Page 26 of Just Curious

Willa blinked a few times in surprise and then said, “Well… yeah!”

She was about to head home to get back to work when Jackson got up to go with her. “I’d like to check on your computer one more time since the mouse still isn’t responding as well as it should,” he explained.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. I’d do anything to help your career, you understand, right?”

With a sultry look, Willa asked, “Is there anything I can do to pay you back?”

“Just you being you is enough.”

Willa did a load of laundry and puttered around the house while Jackson poked around on her laptop. After an hour of clicking on this and that and running things in safe mode, he became more and more convinced that the Trojan had been removed and the computer was once again safe for use.

“It’s always possible that something is still wrong, but I think you’re good to go.” He tried to appear reassuring but serious as he continued, “It looks to me more as if someone was just having some fun with malware—probably released it to lots of users at once. Or… maybe just to you.”

Willa let out a frustrated sigh. “Why would someone target me?”

“It could just be something random, or it could also be because you’re a talented, best-selling author, and someone wants to steal your newest book so they can pirate it or say they wrote it. That’s just an educated guess, of course.” Jackson looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked, “What do you know about that Deb Abbey woman who stole your book before?”

“Well… nothing really. Do you think she’s at it again in a sneakier way this time?”

“It’s possible,” Jackson offered. “But whoever planted this Trojan is extremely talented and appeared to be trying to show off. It’s like some of the stuff you see at DEF CON.”

Blinking at him, Willa asked, “What on earth is DEF CON?”

“It’s billed as the underground hacking conference in Las Vegas that hackers and web security managers attend. They offer lots of speakers and what they call Village presentations about how to keep your business safe. Each Village has a hacking competition that attendees can try to win. The conference is so full of hackers, though, no one will even bring a cell phone through the door for fear of having it attacked. Most of the really great hackers are super sneaky about their identities, but a few are there to show off. DEF CON also has a big Capture the Flag competition for teams of the world’s best hackers to compete against each other. All of the name badges that people wear have something electronic about them, but the big Capture the Flag winner gets a special badge they keep for life. It will get them into the conference forever.” Jackson smiled as though with a fond memory, “I’ve gone every year for the past eight years, but it’s been going on a lot longer than that. I think the first one was back in ’93.”

Willa appeared spellbound as she asked, “Wow, that’s really something. Sounds like you enjoy it.”

“I do,” Jackson smiled. “Though I didn’t go for fun, not at first.”

“Why did you?” Willa asked.

“Because I wanted to make sure I was using cutting edge techniques to combat attacks on my software. If you stay up-to-date and learn to think like a hacker, you can stay pretty safe. It’s way better to program safely from the get-go than it is to try to fix problems later. That’s a huge problem many large companies have. They’re too anxious to get to market and release unsafe products.”

Willa pondered this a moment and asked, “Do you know any of the big hackers? Or… you’re not one of them, are you?”

Giving her his crooked smile, Jackson answered, “I’m definitely not one of the interfering hackers. I’m what’s known as a white hat. I have the skills to hack in anywhere I set my mind to, but I only do it for educational or research purposes. I’m there to learn how to fix the coding problems that let me in. The black hats hack in to steal, control, or otherwise disrupt things. It’s a whole different world. I know some of the black hats with big reputations, and I can’t claim to be friends with any of them. I’ve also pissed off a few of them by besting them at their game and winning the coveted Uber Badge, as they call it. They’re pretty sensitive about their skills.” He looked thoughtful and continued, “This Trojan of yours reminds me of something a couple of them might have created. I’ll see if I can find out anything else about a new malware going around.”

Willa narrowed her eyes in thought. “My gut tells me that if Deb Abbey had that kind of talent, she wouldn’t waste it on looking for books to steal.”

“Maybe not,” Jackson said. “Though I’d imagine she’s under a lot of pressure to write the next big book, and since she had to steal her first idea, she probably doesn’t have the talent to do that on her own.”

With a frustrated huff, Willa replied, “At least I have a back-up this time. And the book is essentially done now except for one scene. I was mostly polishing up a few things and getting it ready to go to the editor.” Shaking her head in annoyance, she went on, “I hate the idea of losing my work again.” She wrapped her arms around Jackson and said into his neck, “Thank you for helping.”

Chapter 16

Casey came back from Santa Barbara, and they filled him in on what they’d been up to and discussed. This gave them a weekend with the three of them together before Jackson had to leave for Castroville.

And what a weekend they had. Willa was already so comfortable with Jackson, and he had such a strong connection to Casey, it seemed to help forge a deep connection between Willa and Casey as well. What could have been awkward felt right. Willa started to realize she’d been longing for Casey’s return from Santa Barbara. He was the missing part of the machine that made things hum. She giggled to herself as she thought of him as the high-octane fuel that helped things move smoothly.

Early on Saturday morning, however, Willa had to leave for a couple of hours. “I have a hair appointment,” she explained, then kissed them both goodbye and took off. On her way out the door, she added, “I’m going to do a little shopping before I get back.”

As soon as she was out the door, Casey turned to Jackson and said, “She’s amazing.”

“Agreed.”

“Do you actually think we can keep this going, Jax? I’m not messing up what you have with her, am I?”

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