A Slow-Burning Dance (10 page)

Chapter
Eleven

Sela
wasn’t sure what Damien and Santino had talked about while she’d peeked into
the other units under construction, but both men were tense during lunch. One
thing was certain. Their discomfort had nothing to do with her and Damien.

Almost
as soon as they sat down, Santino grasped her hand and told her he was happy
for her, and that he wished her and Damien the best of luck. Sela almost fell
out of her chair. Her brother wasn’t a sappy person, and he almost never did a
complete one-eighty so quickly.

They
talked about everything except the mall remodel project during lunch, but that
was fine with her. Whatever was going on clearly had to do with Damien’s
company, and she knew that Santino or Damien would tell her if they could.

When
lunch was finished, she walked back to Damien’s apartment with him and asked if
everything was all right at work. “I know you can’t tell me everything that
goes on there, but if I can help in some way, I want to.”

“I’m
not sure yet if there is anything wrong, per se. There is something I need to
dig into further, and I need to do it today. It’s too important to wait.”

“I
understand. Don’t worry. I have plenty to do. I’m still interviewing, and now I
need to step that up.”

He
smiled at her, but she caught the worry on his face underneath as well.
“Santino seemed surprised I did that for you.”

“Is
that something you usually do on projects?”

“Never.”

“That’s
why then, but it did show him this isn’t just a fling for you.”

“It
did, and that’s what I wanted to show him, but now I’m worried. Have I made it
difficult for you to get everything done on time?”

“No,
of course not. My studio will open on time, and I’ll be ready. Don’t you
worry.
”

He
kissed her, and it was all Sela could do not to beg him to spend the afternoon
in bed. But clearly something was on his mind, and it was important he take
care of it. Business was business, after all.

“I’m
not worried about you at all,” he said, the admiration in his voice sending
shivers down her spine. “You’re one of the most resourceful and driven people
I’ve ever met. If you weren’t established in your career, I’d offer you a job
at my company.”

She
laughed. “I’m not sure how established I am, but I’m working on that. I’m also
not sure what I could possibly offer your company, but thank you for saying
so.”

Now
that he and Santino had reached an understanding, she knew it was all right to
tell Damien that she loved him, but not when he was like this. She’d never told
any man she was in love with him, and Sela wanted it to be special, not rushed
or said in the heat of the moment. It would have to wait for a while longer
yet.

****

Damien
went into the office at his apartment and called Tomás, outlining everything
Santino had told him. “I’m not nearly as concerned about the messages as I am
about this alleged scheme, although I do need to know why a man we’re paying to
remodel this mall is posting crap about my company.”

“Shit,
Damien. I have no clue why he’d do that. We haven’t called him that name since
before everyone moved underground.”

“So
you knew him that long ago?”

“I’ve
known Ernest since we were kids.”

The
hair on the back of Damien’s neck prickled again. That was twice in two days,
and he didn’t like it one bit. What if he’d placed his trust in Tomás and had
been wrong? “What do you know about this scheme?”

“Nothing
other than unsubstantiated rumors.”

“I
placed my trust in you, Tomás. We’ve done business together a long time.”

“I
know that.”

“I
don’t care that the rumors are unsubstantiated. I need to know what they are.”

He
listened to Tomás sigh, and wondered whether he’d made a huge mistake in doing
him a favor with this project.

“It
has to do with lumber shipments from throughout Mexico and Central America.
There are allegations of two sets of invoices. One for the distributors and one
for the end users, like you and me. The rumors are that Ernest is skimming the
profits, along with others, in a collaborative scheme.”

“Why
have I never heard about this?”

“I
only heard about it a few months before we began construction. I went straight
to Ernest and asked him, and he denied it. He also said he’s heard about it for
years, but that he has nothing to do with people who are involved in it.”

“Are
we
involved? Do we do business with
any of them?”

Damien
heard Tomás’s hesitation, and it didn’t make feel any better. “Not that I’m
aware of, but it’s difficult to tell since they apparently have dummy companies
that I also didn’t know about.”

“Tomás,
I’m not leveling accusations at you, but this sounds quite involved. I’m
surprised you know so little, or that you would trust Ernest without
investigating further.”

“I
will find out what’s going on. I give you my word.”

“I
certainly hope so because I don’t have to remind you that I backed this project
as a personal favor to you.”

After
he disconnected the call with Tomás, Damien called Santino. “I want you to
personally search for
JackHammer
on other message
boards. Make it your top priority, and tell no one on any of the teams.”

“I’m
on it, Damien.”

“Don’t
mention any of this to Tomás. In fact, don’t discuss anything else with him
from this point on. Not even something that appears to be unrelated.”

“You
have my word. Do we need to be concerned about him as well?”

“I
sure hope not, but something isn’t right here.”

“Why
don’t you just fire Ernest?”

“Because
technically I didn’t hire him.” Damien ran a hand over his face. He needed a
shave. “I wish I’d made sure I have more control over this project, but I
trusted Tomás.”

“Ask
Tomás to fire Ernest.”

“Not
yet. I want to know what’s going on behind the scenes first.”

“Smart
move. I’ll let you know what I find.”

After
disconnecting the call with Santino, Damien stood in front of the window
overlooking
SouthWest
to organize his thoughts. He
didn’t have time for shit like pricing schemes and foremen who were likely
ripping him and Tomás off. He needed to concentrate on finding the hackers, and
it didn’t help him relax knowing the foreman that Tomás hired might be one of
them. It was becoming more important than ever for all of them to gather such
information because of recent developments that Kane Bannerman and Barclay
Hampton had revealed to the group.

A
few months ago, both Barclay—who mined data for shits and giggles—and a team
with Homeland Cyber Security, came across something odd. One of the weather
satellites that had been compromised when the Tommy Twister virus sent The
Madeline Project rogue began transmitting data. Before it was shut down by an
unknown source, Barclay and his contacts at HCS were able to intercept enough
of this data to know that someone had tried using the satellite as a relay
station to send information to others.

The
Weathermen and HCS believed that the group attempting to transmit information
to each other using the satellite was the hackers who had started this whole
mess. They felt the group was now trying to hide because they knew about the
teams the Weathermen employed, or had been tipped off that those twelve men
were getting very close to finding them.

They
were confident of all this because without their knowing it, the same people
who had tried to use the satellite also encrypted snippets of conversation onto
the satellite’s hard drive.

As
a result, the Weathermen now had eighteen usernames that matched the data that
was sent. In addition, part of the data they’d recovered included those
individuals making reference to the Tommy Twister virus and the code in it.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t recovered quite enough code to make it useful in
shutting down the virus. Not yet, anyway.

Dominic
Greco had always felt the hackers might work for one of them, or at least knew
enough about complex coding and custom firewalls to hide this long. Now, all of
the Weathermen believed he was right, or very close to the truth.

Damien
sighed and moved back to his desk. Bits and pieces. That’s all they really had
after seven years. They’d spun their wheels all this time and still had no idea
who had done this or why. He didn’t know if Ernest was part of the hacking
team, but obviously he was into something he had no business being involved
with, and that meant he might be a danger to Rivera Construction.

Damien
would have to find out more about the scheme and put a stop to it, or at least
alert the people who could shut it down, so Santino could get back to
concentrating on what Damien paid him to do. He couldn’t afford to have his IT
department distracted with shit like this. Each of the Weathermen needed their
teams working full time on finding the people responsible for the Tommy Twister
virus.

They
were closer than they’d ever been, but it still wasn’t enough. They also now
had HCS on their side, but that wasn’t the only project those people had to
work on. As a government agency, they didn’t have enough manpower to dedicate
staff full time to finding the hackers. The Weathermen did, however, so that’s
where each of them wanted to focus their special IT teams.

****

The
next week passed by in a blur for Sela. Damien was extra busy with everything
at work, or at least that’s what he told her was on his mind. She accidentally
overheard him speaking to someone on the phone about Ernest Hamilton, the
foreman on the construction job.

She
couldn’t tell who was on the other end of the call, but they were discussing
lumber shipments from South America, and two sets of invoices that this person
had found, showing different prices. Sela became concerned when she heard that,
but then she felt guilty for eavesdropping and moved away from the door.

They
had plans Friday night to have dinner at Paraíso, and Sela decided that was
when she’d tell Damien how she felt. He’d be away from work, in a place they
both loved and were comfortable in, and the atmosphere would be better suited
to a serious discussion if need be. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but
thought it would be better to be prepared for any reaction from him.

Several
times during the week she chided herself for acting so silly about this, but
she’d never been an impulsive person. She liked to have all the facts and then
make a plan, even if it had to be altered midstream when circumstances changed.
Telling someone you loved them and wanted to spend your life with them was a
big deal, which was why she’d been so surprised to hear Damien tell her what he
wanted from her so soon.

How
had he known right away? What if he’d changed his mind by now? She had no
reason to believe he had, and she suspected she was working herself up over
nothing. When she thought back to nearly three weeks ago and the first time
she’d seen him again, it amazed her how far her opinion of Damien Rivera had
come in such a short time. It didn’t feel like a short time, though, when she
mused over how much time they’d spent together, the conversations they’d had,
and the way Damien had simply included her in nearly every aspect of his life.

Surely
he’d meant what he said about wanting her with him. She didn’t believe he’d
lied or was using her. Why was that one little word—love—so damn important,
then? What would it actually change? She was acting like a lovesick teen, and
that wasn’t normal for her. It was time to step up and act like the business
owner she was. If she wanted everyone to treat her like an adult and respect
what she did, she needed to do her part and earn it.

****

Damien
was grateful that Sela had suggested going to Paraíso again on Friday night.
He’d kept her at a distance all week, though not intentionally. Tomás had
called in favors and contacted everyone he knew, and his persistence had paid
off. Now the only question was what to do about it without losing time and
potential tenants for the mall remodel.

As
much as Damien liked and trusted Tomás, especially now that he knew the man
wasn’t involved in this scheme and truly had known next to nothing about it, he
wished he’d never agreed to back this project.

He
didn’t have time for shit like this, and he didn’t like being taken for a fool,
which was what Ernest had done to both him and Tomás. Damien also realized,
however, that if he hadn’t agreed to join Tomás on this project, he might never
have met Sela again. Right now, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

She’d
been so patient this past week while his mind was on what he and Tomás had been
able to uncover. He could tell she’d sensed his thoughts were miles away most
of the time, but she’d never complained or taken it personally. He suspected
that was due to her instinct for when people were worried about matters beyond
their control. This wasn’t entirely beyond his control, but if he did what his
gut told him to do—push Tomás to fire Ernest—they’d be without a foreman and
without the subcontractors that had come with Ernest.