Authors: Eliza March
Cade groaned. Where did she get the energy?
She popped out of bed, jiggling just enough to force Cade to avert his attention. Then she did that and more. They’d end up eating off each other’s bodies here in bed for at least a week if he had any say in the matter. He’d lost track of the number of orgasms she’d had, and he hadn’t been this randy since he’d been in his teens. Her lush, sexy body made him hard just thinking about her. Another groan escaped, but he squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the fruit and dips.
Actually, the chocolate tasted great when he dribbled it over her body and feasted on her, and he tried not to think about her leaving in the morning. Rowan took the first shower after they finished eating, and he planned to keep her until morning. Business may be off the table tonight, but he’d have another go at breakfast. He’d be damned if he could go back to Jason without at least having tried. And Emily…he didn’t even want to think what her reaction would be if she ever found out about this.
Rowan heard Cade singing in the shower while she dressed and grinned. He didn’t have a bad voice. Her good sense warred with her emotions and won. She had no intention of staying any longer. Cade was probably exactly what she needed, and was definitely what she wanted, but she didn’t dare take the chance of getting used to him. She couldn’t indulge in personal desires when so much was at stake.
Before the shower turned off, Rowan managed to slip out the door without a sound and disappear down the elevator. A note would have been nice, but it would have indicated she cared. This was cold, cutting, final. He wouldn’t be left with any delusions that he mattered.
London, UK
As soon as Rowan shut down and secured everything, she sent an encrypted email to Jacqui Lyle, the one person she thought she could trust…to a point.
“I completed the project I was working on and have the means to get Omega the information about a certain person of interest.” Referring to the arms dealer called Snake, the message pertaining to Grey Holden’s old archenemy would gather interest. “Let me know if Grey is interested. FYI, there may be another party interested in my program, perhaps two others. And BTW what more can you tell me about Mr. Hollywood, the hottie you sent to me. I discovered he was formerly CIA with a SEAL background, but the information flow stops there. And if you know of an organization with the means to protect this project, please let me know. The information could be dangerous in the wrong hands.”
Not five minutes later, her secure computer video-link called back. Jacqui and Grey Holden stood in the background with his wife, Athena. “Tell us about this program,” he said.
“The program I developed will provide me with the means to accomplish my goals.”
“At what price?”
“There is no price too high. That’s why I need a safe place for it. I can help you…now. I have the means to find Snake and his contacts.”
Athena stepped forward. “I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I’m sure if it’s what you claim, cartels all over the world will kill you to prevent you from selling it. You must see how the program is a threat to every major power and the hope for every minor one.”
“I do. Give me a name. No politicians.” Rowan held her ground while Grey and Athena exchanged glances.
Finally, Athena offered a name. “Emily DesJardins and Jacqui have worked together sharing information over the years. Grey knows her husband very well. Do not do anything foolish until we get back to you.”
“Rowan,” Grey said, “You know how much I want Snake…but not at this price. You understand? The cost is too high.”
“I need a test subject. It may as well be Snake. You’re going to bring the man down sooner or later. Allow me to help.” Rowan nodded and met him eye to eye through the camera lens. “I won’t take any untoward risks. That’s why I contacted you about Cade James. What does he really want and can he be trusted?”
“I can’t tell you anything other than I’d trust him and the people he works for with Athena’s life.” That was a level of trust Rowan hadn’t expected coming from Grey.
“Sorry I can’t tell you more, Rowan. You don’t have the clearance for either of us to explain. This once you should try trusting us.”
She did trust Grey, but with Cade, she didn’t trust her instincts. Her personal feelings interfered with her better sense. “You know I trust you.”
All three gave her an eye roll.
“I do!”
“Fine. Jacqui will be your contact.” Grey pointed to the screen right at her. “You will work with Cade on this. I will pay the test price for information on Snake. Cade will handle the rest. His company is ready to negotiate for the security system, and he will protect you from any other buyers.” He frowned and leaned on the table. “Do not go rogue on this one, Rowan. Snake’s methods are foolproof. Torture isn’t pretty.”
Grey cut the video feed and let Rowan stew over his words. She didn’t like taking orders, but he was right. She had to trust someone sometime. It might as well be Cade.
* * * * *
Rowan removed her right thumb from the pad and pushed the button with her middle finger—a security “F-U” to the world of the dark net she’d left behind years ago. The system identity scan needed one more finger print confirmation, and then the retina scan would take over. The eye recognition software she developed for the system’s security clicked on and zoomed in on her left eye.
“Rowan, keep me in the loop,” said a young male voice over the system speakers.
“I will,” she said, acknowledging her assistant, Groot Becker who was in her Netherland’s office. She kept her attention on the screen, carefully following the action. “Okay, Becker, I’m transmitting. Keep your eyes open.”
She’d developed COBRA without a pass code and kept the secret to herself, not only about the pass code but she was the only one with details about the program and the added security. Even Groot only knew about the touch codes. She’d brought him out of the dark net a few years ago, kept him out of jail, and although he’d probably die before revealing anything about her process, she planned to keep him in the dark to avoid that prospect. This was a dangerous game she was playing, and there was no point risking a loyal friend.
Code screamed across her screen as the first live test slithered through cyberspace—a series of numerals moving like hunters searching for prey locked on the intended system. Blinding the system, it infiltrated like a thief in the night, stole the data, and began gobbling up the program like a snake devouring its own tail. Almost instantly, it escaped and erased all evidence of being present.
“What’s happening? You send anything yet?” A voice out of space startled her back to the present.
She scrutinized her screen, checking her system, and realized she had succeeded in creating the phantom program that could mean disruption or total security to the cyber world the way world threat of annihilation from a nuclear winter kept nuclear attack at bay. Her program would stand guard against all future threats of cyber sabotage.
She stalled trying to think—to decide how much to share. “It could take a minute. What do you have on your end?”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Not even a shadow?” Did she dare risk Groot?
“No.” He sounded preoccupied while he tapped keys looking for a break in the system. “Nothing here at all.”
He was safe for now at her Eindhoven office, and he couldn’t be traced to her location in London. Both he and the startup business in Eindhoven had been part of her plan to develop techies out of former hackers, and eventually bring their talent into the mainstream cybertronics business.
“Just to be sure we didn’t miss anything, run the scan, Groot.”
“I am. The security isn’t picking up anything, either. The system is secure. Nothing has compromised our data or the system. So, did it work?”
She stared at the information from the system in Eindhoven scowling up on her screen. Groot was wrong, but she never planned for him to find anything.
“Rowan, did the program work?”
She couldn’t bring herself to involve him.
“Rowan are you there?”
“Aye, I’m here. But it didn’t work. Must be a glitch in my code. I’ll see what the problem is and get back to you next week.”
“Rowan? Hey…sorry, boss. If you’d let me see the changes, perhaps I could help.”
“You know I appreciate the offer, but the company I’m developing the program for wants complete security around this. I gave them my word.” He had no idea what the program was meant to do, and she intended to keep it like that.
Groot was a talented programmer, and she trusted him more than anyone she’d ever worked with, but not with this. Besides endangering him, she couldn’t trust this information to a nineteen year-old with bragging rights meant to impress some tattooed female gamer into bed. And so far, here was no client. This was her baby, and hers alone.
Rowan grinned, satisfaction warming her heart.
It worked. And was fast, too. She’d expected speed, but COBRA struck and recoiled quicker than even she’d anticipated. In less than a blink of an eye, the program located the target, entered, imprinted the data, spit it back, and blinked out. Laser speed, with no unnecessary drag time, when milliseconds could mean the difference between success and detection.
And the bonus…COBRA left nothing behind, no evidence it had ever been there. No shadow or trail to track back to the source. Groot Becker and their security system in the foreign office would have found it if it had been there.
COBRA did its job. It worked.
With the objective of the test completed, Rowan cleared the deck and shut down her system. The next time she ran COBRA, it wouldn’t be a test. The next intended purpose was stopping an illegal arms dealer and the miserable terrorists he dealt with. Snake’s client list and bank codes would be hers to sell to the Omega team, a paramilitary group that had been hunting Snake for years. Ironically, she planned to use the proceeds to benefit her children’s development charity.
Rowan chuckled as she picked up her bag to leave. The concept of Snake’s funds inadvertently doing good instead of creating chaos warmed her heart.
God willing, he’d never discover how or who had broken into his system, and the Omega team would finally have their revenge.
She’d need to contact Cade soon. Grey wouldn’t wait long before he took action. If she knew Jacqui, she was already informing Cade about the rumored bounty. Ugh, why couldn’t everyone just mind their own business? She had to think.
* * * * *
Jacqui contacted Cade securely on a private link to let him know what Grey had told Rowan. “I’ve picked up new chatter regarding the project Rowan was working on.” She warned him. “This time it sounds like several elements are putting two plus two together and coming up with Rowan. If you’re serious about keeping her and her project safe, you better convince her to trust you and IATO, now. Grey got off the vid feed a few minutes ago and he was pretty damn blunt. Rowan doesn’t like taking orders, but I think she’ll listen to your offer.”
What were the chances he could convince her if he hadn’t been able to get her to trust him before he slept with her? She was well aware of his reputation, and although he admired Rowan more for her persistence after their first meeting, even if she left him without a good-bye note, he wasn’t sure he could ever gain her trust. He’d have to be the kind of man who could talk about himself or stick with one woman for more than two nights. Unless…she learned to trust him for his honesty.
“Cade, there’s a price on Rowan O’Malley’s head. It’s high. IATO security needs to meet with our Omega team security.”
So it had come to this. Cade needed to think. The business deal was back on the table and the personal bullshit was on the back burner. COBRA and her life were more important than their feelings. He knew she’d agree.
“The COBRA project could mean either total disruption or complete security to the cyber world.”
“I know.” After all this, he still needed to get a hold of her work and convince her he could handle this.
Cade put all his private thoughts aside. “According to Emily, the other player who replaced U.S. Senator Adam Kincaid is effectively brokering a deal to provide the IMTC (International Muslim Terrorist Coalition) with a computer code to shut down any and all technology without being able to trace it back to the source. Planes, trains, and automobiles, all power grids, military technology, cellular systems—?”
Jacqui interrupted him. “That would be Rowan’s COBRA project.”
Cade’s stomach dropped. “It can do all that?”
“Probably more.”
“How close is she to completing it?” he asked, hoping to steal a little more time.
“It’s done, Cade. She called me today…wanted me to cut a deal, well not exactly me. She wants to negotiate a deal with Grey and Omega. They want you on her. In any case, she is in danger, serious danger. She’d be the only one with the password she created who the coalitions could use to get into the system.”
“Can she protect herself as well as she claims?” Cade hoped the answer was “yes.”
“Rowen O’Malley comes from generations of rebels. Even though the IRA backed out of terrorist activities before she was born, she trained with her father and grandfather. There isn’t anything she doesn’t know about bomb making or subterfuge, and she certainly knows all the players. Even the new players answer to the old regimes. Recruiting tactics and hiding in plain sight, training and diversionary methods and practices are all part of her like a second skin. She has the international hidey-holes to disappear in and contacts if she needs them.”
Cade felt a little better knowing she had the knowledge to take care of herself if things got dicey.
“How did she get involved in the legitimate business world?” For some reason he believed he needed a detailed profile of this woman if he was going to work with her.
“Her father recommended she focus her efforts on gaining power by making money with technology. And she did. Rich, powerful, skilled, brilliant, and beautiful…her depth of knowledge of cyber terrorism could be deadly or the answer to your worst nightmare.”
Jacqui’s words paralleled his own thoughts and sent a chill down his spine. Rowan was an anomaly and after spending just the short time that he had with her, he was certain he could bring her around to believe in his team.
Maybe it was time to contact Mosel Reinhardt—he corrected himself—Ivan Reinhardt. She knew Ivan. Mosel, who formerly posed as an illegal arms dealer, faked his death while actually working for IATO, and had recently been reborn as his drug-dealing twin brother in Amsterdam. The international playboy was an undercover member of IATO who’d once had dealings with Emily and Jason. Maybe with Reinhardt’s help Rowan could be convinced the organization was legit.