Worst Date Ever (Scandals #3) (16 page)

Liberty, Jenny and Killeen were chattering on and on about cute babies…baby horses, baby cows, baby sheep and baby humans.  It was a conversation I chose not to jump into, but rather just sat back and enjoyed the sounds of water slapping against the boat, music drifting out to us from various boats that passed, floating laughter and the twitter of birds.  In the background, there were the voices of my brothers and sisters, and I realized that I was no longer afraid that this dream would end and I would have to return to my lonely life in Oklahoma.  It had always seemed like it was too good to be true…but this was real, and I had what I’d always wanted…a real family.

I thought about what Cody had said about being a geek and an outsider.  Looking at him now, I would never have believed it.  He deserved a nice, beautiful woman, and I was sad that I couldn’t be her because he would never accept me if he knew the real truth about my past.

“Don’t you agree?” Liberty’s chirpy voice penetrated my thoughts.

“Sorry, I think I might have dozed off.”

“I was just saying that I think it will be fun to have a baby around.  We can turn that empty office into a nursery so Killeen can bring the baby to work.  And we can all take turns babysitting when she and Christopher want to have a date night.”

I studied Killeen’s face for a reaction.  “Have you decided to keep it?” I asked.  She had made no secret of her indecision on whether she wanted to raise the child or give it up for adoption.

“I don’t know,” Killeen answered honestly, keeping her voice low so the boys wouldn’t overhear.  “One minute I think it would be fun to buy her dresses if it’s a girl or let Christopher teach him how to play ball if it’s a boy.  Then I remember how young I am and how much time it’s going to take to finish my degree…and, of course, I can’t help but be reminded that it’s Brandon’s child.  Maybe I’ll resent it or not love it as much as I should because of the circumstances of when it was conceived.  And there are childless couples out there that could be much better parents than I would.  They would love the child unconditionally.”  She shook her head and sighed.  “I just don’t know what to do.”

“What does Christopher think?” I asked.

“He’s an angel.  He refuses to offer me any advice other than that he will support my decision whatever I choose.  But, I think he’s actually a little excited about the baby.  He’s ready for a family.”

“But you’re not?” I pressed.

“I’ve never been a baby person.  I wanted one someday, but I’m only twenty.  Now might not be the best time.”

“Have you ruled out getting an abortion?” Jenny asked.

“Yes, I can’t choose to end an innocent life, especially when there are so many people out there who would do anything to raise him or her.  It’s kind of a karma thing, you know.”

I nodded, but I didn’t dare add my opinion.  This was definitely a decision only Killeen could make because she would have to live with it for the rest of her life.  Raising a child not conceived out of love was not something everyone could do.  But choosing to never see it again was haunting.  I knew more about that than I cared to admit.

The boys joined us with Reno holding up a fish that was barely six inches long.

“Catch of the day,” he crowed.

We looked at the tiny fish that was wiggling and thrashing about on the end of the hook.

“You’re going to throw him back, right?” Jenny asked.

Reno was horrified.  “It’s the first and only fish I ever caught.”

“And he deserves to go back in the lake so he can grow up with his brothers and sisters.”  Jenny was adamant.

“Dude, we can’t eat him,” Dallas pointed out.

“He’s not even big enough to clean,” Christopher added.

“He’s a living creature.  Let him go,” Liberty, the vegetarian begged.

I wasn’t much of a seafood lover, so I was on the fish’s side all the way. 

“If we were on
Survivor,
you’d all be cheering my prowess.” Reno looked around, seeking support.  He found none.  “Fine.”  He carefully pulled the hook out of the fish’s mouth, leaned over and released the small fry back into the lake.  The fish flipped his tail and disappeared into the depths.

Jenny stood and wrapped her arms around Reno.  “You’re awesome.  That was a nice thing to do.”  She gave him a kiss that stretched into an uncomfortable length of time.

“Get a room,” Dallas grumbled, pushing them aside so he could get to the ice chest.  “You’re blocking the beer.”  He took out enough for all of us and passed them around, along with fruit juice for Killeen and Liberty. 

Killeen unpacked the picnic basket, and we enjoyed the sandwiches and chips that tasted much better than that poor little fish would have.  It was after noon and the sun had risen high in the sky, so we had all moved into the shade of the awning.

“Liberty, have you decided when you’re going to take your GED test?” Christopher asked.

“I’m still not confident with the science part.  And algebra is a little confusing.”

“Bring your books with you when we go to Cody’s,” I told her.  “Once we get the program installed, we’ll have some down time to study.”

“Once you get your GED, you can take CLEP tests for college.”  Jenny passed around a bag for everyone’s trash.  “I did a lot of research before I started, and I can skip almost two years of classes by testing out of the core subjects.”

“What does CLEP stand for?” Liberty asked.

“College Level Examination Program,” Jenny told her.  “If you pass the test, you’ll get two or three credits. All I have to actually go to class for are any classes that support my major.  But it’ll save me a lot of time and thousands of dollars.”

“Really?  Why don’t more kids take advantage of that?”  Liberty was enthused.  “I’m not sure I’ll fit in with the college kids.”

“Oh, you’ll do great,” Killeen encouraged her.

“The CLEP tests cost only about $80 each, so for anyone with a limited income who wants to get an associate’s or even a bachelor’s degree, they can do it in half the time and for a fraction of the cost.” Jenny’s enthusiasm for the program was obvious.  “I’ve already taken tests for English, literature, general science and math.  By the time I start UT in the fall, I’ll already have over twenty credits.”

“Wow, I’ll check it out,” Liberty agreed.  “I’m thinking that maybe I’d like to be a vet.  Then I could be like Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.”

We all laughed at that image.

“I’ll save all of our pet homicides for you,” Christopher promised with a smile.

We headed back to shore, and after cleaning up, we decided it would be fun to spend an evening downtown.  The seven of us drew a lot of attention as we walked down Sixth Street, trying to decide which bar looked interesting.  Live music blared out of each doorway, and since all of us had different musical tastes, we decided to split up into smaller groups.  Killeen, Christopher, Liberty and Dallas picked a place where a popular country singer had dropped in for an impromptu concert.  Reno, Jenny and I continued on until we found a place with a band playing electro/industrial music.

The place wasn’t too crowded so we were able to find seats near the stage.  We had to yell when we placed our orders, then we sat back and enjoyed the band.  It was way too loud for us to carry on a conversation which was okay with me.  I was able to let my own thoughts drift as I went over the plan to follow the BOT.  It was exciting because, while I had studied this in class, I never actually had an occasion to try it out on my own.  My professor was brilliant, and I knew I could give him a call if I hit a snag, but I really wanted to try this. 

But the thought of spending a couple days working closely with Cody added another layer of complexity.  I liked him a lot…almost too much.  I knew it was impossible for us to ever be a real couple, but it was fun to pretend.  Maybe after all that togetherness, we would run out of things to talk about.  That’s what usually happened.  Either that or he would realize that I was boring.

Cody was polite and always a gentleman…except for that one little slip that had almost tempted me to lower my guard and let nature happen.  I had to be sure that didn’t happen again, and Liberty would be a good cooler. 

“I’m going to get some air,” I called to Reno and Jenny.  “I’ll meet you back at the van.”  They nodded, and I slipped through the crowd that had gathered and out into the night.

In the distance I could hear the siren of a fire truck, and my thoughts snapped back to Cody.  Damn him.  He was making me crazy.

A bicycle horn blasted behind me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.  I whirled around and saw Alex, balanced on the seat of a bicycle that was attached to a little two-wheel cart.

“Want a ride?” she asked.

“I’m just clearing my head.  I’ve got a big job tomorrow, and I feel like my brain’s going to explode.”

“That’s what happens when you have a real job,” Alex laughed.  “Hop on, I’ll give you a quick tour.”

I felt bad sitting back and letting her do all the work.  But she was in great shape and wasn’t even out of breath as she pedaled around several blocks of the city.  The state capitol was beautiful at night, its limestone walls glowing in the ring of spotlights.

“It’s taller than the U.S. Capitol,” Alex told me.  “Texans like to do things bigger and better.  The congress meets only every two years.  Maybe the federal government could learn something from that.”  She steered the pedi-cab down the maze of sidewalks that looked a little spooky in the shadows of huge, sprawling live oaks that covered the Capitol’s grounds.  In the distance, the UT tower was lit in orange lights.

“Did you meet anyone interesting at the mixer?” I asked her as we headed back down Congress Street.

“No, but I found a profile of a guy I’m dying to meet.”

“That’s cool.  What’s he like?”

“He can’t possibly be as good as he looks.”  Alex shook her wild mane of curly hair that seemed alive under the streetlights.  “He’s tall, smart and really hot.  Oh, and he’s a fireman.”

My heart plunged into my stomach. “Is his name Cody?”

She glanced back at me in surprise.  “Yes, it is.  Did you meet him?”

“Yes, I bumped into him.  He’s a nice guy.”
And you’re perfect for him
, I added to myself.  Great, now I was playing matchmaker for the most beautiful girl in Austin and the man of my dreams.  Could my life get any suckier?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“A hundred dollars for an air mattress?”  Liberty was still having trouble with the prices of things in the stores.  Having grown up where almost everything was either grown, raised or bartered, she had never really handled money.

“That’s not too bad,” I assured her.  “It’s a queen-sized air bed with a built-in pump.  It’ll be so much more comfortable than the floor.”

“I’ve slept on the floor before.”

“So have I, and I’d rather not do it again if I have a choice.”  I pulled into the lot behind Cody’s building.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to park back here?” Liberty glanced around suspiciously even though it was broad daylight.

“Michael told me the security cameras weren’t working that night, but they’re fixed now.”

“Coincidence?”  Liberty gave me a doubting look.  “I think not.”

I didn’t think so either.  Anyone who could infiltrate a secure server system could easily manipulate a video camera. Besides, the cameras had also been inoperable on the night of Tamara’s death.  We were several points past coincidence, but I couldn’t let Liberty get distracted right now. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to haul in.  I don’t want to carry it any farther than I have to.”

“Maybe you should move the car before dark.  Nothing should happen to it until then.” 

We got out of the car and unloaded everything.  It was obvious it would require more than one trip.  I looked up from the pile in time to see Cody trotting toward us. 

“Need any help?”

I nodded toward the mound of clothes, food and supplies.  “Looks like we’re moving in for a month.  I don’t think I can afford the rent.”

“For you…a special rate.”  Cody gave me a slow, sexy wink.  He turned to Liberty.  “Hi, Kid.  Ready to spend some quality time together?”

“Looking forward to it,” she answered with a smile.

He looked down at the large cardboard box.  “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a bed,” Liberty answered.  “Tulsa doesn’t like to rough it.”

“Been there, done that,” I defended myself.

“I told her you could use my bed,” Cody said.

“We’re already taking over your computer.  We’re not going to kick you out of your own bed,” I said.

“I would share.”  His eyes twinkled. 

I refused to let him bait me.  “Help us with this, and then you can take a nap…all by yourself…while we load the program.”

“Lucky you.  Last night wasn’t too busy, so I got a few hours of sleep, which means I can help you all day.”

“Yay!” I answered flatly.  But inside, he made me smile.

He loaded the grocery bags on top of the bed box and easily picked it up.  That left Liberty and me just our own overnight bags and my laptop. 

We trailed him into the building and to the elevator like a gypsy caravan.  When we got to his door, he leaned forward so the retinal reader could check his eye.  The locks clicked open.  “I’ll set you up as soon as we get inside so you can come and go as you need.”

“Thanks.”  I stepped inside and held the door so he could get the big box into the unit.  The door shut firmly behind us.

Cody set his load down in the hallway.  “Why don’t you take the groceries and put them in the fridge while I put the bed in the spare room.”

  I was itching to log on and get the monitoring set up, but I took the bags of food to the kitchen.

Cody lifted the box and headed down the hallway.  “Liberty, want to show me how this thing works?”

“I have no clue,” she answered, following him.  “The only air mattress I ever used was at the mansion’s pool, and I blew it up myself.”

“No…wait, Cody…I need you to get my retinas set up…,” I called out.

But they were already in the spare room.  I looked around the kitchen and saw that he had cleaned it up from Saturday night’s dinner.  I suspected he had a bit of OCD…just like me.

John had made us a casserole for lunch, along with a lemon meringue pie.  I opened the refrigerator and was not surprised to see everything stacked and orderly.  I found a place for the items and put them on the shelf.

Down the hall I could hear Liberty laughing and was simultaneously glad that Cody got along so well with my sister and annoyed that we weren’t already logged in and working.  Of course, there was a little bit of me that wished I was down there having fun with them.

The sound of a small compressor filtered to my ears, followed by repeated thuds, along with giggles and more laughter.  When they didn’t return, I decided to go check them out.

“What the…?”  I stopped in the doorway to watch as the two of them jumped up and down on the inflated bed.  Liberty saw me and plopped down on her rear, bouncing for a few more times before she could slide off the side.

“Try it.  It’s like a trampoline,” she said.

I must have had a matronly frown of disapproval on my face because Cody jumped off, landing athletically on his feet. 

“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”  He grabbed my hand and urged me toward the bed.  “Come on.”

“Yeah, do it.”  Liberty’s face was flushed with excitement.

I didn’t want to seem like a fuddy-duddy, so I kicked off my flip flops.  Cody surprised me by wrapping his big hands around my waist and picking me up.  I steadied myself on the plump rubber-wrapped pillow of air.  Cody jumped up next to me, causing me to involuntarily bounce.  I almost lost my balance, but he again grabbed me by my waist and started jumping up and down, taking me with him.  I was stiff at first, afraid to fall.

“Relax,” he shouted.  “Enjoy yourself.”

“I never do either of those things,” I snapped back as I bounced dangerously close to the edge.

“Then it’s time you let go.”  He pulled me more to the center of the bed and stared directly into my eyes as we bounced in unison.

Slowly I gained confidence and realized that I could actually maneuver around a little.  I kicked out my legs and sat down, then bounced back up to my feet.

“Now you’ve got it,” he encouraged and jumped around me in a circle.

My hair flew around my face and fell across my eyes.  My stomach rose and twisted, but in excitement, not pain.  I realized, to my surprise, that I was having fun.  Liberty climbed back up and joined us.  For several minutes, we played like kids…no inhibitions, no fear, no judgement.

Finally, we all fell down and plopped on our backs. We were breathing heavily, as if we had run a marathon.

“That’s exhausting,” I gasped.

Cody rolled his head to the side and grinned. “Yes, but it was pretty cool, wasn’t it?”

“I’ve never jumped on a bed in my life,” I admitted.

“One more first to tick off your list,” he said.

“My mom would have loved that,” Liberty added.  “She’s all about doing what feels right in the moment.”

Briefly, I felt a twinge of envy.  How wonderful it would be to live in a world where you could do what you wanted and not be criticized or reprimanded. I dared not admit to Cody just how short my list of firsts really was.

He slid off the bed and held out his hand.  “I thought you were in a hurry to get to work…and here you are just lying around.”

I let him pull me up, then I punched him in the arm.  “I knew you’d be a distraction.”

He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

He helped Liberty to her feet.  We put our flip flops back on and went into the office.

“First, the scanner,” he said as he picked up two extra chairs from the dining room and brought them into his office area.  His desk was set up so we all fit in the space comfortably.  “Lean toward the reader,” he instructed me.  “Put your face about three inches from the scanner and don’t blink.”

I pushed my bangs back and got closer to the small round object.  “Okay…I’m ready.”

“Already done.”  He clicked his mouse and my right retina filled the screen.

“That’s disgusting,” I said, grimacing at the image of a yellow-orange ball, laced with blood veins.

“But it’s uniquely yours.”  He punched a few more buttons.  “Okay, you’re in the system.  Next?”

I moved out of the way and Liberty took my place.  Cody repeated the process with her, coming up with a picture that looked very similar to mine.  I couldn’t see any difference, but that was the genius of computers.  From now until he deleted us, he had let us into his world.

“What’s next?” he asked after he completed Liberty’s registration.

“Am I signed in now?” I asked.

“Yes, you’re active.”

I took a DVD out of my laptop bag, popped it into his main CPU and clicked on install.  “I built this the other night.  It will infiltrate all the dark corners of every program and alert us of any data packets coming in from Michaels’ machine.”

Cody frowned.  “Are you sure it’s not going to harm any of my files?  I’m still in the creative stages of my latest game, and I wouldn’t want to lose any of it.”

I created a secure folder and transferred his game files into it.  “Just to be safe,” I told him, and he nodded his approval. 

“I love your game,” Liberty piped up.

“Thanks.  The new one is going to be even better.  You’ll be able to…”

“Focus,” I said, yanking them back to the job at hand.  “My program won’t damage or delete anything on your computer.  It’s more like an explorer in a tiny spaceship, searching for files with specific code embedded in them.  Once it finds one, it automatically attaches to the data packet, tracking it when it goes into the deep net and sending info such as the IP address back to us before it goes out and finds another one and so on and so on.”

“So it’s automatic?” Liberty asked.  “Why do we need to be here?”

“Because we have to see the information as soon as it is captured.  If we don’t see it, the IP address will change, and the BOT will be on its way to track the new one.  Besides, the sooner I have the IP address, the more quickly I can set up the mirror and find out who’s behind all this.”  I made sure the program continued to install properly before turning to Liberty.  “We don’t all have to sit here at the same time.  I figured I’d take the first shift, and after I show you what to look for, you can watch it while I get a couple hours of sleep later tonight.”

“That’s cool.  If you don’t need me right now, I think I’ll go upstairs and see if Darius found anything new,” Liberty told me.

“Good idea.”

She gave me a smile and left us alone.

“And my job?”  Cody asked.

“You can take a turn if you want to,” I offered, not thinking he would take me up on it.

“Sure, I’m kind of at loose ends without my computer.”

I glanced over at him.  “Hey, thanks again for doing this.  There’s no other way to completely clear Michael and get rid of this psycho without this access.”

His eyes bored into mine.  “My motives are not entirely unselfish.”

“Oh?”

“Let’s just say that I’m counting on this to show you my better side so you’ll be impressed.”

I’m already impressed
, I thought, but aloud I said, “It looks like it’s ready to go.”  On the screen a message popped up, and I moved the mouse over the word RUN and clicked it.

Rows of letters, numbers and symbols started scrolling down the screen, so quickly they were impossible to read.

“How will you know when it finds something?” he asked.

“The screen will freeze.  But if we don’t react immediately the BOT will keep moving, and we will lose it.”

He nodded and scooted his chair closer.  I could tell he had showered recently because I recognized the fresh scent of his soap and his hair was still wet on the ends.  His brown hair looked even darker and though he had combed it, the disobedient lock I had noticed before was again falling across his forehead.  My fingers itched to reach up and push it back, but I knew that if I touched him, I wouldn’t want to let go.

“It works fast, doesn’t it?”

“Uh…yes.”  I had to struggle to bring my wayward thoughts back to the computer. I clicked on the
Trojan
icon and a small table appeared on the screen.  “This shows just the traffic coming into your network and their source.  If anything comes in from Michael’s IP address, it will flash red and freeze for a few seconds.  When that happens, we click on the
Yukon King
icon to track the IP address and then follow the data to the deep net.”

“Pretty simple.”

We watched in silence for a few moments.

“Did you do anything fun last night?” he asked.

“I took my first pedi-cab ride.”

“I’ve never done that.  I always felt sorry for those poor drivers.  They have to work so hard to haul fat-ass tourists all over town.”

“You wouldn’t believe the girl who took me around.  She’s beautiful and doesn’t look at all like you’d expect someone with those kinds of muscles to look.”  I waited for him to respond, but when he didn’t, I went on.  “She said she’s a member of Linked and a friend of Michael’s.”