Page 37 of Digital Desire

His fingers flew over the keyboard as he hunted for an image of the man that until now was a mystery to them. As he typed in the name Rupert Pierce, malware and flags started to pop up around him making him divert and move around and through encrypted files. Suddenly he saw the tag name of the person who had been trying to hack Fortis for the past year and things started to fall into place. Could Rupert Pierce be the one who had sent malware and trojans into his system? He felt Jace come into the room but didn’t look up, his sole intent was to find the fucker.

Using the new software he had developed, Will sent a spider out to collect all the information he could on Rupert Pierce, Derek Newson, and to cover all the bases, he included the detention centre he had been in. He sat back and waited the few minutes it would take.

He looked up at Jace who was watching him, his arms crossed over his chest.

“You doing okay?” Jace asked.

Will nodded. “Yeah, I feel a weight has lifted now Jack and I have everything out in the open,” he answered.

“Yeah, he told me about your dad, I’m so sorry. If we had known….”

“Forget it, it’s done. As long as mum never finds out, I’m good.”

“She won’t hear a word from me.”

“I know. I trust you, Jace. So, when is the wedding of the year? Well, next year’s wedding of the year?”

Jace chuckled and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Lucy wants a summer wedding, but she also wants it someplace where we won’t have kidnappers, murderers, divine weirdos, and general psychos so she has it tied down to two top-secret locations at the moment, but definitely next summer,” he said with a look of complete adoration on his face.

“How did you know Lucy was the one?” Will asked.

Jace tilted his head as he looked at him. “When I looked at my future and there was no me without her. She is my life, the air that I breathe. It may sound sappy but it’s true. My life was nothing without her in it, and now it’s filled with more love than I could ever have imagined. She makes everything shine,” he said and then looked down.

“Yeah, I get that. I’m glad you two found each other,” Will said, and Jace nodded.

“So, you and the detective hey?”

“Hope so, she is just. I can’t explain,” Will said, and Jace laughed.

“You don’t have to mate, I’ve seen that look before, you’re gone for her, and if I’m reading it right, then she is for you. And no, I’ve not been listening in to your thoughts. Believe me, you get excellent at blocking people’s thoughts when your friends all start falling in love,” he said.

Will heard a ping beside him to say he had a hit and turned to see a file downloading. He turned and watched as the screen changed and an image began to download.

Will felt his heart hit his throat when he saw the picture. “Fucking bastard!” he whispered as the image of his cellmate from juvie appeared on the screen. But he hadn’t known him as Rupert Pierce, he’d known him as Tommy Flowers. They had joked that his parents must have known he would end up as a hacker when they named him after the famous engineer that built the world’s first programmable computer, Colossus.

“Who’s that?” Jace asked as he peered over his shoulder.

“That’s Rupert Pierce aka Tommy Flowers, my old cellmate and Chopper’s brother,” Will said as he felt all the pieces click into place.

He and Flowers had always had a love-hate relationship. Flowers was an asshole who believed he was entitled to do the things he did because he could. He’d always tried to encourage Will down the same path saying they could rule the world with their skills. He hadn’t been able to see that Will had no interest in that.

“Then we have a problem,” Jace said as he turned and grabbed a sheet of papers from the coffee table.

“Why?” Will asked as fear unfurled in his belly.

“Because there’s a Tommy Flowers listed as working at the embassy!”

“Aubrey!” Will said jumping to his feet.

“I’m calling Alex,” Jace said as Will called Aubrey’s phone and it went straight to voicemail.

* * *

Aubrey was alert as they pulled into the embassy car park. She had a feeling being around these men that seemed to always be aware of their surroundings no matter what, was rubbing off on her. Alex had let Drew drive while he talked her through a few details.

She would let Alex take the lead as she had a tendency to interview people like they were all guilty and this would take more finesse—which Alex, the charmer, had in spades.

She stepped out of the car and found herself walking between the two men who towered over her. Their heads were on a constant swivel as they looked for a threat. Drew was going to interview the technical team and check their history as his knowledge of computers made him the best option. Alex would take the security team, and she would question the general office staff.