“Yeah. And I’m not sure about the hacker angle.” Her brother shot her a questioning look. “Is that even possible?”
“I’m not the expert, Dom is.” She tried not to sigh. The family seemed to think she knew more about computer stuff than she did. “If he thinks a hacker is involved, I believe him.”
“You trust him?” Justin grabbed her arm to stop her from going inside. “I mean, you’re sure he’s not part of this?”
“Yes, I trust him. He’s the one in danger.” She kept her voice firm. “He didn’t ask to go into witness protection. That was his father’s doing. And that was only after the cartel murdered his mother. Dom’s a good guy. He’s done his best to protect me every step of the way.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Justin had obviously taken orders from Chase to vet Dom. “He looks like he’s interested in being more than your friend and co-investigator.”
“You’re delusional.” Kendra yanked free and opened the door, even though her foolish heart leaped in her chest at the thought of Dom being interested in her. Not that there was any chance at a future. “You’re just jealous because he’s taller than all of you.”
“Yeah, he is, but that’s not it,” Justin said. “I don’t want him taking advantage of you.”
She almost mentioned the fact that she’d kissed him but managed to hold her tongue. Her siblings didn’t need to know about her growing feelings for Dominic.
The Cody police officers cordoned off the scene, huddling together outside the rental house as they discussed their next steps.
“There you are,” Griff said when she and Justin went back inside. “I have a place we can stay that is owned by the feds. No ties to you or Dominic.”
“What about internet access?” Dom asked.
“There is internet access.” Griff arched a brow. “But I thought you were concerned about being found by a hacker.”
“I am. A hacker is the only answer that makes sense as to how we keep getting found at each location. Even those where we haven’t left so much as a paper trail.” Dom shrugged. “But I can think of another trick I can try to make sure to hide our electronic trail.”
“I’m not sure you should do that while being held in a federal safe house,” Levy protested. “Where are you going to go if that place becomes compromised?”
“I don’t know, but I think we need to continue digging into Bartoli’s connections.” Dom glanced at her, then to Griff, Justin, and Raine. “Don’t you? I mean, how else are we going to find this guy? We’ve identified the truck, but without plates, it’s not likely to be found. And for all we know, the shooter has ditched the truck for something else.”
Griff rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, I agree, we do need to keep investigating. The internet access is connected through the federal government, so I’m not sure if you’ll be able to use your new trick.”
Dom offered a lopsided smile. “No offense, but I’m pretty sure I can.”
Griff inclined his head. “I know you’re good, so no argument here. For now, let’s head over to the new place. It’s an isolated cabin located a few miles to the east of Cody, tucked off into the woods.”
“In the woods, huh?” Justin sighed. “Good thing we have four-wheel drive.”
Kendra frowned. “Okay, but help me understand how this will work. Are you thinking we’ll all follow each other there like a mini caravan? That might be a bit noticeable.”
“Yes, we’ll follow each other, but we’ll take the back roads,” Griff explained. “There’s a little-known highway that winds to the north around town that will take us there. As Justin pointed out, our vehicles with four-wheel drive will come in handy.”
Kendra nodded, reminding herself to have faith that Griff knew what he was doing. Her brother-in-law had never steered them wrong. Levy was one of the good guys, too, but she didn’t trust him the way she trusted Griff.
With her life and Dom’s.
“Works for me,” Raine said. “And I agree about needing to continue our investigation. We absolutely need something more to go on to find this guy.”
“I have an idea about that,” Dom said. “I hate to say it, but we may want to start digging through the employees who work at Data Intelligence Services.”
“What’s that?” Justin asked. “A known group of hackers?”
“Not exactly. Data Intelligence Services is the company I work for. But I happen to know there are a lot of employees, guys and girls who may have done some hacking on the side.” Dom grimaced. “Nothing too terrible or they wouldn’t pass the background check to be hired on as employees. But if I’m being honest, I’ve taught a few of them how to bypass or alter the ISP address to hide access the same way I do.”
Kendra frowned. “Are you saying you actually taught your coworkers how to hide their location from others?”
“Well, hiding from others wasn’t really the intent, but yeah. It’s a handy skill to have when you’re testing data programs for weaknesses.” He shrugged. “I never intended the skill to be used to break the law or anything like that. It’s one of many tools we use to build secure systems.”
Kendra remembered watching Dom work. “I tried to follow what you did, but it was way over my head. If you ask me, only someone with advanced skills could pull that off.”
