“Yes, what about ‘em? He’s just a kid right?”
“I think Fio is like nineteen or so—at least that’s what people think. Nobody has the full profile on him, the kid stays on the move and no one has really ever seen him. His record is spotless and he doesn’t leave a trail.”
“I remember you telling me that Fio was the only other white hat out there who could give you a run for your money.”
“I still feel the same way. But here’s the kicker, supposedly Malik has Fio and they’re headed to my place with some social worker chick. Apparently, the whole dark web mafia syndicate is after them, cause Fio designed some ransomware and cut them off from their own data. He’s got it all and is threatening to expose everyone, including the higher ups who go to the Gabriellis for their sex trafficking needs. Celebrities, politicians, la crème de la crème shit. I’m gonna try to head out today, hopefully I can beat them there.”
“So everybody wants Fio dead. When you’re gunning to out the upper echelons, they’re gonna put a ransom on your head.”
“Fuck yeah. And get this, according to Malik, Fio is a she-o.”
“No shit? The best hacker in the world is a teenage girl?”
“Second-best, brother. Don’t play.”
“Right, right, right. Fuck, that’s even worse. Can you imagine what they’d do to her if they caught her?”
“That’s why I’m heading out.”
“No shit, so the girl-hacker is Malik’s new job,” Maverick said, his steely eyes looking calculated.
“Yes, apparently, after she got herself into deep shit, she landed in Valor. I’m gonna go check her out, make sure she stays off my equipment.”
“Are you talking about your computers?” Mav asked, smirking at me.
“Yeah, you know me. I don’t trust women. Especially when they’re world renowned hackers and you’re sitting on easily a million dollar’s worth of hardware in your cabin.” I glanced at my big brother and saw his eyes darken, “Except Sophie, she’s the best. Sophie can be trusted,” I added.
“Damn straight.”
I burst out laughing. “Maverick’s been whipped so hard I can’t even generalize about women.”
“If you’d just open yourself up, Rafa, you could find happiness too.”
“Nah brother, my happiness resides in the virtual world. I’m not looking for earthly pleasures or happily-ever-afters. Never will be.” I got up, rubbing the back of my neck. I’d never really been good at goodbyes or any kind of true affection. “I’ll check in with you when I get home.”
“Hey,” Mav said, yanking me into him for a hug, still thinking I was a little kid or something, “You’re family, Raf. Blood. We’ll always have a place for you in this world when you’re ready to join it.”
“I appreciate it, man. If I did enter the real world, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than with you and Malik by my side.”
The drive to Lamoille was easy once I was out of L.A. Left the city of angels to pure calm, practically empty stretch of highway without other vehicles, giving me a perfect view of the mountains and the stoic beauty of the desert—vast and barren—just like how I felt most of the time.
The drive didn’t take long and as I pulled up to my pride and joy, a rustic but modern modular cabin, I built with my own two hands. Not only was my home beautiful and hidden, but it housed a state-of-the art command center for my life’s passion, white hat hacking. I’d spent years making a name for myself as an indie, but now I worked primarily for the feds, except when one of my brother’s had a job that needed some virtual assistance. Part of my rushing home was to protect my life’s work, which lived on the server in the basement, but the other half, the part I didn’t even readily admit to myself, was that I wanted to meet Fio in the flesh.
I’d followed his, well her, work for years and I both idolized and felt a competitive threat from the kid. After parking, I rushed up the steps to the back deck that looked out over a pine forest, slid open the back door, and stepped into my kitchen. There stood my brother, Malik and two women. He wasn’t lying, Fio was of the female gender, that was apparent from one look. I knew without question which one she was. The older woman was a knock-out but definitely had a social-worker vibe going on. A hacker, on the other hand, I could smell from miles away and this girl screamed hacker despite trying to slip under the radar.
Long chestnut hair, big blue eyes with startlingly black lashes that darted all over the room like they were looking for a hiding spot. She was dressed like a ninja or car burglar, hood up and everything. She also had a septum piercing and another tiny hoop through the middle of her lower lip that was so sexy, I was openly staring.