Midnight Kiss (Men of Midnight #7) - Lisa Marie Rice Page 0,64

a program that does a data dive for constants. The bots will be shifting but there will be constants in the command and control structure. I designed it as a tool to find stuff in massive streams of data, with a low signal-to-noise ratio. But it will work here, too. Let’s see if we can also trace it back to its origin. I’m sending it to you now.”

“Right now they’re masking,” Felicity warned. “Bouncing around the world.”

“Of course they are. But I think if we let the program work, give it some time, it can trace the origins, too.”

“So this is another of your programs, Ms. Ellis?” A new voice. Basso profundo, almost too deep for her speakers. A man appeared. Very ugly, with a crooked welt of a scar on his jaw. Hope knew who he was. Felicity had given her a run down of the bosses of ASI. Douglas Kowalski. Some called him ‘the Senior’ because of his former rank in the Navy. Hope had no idea how ‘senior’ could be a rank, but still. Ugly and ferocious-looking, he was one of the good guys.

“Hope, please.”

Douglas Kowalski had a voice like God. God wouldn’t address her as Ms. Ellis.

The man dipped his head slightly. It was as if he were in the room, looking her right in the eyes. She was glad she was on his good side because he looked fierce enough to eat her for breakfast if she were his enemy.

“Hope. Judging by the noises Felicity here is making —” he nodded his head at Felicity. She could see a slice of Felicity’s intent face, staring at her computer. “That program is something else. Can we buy it off you? Or at least pay you for the use? I understand it protects against —” He side-eyed Felicity.

“DDoSs.” Her voice was preoccupied. She didn’t look away from the screen.

The Senior nodded. “What she said.”

“God no!” Hope held her hands up. “We’ve gone over this before. You and your company are helping me figure out what’s going on, probably saving my life. You’re under attack now because of me. You’re welcome to anything I’ve developed. Now and ever will develop. To the end of time.”

He hung his head for a moment, jaws working. As if he were chewing on a problem. He lifted his head suddenly and seemingly looked her straight in the eyes. “Well, how about this? Can we offer you a job?”

Hope’s jaw fell open. “A what?”

“A job,” he replied. “You know. You work for us and we pay you. Felicity here says that you are super smart and a hard worker. Coming from her, that’s incredible praise. And she said that already the two programs you’ve sent are worth a lot of money. From what I understand, you didn’t like the job you had. Felicity will tell you what working with us is like.” Suddenly a slender hand appeared on the screen next to his cheek, with a thumb up. Something like a smile appeared on his face. “Our conditions are good and Felicity needs a hand. Not only now but after her twins are born. She’s got too big a work load as it is. We’d love to have you.”

A sudden elbow in her ribs nearly knocked her to the floor. Luke, turning to her with a fierce expression, bright blue eyes nearly glowing. “Say yes!” he urged. “You’ll love it at ASI. Say yes!”

She couldn’t tear her gaze away from him.

“Yes,” he prompted, nudging her with his shoulder.

“Ahm … yes?” she answered.

Luke fist-pumped and the Senior’s mouth twitched, which Hope interpreted as a smile. She had long experience interpreting nerd body language. Soldier body language was different but sort of the same. She suspected they had issues expressing their emotions as much as nerds did.

“Excellent,” the Senior said. “Felicity’s carrying too heavy a load right now so I’m glad that she has someone as good as she is to help carry it.”

“Almost as good as she is,” Hope corrected with a smile.

“I heard that! No way!” Felicity’s voice floated in the background. “As good as or better.”

Hope rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Either way we’re looking forward to welcoming you to ASI, Hope,” the Senior said. “You already had our attention and the full resources of the company at your disposal, so that doesn’t change. I understand that as soon as your present troubles are over, you’ll need to relocate and that will take time, but consider yourself on our payroll as