Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75152 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75152 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“Don’t thank me yet.” She gave me a pat as she said, “We have to see how he’s going to feel about getting served with divorce papers. Something tells me he won’t be too happy about it.”
“Probably not.”
“Have you talked to Q about all this?”
“No, as far as I know, he doesn’t have any idea. I just need to work up the courage to talk to him.”
“Q’s one of the good ones. He’ll understand.”
“I really hope you’re right about that.”
A warm smile crossed her face as she asked, “You really like him, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then, talk to him.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Good.” MJ went back to raking as she told me, “I’ll start drawing up the papers tomorrow.”
“Sounds great. Thanks.”
I left work with mixed emotions. I was relieved that MJ had agreed to help, but I was terrified that James would do something stupid like refuse to sign the papers or try to find me. I was even more terrified that my freedom from James might cost me Quinton.
And that wasn’t a price I was ready to pay.
Q
“Hate to interrupt,” Bones announced as he entered the conference room. “But I think we have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Cotton asked.
“Something’s up with our server.” Bones glanced over at Big, then continued, “I think someone’s got eyes on us.”
Big’s brows furrowed with disbelief. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Look for yourself.” Bones stepped over to him and placed his laptop down on the table. He pointed at the screen as he told him, “The coding on the firewall isn’t right.”
“You sure about that?” Big stared at the screen for several moments, then shook his head. “Oh, damn. He’s right. Something’s off, but not by much. Just a couple of digits here and there. How in the hell did you catch this?”
“I don’t know. I just knew it wasn’t right.”
Stitch’s eyes were narrowed as he looked up at Bones and asked, “I don’t get it. Why is this coding shit such a problem?”
“It could mean a variety of things, and none of them good.” Bones glanced over at Big, then continued, “It’s a sign that someone’s infiltrated our firewall. If that’s the case, they can see things they have no business seeing.”
“Like what?”
“Emails we’ve exchanged, files that were for our eyes only, and that’s just a start. If they know what they’re doing, they can even get into our security system.”
“How the hell did that happen?”
“Got no clue,” Bones answered. “We have the best security there is.”
“Looks like it wasn’t as good as you thought.”
“Yeah, it’s looking that way.”
Diesel sounded appalled as he asked, “So, you’re saying they could be watching us?”
“Afraid so.”
“Fuck,” Clutch growled. “Can’t you fix it? Put up another wall or add more security? Whatever it is you guys do.”
“We can, but we need to try and figure out who’s doing it first.” Big let out a breath of frustration, then looked up to Bones and asked, “This shit isn’t easy to catch. What made you decide to look over the coding?”
It was clear from his tone Big was bothered that Bones had found the issue and not him, but none of us cared which of them found it. We just wanted to know who the fuck was trying to get eyes on us and why. Bones motioned his head toward the door as he answered, “Savage had one of his feelings.”
Cotton looked to the doorway where Savage and Torch were standing and asked, “What kind of feeling?”
“Well, it wasn’t a good one.” Like his father, Savage had an uncanny ability to know when something was up, so we were all ears as we listened to him answer, “Just felt like something was up.”
Cotton’s eyes narrowed as he glared at his son. “And you didn’t think to mention that to me?”
“It was just a hunch, Dad. I had it for a couple of days but figured it was just my head fucking with me.”
“You gotta start listening to your gut, Malcomb. It hasn’t lied to you yet.”
“Yes, sir. You’re right.”
He nodded, then Cotton turned his attention back to Big. “Are you two gonna be able to find these guys?”
“Oh, yeah. We’ll find ‘em,” Big assured him. “It might take us a little time, but we’ll get em’.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. We need this handled and handled fast, especially with the holidays rolling in. I don’t want to take any chances with our families in and out.” Cotton looked around the table as he asked, “Is everyone still coming in next week?”
“Not sure. We’re still waiting for the final word from Lexie,” Maverick answered. “Henley’s damned and determined that she’s coming, but I don’t have a good feeling about it.”
Cotton tugged at his goatee as he told us, “Darby and Susana will be coming in this weekend, but I’m not sure how long they're planning to stay. If I know them, their busy schedules will keep them from staying long.”