“I don’t know. Haven’t thought about it.” She took a moment to process. “I used to waitress in college.”
He set down his mug. “I can’t see it, but if that’s your only option, it won’t give you enough money to hire Eryn.”
“Then I’ll just have to find Kane on my own.”
“I could lend you the money.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “No point in suggesting that when you know I’ll say no.”
“I know. But I just had to put it out there.” He frowned. “Let me know if that changes or if you want the Center’s help after all.”
She nodded, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to accept his charity. At least not yet. She would only change her mind if Kane upped his game and she didn’t think she could stay one step ahead of him.
Linette delivered their food, and as they ate, Brooklyn turned the discussion to the latest technologies Nick was employing on the job. She enjoyed having a normal meal with a normal discussion and appreciated it when, on their drive, Nick talked all about Piper and Carter.
She loved seeing his devotion to his wife and how smitten he was with his son. The longing for a family of her own threatened tears.
No, stop. Focus on being happy for him.
Nick slowed the vehicle and flipped on his blinker. “We’re here.”
Brooklyn searched for a sign. Nothing. Just a small opening in a treelined road. He pulled onto the drive, and she leaned forward in eager anticipation of seeing her home for the next little while. A security light clicked on from the trees, highlighting the wooded drive. Several more lights came on as they rolled slowly down the narrow lane, the tires crunching over gravel until they reached a heavy-duty gate leading to an open area.
He pulled the SUV to the gate and pressed a button on the intercom mounted on the post.
“Nick, buddy.” A deep male voice came over the speaker. “I’m on my way to the conference room. You remember where that is?”
“In the training building.”
“Exactly. Meet me there.”
The gate hummed open, and she scanned the area to see additional cameras mounted in various positions inside the compound. This place was protected like a fortress.
“Why all the security?” she asked. “Is Gage one of those former military paranoid types?”
“Nah, he’s a regular dude.” Nick pulled into the compound, and the gate whooshed closed behind them until the lock hit thepost and clicked closed. “They have a large cache of weapons on site along with other pricey equipment and had some theft attempts.”
And protecting it made sense. “I’ll feel safe here for sure.”
“Just remember, no system is infallible. Especially when we’re dealing with an IT wiz like Kane.”
“You think he could penetrate this network? I mean, I’m assuming this Eryn person you mentioned set it up, and you seem to be impressed with her skills.”
“Given enough time, I’m sure he could hack anything, but if he does, he’ll face an armed response for sure.” Nick fixed his gaze on her. “Still, an armed response takes time to muster, and it doesn’t take long to scale the fence, even if it’s reinforced with barbed wire at the top, and get to the cabin you’ll be staying in.”
“So don’t let down my guard and keep my gun close.” She sighed as she’d hoped to count on the protection of this team and live a more peaceful existence here. But no. Right now, if she wanted to stay alive, she had to sleep with one eye open and expect the worst.
In Blackwell Tactical’s conference room, Colin stretched, while Eryn sat at the end of table, head down, staring at her monitor. He loved everything about information technology and was glad to be here working with an ultimate professional like Eryn.
Well, maybe he didn’t love everything. Not when someone misused IT for their financial gain, which was far too prevalent these days and the reason he’d left the FBI. He couldn’t handle seeing the abuse of anything and everything possible. Way too prevalent, and no matter how many creeps Colin put behindbars, they kept coming. One after the other. Like a barrage of bullets from a machine gun. Taking. Exploiting. Abusing.
Now he helped class participants avoid such scammers. Helped them eliminate their online presence so they couldn’t be tracked or manipulated. Taught them how to avoid leaving any tracks online. How to spot scams and risky websites.
Colin tried to stifle his yawn but couldn’t contain it. They’d had a quick microwave dinner and continued working for hours. It was getting late, and he wasn’t used to sitting in front of computers for crazy long hours anymore. But if Eryn was game to keep working, so was he.
She looked up from her monitor. At some point, she’d sleeked back her long, black hair into a ponytail and flipped it over her shoulder. “This guy will take some time to finish. He’s been very active online with pretty much every one of the socials.”
Odd.“Most people who take our classes avoid social media like the plague.”
