I’d completely forgotten what I had on. “I don’t need you to take me.”
“I insist. Besides, I promised your sister I’d take care of you. I want to deliver you in one piece. I want her on my good side.”
I wearily closed up my office. “I’m pretty sure she already likes you.”
“There’s always room for improvement. I bet I could work on you liking me more, too.”
“After this, I consider you a friend.” And a sexy, charming one, at that. “You helped me get through a tough night. I owe you.”
“I look forward to cashing that in.” His eyes glittered, and I felt my face start to redden. “Now, let’s go. I know a very important CEO who needs breakfast.”
A few hours later, I met with my IT security team in my office. “Tell me what you know so far.”
Leo, the head of the group, looked up at me from his laptop. “They had over twelve hours inside your system. Depending on who this is, and how much a priority Paragon is to them, they could have copied half the files off your server. They certainly had the opportunity.”
I groaned, then held up the offending chip. “Is this a sophisticated piece of technology?”
“Yes and no. It’s pretty evil in its simplicity,” Leo said. “It’s sophisticated in that you have to know what you’re doing in the first place to configure the transponder to disrupt a home signal. But it’s pretty simple after that—you just have to place it physically on a hard drive in order for it to work.”
“Does your average hacker use technology like this?”
“No, but your average hacker is evolving.” He took a sip of water. “This is a hardware hack. It’s rare, but I think this is the next wave in corporate espionage. These chips are being manufactured in China and inserted directly into hard drives. So—boom—you buy a computer made in China that’s rigged with one of these, you’re automatically hacked. But this chip was added recently.”
I made a mental note not to purchase any foreign-made computers in the near future. I paced around the boardroom, acid bubbling in my stomach. “I know who did this.”
“Okay.” Leo leaned forward. “I take it you’re one hundred percent sure?”
I nodded and kept pacing.
“If you want to bring this to the authorities, we have plenty of proof,” he said. “You could have them prosecuted under state and federal laws for a cybercrime.”
“I’m not ready to go to the authorities. Not yet.” I kept a small circle. That was how, to date, I’d protected my company and my invention. But things had changed as of yesterday morning, and if I were going to survive, I would have to adapt.
Letting Gabe stay with me the previous night and telling him about Clive was the first step. But going to the authorities wouldn’t be the second. I had to keep my technology secret. I had some plans that might run afoul of state and federal laws, so I would take my chances on my own. For the moment.
And I planned to make sure Clive Warren answered to a justice slightly more vengeful than the appropriate authorities.
I looked at Leo. “Can you reverse hack him? The person who did this?”
He took off his glasses and cleaned them with his T-shirt, a small smile on his lips. “I will never say yes to that question. But in this particular instance, I won’t say no either.”
I left the office that night at ten. I realized, as I punched in the security code, that it was Sunday. I briefly checked my phone as I headed to my car. There were two texts from Gabe and one from Clive.
With shaking hands, I opened Clive’s first.
I hope you had a lovely rest of your weekend, it read. If you’d like to talk about my offer further, just let me know. In town all week.
I tried to calm myself with deep breathing, but I really wanted to throw my phone to the ground and stomp on it. But before I did that, I opened the messages from Gabe.
The first one read, Did my favorite female CEO crusader remember to eat lunch today?
My stomach snarled at the mention of lunch. I’d forgotten all about it.
The second one read, Of course not. Since I’m sure you also skipped dinner, I’m bringing Indian food to your house. See you in a few. It was sent at nine thirty.
I rubbed my temples as I got into my car. Gabe was sweet, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer very well.
Of course, I hadn’t said no to him yet.
His Spyder was parked in my driveway when I pulled in. He hopped out and greeted me. “I hope this is okay. I’d just act as a delivery person and leave you to it, but I don’t believe that you’ll actually eat.”
I managed a smile. “Come in, but let’s be quick. I just got a text from Clive, and I have a pounding headache.”
Gabe glowered at the mention of Clive, but he dutifully grabbed the boxes and bags of food he’d brought. Indian food was my weakness. Had I told him that? I could smell it, even though we were outside.
“I knew this was your favorite,” he said, as if he were reading my mind.
My hackles rose. “How did you know that?”
“I called your sister and asked her what you like.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “No espionage. I swear.”
We went in and put the food on the table. Hannah ventured out in her sweats, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. “I like that you’re getting Lauren to eat, even with this sort of stress.” She patted Gabe approvingly on the arm, then turned to me, beaming. Total keeper, she mouthed and pointed at him. I almost died of embarrassment.
“Didn’t you already have dinner?” I asked her, praying she would make herself scarce.
Hannah blithely ignored me. “I’m actually starving,” said my nosy little sister.
I set out plates, and Gabe started passing around the food, which I noticed was all vegetarian. My heart melted a little as I bit into a vegetable samosa.
“When was the last time you had dinner with me at home?” Hannah asked. “Even though it is ten thirty at night?”
My blank stare was the only answer I had.
“I brought some wine, but I figured I’d get into trouble for that,” Gabe said.
“Not with me,” Hannah replied, hustling to get an opener and some glasses. “With all the crazy stuff that’s going on, I seriously need a drink.”
“So do I,” I admitted.
Gabe smiled at me, but then his brow furrowed in concern. “What did douche-face’s message say? I’m guessing not too much, so that it can’t be used against him in a court of law.”
“Exactly.” I took a grateful sip of my wine after Hannah poured it for me. “He said he hoped I had a lovely weekend. Ha-ha. And that if I wanted to talk about his offer some more, he’ll be in town all week.”
“So what’s the plan? What do you want to do? Are you going to the police or the FBI?” A mixture of anger and concern played out on Gabe’s face.
I shook my head. “I already decided not to. Not yet. I want to deal with him myself first.”
“What does that mean?” Hannah asked. Her brow was also creased with worry. “And he texted you tonight? He’s got some balls.”
I looked at them helplessly. “I can’t believe he hacked me.” To my absolute mortification, I felt my eyes fill with tears.