I looked over at Ari, her fingers moving so damned fast, I didn’t know how she hit the right keys half the time.“What are you digging into now?Do we need to discuss not breakingfederallaw?”
She smiled my way.“Don’t worry your pretty head about it, Rhett.I swear it’s for a goodcause.”
Anyone else who’d said something along those lines would earn a killing glare, but coming from Ari, it made me laugh.“That means you’re seven layers deep in NASA,doesn’tit?”
Her face twisted into a moue of annoyance.“NASA’s pointless.And no, I decided to go back to the beginning to figure out how all the pieces fittogether.”
The humor seeped out of my body like water through a handful of sand.“Back to the beginningofwhat?”
She looked at me again.“Everything.There’s gotta be a connection somewhere.I met Carlos a year and a half ago at a cocktail party that Esme made me go to with a bunch of Silicon Valley CEO types.Basically, arevenge of the filthy-rich nerdsget-together.”
As much as I didn’t want to hear about the guy, I was curious about her life.“And how did itstart?”
“That’s what I was thinking about.We were introduced by another CEO I was friends with.He was into nanotechnology, and I was trying to find worthy startups to take equity stakes in while I messed around with my facial-recognitionproject.”
For some reason, listening to her talk business was sexyashell.
“I thought that’s why he was bringing Carlos over, because he was a protégé who neededcapital.”
“But hewasn’t?”
She shook her head.“No.He was a very random introduction that night, and I couldn’t figure out why he was there.He clearly had money, but he wasn’t a geek who’d made good like the rest of us.We talked for a bit and that was it.He didn’t hit on me or anything.Actually, he left with my friend to have another round of drinks elsewhere, and I passed and went home to worksomemore.”
I pictured the scenario playing out in my head.“When did you see himagain?”
She looked at the ceiling for a minute, as if sorting through that filing cabinet in her head.“A week or so later.I was leaving the gym and literally bumped into him on the sidewalk on the way to my car.I dropped my protein shake and it splatteredeverywhere.”
Textbook move.“So he’d been doing his recon and figured out where you would be to stage a casual secondmeeting.”
She stiffened.“Youthink?”
“Did he take you somewhere to replace your protein shake as an apology, then strike up a conversation and leave after having securedadate?”
Ari’s eyes went big.“Yeah.That’s exactly whathedid.”
I finally said what I’d been thinking.“Textbook.If I’d been in his shoes and trying to infiltrate your life, that’s exactly what Iwould’vedone.”
“Infiltrate?That sounds so deliberate.You think it was planned from thebeginning?”
I threaded my fingers through hers.“You were a target.He followed a set MO that worked the way it was supposed to.None of that is something you could have foreseen.”I paused, something else occurring to me.“Did your nanotechnology friend know about the facial-rec softwareproject?”
Ari bit her lip as she considered.“Yeah, he did.We’d talked about applications and how to create an interface that could be used for public safety.”She turned toward me.“How did I not see this?He must have told someone, and Carlos swooped in and played me like a completeidiot.”
I plucked her laptop off her lap and pulled her into my side.“It’s not your fault.This isn’t something you should’ve or would’ve seen coming.There’s too much good in you to recognize motives like that in people who come across asstraightforward.”
She craned her neck to look at me.“Says the former cop to the hacker.Don’t you think I should’vesuspected?”
“No.Whywouldyou?”
“Because I didn’t have a lot of guys coming around trying to take me out on dates.After the first one, he got a little more aggressive, making sure he could fit into my schedule.”She shook her head.“I thought it was just the cultural difference, but now I realize it was all motivated by something completely different.And then he’d disappear for a while and pop back in, checking on my progress by casually bringing it up on another date.Gah, it makes me feel sostupid.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead.“There’s no reason to feelstupid.None.”
She stiffened.“I wonder if he’s behind the hacking attempts?It would be logical.Shit.What if he was trying to get his hands on the software before I figureditout?”
“Were the attemptssuccessful?”
Ari shook her head.“No, but they were aggressive, smart, and targeted.God, it makes total sense now.”She grabbed her laptop and resettled into her position, her fingers flying.“Now I’m even more determined to figure out what this asshole is up to.He’s not going to take my technology and turn it against the people I created it to help.No wayinhell.”