Chapter Three
Cam crossedthe floor to the bar, his eyes trained with dagger-like intensity on Drew McMann’s familiar taut shoulders, struggling to remember why he’d ever liked theguy.
Drew was someone’s idea of the perfect specimen, no doubt - dark hair and eyes, shock-and-awe brilliance with all things legal, intense focus. He was an amazing litigator and generous, careful bed partner. Outside of the bedroom, though, he’d been an absolutely shiteous boyfriend, accusing Cam of inventing drama every time he took exception to Drew’s high-handedness. AndstillCam had wanted them to be able to work together, for the sake of their history - their parents’ friendship, Drew’s decades-long friendship with Bas. But if Drew’s bullshit was going to undermine Cam’s position at Seaver Tech, Cam wouldn’t tolerateit.
“Drew, I need to talk toyou.”
Drew took a sip of his drink - bourbon, no doubt - but didn’t turn. “That’s novel. I thought you preferred ignoring myexistence.”
“I attempt to ignore yourattitude,” Cam corrected. “What is this FBI investigation, Drew? And why the hell did I have to hear about it from DavidPearce?”
“It’s not a big deal.” Drew waved a careless hand in the air. “I took care ofit.”
“The big deal is you didn’ttellme, Drew.” Cam darted a glance around to verify that they were alone, and caught sight of the broad-shouldered blond from earlier, standing near the exit. He was alone, a drink in his hand, and if it weren’t so utterly impossible, Cam would swear the guy was looking right athim.
Focus Seaver. On Drew, not theViking.
He turned back to Drew and lowered his voice as he continued. “You didn’t give me a chance to figure out how I wanted to deal withit.”
Drew finally turned to look at him. “Why is it you can never trust me to handle things for you? Why do you have to be such a controlfreak?”
The irony of the statement seemed to sail over Drew’shead.
Cam rolled his eyes and Drew’s nostrils flared. “Fine, you want to know? Yeah, the FBI sent us a notification that they’re investigating a data breach that came from Seaver. It appears some classified information may have beenaccessed.”
“But we have security clearances,” Cam said inconfusion.
“Come on, Cammy. You know information isn’t all classified to the same degree.” The look Drew shot him was the dictionary definition of condescending. Coupled with the stupid fucking nickname, it sent Cam’s blood pressure soaring. “They’re saying we didn’thave authorization to access the server that was accessed, and it wasn’t accessed in an approved manner, using government-suppliedcredentials.”
“Jesus. They think we hacked them?” Cam demanded in a harsh whisper. “What do we need to do?” His fingers clenched tightly on the glass in hishand.
“We don’t need to do anything! I told you, it’s bullshit and it’s already been taken care of.” Drew took another sip of hisbourbon.
“So, there was nobreach?”
Drew looked at him like he was an idiot, then gave him a smug smile. “Of course there was a breach. We did our own internal investigation of the equipment and the credentialsused.”
“And?” Camdemanded.
Drew shrugged, and Cam lost control of histemper.
“God, Drew! This is what I fucking mean! You can’t give me even half an answer. Tellme!”
“Tell you?” Drew slid back from the bar and leaned toward Cam, all cold anger and intimidation. “Tell you the electronic signatures indicate Bas was the one who hacked them? Tell you your brother probably didn’t answer the FBI’s questions because he knew he could incriminate himself? Tell you the best way to handle this was to throw our weight around so nobody looked too closely? Tell you Sebastian could go to jail for a very long time if he actually got caught? How much do youreallywant to know,Cam?”
Cam felt gravity tilt slightly, so his feet no longer felt firmly planted on the ground. “Bas?” He could only manage to utter the singlesyllable.
Drew’s anger seemed to drain out of him as he took in Cam’s shocked expression. He blew out a breath. “Cammy—”
Cam shook his head. “How is that… It’s just not…No. Notpossible.”
Bas had graduated college at seventeen. He’d designed artificial intelligence technology in high school still being used by the military today. If he wanted to hack a system to obtain information, he’d take every piece of information right down to the size of your dick and you’d never even know he’d been there. Cam knew jack shit about hacking and electronic signatures, but he knew thatmuch.
Drew sighed. “I don’t know how it’s possible, but Bas is messed up right now. You know it. I stopped by his house the other day, and he was sitting in the dark watching home movies from when we were kids. You and him, me and Amy, our parents, the Shaws. He’s still grieving, still obsessing about the crash.” He took a deep breath. “And the agency he hacked was theNTSB.”
Cam reached out a hand to steady himself against the bar and motioned to the bartender to get him another of what Drew was drinking. The floating feeling he’d experienced a moment ago got worse as he processed Drew’s words. The National Transportation Safety Board had investigated the plane crash that had killed Cam’s parents and Drew’s sister Amy… but none of this made anysense.
“There’s nothing to hack there, Drew,” Cam said, shaking his head. “The investigation was concluded two months after the crash. We all got the report. The pilot was seen drinking heavily before the flight and failed to check the engine. It was piloterror.”
