Page 65 of The Hacker
Leland jumped on the change of subject. “The data traffic is still going through the gym node, so why do you think they’re going to relocate the guns?”
“Gut instinct. Dawn said customers have been complaining for a little over two weeks.” Tully smacked his forehead. “I forgot to ask her ... Did she mention whether any tech guys had come in? She said Vicky had told her she would call them today.”
Leland didn’t want to ask Dawn anything about the situation because he knew she would try to help. He shook his head. “I’ll ask her tonight.” That way she couldn’t do anything about it until tomorrow. By then Tully should know if the weapons were at Work It Out. “I’ll go with you to the gym tonight. I’ve been there several times so I know the lay of the land.”
Tully squeezed Leland’s shoulder. “Thanks, buddy, but no. Ex-FBI agents are a dime a dozen. Computer geniuses are hard to come by. I’ve got a couple of good guys lined up to go with me.”
Guys who were better trained for a situation like this than Leland was. Tully would be safer with them than with him. Like Dawn was safer with her professional bodyguard. Which made Leland feel like a useless piece of crap. He slumped in his chair.
“You’ve been whining about not being involved in any SBI projects,” Leland said. “Looks like you finally got your wish.”
“I reckon I did.” Tully’s expression was sober. “I wasn’t expecting an illegal arsenal, though.”
Guilt jabbed at Leland. Because of Dawn’s devotion to Ramón, Leland had been the one who wanted to keep the authorities out of the situation until they had confirmation the gym was involved.
“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “We should turn this over to your former colleagues at the FBI. They’ve got the right equipment and the staff to handle it.”
“Hell, no, partner!” Now Tully was smiling, albeit with a feral edge. “I’m not letting them have all the fun. This is just a recon mission. No big deal.”
“Don’t decide to ride in and capture the bad guys,” Leland said. “I don’t want to have both you and Dawn on my conscience.”
“No way am I getting myself killed.” Tully stood up and grinned. “I want to see Derek’s face when he sees those Class V rapids we’re gonna shoot.”
Leland groaned as Tully exited Mission Control. He’d put that whole bachelor-rafting-trip-catastrophe-waiting-to-happen out of his mind.
What he couldn’t seem to get out of his head were Tully’s words about holding on to Dawn. He hadn’t thought beyond the resolution of the dark web mystery at first. Not until he realized that once it was solved, he would have no compelling reason to trek out to New Jersey. That’s when he had come up with his half-baked idea to have Dawn travel to the city to train him. He smiled. She hadn’t been fooled by his pretense. She knew he wanted her for reasons other than her expertise as a personal trainer.
But did he want her for the right reasons? Or was he using her the way he used his job, to push away the guilt and gut-wrenching sorrow over his mother’s death? Hell if he knew.
So he plunged back into what he always did when he needed to avoid feeling—the controlled, logical world of his computers.
Chapter 15
“It’s Josh’s birthday,” Tiffany said as Dawn walked by the reception desk on her way home at the end of her day. “We’re all meeting at Arthur’s to celebrate with him after the gym closes at nine. You have to come!”
“Darn! I wish I could”—total lie!—“but I’ve got plans.” Yup, a phone call with Leland counted as plans. Dawn waved a hand vaguely and kept going.
“Bring your plans,” Tiffany said, giving her a sly wink.
A heavy hand landed on Dawn’s shoulder, making her jump and twist away to tense in a defensive stance. “What the—?” she said, finding herself glaring at Chad.
“Sorry!” He held up both hands, fingers spread and palms out, but his gaze on her was sharp. “I just wanted to encourage you to join us. Be friendly for a change.”
“I’m friendly at the gym,” Dawn said, trying to hide the fact that her heart was beating at twice its normal rate. “I just don’t like to mix my professional life and my personal life.”
“We know that’s not true,” Chad said with a slight leer.
Now how the hell did he know about Leland? She decided not to deny it. “That was a bad idea. Proved by the fact that it didn’t work out.” She forced her body to relax by taking a deep breath. “I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Show some solidarity with your fellow trainers,” Chad insisted.
He was being more annoying than usual tonight. “Okay, I’ll meet you there at nine.” She didn’t have to show up.
“Josh has a crush on you,” Tiffany said, clapping her hands together. “It will make him so happy to see you.”
Dawn stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She’d been nice to Josh when he started at the gym, showing him the ropes. No good deed went unpunished. “That’s sweet but he’s a little young for me.”
“It doesn’t matter. He just wants you to be there.” Tiffany giggled. “Maybe you could give him a birthday kiss.”
