“Do I have to?” he whined and ready to run if his survival instincts deemed it necessary.
“Fuck me with the cap or I go alone.”
“Well... ” He stepped into the shower. “I guess if I have to.”
“It was an accident.”
Jess slammed the truck door, refusing to believe that line of bullshit. “Don’t speak to me.”
Smitty buckled up his seatbelt. “I don’t know how it happened. That cap just went flyin’.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, “Shut. Up.” Jess scowled. “And who doesn’t have a blow dryer?”
“Me. I don’t need it.”
Jess pushed her frizzed mass of curls out of her face. “Clearly you do.”
“Not really. I just get out of the shower and my hair dries like this.”
It was the triumphant smile that insulted her most.
Jess held her hand out. “Hat.”
Smitty reached into his backseat and pulled out a baseball cap with the football team logo for the Tennessee Titans embroidered on the front. She pulled the cap on, yanking it low over her face, tucking her hair back behind her ears.
“Now don’t you look cute as the dickens?”
She had uncontrolled hair, a baseball cap for a team she didn’t even know, Smitty’s way-too-big bomber jacket because the man detested her much beloved parka, and the same clothes from last night except her panties, which she refused to put back on since she simply found that disgusting. So, all in all, she found that compliment damn rude.
“We don’t discuss this again. You don’t tell me how cute I look. And you get a goddamn blow dryer. Now drive.”
Clearing his throat, Smitty started the truck. “Yes’m.”
“And I need more coffee.”
“Darlin’, I think that’s a given.”
The trip should have felt a hell of a lot longer since Jessie Ann never actually shut up the entire time. She’d been pretty cranky until he got her some coffee. Then she cheered up and started talking... and talking... and talking.
Thankfully, Smitty found her pretty amusing. Downright funny, sometimes. The woman could definitely tell a story. And she had lots of those.
Around noon, as the radio news predicted rain, they finally arrived at a small, tidy white house that even included a white picket fence.
“What’s here?” he asked.
Jessie shrugged. “We found the hacker.”
Smitty tensed. “What do you mean you found the hacker? What hacker?”
“We had a hacker problem. And we’ve had this problem before. I’m dealing with it.”
“Should we call the cops?”
“Not yet. Not unless I have to.”
“You should have told me. I’m not prepped for this.”
“You don’t need to be.”
Smitty stared into her eyes. “You know this guy?”
“Yup.”
“Jessie, this isn’t safe.”
“It’s safe.” She grinned. That big, innocent, goddamn goofy grin. “Come on.”
Before he could stop her, she was out the truck and heading up the walkway. Cursing under his breath, Smitty followed her.
As he walked up behind her, the front door opened. A woman not much older than him smiled at them but as she recognized Jessie, her smile faded.
After several moments, she stepped back and yelled, “Carol Marie Haier! Get your ass down here this minute!”
Jess sat in a chair across from a pouting thirteen-year-old. Her mother’s head had nearly exploded when she realized her daughter had gone back to her old habits. Habits that had cost her mother dearly once before.
Marie Haier placed a glass of water in front of Jess. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like some coffee or something?”
“No. Thank you. Just a few minutes with your daughter.”
Marie glanced up at Smitty, looking a little nervous.
He gave her a slow, sweet smile. “Actually, ma’am, I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee.”
“Sure. Of course.” She seemed relieved to have something to do and walked out of the room.
Jess looked at Carol. “So we’re back here again.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Carol. Let’s not play this game. We both know how it’ll end. One call and this is all done.”
She shrugged. “Do whatever you want.”
“How will that sit with your mom? When she has to hire lawyers again, pay your fines. You’re not even supposed to be near a computer.”
Staring at the floor, “So what do you want?”
“The truth. What happened?”
“There’s a company. In Spain or something. They’ve offered more than five thousand dollars to anyone who can hack your systems.”
Well, that explained the recent increase in assaults on their system. With her team and less-than-law-abiding friends, Jess was able to keep the wolf from the door, so to speak. But Carol had always been really good. She could hack damn near anything and had already broken into their system four years ago. A lesson they only had to learn once. Especially since it was a nine-year-old that had done it, their competition had loved every moment of their situation. The laughter died, though, when the same companies realized Carol had already been and gone from their systems, taking whatever she wanted with her.
“Where did you get access to a computer?”
“Internet coffee shop.”
Jess nodded. “So while you’re sucking down those non-fat lattes you’re trying to break into my system?”
“I wasn’t going to take anything from you. But we need the money.”
Jess let out a breath. “I understand, Carol. But this isn’t the way to go about it.”
Carol looked between her and Smitty. “So now what? Drag me off to jail?”
“You’re thirteen. The best I can hope you get is some time in juvey. And maybe a public caning.”
Confused, she asked, “You’re not going to turn me in?”
“No. I don’t think your mother deserves that. Do you?”
Smitty drank weak coffee and forced down a sub par muffin because that’s how he’d been raised. After twenty minutes of Marie Haier nervously fluttering around them, Jess made their excuses to leave. She said goodbye to the little girl and Marie walked them to his truck.
“I’m so very sorry about all this.”
“Don’t be. There’s only so much you can do when you’ve got a genius for a daughter.” Jess opened her door. “So how’s work going?”
Marie shrugged, looking just like her daughter. “Not bad.”
“Still working at the grocery store?”
“Yes.”
“Ever consider secretarial work?”
“Uh... sure.”
“I’ll have my assistant call you. We just set up a system for Lathan Industries. They’re not far from here. They’re expanding and I think there are openings if you’re interested. They’ll give you on-site training.”
He could see Marie working hard to not get overexcited. She’d been let down before. A lot, he’d reckon. “Yes. I’m interested.”
“Good. My assistant will call you later today with the information.”
“Thank you.”
“Sure.”
Jessie climbed into his truck and closed the door.
“Thank you for the coffee and muffin, Mrs. Haier.”
She smiled at Smitty. “You’re more than welcome.”
Smitty stepped into his truck, started her up, and pulled out. As soon as they got to the corner, Jessie called into her office. First she called Phil. It had to be the strangest conversation he’d heard in a long time.
“The Spanish have sent their Armada to destroy us. Yes. It’s time to call in the fleet. I want them blasted out of the water by the end of next week. Good. Thank you, Admiral.”
When he glanced at her while sitting at a light, she gave him that big dog grin, before dialing her assistant. That, thankfully, was a much more logical discussion. Jessie went over messages, gave instructions on who to call back and who to ignore. As they finished their conversation, Jessie instructed her assistant to contact the CEO of Lathan Industries and to remind him of how he’d said, “‘I owe you one’. Now it’s time for him to pay up.”