I shot up in bed, fumbling for the light switch to turn on the nightstand lamp.“What?Did they breach?Wait, you saidattempted.”
Esme’s voice joined the call.“They made it past the second firewall before the threat was contained and our adaptive security measures crushed them like the little roaches they are.”She had always been more bloodthirsty than Erik, so her comment didn’tsurpriseme.
“They got through the second?”I sounded like a demented parrot with my repetition, but shock had me fumbling for coherentthoughts.
“Yes, through the second,” Erikconfirmed.
“Whatthehell?”
“That’s what I said.No one has been able to get that far since you designed this system.”This camefromEsme.
“Whowasit?”
I didn’t bother to ask if they were able to trace it because it would be an insult.My team was good.I wouldn’t have hired them if they hadn’t been kicked out of Stanford for some creative grade switching, also known as hacking into student files and failing three guys on the swim team who wouldn’t stop harassing a friend of theirs.They were expelled, black marks solidly placed on their record, with no chance of getting a decent job with mostcompanies.
Except mine.I appreciated their sense of justice andcreativity.
“Some idiot savant in Miami who didn’t know how to cover his tracks well enough to hidefromme.”
“Get a name, get the information.Find out everything you can to determine why we weretargeted.”
“It might be another punk just trying to prove himself, you know?We’ve got a reputation as being impenetrable because of your genius brain, which makes us a big, beautifultarget.”
Esme had a point.By being virtually hack-proof, there was always an idiot out to test his skills against my security.So far, we’d napalmed anyone who had gotten past the first barriers, and this jerk-face would be no different.But it did worry me that he’d gotten furtherthanmost.
I took a deep, calming breath, inhaling the lavender diffusing at my bedside.Look for the opportunity when presented with a problem.That was how I’d built an incredibly successful business, and I wouldn’t let emotion get in thewayhere.
“This just means I need to get more creative and do some tweaking.It’s time to adapt and change, something I’ve clearly been neglectingthisweek.”
Normally, I updated my security protocols at least twice a week, but since being back in New Orleans, my schedule was off.It proved, once again, that complacency representedweakness.
While I had one big glaring weakness in my personal life who’d left me needing to take care of business myself tonight, I didn’t have them in myprofessionallife.
Immediately, my mind went to Carlos.Had he hired the hacker out of spite?Just to prove to me I wasn’t as good as I thoughtIwas?
Even though the possibility burned, I voiced it.“Check for any connection between the idiot savant andCarlos.”
“Really?Why would he want to ...”Erik’s questiontrailedoff.
“I dumped his cheating ass today.Cut all ties.Maybe this is his way of telling me that he didn’t like mymethods.”
“You go, girl!I never liked that douchebag.”Esme’s response was quick and to thepoint.
“And you never mentioned this because?”It came as a little bit of a surprise that she hadn’t shared her opinion sooner.Esme was nothing if notassertive.
“Didn’t you notice that I brought you celebratory sushi every time you flipped the switch to off-again mode?And I’m pretty sure I made enough snide comments about that ridiculous Lamborghini he drove to compensate for something he’s obviouslylacking.”
Thinking back, I remembered both, but I hadn’t made the connection.“Why didn’t you just come out and say it?You know I don’t pick up on hints.I would’velistened.”
Erik choked out a laugh.“Ari, no offense, but you’re about as good at taking suggestions on your personal life as you are attennis.”
Oh, he did not just mention “theincident.”
“That’snotfair.”
The phone went completely silent, telling me they hitMuteso I couldn’t hear them laughing.Assholes.
Nine months ago, the CEO of a very prominent Silicon Valley tech company invited me to play tennis with him as we discussed a potential project we could pursue together.My tennis lessons had stopped when they started costing money the summer after fourth grade, so my skills as an adult werebasicallyshit.