Page 6 of Tides of Discovery
“So…” I wiped my hands on a napkin. “About this morning…”
Jack swallowed his bite. “Yeah. We need to talk about that.”
“I’m going to call the repair service tomorrow. They handle all our equipment maintenance.”
Jack shook his head, his expression serious. “This isn’t a maintenance issue, Coop. Someone hacked your system.”
The burrito suddenly lost its appeal, settling heavy in my stomach. “Hacked? You mean like…deliberately?”
“Yes.” Jack wiped his hands and pulled his laptop from his bag. “Mind if I show you?”
I nodded and nudged the burrito aside to make room. Jack opened his computer and began typing, his fingers moving with practiced speed.
“You said Ben set up your system, right?” he asked, not looking up from the screen.
The mention of my ex-boyfriend made me wince. “Yeah. About a year ago, right after I bought the place. He did all the technical stuff—computers, website, social media accounts.”
“And does he still have access to any of it?”
I hesitated. “I never thought about that.”
Jack’s expression remained neutral, but a muscle in his jaw visibly tightened. “So he knows your password?”
“Probably,” I admitted. “I haven’t changed it. It’s the same one I use for most things.”
Jack stopped typing and peered at me through his black-framed glasses. “Cooper McKay. Tell me you don’t use the same password for everything.”
My face heated. “Noteverything. Just…most things.”
“Let me guess. Is it ‘TheCoffeeCove’ followed by the year we graduated college?”
My embarrassment deepened. “With an exclamation point at the end,” I said sheepishly.
Jack pressed his palms against his forehead. “You’re killing me, Coop. That’s like leaving your biscotti out for the seagulls.”
“Okay. Okay.” I laughed despite the stress. “Some of us didn’t take Advanced Cybersecurity 301.”
Jack’s expression softened. “I’m not blaming you. But we need to fix this, and fast.” He turned his laptop toward me. “Look at this. I just hacked into your system. It was way too easy.”
Jack pointed to lines of code on the screen that might as well have been hieroglyphics.
“These are traces of unauthorized access to your system. Someone got in, looked around, and then triggered that crash this morning.”
A chill ran down my spine. “Why would anyone do that?”
“Could be random,” Jack said, though his tone suggested he didn’t believe it. “But this level of sophistication suggests otherwise. This wasn’t some kid messing around. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. They were disrupting your business.”
I sank back in my chair. “Great. So I’ve got some mysterious hacker after me.”
Jack reached across the table and squeezed my shoulder. “Hey. You’re not alone in this. I’m going to help you.”
His touch was reassuring, warm through the fabric of my shirt. Jack had always been my rock, ever since we’d met during our sophomore year at Brewed Awakening. Through the stress of finals, my parents’ rejection when I came out, buying the coffee shop, every heart-wrenching breakup, especially with Ben—Jack had been there for all of it.
“I know,” I said quietly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Something flickered in Jack’s blue eyes—a fleeting shadow of emotion so swift I nearly missed it. Was that…longing? My breath caught in my throat.
Throughout our years together, I’d occasionally catch glimpses of something more intense in his gaze. But surely, if Jack had harbored deeper feelings all this time, he would havetold me at some point during our sixteen years of friendship. I must have imagined the interest in his eyes.
