Page 76 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Very rich.”
She shook her head side to side. “Okay fine, you’re good. It’s still wrong, Joey. Why are you telling me this now? What happened today?”
He let out a breath. “McGregor came to see me today.”
“What?” she yelled.
“He wanted to hire me to find the person who’s hacking his computer. He has something in there he doesn’t want anyone to see. He said it was to handle the ‘nuisance,’ but it’s obviously more than that.”
She looked like her head was literally going to explode.
“He doesn’t know it was me, obviously. That’s why he came to see me. He wanted the best and he figured I could find out who was doing it. He offered me a ton of money to do it, too.”
“What did you do? What did you tell him?”
“What do you think I told him?” She was staring at him, her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. She looked gorgeous when she was all fired up. His phone began to ring and without even looking at the screen he silenced it.
“I don’t know! I don’t know what’s what anymore. You said it yourself, I’m a terrible judge of character.”
His phone rang again. This time he glanced at the screen and it was Annie. “I need to take this, Annie may have intel for us,” he said, a bit irritated himself. He didn’t like that she didn’t know without a doubt, that he would never help McGregor. “Hey, it’s not a good time. What’s going on?”
“Please, tell me you’re not Harry’s Hacker.”
He looked up at Olivia, who was watching him intently. If she knew what Annie was saying, she’d surely freak the fuck out. “Where are you calling me from?”
“Secure line. Talk and make it fast because there are two feds in the server room right the fuck now.”
“Shit,” he said. “McGregor was there earlier. Asked for my help. I didn’t give it to him. He probably put two and two together and is assuming I’m the hacker.” He didn’t want to look at Olivia because he was scared at what he would find. Hate. Loathing. Disgust. But he did, he looked at her, and her eyes were full of . . . concern?
“You are, though,” Annie said.
“Annie. Not the time. Listen, explain that to them. Tell them how McGregor came to see me today for a job, don’t give them too many specifics. Say that I couldn’t take it because it’s a conflict since I’m working for Olivia. There’s nothing there that will trace anything back to me or ICS. Don’t worry.” If anyone knew how skilled he was with a computer, it was Annie, and she was probably the only other person who could give him a run for his money. “They’re in ICS based merely on an assumption.”
“Fuck, Joey. If Jax was here his head would explode.”
“McGregor’s a dick.” It was the only reply he had.
“Yeah, I know.” His sister’s tone softened. “You need to do your job and protect Olivia and let her do her job so that she wins. Stop fucking with McGregor. If this shit comes back to you and you and she are together, you will fuck up her election, Joey.” She said it softly, as if she knew this would hurt him. “You’ll also get ICS shut down. And you’ll go to jail and you’ll be no help to anyone when you’re someone’s bitch in prison.”
“I know. I know.”
“I’ll keep you posted. Need to deal with these suits.” She hung up and he sighed. But when he looked up, he had Olivia right in front of his face
“Tell me.”
“The FBI are at ICS looking into McGregor’s hacker.”
“Joey.”
He put his arms on her shoulder. “Relax. There’s no way they’ll tie this back to me.”
“Anything else you’d like to tell me, Josef? This would be the time.”
He blew out a breath and rubbed the top of his shaved head with his palm. “I was in jail. But it was a long time ago. Before I enlisted. It was for hacking, which is one of the reasons that the Marines were so motivated to take me on.”
She stood there, just staring in confusion or maybe in shock. He wasn’t sure what she’d do but then she bent over and started to laugh somewhat hysterically. The fit of laughter was so intense she was holding her stomach and tears fell from her eyes. “I have a stalker or someone who’s trying to kill me, possibly a man who I once considered my best friend. I’m running for governor. I’m supposed to be clean and wholesome, but I’m also have crazy monkey sex,” she whispered, “out of wedlock, with a criminal.” Then she laughed again, a snort escaping her lips. “I’ve been caught making out in public. I’ve gotten stuck on two—two!—elevators in the last two months. And the icing on the cake—on the fucking crazy-ass cake—is that I’m falling in love for the first time in five years with a hacker. A hacker! A hacker who is hacking into my opponent. If all of the above didn’t ruin my career, this has to. It just has to. The universe can’t be that forgiving to me to let all this slide.” Then the laugh became strangled and her shoulders began to shake as she flopped down on her couch. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
“There’s one more thing, darlin’.”
