Total D*ck(37)

“I don’t think Greenwood was behind the hack.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What?” If Greenwood didn’t do it, then my chances of a multimillion-dollar payday were getting grimmer by the moment.

“The information Fluffy sent me shows that Discord was hired to hack Rhone, but that some other third party ordered it, not Greenwood. But—” He tapped some keys on his laptop and swung it around so I could see the screen. “—Fluffy’s instructions were to make it look as if it had been Greenwood. And the pay was far better than your regular hack job.”

The screen showed a terse bullet list of objectives via email. The payday for Fluffy was $250,000 if he got the job done—in and out without a trace.

“So, what does all this mean? Other than the fucking obvious problem that now I don’t have a good faith basis to sue Greenwood.” I glanced down to my fingers, imagining hundred-dollar bills slipping right through them.

“It means that there’s more to all of this than we thought.” Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest. “Whoever it was wanted the secrets and wanted to pin it on Greenwood. Has to be another competitor. But who?”

“Most likely candidates are Donovan, Inc., or the Bern brothers.” I tapped my fingers along the table. “I can’t think of anyone else who’d have the sort of money or interest to retain Discord to do their dirty work against Rhone. Greenwood is the number one defense contractor in the nation, with Rhone a close second, and it’s common knowledge that their CEO Elliot Rangel and Frank Rhone have a long-standing feud. It would be easy enough for a smaller player to set Greenwood up for the fall.”

Scarlett gaped at me. “You’ve been doing research?”

I leaned back in my chair and laced my fingers behind my head. “I didn’t become the best plaintiff’s attorney in town by letting the defense lawyers run the show.”

She gave me a “not bad” look and turned back to Carey. “Can you tell who retained Discord?”

He shook his head. “Not from this. But I can run a few more pieces of data to ground. See what I can find.”

“Won’t that be dangerous?” Scarlett pinned her thumbnail between her teeth and wrinkled her nose.

“Yeah, but given what happened to Fluffy, I get the feeling we were in dangerous territory the minute we got this assignment.” Carey pushed up his shirtsleeves, the dark ink wrapping around his forearms rippling as his fingers ran over the keys. “I’ve already set a chat window on each of your laptops.” He jerked his chin toward where they sat at the end of the conference table. “If you want to discuss the case, do it through those windows only. They’re secure. Your phones aren’t. Your Internet isn’t. Don’t trust anyone. If anything happens, call me. Not the police, not the firm. You never know who’s listening.”

“But I need to get in touch with Guy.”

“Go see him in the morning.” Carey closed his laptop and started packing up. “I wouldn’t call or give anything away over the phone. Only talk face-to-face. We don’t want to tip Discord that we’re looking into them. At least not tip them any more than we already have. There’s a reason Fluffy sent me this information. He had to have known this Rhone hack was hazardous to his health. I just need to figure out why.”

“Okay. I’ll play it your way.” Scarlett reached for her laptop.

I grabbed it and handed it to her, running my finger along hers as she took it. She glanced up at me and then quickly away.

The elevator ride was silent, Carey chewing on a fingernail as Scarlett and I leaned against the back wall.

“Remember what I said. I hope to get some more information as soon as possible. I hope it’s not as bad as it seems. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Carey dropped his gear into his car and got in. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Stay safe,” Scarlett called.

He waved and pulled out of the deck as I walked Scarlett to her car.

“I can come home with you, if it would make you feel safer.” I was, after all, a gentleman.

“I’m good. Thanks.” She dropped her bag and laptop into her backseat before getting in the driver’s seat and closing her door, effectively cutting off my efforts.

I leaned against my car, watching her put hers in reverse and back away. I got in and started the engine, not too concerned by her turning me down. I intended to taste her again, though I was troubled by how much space she was already taking up in my head. I thought it would be a one-and-done situation, like usual, but it wasn’t. Fucking her only seemed to make me want her more.