Ruthless Temptation by Ravenna Tate Page A

for Hampton
Data Recovery Services.”
    “ Doing what?”
    “ IT. All three of them. They had access to our systems,
but none of them had access to the databases we developed from the information
our hacker teams found.”
    “ That’s insane.”
    “ Tell me about it.”
    “ Did Sam find out? Is that why he left?”
    “ We don’t know.”
    “ But you have the other four now?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ Who are the others you mentioned? The ones who were on
a satellite call?”
    “ Barclay and the people at HCS who were also searching
for clues to the hackers intercepted a transmission from one of the old weather
satellites that contained a snippet of conversation about the hackers and the
Tommy Twister virus.”
    “ That’s the virus that took out the program, right?”
    “ Yes. From that snippet, we eventually uncovered Rob’s
involvement on the fringes, plus the real names of the thirteen people also
involved. Once Rob’s laptop was recovered—”
    She
snorted, cutting off his words. “Recovered? You mean stolen.”
    “ Okay. Yes. Stolen .
Once we had that, we found information that led us to the names of the
hackers.”
    “ And in all this information you never came across Dave
Perry’s name as being possibly involved?”
    “ Never. Not until the article came out, and we then
heard he’d written it.”
    “ That doesn’t sound like something a pro would do.”
    “ I agree. There is something off about it.”
    “ How does Bonnie fit into all this?”
    “ Bonnie and Dave were two of the original contacts
Barclay had at HCS. Dave knows all of us from before we moved underground, and
he went to college with Ace’s father. Bonnie and Dave opposed our plan to have
first crack at the hackers.”
    “ And that didn’t make any of you suspicious about
them?”
    He
nodded. “Bonnie felt it was an HCS issue and we had no business being part of
it. She has always expressed concern that we had way more power than she felt
we deserved, but Dave’s protest surprised us. He told Grayson and Barclay in a
meeting those two had in Central several months ago that he didn’t want us
playing vigilante and scaring the public if it got out.”
    “ Okay, I get that, but does it matter who finally ends
this? I mean really?”
    “ You don’t know how true that statement is.” He told
her about Oliver’s numbers.
    “ Are you sure?” Her voice was so small and frightened.
Viggo wanted to hold her in the worst way, but he wanted to get all of this out
first.
    “ Absolutely, without a doubt. We wouldn’t have resorted
to such drastic measures otherwise.”
    “ What happens now?”
    “ We find Dave, we find the rest of the thirteen, and
then we try to get some answers.”
    “ And if you can’t?”
    He
pulled her close and held her. “If we can’t, we all die anyway. Game over.”
    She
sighed, then leaned closer to him. Viggo was only a man, after all. And there
was nothing like the fear of death to make one horny as hell. His dick jumped
to attention, and he stroked her hair. It was so soft, and he loved the scent
of her shampoo. Or was that the shampoo he’d stocked in the guest suite? Either
way, he inhaled it deeply, wishing circumstances were different.
    “ What can I do to help?”
    “ Trust me. And keep this to yourself.”
    She
didn’t answer for a few moments, and he wondered whether she’d stick around
now. If he was in her shoes, he wasn’t entirely sure he would. Finally, she
pulled out of his embrace and looked at him with so much clarity, that for a
few seconds, his world shifted.
    Viggo
wasn’t used to such visceral reactions where women were concerned. He never let
himself feel too much. It was dangerous to do so. But not this time. Everything
was different with Madison. She was already under his skin, and he had no
fucking clue what to do about it. He had no frame of reference.
    Was
this what the others had felt? They’d lived their lives the same way he had.
Keep it loose, carefree, and no