Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
ELIJAH
W e leave my building in silence, heading out into the sunshine and busy lunchtime rush. I look over at the woman next to me.
What the hell is she doing here?
I know from my siblings she’s been finalising her wedding plans, had flown to the US last week. Not that I’ve been keeping tabs on her.
I curse Gabriel under my breath.
Who the hell does he think he is?
In fairness, I’ve no one to blame but myself. In an effort to rebuild bridges and reconnect, I was the one who confided in him, shared what was going on. What did I expect the most rational of my siblings to do? Sit around on his hands? He warned me. I just didn’t think he’d follow through.
His friendship with Pen is solid. She was the first person to bring him out of his shell. It’s recently emerged that Gabe, like Pen, is a gamer. As is Leah. Something else they all have in common.
It shouldn’t have surprised me. When I first brought Pen home, Gabriel found a kindred spirit, both intellectually brilliant and outside societal norms. She talked to him, got him building his own computer at thirteen, challenged him.
Pen takes off down a different street, and I turn to follow her.
“Care to tell me what that note was all about and why we couldn’t talk in my office?” I ask, calling after her.
Pen stops and looks at me. Her eyes scan our surroundings. I want to roll my eyes but refrain.
“Not here. Wait until we get to the restaurant. And for god’s sake, take that damn scowl off your face. You’re meeting a friend for lunch, not facing a firing squad.”
I open my mouth, but before I can say anything, she pushes me into an alleyway and reaches into her pocket. She presses me against the wall, her hand in the centre of my chest. An unexpected warmth radiates through my shirt, where her hand rests.
I stare at Pen as she pulls out a handheld device and switches it on.
“From what Gabriel said, you suspect espionage.”
“It seems like my brother dearest has said quite a lot.”
Pen looks up, her dark brown eyes locking on mine.
Fuck she’s serious.
I remain silent, wondering if I’m about to be pranked by a TV reality show.
“Elijah, concentrate,” she says.
“On what?” I ask.
The heaviness that has sat in my stomach and chest for the past two days returns with a vengeance.
“I don’t have time for this. I need to work, not play spy in whatever your latest fantasy game is.”
“This is far from a game. It’s also not outside the realm of possibility that your office is bugged. Listening devices and cameras are a real thing.”
I drop my head back and stare at the sky, counting to ten.
This is the help Gabriel sent me? Conspiracy Theory 101?
When she moves the device around, my patience snaps.
“What the hell is that thing?” I ask, motioning to the flashing device in her hand.
She looks up and rolls her eyes. “It runs interference. If anyone has bugged you. They’re getting a nice lot of static right now.”
I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “Are you being serious?”
Pen raises her eyebrows and shoots me one of her looks. One that tells me I’m the na?ve one here. I’d laugh if I wasn’t so stressed.
“Fine, I’ll play along.”
I roll my shoulders, hoping to relieve the tension that’s building up. At this rate, I’m going to be suffering from a major headache.
“In all honesty, I don’t know what I suspect. When I saw Gabriel, I was in shock. The more I investigate—yes, there are discrepancies. Someone or someones have definitely been messing with code using my login, and the changes are outside our project’s scope. I was attempting to decipher the purpose of those changes when you interrupted.”
“Did you get anywhere? Find anything conclusive?”
I shake my head, happy to be back on a more realistic train of discussion.
“All the changes are time-stamped with my login, therefore easy enough to track. If you want to class that as a positive.”
I look once more at the flashing device in Pen’s hand.
“You really believe someone may have bugged my office?” I shake my head. “There’s no way, security is tight.”
Pen crosses her arms over her chest and waits.
Her note, cryptic conversation about lunch. The way she spirited me out of there before we even drank our coffee.
Shit!
“I agree.” She sighs. “But we can’t discount anything and we won’t know until it’s been swept. The problem is, if there’s a camera, then doing so, may just tip them off. They may have bugged your office to gather information. See what you know.”
I run a hand down my face, my jaw clenching. I replay yesterday’s conversations. Did I give the game away? Tip their hand?
What? Am I really jumping on board with Pen’s conspiracy delusion?
Pen squeezes my arm, capturing my attention.
“Don’t panic.” She goes into her bag and pulls out a watch. “Put this on. When you get back to your office, walk around. If it vibrates against your skin, then it’s found something.” My face must give away my disbelief because Pen shrugs. “This is a precaution. I’m sure I’m being overcautious,” she says, but something in her tone tells me she doesn’t believe she is.
I shake my head and pinch my arm, hoping I’ll wake up.
Nope, shit, looks like this is real.
Since Caleb’s wedding, Pen has haunted my dreams, but this one is exceptionally bizarre. Pen barging into my office waving spy gadgets at me, is new-level crazy even by my standards. I really am losing the plot. Maybe Todd is right. I do need a break.
“The gaming community is highly competitive. As a company, we run sweeps regularly,” she adds, patting my arm before dropping her hand.
As if that explains everything.
I pinch the bridge of my nose to stem the growing headache. My mind is all over the place, having suffered a sleepless night. I’m not sure I can deal with Pen and her conspiracy theories on top of everything else right now.
I step around Pen and make my way back onto the main street. Needing to put some distance between us. Pen appears next to me, putting the device back into her pocket, still activated.
“Let’s grab some lunch,” she suggests. “I take it you forgot to eat breakfast this morning?”
My stomach growls in response, and Pen chuckles. I sometimes forget how well she knew me. Although my forgetting to eat in those days was rare.
“Come on, I know a great place.”
I follow her to one of the nearby restaurants. Pen snags us a corner booth in an American Diner replica.
“Missing American cuisine already?” I ask drily, only to be rewarded with a grin.
Pen knows I’m not a burger and chips kind of guy. Years of training at Olympic level, I’m cautious about what I put into my body, carefully balancing my diet.
“No.” Pen laughs, her eyes locking on my face, sparkling as she takes in what is no doubt a scowl. “This place serves the best shrimp in London,” she says, handing me the menu. “See for yourself.”
I take the menu. She’s right. The food here looks good.
It’s not long before the waitress comes and takes our order. I copy Pen. She knows I have a weakness for shrimp and seafood. Especially as my daily workout means I need to consume a vast quantity of protein.
Shrimp improves my mood, and right now, I could do with a mood enhancer.
We remain silent until the waitress is out of sight.
“It’s okay, we can talk freely.” She pats her pocket.
Ah, her cloaking device.
“Pen. I don’t know what you think you can do, but I’ve reviewed a large portion of the code changes. There’s nothing obvious. I’ve also checked. The firewall and main security code appear untouched.”
Pen shakes her head as our waitress delivers our drink.
“The code changes have to do something. Or someone has gone to a lot of trouble for nothing,” she says, eyes losing focus, a habitual response to deep thought.
“As I said before, I was investigating when you arrived.”
“So you said. You also said you hadn’t got very far. Two heads are better than one. That’s the reason I’m here.”
One look at her expression tells me I will not win this battle. I have to admit, Pen is one of the best coders I know, or at least she was. If anyone can decipher the additional code, it will be her.
“Shouldn’t you be planning your wedding, attending a dress fitting?”
Pen scowls. “For your information, I was. Until someone called and said I was needed.”
I’m being an ungrateful jerk. I can do with her help, I’m not getting very far by myself and time is running out.
“Fine, you can look.”
I sigh.
Pen grins. “I was going to, with or without your permission,” she says, just as our food arrives. “I didn’t travel all this way for nothing.”
I grunt, making her chuckle. Damn woman, why is she so perky? I think I preferred the moody Pen of old. It’s like we’ve done a bloody role reversal.
We finish our lunch in relative silence. I have to admit, Pen is right, the food is good, and I was hungry.
While Pen excuses herself to go to the restroom, I settle the bill, much to her disgust.
“Look, as you pointed out. You’ve flown all the way over here to help me.”
“But you didn’t ask me to.”
“No, but you did it anyway. The least I can do is buy lunch.”
“Well, thank you.”
Despite our differing upbringings, Pen always insisted on self-reliance and financial independence. I still remember our late-night arguments over me buying us takeaway when she wouldn’t leave the lab to eat.
As we make our way back to the office, Pen stops me, turning me to face her. At six feet, she is one of the few women I don’t have to crick my neck to talk to.
“We cannot do this in your office. My presence is going to raise questions.”
I fold my arms over my chest.
“I’m not giving you access to my server, Pen. That’s like opening the door.”
“It’s not, I promise you. Trust me on this.”
“Why?”
Pen’s expression falls. “Will you trust me if you find a bug in your office?”
“How can I be sure you didn’t place it during your earlier visit?”
“Because you saw me the whole time. My chair was the only place for planting it. That’s why I didn’t move around. I had a feeling you might be suspicious.”
We stare at each other. Am I suspicious? When did our relationship become so distant? When did I start looking at friends and question their integrity? My life has gone to shit.
“You’re engaged to my biggest competitor,” I say, trying to defend myself. “You could spy for him or be planting something.”
“That’s true,” she says, surprising me when she doesn’t protest. “I can also turn around and walk away now if you want me to. But Elijah, I could never hurt your family. Ever. Kris is my fiancé, yes. But Kat is one of my closest friends, and Gabriel is my silent partner. Your mum is like a second mother, and your father?—”
Her voice catches. The death of my father devastated Pen as much as it devastated the rest of us.
I know what she says is true. My entire family loves Pen. Sometimes, I wonder whether they love her more than me. But then, there hasn’t been much to love in recent years.
“Okay, if I find anything, I’ll think about it.”
Pen nods her affirmation at my words.
“I’ll leave you here. If the watch vibrates, do not show any emotion. If they’ve planted a camera, you don’t want them to know you’re onto them.”
A crowd of people walks past us.
“How about dinner at my place? I know Mum would love to see you.”
I frown. Pen opens her eyes wide, clearly hoping I catch on. Will Louise be there? It’s been a while since I saw Pen’s mum.
I roll mine and say with a hint of sarcasm, “That sounds great. Lottie is with Darra. I’d appre c iate some company.”
Pen bites her lip to hide her smirk at my lack of enthusiasm.
“Great,” she repeats, her smile wide. “I’ll get out of your hair,” she says, moving towards me.
She wraps her hand around my neck and pulls me forward. Her breath against my ear, doing strange things to my heart rate.
“Here,” she says as I feel her hand move to my pocket, pushing something inside. I freeze as a shot of desire shoots straight to my cock.
What the…fuck!
Pressing a chaste kiss to my cheek, oblivious to my state, she whispers, “Plug that into your computer. It will check for malware.” She steps back and smiles, declaring, “I’ll see you later at mine. Oh, and can you bring my case? I left it in your office.” She turns and heads towards the kerb, raising her hand to hail a taxi before I can say anything else.
My hand goes to my cheek, where her lips have imprinted on my skin. I stare into space, wondering what the hell is going on in my life, willing my body to calm down. This is Pen. Pen’s engaged, soon to be wed. Not someone who should be on my radar. She was my friend, is here to help. It’s clearly been too long since I spent any time with the opposite sex.
I push my hand into my pocket and pull out two items. A memory stick and a gate fob.
It looks like it’s dinner at Pen’s.
I make my way back upstairs and wander around the room. The watch on my wrist vibrates as I move past my bookcase and again near the sofa in the corner.
Shit! I’m becoming as paranoid as Pen.
I sit at my desk, staring at the place I discovered the bugs. I hope she has a plan. My mind is presently stuck on the spin cycle. What the hell is going on? Turning to my computer I plug in the memory stick before hitting the prompt that appears. I sit back and watch as a program runs, checking for whatever… when it finally pings, I shudder. My own fucking laptop camera has been spying on me. I slam it shut and run and hand down my face before remembering what Pen said.
I need to remain unaware .
My stomach churns, and my lunch threatens to make a reappearance. I take some deep breaths before reopening my computer and the file I was looking at before Pen inserted herself into my morning. It’s going to be a long afternoon.