Heart-Shaped Hack(78)
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Breakfast was marginally less awkward than dinner had been the night before. Kate attributed this to Susan and Phillip’s easygoing nature and the ten hours of solid, restorative sleep she’d had. They’d gone to bed so early that Kate had awakened feeling, if not back to normal, at least well rested and a bit calmer.
When they were done eating, Susan declined Kate’s offer to help clear the table. “Relax. Have some more coffee,” she said, placing a carafe halfway between her and Phillip. “I’ll get the rest when I return. Ian is going to drive me to the garden center. Now that it’s getting warmer, I’m looking forward to getting my plants organized.”
“I’ll grab my keys,” Ian said. He bent down and kissed Kate’s forehead. “Back in a little bit.”
“The pilot can take you home later this morning,” Phillip said. “We’ll need to leave in about an hour.”
“That’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Phillip poured Kate some more coffee.
“Did Ian ask you to talk to me?” His departure had seemed a bit too convenient.
“Yes,” Phillip said, looking sheepish. “I’m not here to argue on his behalf. That’s between you and him. But maybe I can help you understand where he’s coming from.”
“How long have you known Ian?”
“Since he was twenty.”
“How did you meet him?”
“I arrested him.”
Kate choked on her sip of coffee. “You arrested him?”
“I had to. He’d hacked the Pentagon, and he hadn’t tried to hide it all that well. I knocked on the door of his dorm room, flashed my badge, and led him away in handcuffs.”
“I don’t know why I’m surprised. That sounds exactly like him.”
Phillip chuckled. “I could tell right away he wasn’t a bad kid. He’s brilliant, but he didn’t have a lot of impulse control back then.”
Kate smiled. “Sometimes he still doesn’t.”
“I scared him pretty good that day. Then I gave him a choice. He could show us how he’d done it and tell us what we needed to do to make sure it never happened again, or he could go to prison. He opted not to go to prison of course, and we were blown away by what he could do. When he was younger he liked showing off just to make sure we hadn’t forgotten what he was capable of, but now I think his involvement gives him a sense of purpose. Pride even. He won’t work for us although we’ve tried countless times to recruit him. But he’s continued to work with us long after he paid for his transgression, and I hope he never stops. He’s gone places we couldn’t get to on our own. Places where the stakes were high and there was considerable risk.”
“And you know about the money he…?”
“Steals from cyberthieves?” Phillip nodded. “I pick my battles. That one isn’t worth fighting.”
“Ian told me last night that you and Susan are like family to him.”
“My wife and I never had any kids of our own. It just wasn’t in the cards for us, I guess. Susan treats Ian like the son she never had. Considering his own mother isn’t in the picture much, it suits them both. Our relationship is a bit trickier. Sometimes I’m his friend, sometimes his mentor, and when he’ll let me, a father figure.”
“It sounds like you really care about him.”
“I do. I try to give him his space, especially now that he’s older. But I offer advice when I think it’s warranted. When he told me what he wanted to do after he discovered you’d been hacked, I tried to talk him out of it. I argued that it would be too much for you, but Ian said you were strong enough to handle it. Putting that car in the river would require a considerable amount of FBI resources, which aren’t always easy to obtain. He’d also be throwing away a company he loved and that he’d spent ten years building and would have to start over from scratch. He was undeterred. He couldn’t get past the fact that his enemies knew who you were. He’s not easily rattled, but I’ve never seen him that distraught.”
“So it’s true he has enemies.”
“He’s been working with us for far too long and angered too many people to not have them. Frankly I’m surprised no one had found him yet. I disagreed with Ian about several things. But the one thing we unanimously agreed upon was that if we did this, your reaction had to be genuine because we knew they’d be watching. Ian would have never put you in any kind of physical danger, and the FBI surveillance was purely a precaution. I told Ian I thought one agent would be plenty. He argued for two.” Phillip smiled. “We compromised with four. He’s very driven, Kate, but he needs a strong woman by his side. Not just because he’s headstrong, but because he needs a partner who’s as strong and smart as he is. Someone he can confide in. Build a life with. He’s going to have to open himself up completely, and he’s never really had to do that. For as much as he likes being in charge, I think what Ian wants the most is to belong to someone. To know that someone loves him unconditionally. That’s hard to find in a woman, especially when you consider his line of work. His love for you is immeasurable, and he trusts you.”
Kate was not one to hold a grudge, and in time she could forgive Ian for what he’d done. He and Phillip had explained why they’d kept her in the dark, and though their actions had hurt her, she understood them. But being with Ian in any kind of permanent capacity required a level of trust and tolerance Kate wasn’t sure she possessed. Her mind was still reeling, and she needed time to regroup.