing, obviously having noticed the badge at the same time as her. “Seems the other team had the same idea we did. Want to go say hello, let them know who we are?”
She stared, something sending a ghost of memory up her spine. There was something…
The taller man shifted, the light catching the familiar curve of his jaw, and her stomach dropped as her eyes went wide.
No fucking way.
His hair was a darker blond now, his build leaner than when he was in high school but still bulky as if he spent a lot of time working out, but she’d know that smirk anywhere. That crooked, cocky grin that used to melt her at fifteen and piss her off at sixteen.
Robert Jenkins.
Her pulse slammed into her throat as she grabbed Roman’s arm to keep him from walking any further.
And then Robert—Bobby—turned, his gaze locking onto hers for the briefest moment.
She turned in a huff, pulling Roman after her before her past could recognize her.
Or worse, follow her. Because even if her hair was different and she was a little taller than back then, with her curves more filled in, she knew one look too long and he’d know it was her, and she couldn’t let that happen.
She didn’t think she could handle it. “No. We’ll talk to them later.
We need to focus on something else. Let’s go… this way.”
And she pulled Roman down another row of slots before letting go of his arm.
Roman stumbled beside her before catching himself. “What the hell, D.?”
“Come on.”
He followed her without protest, trailing her down a narrower hallway between slot banks before catching up with her. “Okay, what the hell was that about? Did you know those guys or something? I thought we were going to introduce ourselves.”
She didn’t stop walking or even slow her pace. “Nothing. It was nothing.”
“I call bullshit. I’ve seen nothing, and that wasn’t it. That was an enormous pile of something.”
She exhaled hard, her heart still galloping as if she had won the Kentucky Derby. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I think you better before we run into them again. They’re with Silver Security, so it’s not like you’ll be able to avoid them while we’re here.”
She came to a stop, turning and leaning back against a wall, hands on her hips as she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I know that guy. Well, one of them. The tall one.”
“What? Date gone wrong?”
“More like a life gone wrong.” She took a slow breath, trying to get her shaking to stop. “He’s someone I grew up with.”
“What was he? Class bully or something? Bad date? You know, you never really talk about your growing-up years.”
“Yeah, not something I like to talk about.” It wasn’t anything she could talk about, if she were honest with herself.
“So I’ve noticed,” Roman said, pressing his lips together. But he didn’t press the issue. “So who is he? Some old flame? High school romance? Local boy with a bad boy streak and abs that didn’t quit?” He cocked his head to the side. “Was he your first kiss?”
Her glare didn’t stop him, and she really wished he would stop.
“Oh, this is amazing. Quarterback? Band nerd? Was he a farm boy and there was some hayloft action? C’mon, you can tell me. We’re best friends, remember? Besides, you know I’m not going to stop until you do.”
She exhaled slowly. “He was Bobby, and that’s all you’re getting for now. And I need him not to recognize me.”
Roman gave a low whistle. “Well, this event just got interesting, and I haven’t even found a redhead yet.”
She rolled her eyes, pushed herself off the wall with a bump of her ass, and headed back to the command room. “This is far from interesting.” It was a bloody nightmare. That’s what it was.
She ducked into a women’s bathroom, telling Roman she’d meet him in a few minutes. Leaning against the counter with both hands, she stared at the mirror and saw herself as she was fifteen years ago.
She—Julia Moretti back then—had never been kissed like that before, and it was everything she had fantasized about all year long.
When Bobby had finally kissed her, the world didn’t just fade; it burned completely out, like every star collapsed into the center of his mouth, and all she did was follow gravity.
She could have stood there, falling forever, as far as she was concerned.
They were in the back of his dad’s beat-up truck behind the county fairgrounds, the sweet scent of funnel cake and wet hay still clinging to the air.
The lights from the Ferris wheel blinked over the hill and Bobby’s hand rested gently on her hip, like he didn’t want to scare her.
Little did he know there was nothing he could ever do to scare her. She was his. She would always be his.
“You ever think about getting outta Tupelo?” he had whispered
She glanced up at him, her brow furrowed. “All the time.”
“Where would you go?”
“Somewhere with waves. The ocean. Where people don’t ask why you read books in math class.”
He leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “My little nerd. I love it.”
“And you’re a disaster.”
He kissed her again. “And you like that.”
She didn’t deny it.
The memory faded as she gripped the edge of the sink with white-knuckles. It had been fifteen years, and she was never supposed to see Bobby Jenkins again. She had been gone for fifteen years. Surely, he had forgotten all about her by now.
She looked at her reflection, knowing she had never forgotten about him because not only was he her first kiss, he was her last as well.