Page 60 of Finding Love on the Slopes

“Tom has survived a lot and learned some skills. Eric was angry because the code that was used was yours.”

“I never had that code. The last one you gave me was Delta, seventy-four, Foxtrot, eight. I never used it,” Julio announced defensively.

“I know. That is why Tom and Eric left you in one piece and came to visit me. It was obvious you had nothing to do with the breach. The merger hadn’t started yet, so Tom had no reason to think you were involved in my security business. He wasn’t so calm with me.”

“I don’t understand, so someone got some free intel from a private satellite network. What am I missing? That big guy looked like he wanted to rip me apart when I first woke up,” Julio questioned, confused.

“Each code has a different level of security attached to it and is assigned to a particular person. The higher the code, the higher the security level, the more sophisticated and secret the hacker involved. Delta codes are tier four codes. You, Eric, and a very small number of extremely high-ranking special ops commanders had those codes. They are pushed to the highest hackers with the best covers in place, and no questions are asked. Whatever the request is, they get it. It’s not until after the mission is done that the security team goes back and processes it all to make sure we understand exactly what happened. A checks and balances, if you will. Well, I was out of town, and my birds were out of range, so Tom’s team took the call and shared the intel from his satellite feed. It was your code. After it was all said and done, it turned out that it wasn’t your voice authentication or your facial recognition. That made them dig deeper. Long storyshort, someone got one of your advance codes that shouldn’t have even been live yet and used the overwatch intel to kidnap a politician’s family. Tom’s guys got it all cleaned up, and I owe him big time for it. But the bigger concern was how it happened and how much information they had access to when they stole the code or codes.” Enrique scrubbed his face with his hands.

“Tom is the only person on the planet who knows my hacker identity, and I’m the only one who knows his. We have had each other’s backs for years. We keep a constant eye on each member of our family so we know where they are at all times. If either of us disappears, the other will protect the family. We took an oath to protect each other when Tom went on a mission that he almost didn’t come back from. I know every detail about his sister Sarah, his two moms, and his little sister Charlotte; even his worthless father has dedicated satellite time. And Tom knows every detail about my brothers. When your code was used to do some bad stuff, he wanted to know if we had rats in our house because rats invade quickly, and Tom sort of shares a roof with us. Eric is now married to Tom’s sister, Sarah. He wanted to know if his family was in danger when he heard we had a breach. They are amazing allies to have, but I would not want to cross them. Tom is the only person I know, besides a Russian terrorist, who is better than me. We need him on our side. That glass wall has to be in place if we are going to take on the higher-risk jobs. The grunts you have as boots on the ground cannot have access to my team’s digital information. My highest tier has to stay off-site and speakdirectly to you or me, so their identities stay hidden. My contract work with the government takes up a lot of my time, but those private jobs are important, too. I want us to still do them, but I can’t be here to keep track of the day-to-day workings of this office anymore.”

“Okay, no problem. You tell me the structure your geeks need, and we will make it happen. I had no idea you were working with another hacker on the BSN project. Did you really name it Brothers Satellite Network? So lame, dude, but Fernando would love it. Speaking of which. I finally decided on a name for the firm. Remember years ago when Fernando was pushing so hard to rename us from Bad Boys Club to something else, and he suggested Brave Brothers Coalition or something like that? Well, I figured to honor him, we could call it Braveheart Securities.”’

“That’s nice man. He will appreciate you using his idea. So, get the name on the final document, and let’s get them signed. I need to be in Florida in eight days. Love ya, talk soon.”

“Hey, wait!” Julio shouted before Enrique could kill the connection.

“Yeah?”

“What happened with the breach? Is everyone’s information safe? Do we need to come up with a security plan for all the families?”

Enrique laughed, “No worries. I knew there wasn’t a breach. Our system isn’t hackable. We test it regularly. It took my best guys and Tom’s a little while, but they figured out what happened, and Eric and his guys took care of the men who abused the system.”

“So, are you going to tell me what it was? Those men were in my house too and I don’t appreciate being taken out, ever! But not in my house. If I ever see that dude, I may punch him in the face as pay back.”

“Let’s not. He’s a friend. Because you’re my partner now, I’ll share this with you. We have since canceled all the codes and changed the system, which I will brief you on a different day because we are still committed to protecting Tom’s family and he ours. The numbers were transposed. We knew it had to be someone with Delta-level clearance, and if it wasn’t you, then who? You are Seventy. I’m Eighty, and Tom is Ninety in the numerical system. I have never used my code, so mine was D81F1. Tom used his once, so he was on D92F1. You used your code three times, so you were on D74F8. One of my team was tracking down all the codes, used or not, and realized that D40 had retired after an injury. His code should have been deactivated, but it was a hush-hush thing. Eric did some digging since that code was given to one of his old ranger teammates. His second in command was a piece of work that no one liked, and he had been given the codes to call in for help twice, so he figured out that only one number was changing. He made a good guess, but when he called it in, he said seventy-four instead of forty-seven. He’s getting several years in a very dark hole for his troubles.”

“Nice. Eric sounds like my kinda guy. We will have to meet under better circumstances. Tell Gabe hello for me. We keep missing each other. Later.”

Enrique hung up the phone and set about making arrangements for his trip to Florida in a few days. He couldn’t wait to see his girl. She was going to be so surprised. He almost slipped and told his brother his good news, but this was one cat he wanted to keep in the bag a little longer.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Leighann swam up to the surface for the last time. It had been a long day in the water, but this batch of propagated coral in their underwater nursery was doing amazing. Another month, and they would be ready to seed the main reef.

She had just lifted her goggles onto her head and was preparing to swim to shore when a shadow fell over her, startling her.

“Took you long enough. I thought I was going to fry up here waiting. I’m going to need some aloe rubbed in for sure.” Enrique smirked at her stunned expression.

“Enrique! What? How? Hi,” Leighann said, at a loss for words but excited to see him after so long apart.

“Are you done for the day, or do you have more to do? I would like to take you to dinner.”

“I’m done. I just need to clean up, and I can go. I can meet you somewhere in about an hour if that works?”

“I was thinking of something a little sooner.” He patted the front of the large paddle board he was straddling on the surface of the clear blue water.

Leigh took off her air tank and handed it to him before boosting herself up onto the board. They sat on their knees as Enrique paddled further out towards a large boat anchored at least half a mile from the reef.

As they drew closer, Leigh turned to glare at him. “What is this?”

“Our next compromise,” he answered, giving her one of his charming grins.

Using the steps on the back of the enormous boat, she climbed aboard, and once he had secured her scuba gear and his board, she asked, “How is this supposed to be a compromise forusand not just a concession forme?”

“Easy. You spend so much time in the water; not having a boat was never going to happen, especially once we have kids. This is a yacht, by the way. Why not get it now and make life easier? Now you can work out there,” he said, gesturing towards the water, “and I can work here.” This time, he pointed out the luxurious leather seating. “It’s a compromise because I didn’t get the six-stateroom yacht with gold-plated fixtures I wanted to get. I got the four-stateroom size with chrome fixtures. The theater room was exchanged for a great room with an open galley kitchen instead of the kitchen being separate and below decks. I had to have the custom office, so that may be a concession on your part, but the kids will have to bunk together instead ofhaving their own rooms. See, I give a little. You give a little. We both win. Come say hello to Lorenzo before he pouts and burns my food for keeping you to myself.”

Leigh smiled at the thought of that but went inside and greeted the chef before following Enrique to the front of the yacht to the owner’s stateroom. It took her breath away. It was decorated in whites, creams, blues, and greens, perfectly blending both of their favorite colors. Everything was plush and soft. She was covered in salt and didn’t want to get anything dirty but ran her fingers over the luxurious bedding anyway.

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