like he’d sat out in the sun for hours without sunscreen. “Uh, both your emails start with Jack.”
Jack hummed. “So… you decided to access my computer without authorization and delete it?”
“I’m so sorry. It’s just really embarrassing, and I didn’t want you to see it.”
“Sil, accessing my computer unauthorized is a dismissible offense, you know that.” Jack rounded his desk and took a seat at his computer. As expected, Sil hadn’t gotten far, not with the biometric security measures Jack had in place. He waited for Sil to step away before entering his password. The retina scanner on his monitor scanned his eye, then prompted him to press his thumb to the scan pad. Once he was logged in, he opened his email client and there it was. The system scanned the email for any potential threats and, having been cleared, Jack opened it.
Oh. Um…
Oh my.
Jack didn’t read the whole thing, but he didn’t have to. This was one time where he wished he didn’t have years of experience in scanning communications. Enough words jumped out at him for him to know exactly what was going on between the two. It was like someone had transcribed a porn scene in excruciating detail, one involving Sil, intended for a Jackmeoff69. Clearing his throat, Jack deleted the email. He could see why Sil had been so desperate to get rid of it.
“I’m so sorry,” Sil whispered, eyes closed and face still ready to spontaneously combust.
“It’s none of my business what you do and with who, but from your personal email, Sil? You know better than anyone how easily someone can get ahold of that.” Had it been an internal email, Jack wouldn’t have worried. Their information was encrypted, and their servers monitored and protected by software Leo and Jack had designed themselves. The moment anyone not authorized came near their data, the walls would come down and the intruder would immediately regret their life choices.
Sil crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, reminding Jack of how young he was. “Thanks. I didn’t realize you thought I was an idiot.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Jack said darkly, getting Sil’s attention. The younger man deflated and dropped his arms. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. Sil might be young, but he wasn’t foolish. He was also a professional, and a key member of Jack’s team. Everyone had bad days and Jack was willing to overlook certain things, but if Sil had anything to do with what happened to Fitz, Jack would deal with it.
“Sorry,” Sil murmured. “No one’s going to get ahold of it. It deletes itself.”
Jack’s head shot up. “What?”
“The email. I sent it with White Ouroboros.”
“What is that?”
“Um, it’s that app from the Dark Net for sending emails and posting content. It creates fake user information to send content that deletes itself within the time frame selected. It’s untraceable, like actually untraceable.”
Jack slowly stood and narrowed his eyes at Sil. “Can you use this app to, let’s say, send photos that would delete themselves at a specific time?”
Sil shrugged. “Sure.”
“Why don’t I know about this?” Part of their department’s responsibility was to stay on top of anything and everything that posed as a threat to their business and clients. His team was constantly scanning the Dark Net for software and apps that could be used against them.
“Um, I sent an internal email to everyone on the team more than a month ago.”
“When?”
Sil removed his company phone and tapped away at it. His deep frown didn’t bode well. “What the hell?”
“What’s wrong?” The question was irrelevant. Jack knew exactly what was wrong.
“It’s gone. I just used it, but now it’s gone.”
Convenient.
Picking up his office phone, Jack hit the speed-dial button for Emmett, who was downstairs working on a new client’s network upgrade.
“Hi, boss.”
“Hey, can you forward me the email on the White Ouroboros app? Sil sent it over a month ago.”
“Sure. One sec.”
A heartbeat later Emmett hummed.
“What is it?” Jack asked, though he had a feeling he knew what Emmett was going to say.
“That’s weird. It’s not there.”
“Could you have deleted it by accident?”
“No way. You know me. I keep all those emails and file them away for later reference. That’s just weird, Jack. Is something going on?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know. Thanks for checking.” He hung up and logged back into his system to check their internal database. Whenever something new popped up on the market, it would be entered into the system,