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“Thanks, Yoda. But I’ll leave that honor to Claire. Nothing like the personal touch.”
“Very good, Ryan.” Yoda fell silent and Ryan resumed his task: tracing Dani’s hacker.
When he’d started the process a few days ago, he’d used his spyware account credentials to gain access to the web application. Once he looked “under the hood,” he knew what he needed to do. Leveraging an unpatched security flaw, he’d gained access to the security tables and elevated himself to an admin. From there he FTPed a month’s worth of log files to a secure drop location and then downloaded them to the FI server.
For the past few hours, he’d been searching the spyware application for the account that was spying on Dani. There was no personally identi
fiable information except for the user ID and password. But that was all Ryan needed. He searched through the server log files, looking for entries containing the alphanumeric user ID.
And then, just minutes ago, bingo. The log showed the IP address of the computer that had invaded Dani’s privacy. Time for a reverse lookup to determine the approximate geographic location.
Cleveland. That certainly rang a bell—and not a welcome one.
Ryan frowned, rummaging around on his desk for the list of people Dani had supplied him with, seeking confirmation of what he remembered. Yup. There it was. Cleveland, Ohio. The city where Dani’s boyfriend, Gabe Hayward, lived.
Ryan didn’t believe in coincidences. He immediately began searching through the header information in each of Dani’s email messages. Sure enough, multiple messages sent by Gabe to Dani showed a match between the IP address of the email and the spyware account.
Shit. Dani’s boyfriend was a scumbag—and a criminal. He was being paid by whoever was running the show to do this. The way Dani had talked about him, it was obvious this wasn’t a random hookup, it was a relationship. And now she had to be told that this guy was a creeper and a felon.
Well, one thing was for sure. Ryan wasn’t going to be the one to do the telling. That would be up to someone worthy of the task.
He picked up his cell and called Claire.
“Hey,” she answered. “I’m in lotus position, trying to relax.”
“Well, un-relax. I need you.”
“A booty call?” He could hear the amusement in her voice.
“That’s not why I called, but actually, yeah. I’d love one of those.”
“Wouldn’t you always?”
“Can’t deny it.”
“Ever honest.” Claire sighed. “Well, it just so happens I’m having trouble unwinding and I could use the help of your unique set of skills. Why don’t you come to my place? My bed’s a lot more comfortable than your lumpy sofa.”
“Not this time, Claire. We need to be here.”
A poignant silence, during which time Ryan could actually sense the transformation in Claire—from lover to claircognizant.
“This is about Dani,” she said at last, her tone quiet and sober. “You found something. And it’s not good.”
“Yes. And no, it’s not.” Ryan blew out a breath. “Just come to the office and straight down to my lair. We’ve got a problem—a major one.”
“I’m on my way.”
* * *
Claire walked into the lair and automatically locked the door behind her. But the expression on her face wasn’t a sexual invite. It was a pained awareness.
“The person doing the spying—it’s someone close to Dani, someone she cares for,” she said without preamble.
Ryan nodded. He might never understand Claire’s gift, but he no longer minimized it. “Big-time.”
“Gabe. Her boyfriend.” Claire waited for the confirmation in Ryan’s gaze, then sank down onto a chair when it came. “Dammit. When I started calming Dani down about the hacker’s intentions, I started getting the creepiest feeling that there was some level of sexual gratification involved in this spying arrangement. Yes, there’s money involved. But there’s also more. Emotional entanglement, desire… it all flashed through my head while I was assuring Dani it wasn’t the case.” Claire shook her head, sadness tugging at her heart. “This truly sucks.”
“I know.” Ryan walked over to the well-worn sofa he kept in the room and dropped down onto it, arms folded behind his head, forehead creased in thought. “If I give you some of their email exchanges, maybe show you a Google Earth photo of the bastard’s apartment, can you get a more detailed read on things? Maybe a hint of who Hayward is working for?”
