“Fair point.” So far, this was easy. It wouldn’t be for long, and I was already enjoying the distraction. “I’m trying to figure out an issue, and I feel like I’m missing pieces to the puzzle. I need an outside perspective.”
“What’ve you got?” Luther struck again, harder this time. I took the hits in favor of returning a cross of my own. I landed a solid punch and he danced out of reach.
“I’ve got a lot of game crashes that may or may not be related, a DDOS, and some leaked information. The second two came from the same person’s accounts.” I traded a few more low-impact hits with Luther. Each strike pushed me further toward a clear head.
Luther wasn’t weathering the strikes as well as I did, which wasn’t surprising. He was more about speed and maneuverability than taking punches. “I assume this person isn’t a suspect?”
“No.” Not for an instant. I had no doubt Fallyn wasn’t part of this.
“Are they hot?”
“Sexy. Smart. Sassy. She’s the full package.”
“Does Elliot know?”
At the reminder of Elliot, my mind froze, and my limbs locked. It was only for a second, but it was enough time for Luther to sweep his foot under my legs.
I stumbled, but didn’t fall. No surprise—we weren’t playing by standard rules. “Doesn’t matter what Elliot thinks of her.” It should. It bothered me that he and Fallyn—
It wasn’t relevant to this. One of the best and worst things about sparring with Luther was he had a knack for getting under people’s skin, and using it to get his hits in. He would force me to approach this issue rationally and without emotion, or get my ass kicked.
“Is how you feel about her relevant?” Luther asked.
“Yes.”
“Which is…?”
She was one of the best things to happen to me. Top of the list. And I was terrified I was losing her before I had her. “She didn’t do this, regardless of what it looks like.”
“Ah.” Luther ducked under my swing, came up behind me, and hit me in the side before dancing away.
Fuckthat one hurt. “No. Don’t give me anah. Help me figure out how someone framed her.”
“Need more info. What makes it look like it was her? How do you know it’s not? Is her pussy really worth this kind of effort?”
There was the rage. I came in with a cross, but swung too wide, and Luther side-stepped. I corrected, but it didn’t help, and his foot to the back of my knee landed me on my back.
“So, two and three”— He offered me his hand—“You just know, and yes.”
The only answer I had was a low growl.
“What makes it look like she did it? Give me more thanit came from her accounts.” Luther tugged.
I flexed my fingers as I hopped to my feet. “They tethered to her phone. Or it looks like they did.”
“Did they clone it? Her phone? What are the odds she stood next to someone long enough for them to do that?”
His question was a needle popping the bubble of my fury, and realization rushed in, pushing the anger out. After spending several days packed into a convention center with a hundred thousand other people. “Fuck.”
I needed to talk to Elliot, and I didn’t care what the rules said. I had to see him in person, make sure he was all right, and figure out what was going on.
Mostly though, I needed to see him. Period.
Before I could, I needed to take care of Chris. With my fists would be preferable, but Elliot would be mad if I landed myself in jail again. I headed back to the offices, and called Judith while I was driving.
When I told her what I suspected, what I’d seen so far, she said, “Are you certain? I have to be positive, one-hundred percent, before I make this kind of call, because there are legal repercussions for being wrong.”
I wasn’t used to being the final say in matters like this, but I was right. “I’m certain. And I want his execution to be public.”