Transitions (A Thousand Words Book 1) (15 page)

“Won’t he get suspicious that he’s tried all these other targets and Dev’s been on him like glue and when he tiptoes into Flynn’s computer – nothing?” Becky asked. “I would.”

“Because you know it’s a trap. Dev doesn’t like Flynn. He wouldn’t care if the hacker hits Flynn’s computer. If I were in Dev’s place, I’d be cheering the hacker on and saying, sure, have fun with him. It’s like offering a sacrifice to the volcano god.”

Dev laughed. “I’m not sure it’s quite like that,” he said. “But Flynn’s computer is set up pretty much as you described it. I didn’t set it up, but it was professionally done and it shows. I didn’t change anything.”

“Except remove files and set a tripwire,” Becky said.

“Except for that,” Dev agreed.

“Is it possible he spotted your alarm and he has been there already?” Lindsay asked.

“I seriously doubt it. Flynn keeps setting it off himself. The tripwire is sensitive, so he won’t see it. Normal use gets flagged and trips it sometimes, and I get an alert. I know what Flynn’s usage is, and what the hacker is doing, so the usage patterns will be different. I heightened the sensitivity on some of the PC’s software so I can see what’s been going on. Nothing that will alarm anyone, even if Flynn takes it in to be looked at. And I looked at the usage before I set the tripwire and it didn’t look like he’d been there.

“I know what information this guy’s going to get, where it’s going to lead him, and have a computer set up as a flytrap,” Dev finished.

“Nice,” Becky said.

“Yeah. But I had to take someone else sort-of offline to do that, and I can’t keep her that way forever.”

“Dare I ask who?” Becky asked.

“Not telling.”

“Fine. The only way I can think of to get this guy to hit Flynn is somehow get his association with you mentioned publicly again. A reminder that he’s there, I suppose,” Becky said.

“Tall order. I’ll think about that. So far no one knows this is going on,” Dev said.

“Are you serious?” Lindsay asked. “You’re skipping class and staying up to fight hacker attacks at all hours and they don’t even know?”

“They don’t want to, Lin,” Dev said patiently. “Kenny would freak. Considering that, how do I say that I want a public reminder of my association with Flynn, and I need it now?”

“He’s running out of other places to look,” Becky said. “Maybe he’s going to be desperate enough to try Flynn’s computer anyway. Maybe it’s like Lin said, he knew you didn’t get along so he didn’t think to try it before because of that. Now, it might be worth it. Having it open, relatively speaking and from our perspective, validates his original thought that it wasn’t worth it. Is what’s on there going to fit that expectation?”

“Um, sort of. It’s old information. It’s . . . fine.” Dev sighed and caved. “Mom consulted a shrink once upon a time about my shyness, and Flynn sort of blackmailed me into seeing her while I was in college. Her information is on his computer and her computer is the flytrap. Or rather, the computer at her IP Address is.”

“Dated information, from before the rift between you. That should be good,” Becky said.

“And enough recent information as breadcrumbs to show that he contacted her about seeing me in college. Considering where I am, I’ll assume my opponent can find her on his own. I can’t make it obvious.”

“She’s local though.”

“At Harvard.”

“Will he be able to breach their firewalls?” Becky asked.

“No idea. Her patient files aren’t currently accessible via Internet, so no worries there. We had a chat. Her student files are backed up and I imagine she’s told Harvard she’s likely to be targeted soon. I didn’t tell her to, but she’s the type who would. Her personal computer that
used
to have her patient files is what I think he’ll target. That’s the one I’ve replaced.”

“Did you have to tell her about – you know?” Lindsay asked quietly.

“No, actually. I don’t think he’s coming after me as Puggy. None of the other Wizards are being targeted, and he’s clearly targeting people in my life, my personal life. After my computer, he went straight for yours. That I happen to have the skills to handle this is just a happy accident that he’s probably cursing. He wants to know about me? Now he knows I’m at MIT because I deserve to be, not just because I wanted to be.”

“I think he’s regretting learning that. What are you going to do when you find him?” Becky asked.

Dev hesitated. “I’m not sure. I think it depends on who it is. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

○ ○ ○

Erika looked over the information Mark handed her. She wasn’t sure what to think. Mark assured her the ‘Information Recovery Specialist’ he hired out of China was very good at his job. He should be, he was expensive enough. She laughed when she saw the “specialist’s” report was signed simply by ‘Yellow Jacket.’ Really? What kind of name was that? He thought he was one of the best, so he named himself after a pesky insect? Whatever, it clearly meant something to him. To Erika it meant he was a hacker and that was just what she expected. Although she specifically told Mark to get someone from a country that had A Thousand Words fan base to explain why someone might be looking at Dev’s computer. Maybe he did. Maybe they were big in China, she never thought to check.

Reading Yellow Jacket’s report, Erika learned that it didn’t matter where the hacker was from, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. He ‘gently probed’ the ‘primary target device’ at 2 am destination time and found it in use. In other words, Dev was on his computer. Why didn’t the hacker just say that? Worse, he tripped an alert that notified the target. No information was received.

Yellow Jacket tried Lindsay’s computer next and she wasn’t on her computer. He was able to breach the firewalls, but wasn’t able to actually get any information. And of all the miserable disasters, somehow Dev was alerted he was there and almost tracked Yellow Jacket back to China.

When Yellow Jacket made a second attempt on Dev’s computer, Dev was
waiting
for him. How was that possible? He should have been in class! Yellow Jacket didn’t get caught, but also didn’t get any information off either computer. He tried Alec, Kenny, Jess, and Bryan’s computers too, but didn’t get in. Even Bryan’s wife, and Dev’s sisters.

He got into Flynn Peterson’s computer easily, and said Dev was seeing a psychologist named Carol Braithewait. Yellow Jacket detailed a convoluted story about Dev’s late mother’s late lover’s personal assistant setting up some long distance consult regarding Dev shortly after he started modeling for Oskar Viktor. Erika skipped the details, deciding it didn’t matter at the moment. Everyone was either in therapy, on anti-depressants, or both. It made her feel better that Dev wasn’t any different.

What was really interesting, and annoying, was that Yellow Jacket seemed as obsessed with Dev as she was. He went way beyond Mark’s instructions and seemed to be playing some sort of cat and mouse game with the cutie. Once he had the psychologist’s information, the hacker went after
her
computer, only to find Dev had set a trap for him. Yellow Jacket didn’t give details, only that Dev managed “to set a guided hook on my line that allowed him to covertly track me back to my MAC address. I have since remedied the situation and assure you he has neither any idea where I am, nor who I was working for.”

Which didn’t matter in the least to Erika because Yellow Jacket didn’t actually know who he was working for. Maybe. She frowned as she considered the heavy report in her hands detailing what was essentially a play by play of an all-out hacker war.

Yellow Jacket was a hacker. A good one if Mark could be trusted, which she knew he could. Dev could hold his own, which meant what? One thing – he was protecting a lot of people, but she wasn’t one of them. Yellow Jacket could very well know who hired him. But even though Dev was able to hold his own, he didn’t actually beat Yellow Jacket. Not really. Dev’s computer and information was secure, sure, and Lindsay’s too. The primary objectives were lost, but Erika still had information she wanted. Yellow Jacket simply got it a different way. He found Lindsay’s social media pages, and therefore her friends, and hacked their computers instead. It wasn’t as informative, but it was enough.

Erika looked at a picture of Dev and Lindsay with two of their friends in Seattle, Ruby and Olly. She had doubts about Dev’s friendship with the pair, but Ruby and Lindsay were clearly friends. Dev was smiling sweetly in the picture, his arms around a petite, pretty blond in a short pink dress.

So that was Lindsay. Erika hated her for being pretty, although she assumed she would be. She hated the shoulder-length blond hair, the blue eyes, the pixie-cute face and mocking twinkle in her eye. She hated her for wearing the soft shade of pink and looking delicate and feminine. She hated her for being short; Dev towered over her and it made her nemesis look extra-cute and helpless.

Her attention shifted to Ruby and Olly, but there was little remarkable about them, so she returned to the pages of information retrieved from their computers. Most of it was boring. Olly spent a lot of time looking through gossip sites for information about Dev – and
her,
of all things. But only information about Erika as it related to Dev. She found that interesting, but wasn’t sure what it meant. Did Olly want them to get together? That’d be amusing.

Ruby had a bunch of information about sexaholics workshops and assignments. She also had information about nymphomania, or more appropriately named now – hypersexuality. She also had articles about post-traumatic stress disorder in child abuse victims, and dependent personality disorder. Erika briefly wondered about Ruby’s interest, but there weren’t any notes or documents on the computer to explain why she was reading the articles. Yellow Jacket suggested the complete absence of any sort of meaningful journal or word processing files indicated she probably used a physical notebook. The client could hire someone to physically break into Ruby’s house and look around. Erika dismissed the suggestion, doubting she’d get much.

Also, for someone apparently attending Sexaholics Anonymous meetings, Ruby had an active and athletic sex life. Apparently she and Olly liked to take pictures. Erika was grateful Yellow Jacket didn’t bother to download those for her, she didn’t need to be subjected to that. Of course Erika didn’t know anything about the organization really. Since they were a couple, maybe it was allowed. Honestly, she didn’t care. There wasn’t anything to connect Lindsay to Ruby’s nasty habit, unfortunately, so Erika moved on.

Yellow Jacket lucked out in that Dev either didn’t bother or forgot to protect Lindsay’s high school mainframe. Although Erika wasn’t sure it really mattered. She had Lindsay’s yearbook photos, and it seemed she went through a truly tragic goth phase. Whatever exorbitant fee they paid Yellow Jacket might have been worth it just for that picture, Erika decided. Dev’s little girlfriend had no sense of style. Well, she didn’t that year anyway. Before that she was a cute little blond, and after she returned to being stunning. And she received excellent grades, which was something else Erika hated about her. Erika was a mediocre student before escaping high school, but suspected Dev would appreciate Lindsay’s academic achievements. Would he appreciate them more than Erika’s
musical
skill and achievements though?

Dev attended a charter school that his parents helped found and Yellow Jacket apparently decided to skip an attempt to hack that mainframe. A wise choice, Erika agreed. Considering how the hacker fared so far, he’d be better off avoiding Dev if possible.

So what did she learn? Erika asked herself. Dev was much smarter than she originally thought and had a stunningly pretty girlfriend who he protected. All that trouble, and she learned nothing of any use.

By summer, the tour was finalized and Dev was walking on eggshells over both the mysterious hacker and Lindsay. That the hacker had been silent since stumbling into the flytrap that let Dev track him back to his apartment in Beijing was troubling. Almost as troubling as when Dev discovered his opponent had moved and the apartment was empty only four hours later when a private investigator knocked on the door. Now that he was back in Seattle, where they all assumed the original source of information was, Dev felt he was being watched everywhere he went. Worse, more often than not, he was. It seemed every time he turned around he was either faced with a fan wanting his autograph or someone with a cell phone taking his picture.

Despite his growing paranoia, Dev was still coping better with his problems than Lindsay seemed to be with hers. Dev knew better than ask about her nymphomania, he didn’t even want to think about how Lindsay was holding it together. She had her group therapy that Sabrina sent her to, and her individual therapy, and he knew neither was helping from their regular talks.

Dev questioned the wisdom of putting a bunch of sexaholics in a room together to talk about sex. He said as much to Lindsay once and she laughed and said it wasn’t really like that, but Dev wasn’t convinced. She met Ruby at the therapy group, who was cheating with her boyfriend, Olly. Both set a poor example for Lindsay and Dev felt pressured when he was around them. He asked Lindsay once if she talked about the reason for her condition in group therapy, and was relieved when she said that wasn’t a requirement. But then Lindsay said she did anyway.

He was glad Lindsay was in therapy and relieved any issues she had with being abused as a child were being addressed. Yet Dev disliked her association with Ruby and Olly more because they knew that extra detail about her. He chided himself for being jealous and overprotective. After all, Lindsay had survived fine before he came along. Although she still insisted his attention was more helpful than her therapy was. 

By the time A Thousand Words left for their tour, Dev was relieved to go although he felt he hadn’t spent nearly enough time with Lindsay. Something had to give. When their first video chat revealed Lindsay in more string than bikini, he had an inkling about where things were heading.

“Bryan?” Dev called, banging on his friend’s door within minutes of ending the chat with Lindsay.

“A minute,” Bryan called, and he heard movement inside. Dev waited. And waited. He saw a trio of teenage girls at the end of the hall look at him and smile. Dev smiled back and prayed Bryan would hurry as they started walking his way. The door opened just before they got there and Dev pushed past Bryan into the room and closed the door.

“What –?”

“Teenage girls,” Dev whispered, leaning back against the door as if to hold it closed.

Bryan grinned. “I thought you were getting better.”

“Relapse. Just got off a very disturbing vid-chat with Lin.”

“What was disturbing about it?” Bryan asked.

“Was she angling for phone sex with a webcam?” Brenda called from deeper in the hotel room.

Dev frowned. He forgot Brenda was here. “No,” he answered Brenda, realizing why it took Bryan so long to answer the door now and blushing. “Sorry,” he whispered to Bryan.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bryan answered. “Now, Lin?”

“Oh, her outfits are getting creative again. Not leaving much to the imagination. I talked to her about it last year but, I don’t know, I feel like I didn’t spend enough time with her this year.”

“Two separate issues, Dev.” Bryan shook his head. “If you’re ready to let her lead you into temptation, go for it. Waiting until you can do something about it might be better, but whatever is easier for you. Maybe you prefer frustration.”

“As soon as the tour ends, I return to school. The next time I see her will be Thanksgiving and she’ll be eighteen. She really doesn’t like the ‘abstinence’ answer, so I’ve been using the ‘you’re a minor’ excuse instead. That ends in October.”

Bryan paused, watching him, and Dev felt his face warm as he guessed what his friend was thinking. “I’m not planning on caving in,” he added and Bryan nodded as if he expected this.

“In that case, I’d ask her to tone down the seduction routine a bit. She might get you worked up, and that might be fine, but she’s going to create expectations for herself.”

“Not fine.”

“There you go.”

“I just don’t think her therapy is working very well and she might be acting out because of that.”

“Then she needs to talk to her therapist, not take it out on her boyfriend. If you two can find middle ground, that would be better. Try for that.”

“Middle ground?”

“Let her draw you a little outside of your comfort zone, a small win for her, but not an intimate relationship that you can’t handle.”

“Right.” Dev nodded.

“Now, go away. It’s late and I’d like to cuddle Bren and go to bed.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Dev checked the peep-hole and ducked out. He walked quickly to his room, opened the door, and closed it again before the predatory teens could catch him in the hall. Dev was tempted to call Lindsay and work out some sort of middle ground, but he couldn’t think of what.

The next day, after the show, Dev called Lindsay on the phone and they talked. He still hadn’t thought of any middle ground for them to meet on as Bryan suggested. The idea had merit and Lindsay would probably go along with it. It fit with her pattern of leading him places by small steps. The problem was he needed smaller steps. Maybe that was it! Maybe he didn’t need to find the concession himself, he just needed to tell her to take it slower. Not that he needed her to stop, just small steps. Too bad he thought of that
after
he hung up with her.

Dev almost choked when he signed on for their video chat session the next night. Lindsay was in pasties – red tassels hanging from her perky breasts. Dev put a hand over his screen to cover her chest.

“Lin!”

“I can get them spinning different directions. Want to see?”

“No!”

“But I’ve been practicing for days.” She sounded disappointed and Dev felt like an ass for disappointing her.

“I’m sure it’s an impressive talent, but can you save that? Please?”

Lindsay smiled sweetly at him. “Having a hard time?”

“You could say that.”

“Wishing you were here?”

“Not exactly.”

Her smile disappeared.

“Sorry. It’s just . . . it’s moving too fast, Lin. Listen, baby, you don’t do this when I’m at college. But when I’m on tour, you go kind of nuts.”

“You have girls throwing themselves at you. Last time you had a paternity suit.”

“Which was proven to be outright fraud.”

“And I’m turning eighteen soon.”

There it was, the real reason, as Dev suspected.

“That’s a milestone birthday,” he agreed. “But could you put on a shirt?”

“If you don’t like the tassels, you really won’t like it if I stand up.”

“Never mind. You’ll be eighteen soon. We’ll talk about that. But can we return to the tradition of you leading me by baby steps? Please? Before I have a heart attack?”

Lindsay smiled. “Close your eyes.”

Dev closed his eyes. He waited and heard Lindsay moving. Finally, she called to him again. “Open them.”

Opening his eyes, Lindsay wore one of his dress shirts: left open in the front to expose her cleavage but it covered the disturbing red tassels. He’d take it as a win.

“Thank you.”

○ ○ ○

The second single Dev recorded with Erika hit the top ten while they were on tour. Kenny was elated. Dev agreed it couldn’t have happened at a better time, but for a completely different reason. Yes, maybe it was free advertising, but it also meant miles between him and Lindsay when the subject came up. It also meant he couldn’t possibly be expected to film a video to go with it. How wrong he was.

Because A Thousand Words played the accompaniment for the singles, of course they knew all the music. By Kenny’s invitation, Erika Atlas dropped in on tour and Dev found himself practicing before the show in Albuquerque to play bass
and
sing more than just back up. A Thousand Words fans were going to get a treat – if Dev could get coordinated enough to pull this off. Kenny was going to get a water balloon to the head whether he did or not.

As it turned out, Dev did get coordinated enough to pull it off, just not in Albuquerque. They waited until the next stop when he had just a little more practice to slip the extra song into the lineup. And film it. Dev was used to being filmed now. Clips from every show were on the band’s website, and this tour started off being even more popular than when they opened for Rushing On. The crew even filmed Erika and the band during two of their practice sessions, and now they were filming them singing this song, live, to make a video. For some reason that made Dev unreasonably stressed.

“Dev, chill,” Jess said as the opening act’s last song started. “You’re jittery enough I could probably – I can’t think of a metaphor.” He shook his head. “Don’t make me think of something clever, just calm down.”

“Kenny didn’t even ask me, Jess. The single hit the top ten, he and Alec decided a video needed to be made, but we’re on tour. He’s so used to me just going along with everything, he didn’t even ask.”

Jess grinned. “Trust me, he’s
not
used to you ‘just going along with everything,’” Jess said, putting air-quotes around the argument he quoted from Dev. “You’re a pain in the ass. Trust me. You get to go do your thing on the other side of the country, Bryan gets to play house with Bren,
I
get to sit in the apartment and listen to him whine about – let me think – largely you
not
doing what he’d prefer you did.

“But don’t worry about it,” Jess continued. “If he wasn’t whining and worrying about you, he’d be whining and worrying about me. And I’m closer so he’d feel compelled to take action. So I appreciate you being a pain in the ass. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Dev grinned. “Still doesn’t help that I have to sing. On stage.”

“You always sing on stage. You just have to sing more words.”

“With Erika.” Dev looked around to make sure she wasn’t within earshot. “And do it while not missing any notes.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why it surprises me you can multitask like that. Should suck the jitters right out of you.”

Dev glared at him.

“All right. Don’t worry about Erika, she’s harmless.”

Dev raised his eyebrows.

“Let me amend that: Erika’s harmless
on stage
. There are several thousand witnesses out there, plus cameras. You’re safe. You’re so safe it’s painful. She’s not joining us for the rest of the tour, just a couple stops to get enough footage to piece together, okay? Easy. Get through one song two more times.

“One song, then I’ll be there to save you. Throw a water balloon at me. Telegraph your intent and I’ll jump out of the way so you can hit Kenny. Oops. Hell, I’ll let you do that every stop for the rest of the tour.”

Dev smiled, then laughed and nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Kenny deserves it.”

“Yes, he does. And while technically he’s off limits, accidents happen.”

“It’s unfortunate,” Dev agreed.

“Come on, sweetie,” Erika said from behind him. Dev’s heart skipped a beat and he looked at Jess in panic.

Jess grinned and patted Dev’s shoulder. “Got Kenny’s water balloons?”

Dev smiled, his fear melting away. He nodded and turned to follow Erika, Kenny, and Bryan down the hall. One song, two shows, he could do this.

Kenny was pissed that Jess seemed to consistently be able to predict Dev’s throws and step aside. Dev agreed it was strange. And Jess’s skill persisted into the paint-filled balloons Dev introduced when Erika stayed for a third show. Oddly, Jess didn’t feel the need to retaliate against Dev or start their usual war because Dev didn’t technically do anything to him.

Erika finally left, leaving Dev and Jess to slide into their normal battle routine. The end of the tour was approaching and Dev was anxious to get back to MIT and his friends there. He finished one online class and was just finishing the second in the green room before an interview when Kenny threw yet another bug in the works.

“Dev?” Kenny said, approaching him cautiously Dev noticed. He refused to meet his eyes and instead remained focused on his laptop.

“Yeah?”

“Listen, we need to talk about Erika.”

“No, we don’t. She’s gone. Problem solved.” Dev shook his head. The program was done. He made sure his name was on the file and opened an email to his professor.

“She’s
not
a problem. She’s been a great help in expanding our fan base. You need to remember that. We’re reaching –”

“More fans in a wider demographic than we were before yada, yada, yada,” Dev finished for him. He attached the file to the email and sent it. Now he was officially done with his second online class. It was tempting to think he could have handled three, but Dev wasn’t sure. It would be nice to have this short break before school, even if he was working.