I snickered at his response. Rick was intense most of the time, and he didn’t like to dance around anything. Direct and to the point. I loved that about him. I’d just have to make sure I took over the job when any finessing was required.
Taking a bite of his tart, Fletcher licked his bottom lip to capture any sugary flakes. I wasn’t ashamed to admit I tracked the movement with more interest than I should have. It was never a good idea to mix with the network.
Flirting was fun and harmless. Oftentimes, a necessary tool to get what I needed. But to allow my feelings to get caught up in the actions could be dangerous.
Of course, I’d already broken a bigger rule than that by saving Fletcher.
And Rick.
I sighed. Not because I was upset with myself, but because I knew I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
“Wow. How much do you know about this woman?” Fletcher set his phone on the edge of the table, apparently ready to have a conversation.
That was extremely quick. He was good in his role, but to gather anything of value in fifteen minutes…
“I know she isn’t a good woman at all. The question is, what do you know about her?” I sat up straight in my chair and crossed one leg delicately over the other.
“I know for such an important woman in the community she had incredibly weak email security. You’d think an organization like that would have firewalls.” Fletcher shook his head as if that was a damned shame.
I grinned. “You don’t say?”
“Her social media was set as private, but I don’t think she ever sat through a cyber security training. Have you?” He blinked innocently.
At first, my brain didn’t quite compute what he was alluding to. Then I narrowed my eyes at him. He’d have a very sad day...with Rick, if he tried to hack my accounts.
“Yes. I’ve learned my fair share of IT protocols and best practices,” I said but delivered my warning with a quirked eyebrow. “Care to elaborate on why you feel she didn’t have that?”
He fought hard to suppress the smile threatening to take over his face, and though he won, his lips convulsed a few times. “The first thing they teach you is never to make your password something that anyone can find out about you on the internet. No birthdays, no anniversaries, no pet names. The the next thing is no consecutives. Poor woman, she never had that.”
Triumph burst in my chest. If he was saying what I thought was saying, then in under fifteen damn minutes he not only broke into her work email, but also her personal social media accounts too. I was impressed. More than impressed.
“Were you as shocked as you thought you’d be?” I probed, sliding a hand over Rick’s knee and giving it a squeeze out of pure excitement. It was the only reaction I allowed myself to have.
“Worse,” he sneered. “I’d need more time to go through all the files and match things up, but there were some very incriminating things at the very top. Easy cherry pickings.”
I knew what she was into. Daddy knew. We just hadn’t gotten around to dealing with her yet. Still, I needed Fletcher to confirm some of these items without me hand feeding them to him. It was his test after all.
“What was the nature?”
“Child trafficking,” he whispered. It was pained and showed a sliver of humanity I would never have seen without the utter emotion leaking from his gaze. He felt so much, it was bubbling over.
I saw it then, why I’d saved him. Just like with Rick, I saw in him a piece of the world that I was fighting for. And his reaction just now, made me wonder if he ever fought for it too?
“Does that conclude the test?” He croaked, then coughed to clear his throat. Fletcher dropped his gaze and picked his phone back up. I understood what he was doing. Whatever he saw, disturbed him, and he didn’t like that I’d seen it written so plainly on his face.
The angles of his cheekbones seemed sharper with his head downturned, and the slash of his brows more dramatic. Even without his attention on me, his whole demeanor screamed how affected he was.
Surprise fluttered through me that he would share this with us, even if he wasn’t trying to. In the network, no one ever showed weakness, and any type of emotion whether anger, fear, or happiness, was most certainly a weakness. One that was easily exploited.
“Not quite. I’d like the world to know what a vile person they put on a pedestal. That will conclude the test.”
“Done,” he returned before I even finished stating my request.
Rick wasn’t glaring at him anymore. He scratched his jaw while silently studying the man. Did Fletcher make more of a friend in Rick by showing some real emotion than any attempts at barbed friendliness?
After a few minutes, Fletcher stretched back in his chair and tucked his phone away. He must have taken that time to complete the job, but also rebuild his walls. When he glanced up at me, he grinned.
“I’ll give you that as a freebie, but the next job will come with a different sort of pay scale.” Then he winked, causing Rick to growl under his breath.