Chapter 9 #2
Logan rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, but we were hired to take care of his security. I’m just worried about the publicity.”
“There won’t be any,” I promise him as I lie down on the mat to do crunches. “There won’t be any mention of this in the media at all.”
“Fuck, Max, you can do that?”
I can do a lot of things Logan doesn’t need to know about. “Yeah, I’ll keep on top of it. I got that we’re not working for Rick anymore, but how much are we not working for him?”
Logan’s expression ices. “Not at all.”
“Do you want him to ever work again?”
“I don’t want to ruin his career,” Logan says.
“Okay.”
“Max, if I’d said yes, could you?”
“I could suppress mentions of him in the media. His movies would tank. It wouldn’t be long before no one would cast him.”
Logan runs his hands through his hair. “I—no, I don’t want to do that to him.
I’m angry and he took a couple of cheap shots at me, but I don’t want to fuck him over like that.
He might not be able to act again anyway if what he was saying about his heart comes to pass. I don’t want to add to his load.”
I’m not going to argue, but I might decide to fuck Rick over anyway. He should, at the very least, have his accounts frozen while he’s the subject of a money-laundering investigation. That’ll teach him to punch people with head injuries.
We move through the rest of the workout with only casual conversation until we’re finished, and Logan tosses me a towel.
“Manny mentioned you were reconsidering coming in with us?”
“Not reconsidering. I want to join you. I wanted to when you asked last year. It just wasn’t safe. I was tangled up in jobs for some guys I didn’t want anywhere near you and Man. But I’m done with all that.”
Logan’s eyes narrow. “What guys?”
“Guys you don’t know and don’t want to know. Hackers. Blackhats.”
“And you’re done with them?”
“I am. I’ve taken steps to make sure my security is solid. They’re not going to get me online and Manny’s got me fucking chipped like a dog so I’m as safe as I can be physically.”
“Did they make any threats against you?”
“No. They want me on a job. I’ve told them no. I’m never working for them again, which means I’m free to come in with you.”
“You know that’s what Manny and I always wanted.”
He doesn’t sound as enthusiastic about it as Manny did. “Yeah. You got any concerns?”
Logan shakes his head. “Sorry, I guess it just stung when you turned us down, but I’m glad you’re free of whatever was holding you back. I definitely want you to come in with us. Mac, too, if we can persuade him.”
“None of us ever persuaded Mac to do a single thing. He’ll come in with us because he loves you like his own.”
Surprise ghosts across Logan’s face. “You think so?”
“I know so. Want me to start pulling together a proposal for him?”
Logan nods. “I’ll do a set of contracts for the company. We need shareholders’ agreements and that kind of thing.”
“Sounds good. Shoot me over a set of financials.”
Logan suddenly envelops me in a sweaty hug.
I thump his back and then push him off me. “What was that for, ya swamp creature?”
“Manny’s great. He’s been my partner for years and I’ve always known I could trust him with the body man side of things. But you’re smarter than him and me put together and I’ve always wanted you on side. I’m damn glad you will be.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do it sooner. It really was to protect you guys.”
“Thank you for that. And if you have any trouble with those hackers, you have the firm’s full resources behind you. Anything you need.”
I sit down on the weight bench and consider how much I want Logan to know. If he’s going to be my business partner, he should know everything. What’s more, he needs to know to protect Emily and I finally get why he needs to so fucking fiercely.
Logan sits down facing me, propping his back against one of the stools to the bar. “Tell me,” he says. “It never leaves this room.”
“You can tell Manny and Mac whatever you think they need to know. This goes back to when we were in the Navy. When I was first assigned to our unit, I was mostly running comms. But after you left, I did more and more physical systems disruption.”
Logan nods, his eyes resting careful and without judgment on mine.
“DoD was using a physical security system called WEDGE back then, and that was the first system I was trained on. Both how to hack it and how to defend it. About a year on, the higher ups decided WEDGE had too many vulnerabilities and they brought in a new system. But they wanted to get their money out of WEDGE, so they sold it. Ex-military tech like that? It was hot. People all over the world bought it, including a bunch of warlords in a part of the world you and I know too fucking well.”
Logan sighs, probably remembering the same things about the hell of our time in the Gulf of Aden that I am.
“It was a win-win for them. They got back a lot of the money they’d invested in WEDGE and they had a bunch of trained monkeys who could break into WEDGE whenever they told us to.”
“Did you?” Logan asks.
I nod. “After I left the Navy, I was contacted by people who knew people. From the service.”
Logan nods. “Mercenaries.”
“Yeah. Do you know what isolated data is? Cold storage?”
Logan shakes his head.
“When you want to keep data really secure, you stick it on a computer and remove that computer from the web. You take out the wifi and Bluetooth and every way it can connect without a cord. That way you know someone like me can’t hack it.
That kind of data, the only way to get at it is to physically grab it. ”
“Okay,” Logan says.
“An IDR is an isolated data run. The team goes after the physical container of the data. Snatch and grab. It’s usually financial data.
Account numbers. Pin numbers. Passwords.
Terrorist financing shit. The mercs were hired to do IDRs.
They needed me to get into the places the isolated data was stored.
Turn off the CCTV. Disrupt drone coverage.
Open electronic locks. So they could go in and grab the hard drive or whatever the data was stored on.
I was good at it. Anything that had a chip in it and was running WEDGE, I could bring it down.
Some of them had even integrated it into their vehicles.
I compromised everything. People were hurt. Three kids died.”
Logan rubs his hand over his mouth. “We’ve both killed, Max. It’s not easy to live with.”
“No,” I agree.
Logan blows out a breath. “I’m sorry, mate.”
“I’ll never work for those fuckers again.
I thought they were doing it to help our guys over there.
Off the books support. But it wasn’t. It was for money.
Sure, we may have stopped a terrorist or two, but they were there to grab the account numbers and cash out.
They didn’t care about collateral damage.
I confronted the guy who brought me onto the team, and he said it was necessary.
We were doing the work that the boys in uniform couldn’t. But that’s not our work. It never was.”
“Don’t let some merc motherfucker twist what they’re doing with our service. Not for self but for country, Max. Always.”
“Non sibi sed patriae,” I say back to him, the Navy’s unofficial motto.
Mac drilled it into us. “I gave them the programs I used to buy my way out, but it’s not enough.
I’m sure by now the warlords who bought WEDGE have their own guys working on patches.
My original programs won’t work anymore.
The blackhats want me back. I don’t trust these guys not to go after people close to me if they get desperate, Lo.
Manny’s got me chipped. I think you and Emmy should be chipped, too. ”
Logan nods. “I’ve been thinking about wiring Emmy for audio. What happened with Miranda, and with a snotty little fucker at my club, is never going to happen again. She’s never going to be in another situation where I don’t know what’s happening to her.”
“I can help with that. I’ve got . . . someone who can monitor her.
” Poor Squid. He’s going to get an earful.
“I’m already wearing panic buttons.” I thumb the one in my ear and Logan lifts an eyebrow.
I don’t think he realized what it was. “The chip monitors my heartrate and sends a signal if it goes too low or too high.”
“Yeah, I like that.” I thought he would. “I’ll set it up with Manny. Is he monitoring yours?”
I nod. “Plus the guy I’d ask to monitor Emmy. He lives in Asia so he’s awake when we’re asleep. Works out well in terms of coverage.”
“Good. I’d want twenty-four-hour coverage. Bad guys don’t care what time it is.” Logan rubs the back of his neck. “If they take you, is it time to call the cops, or is it time to call De Leon?”
“Hell, Lo, tell me you’re not still in touch with that psycho?”
We crossed paths with Myles De Leon in the Gulf. Former SAS. Current nutjob with a sniper rifle. Logan bonded with him over British football, but the guy always looked like he was one bad day away from genocide to me and I steered clear.
“I am,” Logan says. “He’s Stateside now.
Living off the grid. He popped in to watch the World Cup qualifiers last summer.
He gave me a way to contact him and told me if I ever needed help with something I couldn’t handle through the ordinary channels to reach out.
He has a private plane. Can be anywhere in a few hours. ”
“It’s, uh, good to know you have a resource like that, but fuck no, if the bad guys snatch me, call the fucking cops.”
Logan chuckles. “Got it. I’d rather go through official channels anyway.”
“You need to protect your damn license.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure most of my clients would care, but it makes things easier when I need to get the cops involved.”
“Speaking of which,” I say in probably the least smooth segue I’ve ever attempted. “How about we stick to jobs that don’t involve the cops for a while?”
Logan runs his fingers along the still-ruddy scar running up his forehead into his hairline. “I’m all for that.”
“Manny’s got a couple of bodyguard jobs on the go, but other than that, I thought I’d hunt around for some straight physical security jobs. You’re good with strip clubs, right?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Good. I’ll line some up. Keep the money coming in while you heal and things calm down for me.”
Logan rubs his scar again before letting his hands drop to his side.
“In the interests of full disclosure . . . Manny already knows about this, so you should, too. The medical bills from my hospital stay in San Diego are big. My insurance company is still fighting it out with the cruise company’s insurer but in the meanwhile, there’s a debt collector on my back—”
“How much?” I ask.
“Forty-eight thousand.”
“I’ll cover it,” I say immediately.
“No. Thank you, Maxie, but no. Emily has some property in Scotland we’re selling. If it goes through, it’s more than enough. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to her but that’s a problem for another day.”
I shake my head. “I’ll cover it. You pay me back when Emily’s house sells.
I mean it, Lo. You’ve got enough going on that you don’t need to worry about a debt collector breathing down your neck.
If they do something asinine like start bankruptcy proceedings, it’ll fuck with your license and that fucks with all of us.
I have more than enough. Look at it as my buy-in to the company. ”
“Max—”
“Don’t argue with me,” I say firmly. “You’ve been there for me every minute since I finished basic.
I’d never have made it through that first year in the service without you and Man.
You’ve never let me do a single thing for you.
I couldn’t even get back in time for your parents’ funeral.
I’m doing this for you. Don’t fight me on it. ”
“Christ, Maxie.”
“Send me the details and I’ll make the payment today. This should be a company expense anyway since you were injured on the job. While I’m at it, I’ll look at a better health plan for the three of us. We should be fully covered for job-related injuries.”
“Manny is,” Logan admits. “I took a cheaper plan with a bigger co-pay because I’m not on the front line the way he is.”
“You were this time,” I point out. “And on the cruise job. We’re not taking any more risks with you, Lo.”
“I’m okay, mate.”
“You are now. But you weren’t.” I take a deep breath before admitting the extent of my invasion of his privacy. “I read your medical records from San Diego. I know how bad it was. They didn’t think you’d walk again—”
He waves a hand to cut me off. “You don’t need to remind me. I know I was lucky, and how much I owe Emily for taking care of me.”
“And finding you one of the best neuro-therapists in the city. I still can’t figure out how she got you in with Hendry. She’s booked out for years, man.”
Logan lifts his eyebrows. “I didn’t know that. I think Maude from my club had something to do with it. She used to be a nursing administrator.”
“Maude, the older lady who was here the other night?”
Logan nods.
“She pulled some big fucking strings for you.”
“Do I even want to know how you know all this?” Logan asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Probably not,” I admit. “But you were all the way in San Diego and Manny barely knew anything. You know me. I can’t deal with not knowing.”
“You hacked my medical records,” Logan says flatly.
I lift my chin. I’m not going to be ashamed for caring about my best friend. “I did and I’d do it again.”
“Chrissake, Maxie. Just tell me next time, okay?”
“I don’t want there to be a next time.”
“Yeah, me, neither.” Logan rubs his hands over his face. “All I could think of, as Rick was swinging at me, was that he was going to take me away from Emily. You’d take care of her, wouldn’t you, Max? I can’t leave her without a daddy.”
“I would, but it’s not going to come to that. You’re going to be her daddy for a long, long time. And you’re not going to let anyone distract you from recovering. Not Rick. Not the debt collector. No one. Let me fucking help, Lo.”
Slowly, he nods.