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  “What’s up?” Trey asked.

  “I was hoping I’d run into you.” Gage clapped Trey on the back. “How about we sit down for a minute?”

  “If this is about the job offer, I’m not ready to go there yet.” When Trey had been shot, Gage offered Trey a job on the team. Trey wouldn’t mind joining Blackwell, but he couldn’t be around Eryn every day. Not with the way he felt about her when she didn’t return the feelings.

  “Leg’s getting better then?” Gage asked.

  “Nah, but after the latest surgery, I still have a few more weeks of PT so I’m hopeful.”

  Gage gave him a knowing look, and Trey didn’t like it. Gage suffered a permanent arm injury as a SEAL and was faced with riding a desk or leaving the team. Like most men in spec ops, he didn’t do desk duty well so he left his team. Everyone on Blackwell Tactical had faced a similar situation. Trey was heading down the same path, but not willingly.

  “I hope it works out for you,” Gage said. “So this isn’t about a job. Got a minute then?”

  Trey nodded. “Let’s find some place quieter.”

  He led Gage to the area where he and Eryn had talked. Her face, white against her dark hair, came to mind again, and his gut cramped. He resolved to find a way to get her to agree to let him keep an eye on her until this situation was resolved.

  He sat on a plump sofa in a beachy turquoise color and moved around until he eliminated the ache in his leg.

  Gage took a seat in a matching plush chair across from him. “Did I mention that I’m looking for a forensic person for the team?”

  Trey shook his head.

  “Law enforcement training and protection services are still our main focus, but the number of clients needing us to investigate unsolved crimes has grown rapidly. So we need a forensic expert.”

  Trey took a sip of the rich black coffee. “Makes sense. Especially since you want to collect the evidence in a manner that would make it usable in court.”

  Gage nodded. “But you also know one of my main purposes of starting Blackwell is to offer injured soldiers or officers a second chance at a job they love.”

  “So you’re looking for a crime scene investigator who’s been injured and benched.”

  “Exactly. And I’m striking out.”

  “Yeah, not too many CSI’s get injured on the job.” Trey rested his cup on his knee. “Did you try the Portland Police Bureau? Their criminalists are required to be sworn officers, and they still work patrol jobs for protests and riots.”

  Gage shook his head. “Do you have any contacts there?”

  “Yeah, I have a buddy on the force. I can give him a call to see if he knows anyone who fits the bill.”

  “Appreciate it, man.” Gage sat back and crossed his feet at the ankles. “I’m a little surprised to see you here.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Didn’t think you’d need a lot of training for desk duty.” Gage chuckled.

  Trey forced a smile. He hadn’t reached the point where he could joke about his potential loss of career yet. And besides, Trey thought Gage knew exactly why he was here. Why he always signed up for other trainings at Blackwell’s compound, too. Shoot, the whole team probably knew he had it bad for Eryn. He doubted he was very subtle about it.

  “Seriously, man, if the leg doesn’t improve enough to go back on patrol, let me know. I’ll always have a job open for you.”

  “You don’t have to feel guilty, you know. Just because I was helping you out when it happened.”

  “Actually, I credit you with saving Hannah’s life and will always be in your debt, but this is business. I’m smart enough to know you’d be a real asset to the team. But don’t go telling anyone that. I won’t admit to saying it.” Gage grinned, but he looked over Trey’s shoulder, and his smile vanished.

  Trey pivoted to see what had changed Gage’s good mood and spotted Eryn storming their way.

  “Wonder what’s got Eryn so mad?” Gage mused.

  Trey didn’t know, but he suspected it had to do with the threat and computer issue. Maybe she failed at restoring her computer.

  She locked gazes with Trey and stormed straight ahead. Her muscular legs took her through the crowd in seconds. Breathing hard, she came to a stop in front of him. She looked like a fierce lion planning to defend her cub, and the wild beauty in her expression got Trey’s heart pumping hard.

  “You couldn’t wait, could you?” She locked onto his gaze like a Sidewinder missile. “You had to rat me out.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “What happened to giving me three hours? It’s been less than thirty minutes.”

  “Like I said, I—”

  “I thought you were a man of your word.”

  “Eryn,” Gage said calmly. “Breathe and give the guy a chance to speak.”

  She fisted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Well?”

  “I didn’t tell Gage anything. He asked to talk to me about finding a forensic person for the team.”

  “Oh.” Her anger evaporated from her expression, and she seemed to melt right in front of them.

  “I thought…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Trey. There was no call for doubting your word.”

  Gage looked back and forth between them, his gaze questioning. “But apparently there is call for me to wonder what the two of you are keeping from me.”

  Eryn sank down on the sofa next to Trey. She didn’t seem to realize how close she was sitting to him, but he could feel the heat of her leg resting nearby, and he had a hard time focusing on anything but that.

  “I got a ransomware notice on my laptop,” she said, her breathing under control. “And Trey happened to be passing by and saw it.”

  “Ransomware?” Gage shook his head. “I can see that happening to others on the team, but you? I can hardly believe it.”

  “I know, right?” She frowned. “I’m never going to live it down.”

  “Truer words have never been said.” Gage chuckled. “Is that why you didn’t want to tell me?”

  “Sort of.” Eryn glanced at Trey.

  He figured her look meant she wanted him to back down about mentioning the warning, but he wasn’t about to do so. He opened his mouth to say that when she faced Gage again. “It wasn’t your typical ransomware warning.”

  “How’s that?” Gage’s eyes widened.

  “They didn’t ask for payment to release my computer. Not that I would pay it anyway. No point. I back up my machine daily and can restore it with little effort. And this is my travel computer so there’s not much on it anyway.”

  “Travel computer?” Trey asked.

  “When I do trainings I often have to access unsecured networks like here at the resort. So I don’t want to risk having confidential information on my machine in case I’m hacked.”

  “But what if you’re working an investigation?” Trey asked. “Don’t you need access to more information then?”

  She nodded. “In that case, I don’t access unsecured networks. I use my phone as a hot spot instead.”

  Trey nodded. He’d heard of using a cell phone like a wireless router, but honestly, he didn’t know how it worked.

  “I’ve already traced the ransomware,” she continued. “My class files were infected. I was on my way to talk to the conference director about it when I saw you two talking.” A sheepish look crossed her face.

  “You mentioned this wasn’t a typical ransomware warning,” Gage said.

  She nodded. “The threat actor didn’t ask for money or Bitcoins. He wants me to stop teaching my classes.”

  It often seemed like she spoke another language, and Trey always learned something new when he talked to her. “What’s a threat actor?”

  “The person or entity responsible for a malicious act. They’re often called hackers by laypeople, but in the IT world they’re called actors.”

  “Well this hacker or actor or whatever you want to call him says if you don’t cancel your classes he’ll kill
you,” Trey added. “Or at least that’s what I thought the warning meant when it said you’d be DOA if you didn’t stop.”

  Gage frowned and locked his gaze on Eryn. “And you didn’t want to tell me about this—why?”

  “Because of the way you’re looking at me.”

  “And how’s that exactly?”

  “Like you want to lock me in my room and not let me out until this guy is caught. Or worse, send me back to Cold Harbor for my own protection.”

  “Neither of those are bad ideas,” Trey said.

  Eryn fired him an irritated look. “I committed to teaching here, and I will follow through on that. The officers only have so much money and time for continuing ed in a year, and I won’t make them miss out.”

  Gage scrunched his dark eyebrows together. “Then we need to be smart about this. I’ll assign someone on the team to your protection.”

  “Who?” she asked. “You, Riley, and Alex are holding classes here. Coop and Jackson are training at the compound. Any change to that would create the same problem.”

  “I’m free,” Trey offered. “And glad to step in.”

  “Perfect solution,” Gage readily agreed.

  “No,” Eryn said. “No. No way.”

  “Why not?” Gage asked. “Trey is as capable as anyone on the team.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Then what?”

  Eryn nipped on her lip, and Trey knew she was trying to come up with anything other than to mention that he had a thing for her.

  He could solve that problem for her. “I think she’s worried that I’ve fallen for her and can’t keep my hands off her.”

  “We all know that, but so far you seem to be able to control yourself.” Gage grinned.

  Eryn frowned. “It’s not funny.”

  “I know,” Gage said. “But you’ve got to admit, it paints a pretty interesting picture.”

  “Not one I want to paint.” She crossed her arms.

  “Look,” Trey said. “If I promise not to even hint at my interest in you other than to make sure you’re safe, will you let me do this for you?”

  She frowned and looked like she planned to refuse. Maybe she should. Because even frowning, he wanted to kiss those lips. Still, he couldn’t let her off the hook. “If you won’t think about yourself, think about Bekah.”

  She shot him a frustrated look. “Low blow bringing my daughter into this.”

  “May be low,” Gage said. “But he has a point. Your mom and Bekah came along on this trip, so you need to think of them, too.”

  “I’ll send them back to the compound.”

  “How?” Trey asked. “The compound is an hour down the coast and no one’s free to escort them.”

  “Fine,” she said, but crossed her arms, her eyes still locked on Trey. “You can be my bodyguard, but you need to promise to keep things professional between us at all times.”

  “I promise I’ll do my best.”

  “Glad that’s settled.” Gage fixed his focus on Eryn. “The guys and I have a three-bedroom suite. We’ll move out so you and your family can have it. That way the hacker won’t know the exact room where you’re staying, and it’ll give Trey a room in the same suite, too.”

  “You’re right, if the hacker doesn’t have her under surveillance,” Trey added.

  “I can’t have you give up such a nice room,” Eryn said ignoring Trey’s comment.

  Gage waved a hand. “I only booked a suite so we’d have a place for the team to meet. We can still meet there, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. Then it’s settled. I’ll text the others to let them know we’re moving.”

  “Bekah’s napping so we’ll move our things when she wakes up… if that works for you.”

  “Sounds good.”

  She stood. “Thanks, Gage. We can always count on you.”

  Trey got up, and the jealousy that hit him earlier took a bite again. He wanted Eryn to think the same thing about him. He was dependable and reliable and would be there for her every minute she needed him. She could count on that.

  She glanced at him. “I suppose you’ll want to come with me now.”

  He nodded and chose not to comment on the fact that her expression said she would rather go a few rounds with a rattlesnake than have him accompany her. He would have his work cut out for him, but he was always up for a challenge.

  Especially when that challenge was someone as beautiful and captivating as Eryn Calloway.

  2

  Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

  Trey would be Eryn’s shadow for the next three days of the conference or less if they found the actor, and she already wanted to bolt from him. Instead, she headed straight across the lobby to the room assigned to the training company.

  Even with a bum thigh, Trey kept up with her. She told him she should be able to find the actor, but the reality was, actors were notoriously hard to trace. She possessed an advanced degree in IT, and in her former job as an FBI agent, she’d worked in the cyber crimes division. Meant she had both experience and training, and it would still be a challenge.

  She knocked on the door that held a placard with the name Law Enforcement Network, Inc. Not a minute passed before company owner Martha Green pulled the door open. Eryn pegged Martha at fifty with shoulder length greyish-blond hair in tight corkscrew curls. She had a square face, and her eyebrows were drawn on with a heavy black pencil.

  “Eryn, how nice to see you.” She looked over Eryn’s shoulder. “Now I know you’re not a Blackwell Tactical member, but you’re in law enforcement. That much I can tell.”

  Trey stuck out his hand. “Trey Sawyer, Deschutes County Deputy.”

  “Knew it.” She stepped back. “C’mon in.”

  “This isn’t a social call,” Eryn said, but entered the suite as she didn’t want others to overhear her when she told Martha her company had been hacked.

  Martha closed the door. “That sounds ominous.”

  Eryn didn’t bother sitting but turned to face Martha. “I hate to bring you bad news, but your company’s network server was hacked.”

  Martha blanched, and with her already pale complexion, she was nearly as white as the sheet Trey had mentioned earlier. “Say what?”

  “Why don’t we sit down,” Eryn suggested before Martha dropped to the floor.

  They took seats at a small round dining table, Trey turning the chair and straddling it again. Did he always have to do that? Made Eryn notice the corded muscles in his arms and wonder how it would feel to be held by them.

  Focus, Eryn. It’s just muscles. You have them, too. Get a grip.

  She shifted to put her entire focus on Martha. “My laptop was compromised this morning—locked up with ransomware. I know I didn’t download any malware in the usual ways so—”

  “Usual ways?” Martha interrupted.

  “Clicking on links in emails. Inserting a flash drive that I found or was given to me. Or falling for social media hoaxes. Things like that. The only files I accessed since arriving here are the forms I had participants fill out, scan, and upload to your server for my IoT class.”

  Eryn took a breath and gave Martha a moment to process the news before continuing. “I downloaded those files right before the ransomware deployed on my laptop. I should have realized one of the images was a much larger file size and been more cautious, but I thought maybe the participant saved it with greater resolution. I reviewed that file and discovered the ransomware code embedded in it.”

  “You can embed malware in an image?” Trey asked.

  Eryn nodded. “It’s called Steganography. It’s been used by malicious software writers for quite some time. By embedding code in a file format that looks legitimate, there’s a chance the file will pass security software protocols, making it more likely to be accessed.”

  “So you think someone hacked into LEN’s website and altered this file?” Trey asked.

  “Either that or the officer who uploaded th
e file wrote the code, which I doubt.”

  “Why?”

  “As far as coding goes, it’s not overly complicated, but for most casual computer users—like those who attend my classes, it would be very advanced.

  “But that doesn’t necessarily mean my site was hacked, right?” Martha asked. “Couldn’t someone have used your login to upload this file?”

  Eryn resisted sighing as people were rarely willing to accept their servers were compromised. “My password and login are too secure for anyone to crack without a super computer, which means the actor had to find another way to access the file. And the only other way to do so is to alter the file while it resides on your server. That could only occur if your employees aren’t ethical or by hacking.”

  “Employee singular. There’s only one person with permission to alter network files. My administrator, Preston Hunt. And he wouldn’t do something like this.” Martha twisted her hands together. “Do you think the hacker modified anything else?”

  Eryn wasn’t ready to concede that Preston was on the up and up without reviewing the files to see how and by who they were modified. “I can’t know about further modifications without full access to your website files and logs. If you’ll grant me permission to access them, I can evaluate all files along with trying to trace the actor.”

  “You’d do that for me?” Martha asked.

  “Of course, but you should know I also have a vested interest in locating this actor since he threatened me. I’ll also want to look at the class rosters.”

  Martha grabbed a notepad and pen. “Here’s Preston’s contact info. I’ll call him right away and tell him to grant you full access. Then you can connect with him to get the details.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  Martha gnawed on her lip. “The last thing I need is for law enforcement officers to have to deal with their computers being hacked. Maybe have their confidential data stolen. That could mean the end of my company.”

  “On that note,” Eryn said. “I suggest you have Preston suspend access to any files and go the old-fashioned route and have your instructors print handouts.”