With the twins absorbed in their work, tapping away at their keyboards, she worked the code.
“You’ve been quiet for a while, Melinda.” Louis set a fresh cup of tea in front of her.
“I’m working on something. I’m not sure if it’s going to work, but…we’ll see.”
Pierre glanced at her over his screen. “Need any help?”
“I think I’ve sorted it. But if it doesn’t work, I might take you up on that offer.”
Both Louis and Pierre were brilliant. Working with them on something like this would be…amazing. But they had their hands full chasing down this Veilluex guy.
Melinda plugged the USB into her laptop. Accessing the file she needed, she attached the virus to the altered malware code, weaving it through in much the same way the hacker had weaved the malware through her IDS alerts.
“I’ve got him,” said Louis, peering at his screen. “At the international terminal at San Francisco airport.”
Pierre leaned over for a closer look. “He’s not on any manifest. Must have used a fake passport.”
Louis smirked. “Doesn’t matter. Not when we have access to facial recognition tech.”
Melinda double checked her firewalls and gave her code a final look over. If this worked, in a matter of minutes, she might have the information they needed.
Melinda hit enter and sent it through cyberspace.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Alarms blared from Pierre’s computer.No. It couldn’t be.
Pierre tapped furiously at his keyboard.
“Pierre?” Louis was out of his chair and standing behind his twin. “Veilleux? The Faucherians?”
Faucherians?
“No, it’s—”
They both gaped at her over Pierre’s screen. She’d not seen fear in their eyes when they’d faced off against eight armed men. She saw it there now. Pierre had sent the malware.
“Fuck.” Pierre was out of his seat, tripping over his chair as he tried to get to her. “It’s not what you think, Melinda.”
She backed away. “It’s exactly what I think.” She forced the words out of her tight throat, her vision blurring with the sting of tears. “You sent the malware.” She stabbed her finger at him. “You’re the ones tracking my client. Youusedme.”
“Melinda, no. Yes.” Louis skirted the table, coming at her from the other direction, his hands held out in supplication. “Please, give us a chance to explain.”
“Explain? You can’t deny you sent the malware.”
Pierre heaved out a sigh, straightening to his full height. “No, we can’t. We did send it, and we are tracking your client, but Cordelia King is not who you think she is.”
Melinda pressed her lips together, willing the tears away, but they refused to obey. MysticMage was Cordelia King? They knew her client’s real name? Even she didn’t know that. It could have only come from one person. Her client’s husband. They’d saidWolf Enterprises was in security, but they also, it seemed, did private investigating. For wealthy people. Money could buy you a lot of support and a lot of skilled employees. It had bought them.
Louis took a few more steps toward her. “Cordelia King is an evil woman, Melinda. She’s the one who’s used you. Spun you a tale of a battered wife. It couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“She didn’t spin me any tale. I recognized the signs.”
“Did you? Or did you see what you wanted to see?”
“No, I—” Had she? Taken one look at the photo of a little old lady and jumped to conclusions? And what if she had? It made no difference. They’d used their malware to track her, moved in down the hall from her. Her instincts had been right. Theyhadbeen stalking her.
Melinda shook her head. Shedidn’t want to believe it. Not after what they’d shared over the last four days. The nights spent together, wrapping her in their warmth until morning. Louis ordering her favorite comfort food. Pierre thinking to grab her mother’s teapot. Had it all been a lie?
