The Price Of Secrecy

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Ravenna Tate

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-461-6

Cover Artist: Jay
Aheer

Editor:
Karyn
White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All
names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For
Lesli
Richardson and Trish Bowers, my BFFs. I hope you don’t mind that I put you both
in this book.

THE PRICE OF SECRECY

The Weathermen, 3

Ravenna Tate

Copyright © 2015

Prologue

In
the year 2112, weather researchers around the globe made history with a
computer program nicknamed The Madeline Project. The program used a complicated
series of electrical pulses to induce changes in clouds. The intention was to
prevent or lessen catastrophic weather events such as major floods, tornadoes,
and hurricanes. The first real-time test in 2116 proved moderately successful,
and the researchers continued to tweak the program, hoping for complete weather
modification one day.

But
something went terribly wrong in 2117, when a group of hackers gained access to
The Madeline Project and tried unsuccessfully to take it down it with a virus
they called Tommy Twister. The program took on a life of its own, and instead
of lessening the effects of weather events, it increased them to catastrophic
proportions. By 2118, over eighty-five percent of the Earth above ground had
been rendered uninhabitable due to the effects of near-constant and powerful
storms. And to date, no one has been able to stop The Madeline Project, or find
the hackers responsible for this devastation.

Now,
in the year 2124, Earth’s population lives underground in sprawling cities,
built during the nuclear war scare of 2072. Communication between cities and
across continents is only possible via the Internet. And the only people who go
above ground routinely are an international group of weather researchers and
storm chasers dubbed Storm Troopers. Their mission is to collect data during
the barrage of catastrophic weather events, in the hopes this data will assist
researchers in taking down The Madeline Project.

The
financial backing for these cities, the network of interconnected computers,
and the Storm Troopers is provided by a group of friends who met in college,
and who each built multi-million dollar communications and IT companies before
The Madeline Project went awry. They’re a powerful, wealthy, ruthless group of
men who take what they want, when they want it. They call themselves the
Weathermen…

Chapter One

Angela
Davidson stood outside the imposing whitewashed stucco building that housed
Greco Communications in the underground city known as CentralWest. Her knees
were knocking. How freaking embarrassing was that? It wasn’t like this was her
first job interview. She’d earned her IT degree six months ago and had gone on
five interviews so far. In the job market of the day, that was considered
exceptional.

She
swiped her tablet and glanced over the job description one more time, making
additional mental notes about why she was perfect for it. They wanted members
of a new team who were familiar with firewalls and knew their way around them.
Not much to go on, but if rumors were to be believed, this company was
searching for people who could trace individual IP addresses down to specific
machines. Piece of cake. Unfortunately, it was also that easy for anyone with
her skills and her degree. That’s why she needed to stand out this morning.

She
watched people enter the building and glanced down at her pant suit. Too
casual. Maybe she should have worn a skirt? Business clothing had gone out of
fashion in some of the cities, including this one, so she was actually
overdressed for most places, but not this company, apparently. Everyone looked
sharp and professional. There was no time to return home and change, so this
would have to do.

The
receptionist smiled warmly at her and asked her to key in her name, and then
she escorted her to a private elevator behind the desk. “This goes straight to
the top floor. One of Mr. Greco’s administrative assistants will meet you
there.”

“Thank
you.”
One of them?
How many did one
man need? Then again, Dominic Greco was a legend in the communications
industry. He and Arturo Charles Easton, or “Ace” as he was called, had divided
up the businesses that used their services once everyone had been forced
underground by the storms. They now controlled ninety-five percent of them
between the two, and their customers were loyal. Landing this job would be a
huge feather in her cap.

Not dressed like this you won’t.

She
could unbutton the top button on her tunic, but then her cleavage would show.
Well, he is a man, after all.
And not a
married man if his bio was true, but she’d rather land this job because of her
skills.

The
doors opened, and she had no more time to worry about her clothing, or the fact
that she’d actually considered enticing a potential boss with a boob flash. A
man dressed as impeccably as the receptionist gave her an appraising look.
“Miss Davidson, I’m Pete. This way, please.”

She
followed him down a series of twisting corridors that bore prints of
storm-ravaged plains and cities. How sick was that? Surely the man had lived
above ground for some time since he was forty-one years old. The cities had
been built before he was born, but as far as she knew, no one occupied them
until 2117 at the earliest. Why have prints like this on his walls? No one
needed to be reminded what was going on at the surface.

They
stopped before a set of drab gray doors that she swore were made of metal. Was
he expecting an invasion? Pete knocked, a voice called to come in, and then he
pushed open the doors and stepped aside. Pete closed the doors behind her
almost immediately.

The
room was flooded with light from the artificial outdoors. Floor-to-ceiling
windows dominated three walls, and she whistled before she could stop it. “Wow.
That’s some view of the city.”

“Thank
you. I’m pleased you like it.” Dominic Greco rose from behind a huge desk the
same color as the doors to his office. He wasn’t as tall as some men she knew,
but his aura made him appear larger than life. At her five-foot-three, everyone
looked tall to her anyway.

Dark,
wavy hair framed his chiseled face, and a five o’clock shadow made her nipples
tingle. There was something so damn sexy about a man who needed to shave a bit
closer. He wore a dark gray suit with a bright purple tie that screamed power.
The cut of the suit was perfect for his body, and couldn’t hide the obvious
muscles under the clothes. She wondered what he looked like naked, and had to
blink a few times to clear the images forming in her mind.

Dark,
piercing eyes regarded her with both amusement and appreciation. She smoothed
down her top, more to wipe the dampness from her palms than anything, and then
stuck out her hand. “Mr. Greco, I’m Angela Davidson.”

“I
know you are.” Up close, his eyes twinkled, and as he shook her hand she wanted
to fall to her knees and beg him to take her.

Where the hell did that come from?

“Welcome
to Greco Communications.” He pointed toward a large gray table in front of the
eastern expanse of windows. “Have a seat.”

She
took a seat and he sat across from her, then picked up a tablet and swiped it.
“Let’s see … here you are. Angela Marie Davidson…” He glanced up with a slight
smile. “That’s two saints’ names. Catholic family?”

Angela’s
pulse raced. She had once asked her mother why they’d only changed their last
name when they’d had to go into hiding, and she’d said because “Angela” and
“Marie” were common names. It was at times like these that Angela wished she’d
been old enough to insist on an entirely new name.

Had
he also discovered her former surname? Or the names of the men who could lead
him to her family’s true past? Dominic had unlimited resources. What if he’d
uncovered her secret?

Or
was he merely being polite because he thought he’d found a common connection
between them? He was watching her closely.
Too
closely. She had to say something. “Yes. Yes my family is Catholic.”

“Me,
too. Dominic Paul John Matthew Greco.”

She
smiled slightly, hoping he hadn’t noticed how tense she’d been a second ago.
“If you’d said Dominic Matthew Mark Luke John Greco I’d have laughed.”

“Don’t
even put that out there in the universe. My family is already weird enough. And
it’s good to laugh.” His voice was smooth and melodic, and she hadn’t expected
that. She’d always pictured him as a brusque man with a voice to match. “It
means you’re happy inside.”

“I
am happy. I’m also talented.” She peered at the tablet in his hand and took a
deep breath.
Time to sell yourself, girl.
It was also time to change the subject. “I don’t know on which site you’re
reading my bio, but I worked on a project for my thesis that included cracking
a firewall set up to match the one protecting a certain government agency. I
successfully—”

“I
know you did, Angela.” He cut her off, tapping the tablet. “It’s all here.
Your
very impressive resume, plus the firewall that only a
few in your class could get through, including you.” He leaned forward and
grinned, sending shivers down her spine. The gesture lit up his entire face and
made him even more handsome. “That’s why you’re here. I don’t interview people
who don’t already possess the skills I need on this team.”

He
put the tablet down. “What I want to know about you isn’t on your resume or in
your online bio. Words are cheap. I’m more impressed by actions.”

She
swallowed hard. “What would you like me to show you, Mr. Greco?”

“Dominic,
please. We’re as informal here as in the rest of CentralWest, even though I do
have a dress code inside this building.”

She
glanced down at her suit, heat rising to her face.

“I
wasn’t implying you’re not properly dressed for this company. You are.”

Score one for the outfit.
“Thank you for saying so. What
would you like me to show you?”

His
gaze played over her face and her breasts. Well, he was a man, after all, and
part of her had to admit she didn’t mind him checking her out. She should be
pissed off, but he was so fucking gorgeous she wanted to leap over the table
and kiss him. “That’s a loaded question.”

What?
He’d said it under his breath, but
she still heard it.

He
held up his hands. “Forget I said that. You might not want to work for me if
you think I’m sexually harassing you during the interview.”

She
wasn’t sure what to say. Was this a bizarre test of some kind, or was he simply
a jerk? She couldn’t get involved with her boss. Especially not a man like him.
If anyone could discover her real past, it was Dominic Greco. This was a
mistake. What was she doing here? Could he see the struggle on her face? If he
did, would he interpret it as discomfort from his suggestive comment alone, or
did he already know she was living a lie?

“I’d
like you to show me how good you are.” He swiped the tablet again, clicked
around a few times, and then pushed it across the table. “This is a test website
my IT lead and I built for interviews. I’d like you to go into the code, and
trace it back to the identification number of the machine that posted the
latest article.”

She
let out the breath she’d been holding. He’d only been testing her. Her past was
still secret, and he knew nothing more about her than what was attached to her
fake name. As for the test, it wouldn’t be difficult at all. “All right. How
long do I have?”

He
leaned back in his chair and crossed one ankle over the opposite knee. “As long
as it takes. It’s not a timed test. I merely want to see if you can do it.”

It
was too easy. What was the catch? This was the kind of stuff she’d been doing
before she was in high school. She took the tablet and found the code easily
enough, and then was so engrossed in her work she lost track of the time and of
her surroundings. She knew Dominic had risen from his chair at one point and
retrieved a glass of water for her, and one for himself, but she barely glanced
up and thanked him before returning to the task at hand.

When
she found the list of possible machines, she hit a brick wall. Or in this case,
a firewall. She glanced up and smiled. “Very ingenious.”

He
smiled, and her heart skipped a beat. What would it be like to look up into
that face and see that smile as he fucked her?
Stop that!

She
returned to the firewall. It wasn’t easy, but she finally got through it, and
then found the machine ID that had posted the article. With a smile on her
face, she handed him the tablet. “There’s the original machine.”

He
glanced at the clock. “Less than forty-five minutes. Merrick will be
devastated.”

She
wasn’t sure who Merrick was, or if forty-five minutes was good, so she said
nothing.

“Merrick
Anderson is my IT lead, and he’s the best there is. He designed this little
test for me, and together we built the firewall. No one who has broken through
it did so and found the correct machine ID in less than two hours.”

She
was still smiling when Dominic stood and walked around the table. Of course her
gaze went straight to his damn crotch. She had to force it to his face again,
where she realized he’d noticed her staring at his erection.
Oh, perfect.

He
held out his hand. “Congratulations, Angela. The job is yours if you want it.”

She
stood and shook his hand, which of course made her even hornier than she
already was. “Really? Oh, thank you. Yes. I mean that would be great.”
Oh my God, shut up!
“Will I be doing
that kind of work? I mean firewalls and machine IDs?”

“Close.”
His amused expression made her want to babble again so she dug her nails into
her palms to stay quiet. She could only hope he’d interpreted her verbal
diarrhea as enthusiasm, not the sign of an immature fool. “Come with me. I’d
like to introduce you to Merrick. He used to work off shifts for me, but I need
him during the day now. He’ll be your immediate supervisor once the department
is up and running at full staff.”

“Thank
you, Mr. Greco … I mean Dominic. This is a wonderful opportunity. I won’t
disappoint you.”

He
stared at her for long moments, and nothing in the office moved. Not even the
piped-in air. For a split second or two, she was sure he was going to kiss her,
but then the spell was broken and instead he smiled again. “I know you won’t. I
will be working closely with you until I hire the rest of the team, so we’ll
see each other quite often. I look forward to getting to know you better,
Angela.
Much
better.”

Those
comments, coupled with the flash of lust in his dark eyes, left absolutely no
doubt in Angela’s mind what Dominic meant. No doubt at all.