The group collectively sat forward in their seats, looking at Sam. Logan was more than a little aware of the way his breath seemed to be anchored to his lungs right now. He didn’t move as he watched Sam squirm in her seat.
“Spill it,” Chad said and he seemed to be dividing a look between the two women as if he didn’t care who told the story, so long as he heard it.
Logan felt the same way. He wanted to know what was going on and he wanted the story now.
“When we came back from spin class yesterday, someone had been in Sam’s locker. Nothing was missing, but her things weren’t where they’d been,” Jennie said.
No one seemed to question that Sam would know whether or not things were moved, and Logan didn’t question it either. He already knew her well enough to know that she had a spot-on memory. If she said things were moved, they were moved. Logan caught Chad’s eyes and the men came to a silent agreement.
Logan tipped his voice into a more casual register. “Probably nothing. You just left things a different way than you thought you did,” he said at the same time as he brought his hand up to cover Sam’s mouth, cutting off her objection before she could voice it.
He gently moved her head in a nod for her, before slowly releasing her mouth.
“You’re right,” she said, catching on as he lifted her purse from her chair and began searching it. “I was pretty tired after the spin class. I probably imagined it. I told Jennie she was overreacting.” Sam smirked at Jennie, who rolled her eyes and laughed.
Logan began to run his fingers over the straps of the bag, and then searched its inside lining. He moved his hands slowly, keeping his search as silent as possible. Luckily, the bag was already unzipped—otherwise, the sound of the zipper being opened would have given his search away immediately. Just inside the zipper, close to the seam, there was a small tear in the lining.
As Logan’s fingers worked, Chad started up casual banter in the background, in case anyone was listening, but all eyes remained on Logan.
It didn’t take long for him to work a small device free of the fabric. He held it up for Chad before lifting Sam’s jacket from her chair and going through a similar search, yielding the same results. Someone planted two listening devices in Sam’s belongings.
“All right, guys, lunch is over. Back to work,” Chad said casually, motioning for the group to leave the room. He took the devices from Logan and took some photos of them before slipping them back in place in Sam’s purse and jacket. He scribbled a quick note to Sam and showed it to her.
Take your things to your office and leave them there. Meet in my office.
Sam nodded and she and Logan walked to her office together to drop off her belongings before meeting Chad in his office moments later, sans bugs.
When they entered, Chad was using a small handheld instrument to check the office for listening devices. Apparently not finding any, he turned it off and sat behind his desk as Sam and Logan sat in chairs opposite him.
“I assume you check the office fairly routinely, Chad?”
Logan received an answering nod from Chad. It made sense to do routine sweeps. Sutton Capital’s offices held a large amount of proprietary information, not only on their own company, but also that of the companies they funded. There were plenty of companies out there who might want to infiltrate their offices.
“Yes, but I’ll increase it now. Can you follow Sam home today and check her house for her?” Chad asked, handing Logan the device he’d been using moments before.
“Why did you guys put those bugs back?” Sam’s mind was only half on the discussion as she thought about the fact that Logan would be coming to her townhouse when they left work.
Not that he was coming for any reason other than work, but still. The thought had thrown her off balance. She was doing an inventory of the number of pairs of underwear hanging in her bathroom when Chad answered.
“We don’t want whoever planted them to know we found them until we decide how to proceed. I’ll look into who might have put them there, but with this type of device, tracing them won’t be easy. In the meantime,” he said drawing a small black box from his drawer, “carry this on you. I want you to turn it on anytime you’re talking about something we don’t want anyone hearing. Let them listen to any conversations that aren’t important.”
Sam raised her eyebrows. “You’re putting a lot of faith in my ability to remember to turn this thing on and off.”
Chad grinned. “I’m pretty sure you can handle it. Besides, I only need a day or two to look into this. I want to talk to Jack, see if he has any idea who could be behind it. Hopefully, he’s got some idea who would want information right now. It’s probably related to a deal he’s got coming up or something.”
Sam fidgeted a little with her hands and cast a glance at Logan. He had a brief thought she might want to talk alone with Chad but he wasn’t about to walk out without her directly asking him to.
If something was going on that involved Sam, he wanted to know about it. He couldn’t help her if he didn’t know what was going on and Logan damned well was going to help her.
Sam had done nothing but help him since he’d started here. In fact, he had a feeling she had no clue how much she’d helped him just by ignoring his obvious hang-ups and quietly letting him adjust to life with her support.
“Chad, do you, um … do you think it could be related to Alonzo?” Sam sounded genuinely nervous.
Chad’s eyebrows shot up and Logan could tell he wasn’t taking Sam’s question or her apparent anxiety over the issue lightly.
“Who’s Alonzo?” Logan asked.
The answer came from Chad. “Lazarus Alonzo. He’s the guy who was behind the human trafficking ring that took Kelly a few years ago. Sam consulted with the FBI to hunt down the rest of the women who’d been taken, rescuing all but one of them.”
Logan didn’t miss the haunted look in Sam’s eyes at the mention of the woman she didn’t save. He knew that feeling, knew the horror of knowing you’d let someone down. Left someone behind.
“She also helped the FBI hack into his servers and freeze most of his assets, things he’d thought were hidden. When she found accounts the FBI couldn’t legally touch, she drained all the money out of them. They never caught him, but Sam was able to cripple him. It’s rumored he’s rebuilding his empire, but it’s slow going without the resources Sam took from him.”
“Could it be him?” Logan figured Chad would have kept tabs on whether the FBI had any leads on this guy and whether he might be coming for Sam.
Chad locked eyes with Logan and Logan had his answer. It was possible. But it seemed Chad wasn’t going to let on to Sam that she might have an old enemy coming after her.
“Alonzo shouldn’t have access to your identity, Sam. The FBI was really firm about keeping it confidential and I know the agents we worked with. They’re good. They wouldn’t let your true identity out there,” Chad said.
Sam said exactly what Logan was thinking: “Anything can be hacked.”
The statement was ironic and neither man could argue with her, given her status as one of the best—if not the best—hackers in the country.
There had to be a file somewhere with her name in it, and if she could hack anything, there were others out there who could, as well.