Chapter 2 #2
“Tristan believes the same thing. He brought in a team. They’re poring over all the information they can get. If anyone can figure it out, it will be him.” Adrian takes a long drink from his bourbon.
He’s stalling. It’s one of his tells; we’ve played enough poker over the years to know each other so well that bluffs are impossible.
“Good thing he’s on our side,” I remark.
Tristan Parker runs Parker Associates, a cybersecurity company based in Idaho.
He and Adrian met in college, and we tried to bring him on at JNG, but he had other plans.
Not that I’m complaining. Being able to call on his company, knowing they won’t hesitate to cross lines we can’t, has been our ace in the hole.
“I know there’s more. What don’t you want to tell me? ”
With a heavy sigh, Adrian closes his eyes for a moment before meeting my gaze and continuing, “The feds started a task force with Homeland Security. They’re combing through Jaclyn’s and Mercier’s offices, but they tracked him down, hiding at his parents’ house.
They’ve got him in custody at their New York office. ”
“It’s over, then?” I ask, hope thrumming in my chest, even as the pinched expression on his face tells me the opposite.
“Unfortunately, no. Our attorneys are trying to keep a lid on this, but it’s bound to leak at some point.
Andrew and Jaclyn are in the clear with the task force, but they want to interview all of us.
But as you said, this probably goes deeper than we’ve uncovered.
I don’t have a lot of hope that the task force will uncover everything. ”
“Tristan’s team, then?” I mutter.
We can’t avoid this in our line of work.
It’s the reason our parents moved to the mountain to raise their family—off-grid and protected—until we were old enough to handle the cut-throat world of technology.
But even they couldn’t have imagined what life is like now with AI.
Or the extent hackers will go to make a name for themselves using ransomware.
We’ve been lucky so far, but we would never be bulletproof, no matter how hard we locked things down. Adam and Aaric are the top security developers in the world, and even they couldn’t stop an attack from inside.
“If anyone can figure it out, it’s them. Between our security protocols and the extra monitoring Parker Associates had in place, Tristan’s taking it like a personal attack.”
So far, we’ve been able to keep all our work with Parker Associates lawful, white-hat services, but we’re not blind to the fact that Tristan’s business does even more work on the dark side—taking contracts for the government and the letter agencies that others can’t—or won’t. “I don’t wish his wrath on anyone.”
“I haven’t seen him like this in a while, not since they couldn’t rescue his client before he was murdered.”
I’m not close with Tristan, not like Adrian, but I remember how he was a few years ago during that time.
Adrian had to fly to South America and drag him back to Idaho to stop him from killing everyone involved.
Tristan changed after that. Not that I blame the guy.
I’m not a weak guy—none of us are—but I doubt any of us could have dealt with what he and his team walked into that day: their client beaten, neck slit, and lying dead in a pool of blood.
Our work is important, and depending on the type of application, anyone could twist its use and make it dangerous.
We work hard to ensure it doesn’t happen, but for all we know, someone has infiltrated our company for nefarious purposes.
It’s why I’ve been reviewing our financials, going back over the last few years.
If there is rot in a corporation, there are usually money trails.
“He’s that bad?” I’m concerned for more than Tristan. If he goes off the rails, it won’t be good for any of us.
“Not quite, but he’s fucking pissed off.”
“Should we be worried?” It’s not just us anymore.
We have women and children to protect. Our family has grown over the last few months, creating a larger target on our backs.
Thankfully, most of the marriages aren’t common knowledge—yet.
Andrew’s will be the first made public; there’s no hiding it under the circumstances.
“Are you going over to talk to Andrew?” I’m curious if he’s brave enough to interrupt our oldest brother on his wedding afternoon.
Adrian runs his hand through his hair and huffs.
“Yeah, but not until dinner time. Hopefully, if they get to spend the afternoon in wedded bliss while he fucks her brains out, he won’t be so pissed off when I interrupt them.
They’ll want to know—especially Jaclyn. I hate that she got tangled up in this mess. ”
“Agreed. Mess is an understatement. I can’t shake the feeling we’re missing something. So far, our financials are perfect, but I still have a lot to wade through before I can say we’re fully in the clear. So…unless you have more wonderful news to share, I need to get to it.”
I’m hoping he takes the hint when I drain my glass of tea. After opening the lid of my laptop, I hold my thumb over the reader until it clicks and activates the camera for my retina scan. Last week, we amped up our computers’ security measures, thanks to Adrian and Tristan.
As I reach across my desk for my glasses, where they had landed earlier, I slide them on. This is me trying to brush him off without saying, “Get the fuck out of my office.”
Adrian grins as he stands. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.”
“Thanks,” I mutter as he leaves my office. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s back or blowing up my phone every half hour just to piss me off.
I’ve always been vigilant—or anal, as my brothers call it—in scrutinizing the financials after I assumed the position.
After I graduated, I shadowed JNG’s CFO, Fred Cavanaugh, while I earned my master’s degree.
By the time I assumed the position and Fred retired, I knew everything there was to know about JNG’s fiscal health.
Or so I thought until Jaclyn uncovered the fiasco that has me questioning every transaction we’ve made in the last few years. Even though I’m a qualified forensic accountant, it’s the last thing I expected to be doing, but here we are.
So much has changed in a few months. I’ve never been fond of change; in fact, I abhor it. The only thing I despise more is a surprise.
Less than a year ago, we were just getting resettled on the mountain after ten years away, and now four of my five brothers are married.
As far as I knew, there weren’t any single women around—maybe a few in Maple Creek—which was fine with me.
Although I don't dislike my new sisters-in-law, I wasn't ready for these rapid changes.
My empty glass calls to me, but I’ve wasted enough time already. I open the 2026 folder on the screen, pull up January’s documents as I lean closer to the screen, immersing myself in the numbers and shutting out the rest of the world until the next interruption.