Exploited
Page 76
This was going to hurt.
A lot.
“No, Char’s fine.”
“Good. Maybe we can go see her this week. We could bring cheeseburgers this time. She mentioned she liked them,” he suggested.
“Stop it, Mason,” I said softly.
This was it.
I ached for him. He had burrowed under my skin. There would be blood and tears, but I would remove him. I had to. For both our sakes.
Toxicwrath was right.
“Stop what?” He was confused. He had no idea why I was acting this way.
He couldn’t ever know.
“I think we need to take a break,” I let out quickly before I lost my nerve.
Mason was quiet. So, so quiet.
“A break,” he said evenly.
“Yes. I have a lot on my plate right now with Charlotte and work….I just don’t have time for a relationship.” It was the lamest breakup excuse ever. He would never buy it.
“You don’t have time for a relationship.” He was parroting me. It was unnerving.
I expected him to argue. To plead, maybe. He wasn’t giving me any of that. I wanted it. I needed it to be messy. My guilt required it.
“I’m sorry, Mason.”
There was a deep, impenetrable silence that seemed to go on and on forever.
“No you’re not,” he said after a while, finally sounding angry.
“Yes I am.”
I was so, so sorry.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it has absolutely nothing to do with me. This is all about you. So no, you’re not sorry. Not at all.” His anger was mixed with something else. Resignation? Sadness?
“I don’t want to hurt you, Mason, and that’s exactly what will happen if I let this continue—”
Mason let out a short bark of laughter. “You act as if I have no say in this. That you’re letting this happen. That it’s all your decision. Well, fuck that, Hannah.”
“Mason, it’s for the best.”
“No it’s not. Because the best would involve us together. I make you happy. You make me happy. How is there anything wrong with that?”
He was hurting. I hated myself for it. But it was necessary. This had gone on too long. Gone too far. I had gotten from him what I needed. Information.
Feelings were involved now.
Freedom Overdrive demanded I end this now.
And I felt like total shit.
“I care about you, Mason. Just give me some time.” What was I doing?
Why was I leaving the door open to him?
“I’ll give you all the time in the world. Just don’t shut me out, Hannah. Please don’t.”
“Goodbye, Mason.”
I hung up before I could renege completely. That wasn’t how I intended the breakup to go.
Could that even be construed as a breakup?
My email pinged and I had to put all thoughts of Mason from my mind.
It was time.
Chapter 25
Mason
I hung up the phone feeling dead inside. Had Hannah really just broken up with me?
My desk phone rang. I thought about ignoring it. About slipping out of the office before anyone noticed so I could go to the bar and drink away my pain.
I answered it.
Because I was Agent Kohler and that’s what I did.
“Mason, you need to bring your laptop down to IT immediately,” Jacob Stout, the head of the IT department, said in an urgent voice.
“I was just getting ready to leave for the day—”
“You have a bug on your computer. I picked it up with the new scanning software we just had installed. I noticed it when you emailed this morning. I did a deeper scan and there’s a root kit embedded in your hard drive. You need to get it down to me now.”
I immediately unplugged my computer. “I’m on my way.”
—
“This is a serious problem,” Jacob muttered, looking at my computer screen.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
Jacob scratched at the bald spot on top of his head and looked nervous. “Someone has installed a root kit onto your hard drive and has been sending all of your files, all of your information, to another device.”
My stomach dropped. “How does this happen? I know not to click on any sketchy emails, and our filters keep most of those phishing scams out, or so I thought.”
Jacob nodded. “They should. I think…” He clicked on the mouse and tapped at the keyboard. “Maybe this was installed manually.” Jacob looked up at me. “Do you take your laptop off-site?”
I shook my head. “Never. I leave it on my desk. So how does this happen? And how the hell can you tell if it was installed manually and not remotely?”
Jacob waved me over and I leaned over his shoulder as he pointed to a line of code on the screen. “This is a time stamp of when it was uploaded on your computer. There’s no other external IP attached to this. It was most likely put on here using a drive of some sort. Has anyone had access to your computer?”
I started to say no, then stopped.
No. That can’t be.
How the hell could I be so damned blind?
“I have to go,” I said, turning to leave Jacob’s office.
“I have to report this to Agent Sanders,” he called out to me as I left. I didn’t respond.
I hurried back to the third floor and found Madison in the break room. She was alone.
I closed the door behind me, closing us in. Alone. It was more than a little uncomfortable. Madison glanced at me in surprise.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Why did you think Hannah was messing with my computer?” I asked her, hating the way my voice shook. In anger?
In fear?
Madison raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“That day you accused her of doing something to my computer. What did you see?” I was feeling panicky. This had to be a crazy coincidence.
There had been a lot of those lately, hadn’t there?
Madison pursed her lips. “It doesn’t matter. You made it clear you didn’t want to hear what I had to say.” She started to walk past me. I reached out and grabbed her wrist. Not hard. Just enough to stop her from moving. She looked down at my hand, then back up to my face.
“Please, Madison. What did you see?”
Madison sighed, pulling her arm free of my grip. “I was watching her, all right? I knew it was the woman you were seeing. I’m not stupid. And maybe I was curious about her.” She seemed embarrassed to admit that and I didn’t comment, so she went on. “After you walked over to Perry’s desk, I saw her pull something off her key chain. She looked around and then put it in the back of your computer. I’m not making it up.”
A lot.
“No, Char’s fine.”
“Good. Maybe we can go see her this week. We could bring cheeseburgers this time. She mentioned she liked them,” he suggested.
“Stop it, Mason,” I said softly.
This was it.
I ached for him. He had burrowed under my skin. There would be blood and tears, but I would remove him. I had to. For both our sakes.
Toxicwrath was right.
“Stop what?” He was confused. He had no idea why I was acting this way.
He couldn’t ever know.
“I think we need to take a break,” I let out quickly before I lost my nerve.
Mason was quiet. So, so quiet.
“A break,” he said evenly.
“Yes. I have a lot on my plate right now with Charlotte and work….I just don’t have time for a relationship.” It was the lamest breakup excuse ever. He would never buy it.
“You don’t have time for a relationship.” He was parroting me. It was unnerving.
I expected him to argue. To plead, maybe. He wasn’t giving me any of that. I wanted it. I needed it to be messy. My guilt required it.
“I’m sorry, Mason.”
There was a deep, impenetrable silence that seemed to go on and on forever.
“No you’re not,” he said after a while, finally sounding angry.
“Yes I am.”
I was so, so sorry.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it has absolutely nothing to do with me. This is all about you. So no, you’re not sorry. Not at all.” His anger was mixed with something else. Resignation? Sadness?
“I don’t want to hurt you, Mason, and that’s exactly what will happen if I let this continue—”
Mason let out a short bark of laughter. “You act as if I have no say in this. That you’re letting this happen. That it’s all your decision. Well, fuck that, Hannah.”
“Mason, it’s for the best.”
“No it’s not. Because the best would involve us together. I make you happy. You make me happy. How is there anything wrong with that?”
He was hurting. I hated myself for it. But it was necessary. This had gone on too long. Gone too far. I had gotten from him what I needed. Information.
Feelings were involved now.
Freedom Overdrive demanded I end this now.
And I felt like total shit.
“I care about you, Mason. Just give me some time.” What was I doing?
Why was I leaving the door open to him?
“I’ll give you all the time in the world. Just don’t shut me out, Hannah. Please don’t.”
“Goodbye, Mason.”
I hung up before I could renege completely. That wasn’t how I intended the breakup to go.
Could that even be construed as a breakup?
My email pinged and I had to put all thoughts of Mason from my mind.
It was time.
Chapter 25
Mason
I hung up the phone feeling dead inside. Had Hannah really just broken up with me?
My desk phone rang. I thought about ignoring it. About slipping out of the office before anyone noticed so I could go to the bar and drink away my pain.
I answered it.
Because I was Agent Kohler and that’s what I did.
“Mason, you need to bring your laptop down to IT immediately,” Jacob Stout, the head of the IT department, said in an urgent voice.
“I was just getting ready to leave for the day—”
“You have a bug on your computer. I picked it up with the new scanning software we just had installed. I noticed it when you emailed this morning. I did a deeper scan and there’s a root kit embedded in your hard drive. You need to get it down to me now.”
I immediately unplugged my computer. “I’m on my way.”
—
“This is a serious problem,” Jacob muttered, looking at my computer screen.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
Jacob scratched at the bald spot on top of his head and looked nervous. “Someone has installed a root kit onto your hard drive and has been sending all of your files, all of your information, to another device.”
My stomach dropped. “How does this happen? I know not to click on any sketchy emails, and our filters keep most of those phishing scams out, or so I thought.”
Jacob nodded. “They should. I think…” He clicked on the mouse and tapped at the keyboard. “Maybe this was installed manually.” Jacob looked up at me. “Do you take your laptop off-site?”
I shook my head. “Never. I leave it on my desk. So how does this happen? And how the hell can you tell if it was installed manually and not remotely?”
Jacob waved me over and I leaned over his shoulder as he pointed to a line of code on the screen. “This is a time stamp of when it was uploaded on your computer. There’s no other external IP attached to this. It was most likely put on here using a drive of some sort. Has anyone had access to your computer?”
I started to say no, then stopped.
No. That can’t be.
How the hell could I be so damned blind?
“I have to go,” I said, turning to leave Jacob’s office.
“I have to report this to Agent Sanders,” he called out to me as I left. I didn’t respond.
I hurried back to the third floor and found Madison in the break room. She was alone.
I closed the door behind me, closing us in. Alone. It was more than a little uncomfortable. Madison glanced at me in surprise.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Why did you think Hannah was messing with my computer?” I asked her, hating the way my voice shook. In anger?
In fear?
Madison raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“That day you accused her of doing something to my computer. What did you see?” I was feeling panicky. This had to be a crazy coincidence.
There had been a lot of those lately, hadn’t there?
Madison pursed her lips. “It doesn’t matter. You made it clear you didn’t want to hear what I had to say.” She started to walk past me. I reached out and grabbed her wrist. Not hard. Just enough to stop her from moving. She looked down at my hand, then back up to my face.
“Please, Madison. What did you see?”
Madison sighed, pulling her arm free of my grip. “I was watching her, all right? I knew it was the woman you were seeing. I’m not stupid. And maybe I was curious about her.” She seemed embarrassed to admit that and I didn’t comment, so she went on. “After you walked over to Perry’s desk, I saw her pull something off her key chain. She looked around and then put it in the back of your computer. I’m not making it up.”
