That is, if her secret didn’t turn out to be a problem.
4
Brooklyn opened the door to the conference room at precisely ten a.m. She wished she could say she’d slept the night and woke refreshed, but she would be lying if she did. The bed was surprisingly comfortable for a cabin, the bedding luxurious—which she credited Gage for providing for the people who enrolled in his classes—and the room was quiet. Maybe too quiet. Just a few hoots of an owl and the wind buffeting the thick walls.
But honestly, thoughts of working around others after such a long break from people kept her sleepless. That, and thoughts of Colin. She easily imagined him in one of the classic movies she watched. Suave, debonair, a real movie star of days gone by.
She glanced at him at the head of the classroom. He wore tactical pants that fit his trim waist to a T and a polo shirt with the Shadow Lake Survival logo embroidered on the chest.Right. Reality check, and time to let go of her very vivid imagination of him in one of her fave movies. This guy was more rough and tumble. An action star in one of the movies Nick loved. Still, if Colin were to pose for the old classic movie posters wearing theright clothing, his dark hair and intense look would have women flocking to the theater.
He shifted and caught her watching him.
The heat of a blush crept up her face, and she gave a little wave.
He acknowledged it with a quick tip of his head and continued on, wrapping up his talk by asking if anyone had any questions about protecting themselves online. A woman with sleek dark hair sat at the table in the front of the room. Her head came up, and she surveyed the group.
She had to be Eryn Sawyer, the Cold Harbor IT specialist who Nick had praised. Maybe she was teaching the class along with Colin. Brooklyn wouldn’t be surprised if the two teams worked together.
Hands went up, and Colin called on a woman in the front row.
“I read that once something is on the internet you can’t get rid of it. Is that true?” she asked. “I mean, you offer the service to help us clean up things, but does it even work or are you scamming us?”
Colin flashed her a professional smile. “I can assure you that we aren’t scamming you. We can’t eliminate things just by deleting them on your end. So for example if you have a Facebook account, we can delete your photos and posts, as it will stop other sites from picking it up in the future. But once uploaded, a digital file can be copied and stored in many locations. We have to find the sites that are storing the files and ask them to destroy them. They may or may not comply.”
Eryn stood and planted her hands on the table. “Social media sites are very hesitant to help, but they are more apt to comply when the information was posted by you. If it was posted by a third party there is little chance to get them to take it down. Freedom of speech and all that.”
“That said, there are tools to help us remove a lot of data like phone numbers and addresses,” Colin said. “In fact, Google has a tool we use to do that, and in the future you can use it yourself.”
“How?” The woman challenged with a suspicious look.
“Just search for your name,” Eryn said. “Then in the pages that come up with data you want removed, click or tap on the three dots for the menu on that item. Next select remove result and Google will walk you through how to do it. They won’t remove all items, but they will usually do addresses and phone numbers.”
A guy with a shaved head perked up. “If this is so great, why don’t they tell people about it?”
“That you would have to ask Google. Maybe search for an answer.” Colin chuckled, then moved on to answer other questions. It took him and Eryn nearly an hour to take care of them all and for the class members to exit.
Brooklyn approached Colin, who’d started packing up his laptop. He looked at her. “Sorry that took so long.”
She smiled at him. “No worries. It was interesting. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know Google had the removal tool. I did know you could have your home photo in their map program blurred by them, but since I don’t own a home I never used it.”
“It’s good to see they’re trying to help out this way.” Eryn held out her hand and introduced herself. “Nick says you’re one talented hacker.”
“I do my best.”
Eryn arched a perfectly tweezed eyebrow in the same rich black color as her hair. “And now you’re going to help take care of Colin’s mom.”
There was a question in her statement, but Brooklyn ignored it and looked at Colin, who was zipping his laptop case closed. “We probably should get going, right?”
Both of Eryn’s eyebrows went up this time. Fine. She got that Brooklyn was avoiding the question, but she wouldn’t add anything else.
He looked at Eryn. “I’ll be back after I get Brooklyn settled.”
“I’ll be taking a long lunch to spend with the kids while you do.” Eryn glanced at Brooklyn. “Do you have children?”
“No. I’ve never been married. Not even engaged.”
“Trey and I have three, but he wants five. I have not agreed.” She laughed.
Brooklyn laughed along. Eryn was a very likable woman, and under any other circumstance, Brooklyn would continue the conversation, but not when she was on the run.
