Page 74 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
Both Jada and Gideon rolled their chairs closer to the desk.
“How?” Gideon asked.
“It was really interesting. He moved from the CIA to Homeland Security when that was created after 9/11. He retired with Homeland Security and then tried to start up his own business for a couple of years.”
“Doing what?” Kane asked.
“Fixing computers. He tried to be his own little Geek Squad. It was a bust. That’s when Risk Guard picked him up for a third of the salary he should be paid.”
“Assholes,” Jada muttered.
“Anyway, besides just creating tech that could be installed at the lowest levels, it was his job to figure out how to install it.”
“Wi-fi, e-mail?” Lydia asked.
“When I went through his computer, what he was working on wasn’t anything like that. It was pretty damn sweet. He was going back in time to some of the old Soviet cold war days of spying. He was figuring out how everybody was installing things on copy machines and typewriters so that they could download exactly what an embassy was up to. Real James Bond shit.”
“So, this would be more like bugging an office,” Jada clarified.
“Exactly.”
Jada’s mind started to whirl. If she were to get into some place like the Pentagon and get close to one of their servers, there was no end to what she could download. But getting in would take an act of Congress, literally.
“What are you thinking?” Gideon asked.
“Getting into one of those companies is one thing, then getting close to one of their computers or servers is another. Then there is having something sophisticated enough to download the information without being detected…? That’s a hell of a lot of dots that would need to line up.”
“Yep, that’s what Bonham concluded,” Dex said.
“So why torture and kill him?” Jada asked. “That doesn’t make any sense either. Hell, by the sounds of it, everything they would have wanted to know was right there on his computer.”
“Jada,” Gideon tapped her on her shoulder. “This man worked for the CIA and Homeland Security. It’s pretty damn likely that he had shadow set-ups at home, the same as you. He was probably a suspicious bastard.”
“But suspicious of what?” She was beginning to get really frustrated.
“That’s what we were hoping you could help us with,” Dex said gently.
“Well, I can’t. I just know what I was working on. And I’m pretty damn sure that work was bogus. Yeah, I’m good. But you all saw how easy it was to check out those potential clients’ systems. Risk Guard could have had their in-house employees do it and for a shit-ton less money than what they were paying me. I’ve been trying to figure it out ever since I was in the hospital. There was no reason for them to hire me for that gig.”
“I’ve checked you out, Jada. Nothing against you, Gideon, but you’re not necessarily thinking logically, so I wanted to see if Jada was as good as you said she was,” Kane explained. “Not only is she good, she’s better than you told me.” He turned his focus back to Jada. “But Jada, even with your skillset, I agree there is no reason for Risk Guard to be paying you the coin that they’re paying to do those checks. There’re other hackers out there who’d do it for a lot less.”
“None with my clothes sense,” Jada said flippantly. “But I agree one hundred percent. Since I’ve been thinking on this, something just feels off.”
“Jada?”
She turned her attention to Lydia. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry to say, but I dug a bit into your background too.” Lydia looked apologetic.
“Don’t be sorry,” Jada rushed to assure her. “If I’d known your name ahead of time, I would have done a little snooping too.”
Lydia gave her a blinding smile. She’d been pretty before, but when she smiled like that, she was gorgeous.
“Anyway,” Lydia continued. “Your reputation precedes you. One thing that is very clear, you like to vet all potential employers.”
Jada nodded.
“So, anyone from Risk Guard who hired you would expect you to do a thorough background check on their company.”
