“So?” I ask, feeling pretty redundant, when she finally puts her bottle down and turns to face me.
Her grin tells me she’s happy, and the heavy weight I’ve been carrying around in my chest for the past couple of days lifts a little.
“They’re good,” she says, sounding proud, which makes me frown. “But I’m better,” she adds.
“Pen,” I caution, nearing my limit.
She grins like a Cheshire Cat.
“Oh, don’t be a grouch. Let me enjoy this moment. It’s four AM, and I’ve been going solidly since dinner.”
Guilt hits me. She’s correct. But I’m being framed, and I need to uncover the culprit, their motives, and their method.
As if taking pity on me, Pen sits back in her chair, swirling to face me.
“They’ve embedded code to break through your firewall undetected.” When I frown, she adds, “Someone from the inside has set up a backdoor, but not one simply anyone can use.”
My heart hammers at her words.
“But it’s not just my firewall, is it?”
“No,” she tells me truthfully. “It’s not actually written into your code. It’s embedded. Which is good. It will be easier to remove.”
I run a hand through my hair. “Which clients are affected?”
“All of them,” she tells me gently. “But it looks as if each has its own unique ID written in. Someone can open pathways in or sell the ability to the highest bidder.”
I stare at her. She cracked the code in hours despite its complexity.
“A cyber attack?”
“Maybe,” she says, her intense gaze locking with mine. “Or they want to ruin you. If the threat becomes public knowledge. You’d be finished.”
It’s my turn to drop back in my chair. I run a hand down my face and stop to stare at her.
Pen continues. “They’re going to blackmail you, your clients, or sell the information to the highest bidder.”
“Fuck,” I say. “Imagine what that means. Companies could access their competitors’ systems potentially undetected, steal plans, mess with financials. What about these code changes?”
She pulls a file across from one of her other screens so it appears in front of her. She scrolls until she finds what she’s looking for.
“Shit!”
A furrow forms between her brows, her eyes dart to mine, her pupils wide.
She turns to a second bank of computers, pulling forward a second keyboard.
Her fingers dance over the keys, yet an icy chill washes over me as I realise Pen’s location. She’s on The Dark Web.
“Pen?”
“There is a lot you don’t know about me, Elijah. Just let me do my job.”
I open my mouth and shut it again.Job?
Her hands fly once more over the keys and I watch as she communicates with someone. My heart sinks further as I watch the back of the woman I’ve just had rummaging around in my company’s system converse with people on the dark web.
Pen picks up a phone I hadn’t spotted.
