Page 89 of The Refusal

Fabian grinds his teeth. “They’re a bunch of Russian hackers: I got into their system about six months ago; it was embarrassing for them. I didn’t make it public, but I could have, and they knew it. They hate shit like that.”

He runs his hands through his hair. “I need to offer myself up.”

“What?Absolutely not. You’ve no idea what they might do,” I say, staring at him. He glares back, jaw ticking.

“So, this is some kind of hacker war?” Jo says, interrupting our staring match.

Fabian sighs. “They’re aggressive as shit; scary fuckers, too. The Russians have been into every system in the West, and at the time I thought it’d be fun to give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“My God,” Jo breathes, looking at him incredulously.

He’s a lunatic all right.

My mind is working overtime. We needthemrunning scared. Perhaps we could find some leverage if Fab could get in there again. I put my hand on Fab’s shoulder.

“How did you get into their system last time? Could you do it again?”

He sinks into the office chair in silence for a couple of beats. “Well, maybe, but …”

Suddenly his face clears.

“Oh fuck,of course!” His hand comes down on the desk with a crack. “My God, I am anidiot.” His hands start flying over the keyboard.

“What? Why?” I say.

“Best form of defense is attack,” he says.

“They haven’t locked you out? Reinstalled a backup?” Matt says.

“Yeah, undoubtedly they have.” A careless smile is lighting up his face, and I almost laugh at his 180-degree turnarounds. “But I didn’t just hack in once, so there’s a chance they’ve installed an already compromised version of their software, and I always keep masses of information, including passwords. I’ve been working on some password AI, so maybe it’s time to test it out. Let’s see how clever you are, you bastards,” he says, pulling up windows on his laptop as if his life depends on it.

“Jo,” he mutters, nodding his head at the monitor next to him. “Get on that computer, I’m going to need a hand.”

Fab works with no one. He trusts me, but he must think she’s exceptional if he’s happy for her to help him.

“We have to be stealthy,” he says, turning his head to stare at her and narrowing his eyes.

“Okay,” she says, and her curly head bends into his man-bun, conferring.

James turns to me and Matt. “Let’s hope this works. I’m going to get on with the guys and shore up other parts of the system. Asia’s more or less bulletproof now, by the way. We’ve used the work you and Jo did with the guys in Hong Kong and spread it around the network as fast as we can out there.”

I nod at this. “I think Matt and I need to talk to some customers.”

48

Jo

The panic that I’ve messed up Janus’s systems is slowly receding, leaving behind a queasy feeling that I’ve messed up something else. He’s standing behind Matt, watching him on his phone; arms folded over a T-shirt that hugs his toned torso, biceps on full display. Goddammit. When I saw him standing in reception, all the tousled hair and the six o’clock shadow turned my heart over; he looked so worried and relieved all at once. Then he gave me a wobbly grin. Oh, God. I touch my lips, remembering his warm mouth on mine. How sweet that kiss was …

There’s a growl from my right. “You concentrating?”

I blink over at Fabian, and he looks pointedly at Janus and then back at me.

“Stop ogling him and concentrate,” he says.

I give him a weak smile in apology, and he mock-frowns as I drag my eyes back to my screen.

“You need to tell him how you feel,” he says in a quiet rumble, and my eyes snap back to find he’s stopped typing and is looking at me intently. His fake frown turns into a real one.

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