Page 45 of Hacker Identified

Willy shook his head. "No. The land developer buried his company name under a ton of shell companies, and I couldn't figure out who the owner was. The construction date was moved up and cut into my research."

For the next hour, Zack asked me about the different plants he spotted. While Tim tapped on his phone and gave one-word answers when asked. Willy and Sophie were deep in tech talk. Kat and Texan had returned and sat under the tree. Homer bathed in the sun.

Three large SUVs burled through the marsh straight for us. This was the first showdown. They would threaten to call the police on us for trespassing. "Zack, I think you and everyone should leave. You don't need your name tied to this."

Tim stood and puffed out his chest. "I agree with Hannah. We don't need you here. You will just cause a scene."

Kat stretched her legs before she stood. "You think you can negotiate with these men better than Zack? I recognize that man in the passenger seat and want to see you try. As for the police, don't worry about them. I know all the police officers and deputies in Dade County. But I'm guessing we won't need them. But I'm not going to get to blow anything up."

"Sit down, Kat," Zack said. "Your husband has texted me six times reminding me to keep your ass out of jail and not to let you kill anyone. And something about how he isn't letting you get out of taking Ant to his play date this afternoon."

"Crap, you’re right. I have to show up tonight. I'm meeting with each of the mothers in the PTA to find out how to get them to vote Vickie out of power. She's not running the organization properly."

Sophie laughed. "It's the PTA, not an organization. But I have to wonder are you ousting her, because she complained about the cupcakes you brought."

Part of me wants to listen to Kat and Sophie's banter, but my eyes are glued to the large SUV. The door swung open and a tall man with blond hair stepped out of the vehicle. An equally tall man emerges to the right. With each step, my eyes were glued to his face. My gut told me I should know who the man dressed in a power suit was, but I couldn't place his name.

The two men came to a stop, and Tim stepped forward. "I'm who you need to talk to. None of us are leaving."

Kat snickered to the side. The man removed his sunglasses and raised his brow at Tim, but turned to Zack, who still sat on the ground. "Who the fuck is that? I don't have time for bullshit."

"If you want us to leave, you will need to speak to me."

Sophie jogged over and wrapped her arms around the man. "Good to see you, Alex and Scott. Did you guys come to join the protest against the evil corporation trying to destroy this poor tree?"

"Each second I'm out of the office, I lose money on a deal I'm not brokering," Alex growled.

"What is going on?" Tim demanded.

"I'm here to have Zack sign something."

Zack shifted, and his leg brushed against mine. "Well, Tim thinks he can negotiate better than me. Furthermore, nobody said you had to drive out here. We all have email. I could have done it over the phone."

“Email?” Alex barked out a laugh. “And miss seeing your ass handcuffed to a tree. I took a picture driving up.”

Zack rested his hand on my back. “Alex this is my future wife, Hannah.” He paused for a second. “Alex Ross is Antonio’s older brother and the man next to him is Scott, the president of Ross Enterprise.”

"Now, this makes sense. Your wife is a hacker. She hides all your assets. Especially ones you don't want to be linked back to your company," Willy said as he pushed his black frame glasses up his nose.

Alex waved a stack of papers in the air. "I've moved this project three times. The first time, because Kat complained my project would disturb her alligators. The second time, my brother thought the piece of land would be perfect for his shooting range and obstacle course. That's when I decided to hide the land purchases to make money. Then my secretary called to tell me I had protesters on my land and to find out it's Zack and all of you."

"Stop bitching." Zack grumbled. "You have enough—"

I elbowed Zack in the side. "Hush, we need to negotiate with him, not piss him off. In the past, we had to wait days to get an owner on site. I realize you know him, but he still holds all the cards."

"You're going to try and negotiate with me?" Alex tossed his head back and laughed. "I broker seven-figure deals for fun, and you think you can talk me out of developing this land to save this tree?"

He underestimated me, and I didn't plan to back down. If Alex wanted me off his property, he would have to have me arrested. "You sound like a man only concerned with money."

"This is going to be good," Kat said. “Hold on a second I need a good recording angle to send this back to Bridget.”

A large smile spread across Alex’s face. “Bridget sure does love when she sees me win. Make sure to get my good side.”

Scott huffed. "Except you didn’t win. We’re about to lose close to ten million dollars."

The conversation had gone south. I waved toward the tree. "We will all leave if you publicly state you will build your new community around this tree. Think about the publicity you could get for preserving it and what it does for the environment."

Alex shoved a drawing in his hand at me, and I opened it to see the developer plans. The engineering drawing had a large park surrounding the tree. "Wait…Willy why the hell are we here? They aren't taking the tree out."

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