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The whole “five-star” thing seemed a little corny, but Chloe didn’t accept anything less than excellence. If they were good enough for her, they were good enough for me.
And, they weren’t the ones Wick had tried to steer me toward, so I considered that a plus.
When I opened the door, I was surprised by the amount of space that sprawled in front of me. The front part of the store was obviously retail, but further in, there were glass-walled classrooms, and past that, workstations for repairs and customizations on one side, and desks for consultations on the other.
What caught my attention most was the classroom on the left – or rather, the teacher. The pupils were young – young enough to not be at school on a Thursday morning. Instead, they were soundlessly laughing and playing, bright blue electronic tablets in their hands as they chased bubble-shaped robots around the room.
The teacher though…damn.
He was wearing a dark blue tee shirt withFIVE STAR TECHprinted in white across the front, and the edge of the short sleeves – I noticed it on the sleeves because of the way they fit over golden, tattooed biceps. One of the kids ran up to him, tears in her eyes as she shoved her tablet at him, obviously having a problem with it. He adjusted black-rimmed glasses on his face before he smiled at her, showing off perfect teeth before he bowed his tall, broad-shouldered frame down, kneeling at her level to help.
“Quite a sight, isn’t it?”
I tore my eyes away from the classroom to see that I’d been joined in my voyeurism. The woman next to me had thick, glossy natural hair pulled into a bun, and was wearing a shirt like his, only hers was white, with the words in blue.
My lips quirked into a smile. “I bet it’s hard to stay focused and work with something like that walking around, huh?”
“You havenoidea,” she said, moving her hand in a way that my eyes instinctively followed to a very round, very obviously pregnant belly that I hadn’t registered at first.
Then I noticed the ring.
“Oh, God,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand. “That’s your husband, isn’t it? And I’m standing here being a creep.”
She laughed. “Don’t sweat it. I’m just teasing you. Hell, I stand around and just look at him too. It’s how I ended up with this one,” – she pointed to her belly again – “and the one currently charming him with those crocodile tears. He’s such a sucker.”
When I looked again, he was hugging the little girl, who shared his green eyes, but had her mother’s deep copper skin. I watched as he gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs, and then held the tablet out to her again, pointing at the screen as he patiently explained something to her.
Despite her teasing words, beside me, the woman was obviously very, very happy. Beaming with it. And I couldn’t blame her. A gorgeous child, a gorgeous husband, and another baby on the way. The love in her eyes was so obvious that it made a lump build in my throat.
This was the kind of moment I’d only ever experience vicariously.
“You have a beautiful family,” I told her, averting my gaze away from both visuals, toward the consultation area at the back. My grip tightened on the strap of the laptop bag slung over my shoulder. “I should um… probably get to the point of my visit though. My friend Chloe sent me, I need to talk to someone about a computer being hacked?”
She smiled. “Well, you’re definitely in the right place. I’m Renata LaForte, one of the owners here atFST.You have the computer with you?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “Well, one of them. I brought the laptop and my cell phone, but my desktop is at home. I figured we could fix these and then I can bring it.”
“You think all three were compromised?”
“Well… maybe? My um… my friend, said something about my network?”
Renata gave a deep nod. “Ah, yes. If they were all connected to the same wireless network, that can definitely make them equally vulnerable. Let’s go over here and you can tell me what happened.”
I pulled the bag down from my shoulder as she led me to one of the consultation desks – basically smaller versions of the soundproofed classrooms. Inside, I handed her the laptop, and she put something into the side of it before she turned it on.
“What is that for?” I asked as I sat down across from her.
She smiled. “Thatis for me to hack you. Right now, we have no idea who hacked your computer, what they put on it, or what it was set to do when you turned it back on. The thumb drive I put in there automatically givesmethe control. I can see everything, do anything. The computer won’t run a single program I don’t tell it to. Walk me through exactly what happened. How did you know you were being hacked?”
“Well, I didn’t. I was on the phone, and a video chat with a friend. He asked me if I was trying to access his computer, and I asked him… what the hell he was talking about. He told me that my computer was trying to access his, and that I must’ve been hacked. He had me turn off the laptop, and my phone, and then go check on my desktop. And… he was right. When I went to my office, it was running… some type of code. Something I’d never seen before. I completely unplugged it. That’s what he said to do.”
“Good. It was quick thinking. You can’t hack something that’s not turned on – well, unless it has its own power source, and… never mind, I won’t bore you with all that. Your friend, does he work with computers? What does he do?”
My lips parted, but… “I… don’t know, actually. We never…”
“Oh!” Renata grinned, eyes sparkling as she leaned in a bit. “I recognize that hesitation. A little computer love, huh? Quentin and I knowallabout that. It’s how we met, when we were just kids.” She let out a dreamy sigh when she finished. Those wereobviouslygood memories for her.
I shook my head though. “Notlove. Not like that. We were good friends though.”
