“Me? I think you’re an insufferable ass but I need your help.” I open my laptop. “Can I ask you to check on something?”
“What do you need?” He hones in on my computer screen as I slide it over.
“Isn’t there some way to see if someone logged into my computer while I was at the party?”
Silently, he types commands onto a black DOS screen and a few seconds later a table pops up with dates and times.
“See this? Someone logged in at seventeen-oh-four. He types some more. “Who knows your password?”
“No one.”
He raises his brow, frowns, and gives me this are-you-kidding-me look.
“I swear.” With one palm on a virtual bible, I pop my other in the air.
He scratches the back of his head, then rakes a hand over his short beard. “Well, someone got hold of it, honey. What’s on your computer that’s worth breaking and entering for?”
“Nothing. I use it for school, email, and Netflix. That’s pretty much it.”
He narrows his gaze, a sniper adjusting the scope on his rifle. “Your work on EMF is pretty groundbreaking.”
“It would be, if I were closer.”
“Explain.” His brows lift matching his challenging tone.
“Gerard says I have a lot of unsupported assumptions.”
“Meaning?”
“My research is complete trash.”
Suds sits up straight and talks into his chest. “Are you getting all this, Luck?”
Then, he directs his conversation back toward me, his gaze penetrating. “Lucky wants to know if you’ve been approached by anyone about your work?”
“Not recently.” If Suds wasn’t such a jerk, I’d tell him how I was MIT’s wonder-woman but it’s embarrassing how far I’ve fallen.
“Has anyone from the Pentagon spoken with you?”
“Nooo... I’m trying to figure out how to make EMF safer, not create a weapon. Do you think the break-ins have something to do with my research?”
“You’re the brilliant scientist. What do you think?”
“What’s with the sarcasm?”
“I can’t believe you’re so dense.”
“Jesus, God have mercy! Protect me from obnoxious bodyguards.” I stand, look around the room for something to throw, and think better of it. Instead, I grab my computer, stomp down the hall, and slam the bedroom door.
He hit a real sensitive button and it hurts.
I pick up my phone, needing to hear from someone who gets me.
Me: Hey.
Gerry: Call your Mom. She’s worried. Where r u?
Me: My bodyguard brought me to a safe house.
