Page 24 of Savage Ruin
The next email is from Amala Vinya, replying to my inquiry. She reassures me the code we found on our enemy’s computer was not stolen. Amala published it at the same time she turned in her paper. Her professor at MIT, Dr. Langford, required his students to publish their solutions to get exposure and generate job interest. She lists the journal she published it in.
Although, interestingly enough, she admits the code has been updated and finds the changes a bit concerning. The original algorithm identified email spam and classified it according to its threat risk. It was intended to assist corporate email systems with automatically identifying and ranking the threat caused by malicious email. The revised code allows an email to be classified as internal, even if it originates from an outside source. With a low threat risk, it can easily penetrate firewalls.
A good solution flipped on its head. Sounds familiar. They took my original banking algorithm and code, expanded upon it, and turned it into a tool for their impressive shell game.
Pulling up the list of files we found on the enemy’s computer, I head to the journal’s website and conduct a search for each of the papers. They’re all here, published to this journal. I check the board of directors and find Dr. Langford, MIT, but instead of the standard portrait picture, the professor is sitting at a desk, his head down grading papers. The rest of the directors are various professors at MIT, but I don’t recognize their names. I’ll ask Mateo about them later.
My alarm goes off on my phone, telling me my allotted time is up. Setting aside my laptop, I stand and carefully stretch to ease some of the soreness. Time for breakfast.
CHAPTER15
HENLEY
The meeting with the app developers goes well. Thankfully, we can pull a majority of the functionality, like account creation, from existing code and with only a few changes adapt it for this app. There’s also a database we can replicate and use for this project. It’s basic, but we’re only looking to get up and running. Enhancements can easily be made once it’s live.
The biggest piece is integrating the code Marcos and I developed, but I need to update it for the new platform. I flirt with changing the modeling software to take advantage of a potentially more mobile-friendly solution but decide to keep the existing for now. It’s imperative we get this live quickly.
“I’ve kicked Thiago out of his office and made it ours,” Mateo states a little too gleefully. I think he’s enjoying the shift from security systems to working on a more exciting project.
With little time to waste, we get started. Mateo is managing the rest of the app build while I focus on the main functionality.
The rest of the day flies by. Food appears by my elbow on a periodic basis, but I’m lost to code. Defining new components, building each one out, testing, modifying, and finally, passing it. Each one slips from me to QA to be tested with various devices and mobile operating systems, but thankfully, they find very few bugs enabling me to fly through the tasks I set for today’s build.
The screen blurs, making me blink. The next thing I know, I’m being carried in someone’s arms. The sexy smell is achingly familiar.
“Thiago?” I frown. “What are you doing? I need to get this done.”
“Shh, querida,” Thiago murmurs. “You’ll wake Mateo. You need to sleep for a few hours. Okay?” He carries me to my room and sets me down.
I look at the bed and grimace, knowing I won’t be able to sleep once I’m in it, but instead of trying to convince him, I nod agreeably.
He grunts. “I’ll stay and keep the nightmares away.”
Irritated, I stiffen and turn away from those laser sharp eyes. I don’t need his charity. “I’ll be fine,” I reassure him. “I’m exhausted and will be asleep the moment my head hits the pillow.”
The door quietly shuts behind me. After waiting ten minutes, I open the door a crack and peer out. The hallway’s empty, allowing me to slip out and return to the office. When I get there, Mateo’s still asleep on the couch. Quietly cracking open some caffeine, I sit down and immerse myself in my creation.
Two or three hours go by before I stop again. More errors are appearing in the code than is acceptable, a sure sign I need at least a couple hours of sleep. The thought of returning to my bed alone makes me tremble, though. My eyes dart over to Mateo sleeping peacefully on the couch. Biting my lip for a second, I contemplate whether there’s enough room for both of us and decide it’s worth a try.
Grabbing a blanket, I slide my body onto the edge of the couch in front of Mateo and cover us up. He shifts, but by the sound of his breathing, he never wakes. Relieved, my muscles relax into a puddle and within seconds, I’m gone.
The warm hand pressed against my stomach wakes me a few hours later. I shift and stretch but leaving the cocoon I’m wrapped in feels entirely impossible. Relaxing back into Mateo, I sigh and close my eyes.
He leans down and kisses the side of my neck, making me shiver. “This is a delightful surprise,” he murmurs. Lips trail up to my ear, peppering small kisses along the way, and I turn my head to give him better access.
When he hits a particularly sensitive spot by my ear, I arch back into him. He hisses and holds me against him while he rubs the bulge in his jeans enticingly back and forth against me. “I’m usually hard in the morning, but waking with you in my arms…” He groans, then stops.
Dropping his head to my shoulder, he breathes in and out a few times. “Give me a second to calm down. We need to stop. You’re injured, we’ve got work to do, and you deserve better than an old couch.”
All the touches and kisses the last few days have been simmering beneath the surface of my skin, temporarily eclipsed by the pain of my injuries, but not this morning. Need bubbles up inside me until all I can think about is being with him.
With my hand on top of his, I guide his hand down to show him how much I need him. “I don’t want to stop. Touch me,” I implore him. Arching against his hand, I drag his fingers through my wetness.
He stills for a brief second, then slides one of his lean fingers down the center and plunges inside me. “Meus Deus,” he breathes out. While his finger slides in and out, his thumb stretches up to rub enticingly across my nub.
I raise my leg to make it easier for him, and he slides his leg in from behind to prop me up. While his hand plunges in and out, his body thrusts in time behind me until it feels like the motions are one.
My body flutters, and I catch my breath. Seconds later, an orgasm rolls through me, and I moan, clamping down on his fingers. Heat spirals outward, and I press against his palm, needing to keep him close, wanting him to experience it with me.
