Page 45 of Just Curious

Chapter 27

After a long night of reassurances to each other about their mutual trust and love, Willa, Casey, and Jackson were exhausted. They were still in bed trying to catch up on a little sleep when all their phones began to ring and vibrate with calls and ping with text message alerts. It sounded like a cell phone symphony as all three devices sounded off.

“What the fuck?” Casey muttered groggily. He was closest to his phone, so he reached over and picked it up. The incoming call was from his dad, but the text message alert kept chiming and chiming. He ignored his dad for the moment and took a look at the most recent text. It was from his assistant telling him that not only had he been attacked by a virus that was sending out a video, the video was quite graphic and compromising. Casey scrolled through more texts, and they all said variations of the same thing. He did notice, however, that none of the messages were damning to him in any way. One even explained that the other two people in the video were identified by name, but that Casey was not. They all seemed to want to warn him more than anything and let him know they’d also apparently been infected by a virus.

Casey opened up his email and confirmed that a message was sent supposedly from Willa while he knew for a fact that she was sleeping. He opened it and saw what the fuss was about. “Just turn off your phones,” he told the others. “It’s already happened. The video is going out allegedly from Willa’s email account, and it’s replicating.” He turned to Jackson and asked, “Is there anything you can do to stop this?”

“I’ll see what I can figure out,” Jackson answered, shaking his head in disgust and sadness. “What a mess.”

“I’m calling the lawyers,” said Willa. Her hands shook with anger as she punched in the numbers.

A couple of hours later, one of the lawyers called Willa back. “The FBI now needs to be alerted because of the severity of the cyber threat and subsequent attack. By threatening you and two other individuals via the internet, and by distributing damaging material, the perpetrator has committed a serious felony.” He paused and let that sink in and then went on, “You need to fill out a form and send it immediately to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as the IC3, and the FBI will be in touch as soon as possible. I could file it on your behalf, Ms. Camden, but I think it will be faster if you do it. You have at your disposal all of the information they’ll request. I’ll alert them that the suspected perpetrator of this attack has already been charged with grand theft of your intellectual property.” He gave her the specifics on where to download the form.

Jackson’s computer was the only one that was not infected. Although Willa was on his safe-senders list, and the email was delivered to his inbox, he had an experimental program installed that removed and destroyed harmful attachments before they could invade his system. It was one of the things he’d been working so hard on, so despite the horrible circumstances, he was happy that the protection had worked. It also safeguarded his information from being hacked, but—just to be extra safe—he also checked his online banking accounts and saw that nothing untoward had happened. Nevertheless, he created complicated new passwords for everything. That kind of information could never be too safe.

“I’m going to load my new program onto your laptops just to add some more protection,” Jackson told Willa and Casey. “I just worked out some of the bugs yesterday, and I didn’t want to install it until I’d checked to make sure it worked. I’m sorry now that I didn’t take the chance.”

“You didn’t know we’d be attacked by a cyber-criminal,” Willa pointed out. She knew none of them needed more recriminations or blame. They were already reeling from having their privacy invaded and their personal business splattered all over the internet. Casey hadn’t stopped pacing around the house all day as he spoke to his dad, several clients, and business associates.

Until now, they hadn’t managed to come up with a plan other than calling the authorities. But after practically pacing a hole in Jackson’s floor, Casey announced, “I have an idea that I’d like you both to consider. Let’s sit down and have a talk, yeah?” He was the only one not sitting down actually, so he took a chair and faced them, asking, “What if we do nothing?”

“We have to do something!” Jackson retorted.

“I’ve already done what I can,” Willa added. “The FBI is going to be involved now as well.”

Jackson looked mighty perturbed when he asked Casey, “Since when are you the pacifist? You’ve always been the one to go on attack at the drop of a hat.”

“Maybe I’ve matured.” Casey regarded them calmly and said, “What you’ve both done so far is fine, but I’m thinking about a statement, a retaliation, or a claim that the video is a fake.” They both started to speak, but he held up his hand politely. “It’s my strong opinion that we should just do nothing and let it blow over. We don’t owe anyone an explanation for our lifestyle. This is California, for heaven’s sake. Even my dad wasn’t really upset—he just wanted me to be aware of the problem and he wanted to know if he could help me in any way. Most of the messages I’ve gotten are equally supportive. I bet if you look at the ones you’re getting, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Willa’s brow furrowed as she opened the messages on her phone.CouldCasey be right? Am Inotgoing to be vilified and called every horrible name in the book?She scrolled through a few of them from people she knew well, and Casey was correct. They were mostly messages offering support and expressing remorse that her private life was invaded.

Feeling bolstered by the friendly messages, Willa continued to scroll and got to people she didn’t know. She assumed they were contacts of her contacts. These messages were more caustic, thanking her for sending them a virus—like she could have prevented it somehow? The thought was ridiculous. Here and there she had some rather disgusting proposals and suggestions. A few made her cringe, and she was furious that the original sender had posted her name and phone number with the video. She felt like she’d been lauded on the wall of a public bathroom stall for all the world to see—as in, “For a good time call Willa Camden! (858)555-2170.”Still, it could have been a lot worse. Well… maybe.

Willa and Jackson silently considered Casey’s suggestion for several minutes. Finally, Jackson broke the silence and announced, “We’re all getting new phones. I’ve ordered them, and they’ll be here soon. We can distribute the new numbers to the people we trust and leave the old ones alone until all of this is cleaned up. The FBI may need them anyway.”

“Okay. Thanks, Jackson,” Willa said. “I think Casey is right, though. I vote for no public acknowledgment whatsoever of this breach of our privacy. I doubt seriously it will hurt my career anyway.” She finally broke a smile and laughed softly. “Some of my readers might think this is how I do research.”

Casey nodded thoughtfully and added, “Hey, I work in the design business, and half the people I run into assume I’m gay anyway, so this isn’t exactly going to spoil my rep. It’ll just make me more… colorful!” They both laughed at that with him.

“Yeah, you’re a regular rainbow,” chuckled Jackson. “I guess you’re both right. My immediate reaction is to fight back somehow and tell the world to butt out of our business while I try—and, realistically, fail—to erase every possible copy of this video. But I have to face the reality that it’s out there. No one knows who I am anyway unless they’re in tech, and I might turn out to be some kind of folk hero in those circles. A nerd in a three-way! Who knew?”

Right after Jackson made this statement, the buzzer for the front gate sounded. He answered the intercom, “May I help you?”

“Express delivery for a Mr. Mitchell,” the voice said.

“I’ll buzz you in. Please bring it to the front door.”

The young delivery man did a doubletake as he offered the package to Jackson, and then he craned his neck and stood on his tiptoes, staring into the house. “Hey, there she is! And you’re one of the guys with the chick who likes to do…”

Stepping forward hastily, Jackson forced the guy backward and away from the door. He snarled, “Don’t say another word, and I’m sorry that you just lost your chance for any kind of tip. Now shut up and get out of here.”

“Jeez, man. Don’t get your tighties in a twist,” the little weasel sniggered at him. He winked at Jackson with a leer and left.

Sighing, Jackson slammed the door and turned to Casey and Willa. “Why does everyone assume I wear tighty whities, anyway? Sorry about that, Willa. Why don’t we all pack up and head out to Casey’s house for a while. Now that that idiot knows where to find us, he’ll probably tell all of his sleazy friends. No telling who else is going to show up. Case’s house is a lot more private, and it helps that all the addresses for Rancho Santa Fe are P.O. boxes.” He dropped the package of phones on the table near them and headed for the kitchen to see whether Phillipe had started work on dinner yet. It turned out that he had, so they decided to all head out to Rancho Santa Fe after an early supper. It gave them more time to pack anyway. Jackson figured he just wouldn’t answer the intercom if any strangers showed up.

Unfortunately, small group of gawkers laughed and stared up at the two houses from the beach below. There were a few cameras in the mix that looked like paparazzi as well. Jackson was quite relieved he had one-way glass installed facing the water. It was still over an hour before sundown, and they all had a clear view of his huge window, but they couldn’t see through it.

“New plan,” he announced to Willa and Casey. “I’m calling the driver to drive you two out to Case’s place, but I want you to wait until I see if there are any gawkers out front. I’m pretty sure if we leave by car we’ll be followed, so I’ll go first and lead them in the wrong direction. Then I’ll lose them and meet you back at the Ranch.” He snickered. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

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