Page 32 of The Butler

“I have it cornered on Mr. Carrington’s desktop here. I need you to sign in to your master account and let me send you a code package. Once you receive the package, please deliver it to the mainframe immediately,” he said. Charlene must be asking further questions because Dek was explaining his moves in lingo that she would understand. “Yes. Open it and download my instructions quickly,” he added. He was patient yet urgently pushed her. “That is why I’m programming a trap for the rootkit. Your systems will accept my program and will instantly flush the invasion from the mainframe.”

Dek moved quickly to the desktop computer and typed what I assumed were orders into our programs.

“Open that now,” he said calmly. “Mmm hmmm.” He listened to whatever Charlene was asking while Bob and I exchanged open-mouthed glances. “Press Alt-Control-X and then wait one second. When you see my command package appear, hit enter immediately.”

Bob and I held our collective breaths and watched in awe as Deklyn remained calm with his instructions. Dek pressed the speaker symbol on Bob’s cell phone.

“Now in one more second you are going to need Mr. Carrington’s approval, Charlene. When you see the screen asking for a corporate officer password let me know.”

“Oh my God, Mr. Dalton. I see your directive on the screen. How… how did you… there it is!” she cried.

Dek turned to me and handed me the phone. “We need your permission for her to proceed with the final input, Mr. C.”

My eyes were fixed on Dek’s, and I somehow knew that I could trust him and his fix. He remained quiet and waited as I made my decision about this near-stranger that was directing me to give him the permission to doGod knows whatto my company’s computer system.

“Do it, Charlene,” I said. “Use the code honeycuttmomma1938.”

Dek took the phone from me and headed back to the desktop. “Now when you see the screen go blank, Charlene, don’t panic. I’m watching Mr. C.’s system here and we will know in less than forty-five seconds whether we’ve blocked whoever is trying to hack your servers.”

The three of us stood silently as we heard Charlene breathing heavily on the other end of the speakerphone. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched Dek leaning over my desk, his hand on the keyboard just in case.

“There it is!” Charlene gasped. “You did it! You stopped the rootkit, Mr. Dalton.”

Dek sat down on the desk’s chair and leaned forward, his chin resting in his hands as his shoulders slumped forward.

“Thank you, Charlene,” Dek said, not turning around. He simply held the phone out to me and continued staring at the computer screen.

I grabbed it from him and hesitated to speak for a moment. I wasn’t exactly sure of what I’d just witnessed. “Everything ok, Char?” I whispered. She didn’t answer immediately. We both remained silently on the call as we gathered our thoughts and tried keeping the adrenaline at bay. “Charlene?”

“I’m here, sir. He… he… Mr. Dalton just saved our asses, sir.”

“So he did, Char. I’m handing the call back to Mr. Dalton. You two sew this fucking thing up and let me know what I can do. Control the damage internally. Not one word, Charlene,” I ordered.

I handed the phone back to Dek and walked across the room to a chair. After sinking into the leather I looked across to the bar and saw an intrigued Bob Majors. We both looked to Deklyn and then back to each other. Bob grinned widely. He knew what I was thinking. We had to have this man at our company. I had to have him in my life.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Deklyn

My cell buzzed, alerting me to a text from Starr. She wanted me to meet Bob Majors in the main salon for a meeting in fifteen minutes. I’d just seen Bob when I’d assisted with the computer virus so I had no idea what he’d want with me. I was naked and cleaning myself up when Starr texted so I put my uniform back on and headed up three floors after confirming with Starr that I would be there.

Before the text and after helping Linc and Bob out with the computer virus, I left them to their meeting and returned to my room. After ten minutes there was a knock at my door and I found Linc standing only in a towel as he pushed his way into my room. Thankfully the text from Bob via Starr wouldn’t be coming until after my surprise visitor because I had quite the workout after answering Linc’s knock.

* * *

“Hey, pretty boy,” First Officer Jake said when he saw me hurrying along the port side of the ship on my way to meet Mr. Majors. “Nice to see you out of the dungeon. What’s the rush?”

“Mr. Majors summoned me,” I stated.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed. “What’d ya do now?”

“I’m not sure,” I responded. “But make sure the copter is prepped just in case.”

“Starr and I missed you in the crew mess last night. I was kinda hoping you’d be there,” he admitted.

“Mr. Carrington needed me last night. I’m sorry, but can I get a raincheck?” I asked, wanting to stay on good terms with Jake because he was such a standup guy. I wanted to be his friend and the more I wrestled with my feelings about Linc, the more I wanted to protect Jake from the fallout of my disappointment when the week ended. I knew when the trip was over that I’d be crushed and not ready to start with someone else.

Jake pursed his lips and studied my face carefully. “I’ve got serious competition, don’t I?” he asked.

“Don’t be silly,” I defended. “He’s our boss.”

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