She glanced at each piece, but kept returning to look at Zane after. “Yes, and no. Atlanta wasn’t in the stars for me, but I got my second choice and I’m staying here.”
“Bummer, about Georgia. I know you really wanted the Skriddie position,” Archer rang all the items up, and set them back in their crate.
Skriddie? Odd name for a company.
Mikki clacked a barbell tongue piercing against her teeth. Her boyfriend—girlfriend?—probably loved that. “Yeah, but nah. At least this way I don’t have to find a new comic shop.”
She handed Archer her credit card. Or tried to. She was watching Zane so closely, she jammed it into the register instead. She pulled back with a giggle, and adjusted her trajectory.
Archer shook his head. “Mikki, this is—”
“Zane Petrov,” she said, extending her hand. “AKA, The Taurus. I’m such a huge fan.”
“I have fans?” Zane didn’t know how to react to that. Especially when she addressed him by a screen name he didn’t really brag about. Not these days, anyway.
Archer chuckled. “Mikki has an elite and unique list. Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Jared Tippins...”
Zane raised an eyebrow. How’d he make a list of tech’s most notorious? “How do I hook up prospective employers with this passion of yours for... my work? What is it you think I did?” Since all of it was supposed to be classified. And none of it had been as The Taurus. His teenage hacking activities had landed him on one too many government watchlists, and he’d ditched the identity when he enlisted.
Mikki clacked her piercing against the top of her teeth. “Hacked Cord’s servers. Released their game ahead of schedule. You’re a legend.”
“I don’t exactly make that information public.” Not that he could ignore the flush of pride that came from someone knowing. He’d done it in high school. To prove he could. It had been bragging rights when he was a teenager.
And impressed the fuck out of Riley. Her name flitted inside with ambivalence. They needed to find their center again.
“Like Archer said, I’m weird.” Mikki ducked her head. When she looked up again, excitement shone in her eyes. “How’d you do it? Forced SQL injection string? Pulsing DDOS?”
“What is it you do?” Zane asked.
“Ethical hacking, for NetSafe Systems.”
Zane wouldn’t mind getting in on a job like that. “Drop my name?”
“Are you serious?” Mikki’s eyes grew wide. “Yeah, of course. Oh my god, that would be amazing to work with you. Give me your number.”
Zane scribbled his information down on a scrap of paper.
“I’m still new.” She tucked his phone number into a small pocket on her purse. “Duh. You probably guessed that. I don’t have a lot of pull, but I’ll tell my boss. Because seriously. Wow. You’re just... I meant it, how did you do the Cord thing?”
Given her job, it probably wasn’t impressive, but it had been top notch a decade ago. “I hopped a series of paths until I found the directory with the install files, and used a randomizer to guess the password. Network security wasn’t the same back then.”
“I want details. All the details.” She glanced at her watch, and sighed. “But later.” She grabbed one of Archer’s business cards, scrawled on it, and handed it to Zane. “In case you want to follow the job stuff. Or go sing karaoke with me sometime, or get a drink... Whatever.”
“Thanks.” Zane stuffed her phone number into his wallet.
She grabbed her purchase, said her goodbyes, and was on her way.
“She’s cute, right?” Archer asked when she was gone.
“Adorable. High energy. Seems smart.”She’s not Riley.
“Are you going to call her?”
Zane paused. He was on the other side of the conversation he’d just had with Archer about Victoria. What was going on in his head? “I don’t know. Maybe.” But he wouldn’t. Not like that.
“I’m gonna cut out for a while.” Zane pushed away from the counter and headed upstairs. How badly did he fuck up tonight with Riley?