Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Bennett
She should have told me, but I understand why she didn’t. I tip my head back on my headrest and sigh.
“And you know this for certain?”
“Do you recognize the number?” she asks. “That’s definitely the cell that’s been facilitating the attacks.”
“I don’t understand why Leo would use his own number. Wouldn’t it be easier just to buy a burner and use that?”
“I can’t answer that,” Aarvi says. “But it’s definitely coming through that cell. I have no doubt about that. Always this time of night, early in the week. Everything tracks.”
“And Efa helped?”
“Without her, I would have had to come to you with my suspicions and you would have shut me down and we’d be making no progress whatsoever.”
“I wouldn’t have shut you down,” I snap.
“Bennett, you’re very loyal to your friends. There’s no way you would have entertained the idea that one of them had betrayed you.”
I don’t respond. I’m so careful with people I don’t know. So distant. But with my five best friends? I’m as open with them as I am with anyone.
“Is it possible that someone could be covering their tracks by using Leo’s phone?” I ask.
Aarvi doesn’t respond right away.
“Even if there’s a zero point one percent chance, I want to verify these findings,” I say.
“There’s a chance,” she says. “They could be routing it through Leo’s phone as a cover. It’s unlikely.”
“But possible.”
“Yes.” I can tell she believes it’s Leo, but she doesn’t know him like I do. “There are lots of reasons why he might be doing this. He could have run into money difficulties.”
“Leo’s got plenty of money.”
“But maybe he’s a gambler or has made some bad decisions. It could be sport for all we know. Plenty of attacks are just for the fun of it. But?—”
“You’re right.” I cut her off. “Let’s do some checks.”
“On Leo?”
“On everyone.” My friends are my safe zone. The people I can go to to let off steam about work or bounce ideas off. To them, I could admit when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted from my business or my life or whatever other area might be falling short of expectations.
But those five people don’t feel safe anymore.
Nothing does.
Aarvi’s right. I wouldn’t have believed her if she’d told me someone in my inner circle was responsible for the attacks. That would have been a mistake.
“Make sure you include Efa in those checks,” I say.
“Efa? That doesn’t make sense. She’s been trying to help.”
“Maybe,” I reply.
Maybe she’s been trying to push blame onto others. There’s no doubt these attacks started to worsen just before she blew into town.
“What do I need to know about her?”
“I’ve already had a security check done. Everything seemed okay, but I want her rechecked.”
“I’ll arrange that, but for what it’s worth, I don’t think she’s anything to worry about.”
“I like to deal with data rather than guesswork.”
“She’s never pushed me for any information at all. In all my dealings with her, there’s been nothing to make me suspect she might be part of the attacks.”
“Just check her out.” I don’t want to continue rehashing things. I’ll do that in the privacy of my hotel room tonight. “So next Monday, do we run the checks again? I can take the tracking device. That way, I know it hasn’t been tampered with.”
“We can certainly double-check.”
I don’t feel safe with my friends now, but I’m not going after any of them until I have definitive proof. “We need to be as sure as we are that water is wet. And then we need to triple-check.”
I haven’t told Aarvi about Tristan. But something about that situation didn’t sit well with me.
“Ever heard of Tristan Dubrow?” I ask.
“The hacker?” Aarvi asks. “Of course. He’s a legend.”
“Apparently Efa enlisted his help.”
“Wow. He doesn’t come cheap. How did she even know how to get in contact with him? It’s not like he’s got an enquiry form on his website.”
“A friend of the family, apparently.”
“That’s a big favor to call in.”
I push out a breath. So far, what Efa has said is consistent with what Aarvi’s saying. Maybe Efa’s concocting some elaborate hoax, but my gut says she’s told me the truth.
It doesn’t mean my anger with her has waned. It hasn’t. She should have told me what she was doing. I expect honesty from the people I’m close with. And especially from her.
She understands why people being who they say they are is so important to me. And still she went behind my back. God only knows how long she’s had this theory about one of my inner circle betraying me. Why wouldn’t she come to me? Why wouldn’t she say? I’m mad Aarvi didn’t tell me, but that’s a professional disappointment. Efa not saying anything cuts deeper.
“You’re convinced he’s one of the good guys?” I ask.
“Who really knows, but his reputation is for saving the day. He’s like a hacker superhero. They say he’s prevented Russia from doing all sort of nefarious things to western governments.”
I roll my eyes. A hacker superhero? “Why have I never heard of him?”
Aarvi laughs. “Coming from you? The ultimate hidden man? Anyway, it’s different. Hackers don’t want people knowing their identity.”
“Set things up for Monday. Then we’ll see where we are.”
“I’ll get the security checks run and set everything up for Monday…” She’s got something else she wants to say. I hate it when my team don’t speak freely. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place. I need people around me who don’t treat me as the boss. As the billionaire. That’s part of what had attracted me to Efa—she didn’t give a shit about my wealth or status. But she had a different agenda.
“What, Aarvi?” I snap. “You have to tell me everything.”
“I was just going to say that I’d happily stake money on the fact that Efa is on our side.”
I can’t think about that now. I just want to focus on catching whoever it is that’s attacking Fort.
I need to know , not just believe , who I can trust.