Page 42 of Hacker Identified

"Hannah, I like having you around. This beats the board meetings Zack usually drags us to," Texan said as he slapped the mosquito that landed on his arm.

Zack waved his hand toward a snake thirty feet away. "Except you never have the chance of dying in those board meetings." The smile across Zack's face contradicted his tone.

"I never said you guys had to come!" I pointed out as I reached back into the SUV for my backpack. “I’d tried to go alone this morning, and you both invited yourselves.” While Zack and Texan got ready, I found Kat in the kitchen of Blackwood Security and asked her for a few handcuffs. She gave me three sets of pink fuzzy cuffs. Zack's head might explode when he figures out how I plan to lock us to the tree with them.

"Since we met, at least two people tried to have you killed," he reminded me as he plucked the bag from my hands. "I'm not sure I'll ever let you out of my sight."

My heart flipped like the night before when we’d made love. I was in way over my head. At least after the last attempt for us to get married failed, he hadn't rushed us to another courthouse.

Gibs had texted on the way to the protest to let me know the doctors had released him from the hospital. The text had also asked why the fuck we orchestrated the pardon for Watson. Zack initially told me he still planned to put my father away, but nothing had happened. I wasn't sure how my father's arrest would be accomplished.

Zack pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear and ran his thumb over my scar. "I'll help you save this tree, don't look so sad."

I shook my head. "I'm not sad, just thinking. We only have about a mile to hike to the location."

Texan led the carved-out path and the rest of us followed behind him as we walked through the marshy grass. Zack placed a hand on my lower back and walked next to me. "We must pick up the speed to ensure we get a good spot. Last time I had to sit next to Willy. I won't let that happen again."

"Why?" Texan asked. "Maybe we should do a background check on these people."

I shook my head, pulled up the map from Willy with the exact location, and jogged past Texan. Zack caught up with me and grabbed my hand. My stupid heart melted at the small gesture.

"You never said why it was bad to have to sit next to Willy?"

"He tends to eat boiled eggs for the entire protest. As a result, things can get stinky."

We walked silently until we broke through the cattails and spotted the large tree. From the information Willy had sent me, the tree was around four hundred and fifty years old, but didn't pass all the needed tests to become protected. Everything would come down to the developer and if they would do the right thing. If only people would refuse to buy the homes they would build after destroying the tree, it might help.

The beautiful marshland would turn into a two-hundred-home development.

"Hannah?" Willy shouted and waved one hand in the air. His other hand was connected to a chain wrapped around the tree.

Willy had started Liberal Earth Collective when he was six years old. His parents are hippies and for a long time they’d joined us on protests, but now have retired to Alaska. The twenty-five-year-old man reminds me of a teenage computer geek. His black hair was sticking up everywhere and was greasy. He dropped his hand to adjust his wire-rim glasses.

"Hannah," Zack tightened his hand. "Stay next to me. You never know."

"You think my friends who protest cutting down trees will kill me?" I couldn't hold back the sarcasm.

Texan laughs. "No, he's worried that Willy has a thing for you."

I glanced up at Zack, and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"I'm worried about her safety and the man to the right. The greasy teenager is the least of my concerns."

"You don't have to worry about Tarzan." I winked at him. "He might look like a human tree any woman would like to climb. But I've heard once you climb that tree, it's not all it's made out to be."

I dropped Zack's hand and jogged over to Tarzan first. The big, tall, muscular man wrapped me in a warm one-armed hug. Tarzan's real name was Tim. He was the newest member of our group. And at times felt creepy, but I figured it was just me.

"Hannah, did you bring Zack Tucker's doppelganger as backup," Tim whispered. "By the way, he's staring daggers at me, and the man beside him looks ready to reach for his gun."

"Nope, I brought the real Zack Tucker," I sighed and pulled back. Texan rested his hand on the butt of his gun.

"You know he's our enemy. Look what he did in Virginia, pushing to change his land code."

"M-mister Pre-president." Willy stammered. "I can't say it's an honor to meet you. The bill you signed for clean energy was a fluff piece. Nothing came of it. And don't get me started with all the legislation your father passed, allowing for an entire national park to get wiped out. Then there is your brother. Most people don't follow him. Is it because he's CIA, or is it cause his wife works for the CIA? I'm not one hundred percent sure which one. But every time I dig, my computer gets wiped, and the IRS sends me a notice I'm being audited."

Zack strode to me and grasped my hand. He tugged me away from Tarzan and over to where Willy sat on the ground.

"Today, I'm nothing more than a man wanting to help his fiancé save a tree. As for my brother and his wife…I recommend not digging, or you will end up with more than an IRS audit. And please call me Zack. Now, where do you want to sit, Hannah?"

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