The Geek and the Sheikh E-Book

S.E. Smith

• Herausgeber: Montana Publishing LLC
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Girls from the Street
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 345

Beschreibung

She was born on the streets; he was born to rule…
Sheikh Jameel Saif-Ad-Din is in love. The problem is that he doesn’t know the identity behind the fascinating hacker he only knows as Bugs. There are two things he does know: Bugs is a woman and she is going to be his one day. As the danger to his family increases, so does the information Bugs shares with him until she goes silent and his greatest fear becomes reality. His family’s enemies have discovered her.
Junebug Rains lives in a world of zeros and ones. Her only comforts are her sister, Midnight, the anonymity of the hacker world, and a special hacker named Jam-man. When her talents lead her and her sister into the dark world of government assassins, mercenaries, and foreign coups, her life is no longer safe and she seeks safety with the one man in the world she trusts: Jameel ‘Jam-man’ Saif-Ad-Din.
Junebug is being hunted for her skills, and the billionaire who wants her will do anything to capture her–including using Jameel as bait. Cast out into the world alone for the first time, Junebug will use every one of her skills and talents to protect the man she loves from the danger threatening them both, but will it be enough?
A USA Today and NY Times bestselling author, the internationally acclaimed S.E. Smith presents a new story with her signature humor and unpredictable twists! Exciting adventure, hot romance, and iconic characters have won her a legion of fans. Over TWO MILLION books sold!

Leseprobe

The Geek and the Sheikh

S.E. SMITH

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my husband, Steve, for believing in me and being proud enough of me to give me the courage to follow my dream. I would also like to give a special thank you to my sister and best friend, Linda, who not only encouraged me to write, but who also read the manuscript. Also, to my other friends who believe in me: Julie, Jackie, Christel, Sally, Jolanda, Lisa, Laurelle, Debbie, and Narelle. The girls that keep me going!

And a special thanks to Paul Heitsch, David Brenin, Samantha Cook, Suzanne Elise Freeman, PJ Ochlan, Vincent Fallow, L. Sophie Helbig, and Hope Newhouse, Allison River, and Bethanne Reid—the outstanding voices behind my audiobooks!

– S. E. Smith

Contemporary Romance

The Geek and the Sheikh

Girls from the Street Book 5

Copyright © 2023 by S.E. Smith

First E-Book Published December 2023

Cover Design by Melody Simmons

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission from the author. No parts of the author’s work may be used for AI training without express written permission from the author.

All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations are strictly coincidental.

Summary: A Sheikh’s tantalizing online communication with a hacker leads to love and danger.

ISBN: 9781959584292 (Paperback)

ISBN: 9781959584285 (eBook)

Romance (love, explicit sexual content) | Contemporary | Royalty | Multicultural | Action/Adventure | Suspense | Thriller | Saga | Destined Love

Published by Montana Publishing, LLC

& SE Smith of Florida Inc. www.sesmithfl.com

Synopsis

She was born on the streets; he was born to rule…

Sheikh Jameel Saif-Ad-Din is in love. The problem is: he doesn’t know the identity behind the fascinating hacker he only knows as Bugs. There are two things he does know: Bugs is a woman and she is going to be his one day. As the danger to his family increases, so does the information Bugs shares with him until she goes silent and his greatest fear becomes reality. His family’s enemies have discovered her.

Junebug Rain lives in a world of zeros and ones. Her only comforts are her sister, Midnight, the anonymity of the hacker world, and a special hacker named Jam-man. When her talents lead her and her sister into the dark world of government assassins, mercenaries, and foreign coups, her home is no longer safe and she seeks safety with the one man in the world she trusts–Jameel ‘Jam-man’ Saif-Ad-Din. 

Junebug is being hunted for her skills and the billionaire who wants her will do anything to capture her–including using Jameel as bait. Cast out into the world alone for the first time, Junebug will use every one of her skills and talents to protect the man she loves from the danger threatening them both, but will it be enough?

Prologue

Andrius Bronislav's elegant home,

Near the capital city Vilnius in Lithuania

Andrius Bronislav reached out one hand and gripped the mantel of the fireplace. Gas logs flickered behind the tempered glass and the heat rolled over him, but nothing seemed to penetrate the chill that had settled into his soul. The authorities had shut down his profitable mining operation in Brazil and confiscated all of his assets. Millions of dollars disappeared in a matter of hours.

He closed his eyes as a wave of bitterness swept through him. His hatred burned, leaving a sour taste in his mouth as he opened his eyes. He would kill the family behind his destruction if it was the last thing he did!

"I'm tired of your excuses! I want results! Everyone I have sent against the Saif-Ad-Din family has failed," Andrius raged.

The small group of mercenaries he had assembled remained silent. Andrius threw his crystal goblet of wine against the wall, and the men shifted with unease.

I am surrounded by imbeciles, he savagely thought.

Andrius glared at the group. The three men standing near the door of his office either lowered their eyes or looked away in response. The lone woman, sitting on the couch near the window, remained unfazed.

His hand tightened on the handle of the cane he was heavily leaning on. His crippling pain and severely scarred skin were gifts from the government, given during their attack on his former compound.

Colin Coldhouse, owner of Cold Methods Security, had disappeared shortly after the attack. Andrius didn't know where the man was… or if he was still alive, but Colin's reckless brother and dozens of other highly trained members of Cold Methods Security were dead.

Andrius had lost billions of dollars' worth of equipment and facilities. They had all been destroyed or confiscated by the Lithuanian government. His vast fortunes were virtually gone, along with his ability to move unhindered around the world.

He was confined to the very few countries willing to look the other way—as long as he spread some of his dwindling cash reserves against the palms of greedy government officials. Not even bribery was enough for him to remain in his home country, however. For that, he had needed his few remaining loyal contacts and the dirty secrets he held on a handful of powerful politicians.

"Perhaps the others failed because you are approaching the… situation… from the wrong angle," the woman suggested.

Andrius turned his ire on her. She was young — the youngest of the group — and she stood out from the others. The three hardened mercenaries were not unlike the ruinous Colin Coldhouse. She was the young hacker he had hired to stop the digital attacks that continued to drain his wealth. Her ebony skin was smooth, her curves were pleasantly round, and her eyes were highlighted by wide-rimmed glasses. She wore a bright red, orange, yellow, and black tie-dyed t-shirt dress and black leggings.

The only characteristic she shares with these men is the look in her eyes, he observed. Cold, hard, and calculating.

"Leave us," he ordered the men with a dismissive wave of his hand.

He kept his eyes locked on Allison's as the men silently retreated from the room. She returned his stare with a cool one of her own.

Andrius painfully walked over to the chair near the window and sank down onto the plush, floral-patterned fabric. He stretched his injured leg out and rubbed his thumb along the handle of his cane.

Allison rose from the leather couch, crossed the room, and poured two glasses of scotch from the crystal decanter on the side bar. She returned, holding out one glass for him in her right hand while she sipped from the left. He took the offered drink.

"What angle do you propose?" he inquired.

Her lips curved in a self-possessed smile, and she returned to her former position on the couch. She kicked off her ridiculously high, bright red heels and curled her legs up onto the couch. Her dress rode up over her leggings.

No, she is nothing like the professionals I have dealt with in the past, Andrius irritably thought while appreciating the young woman's unusual confidence.

"You're going after the Saif-Ad-Din family with brute force. Granted, that will be the end result, but it is like hitting a six-foot-thick concrete wall with a rubber mallet and expecting the wall to crumble. They… on the other hand… have been slicing away at you like a surgeon with a sharp scalpel—cutting you where it hurts without ever needing to come at you directly."

Andrius gritted his teeth and gripped the handle of his cane until his knuckles turned white. Allison wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know.

"Get to the point."

Her features froze at the acid in his voice, her eyes flashing with unease, before she shrugged her shoulders and dipped her head in acknowledgement that she was treading on thin ice. She took a sip of the scotch before cradling it in her hands.

"Everything in this world is digital now. Hell, even your refrigerator and washing machine talk to the web! If there is a connection, there is a way in, and a way to follow you. You've been focusing on the guys making the decisions, not the guy getting the information. Information is the key. No one else can do a thing without it! You need to cut the legs out from under the Saif-Ad-Din family, and the only way to do that is to take out Jameel Saif-Ad-Din, their personal computer guru. I know what kind of person Jameel Saif-Ad-Din is. I know the way he thinks, and I can put a tourniquet on what he is doing. However, if you really want to stop the Saif-Ad-Din family from draining you dry, you need to stop him permanently," she said.

Andrius frowned. "That is what I hired you for."

Allison swung her legs off the couch. An excited gleam appeared in her dark brown eyes. She leaned forward, as if afraid to say what she was about to tell him out loud.

"This will require a specialist," Allison began.

A frigid wave of anger seared through him.

"You are telling me that I should have hired this specialist instead of you," he said softly, menace emanating from every word.

Allison's own temper flashed in her eyes, but her tone was professional when she spoke. "Think of me as a consultant. I'm the expert who assessed your situation and found you the right person at the right time."

"Well, consultant, if your only use is finding someone better than yourself, you are worth a fraction of what we agreed I would pay you," he growled.

Allison glared. "Listen, I'm damn good at what I do, and you are extremely lucky that I am the consultant you have hired—because I'm the only one who can get this specialist for you." She lifted the glass of scotch and drained it.

"Really?" he asked derisively.

Allison gave him a predator's grin. "I know her weakness. It's a certain hacker called Jam-man… who also happens to be that pesky Jawahir prince I've been defending your accounts from."

Andrius narrowed his eyes. "How do you know?"

Allison stroked her finger along the rim of the glass in her hand. "I told you; I know Jameel. We went to school together and, unbeknownst to him, we hang out in MMOs. I know his coding. He's gotten better, but so have I. Over the last few years, Bugs has been raiding with us. I know there is something going on between the two of them. Their chemistry is scorching."

Her eyes were determined, and Andrius detected a hint of something calculating and personal within her speech. Jealousy, envy… or both? Either emotion could be a powerful influencer.

Oh, he thought. Wouldn't that be delicious? The jilted lover plotting to destroy her old flame, and using her nemesis to take them both out at the same time. He hid his grin. Entertainment aside, this was business.

"The specialist's name is Bugs?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"And how do you know that this 'Bugs' is who I need?" Andrius asked with an assessing look.

"She's the talk of the dark web… a legend among elite hackers. If you have her, you have the world at your fingertips. Rumor has it that no one can match her coding—not even the most powerful governments in the world," Allison said.

"If this hacker is so phenomenal, why isn't she working for the American government?" Andrius demanded.

Allison snorted. "Are you kidding? Government types don't understand us. They would squeeze us until we're dry, then tuck us away where we can't do anything. If they got their hands on Bugs—let's just say it is scary to think what they could make her do. No, hackers like us do better working freelance," she explained.

"Fine. I'm interested. How will you use the prince to get her?" Andrius inquired, tapping his finger impatiently on the handle of his cane.

Allison lifted her chin and gave him a tight smile. "This is where my plan gets interesting."

As Andrius listened to Allison outline her plan to entice the mysterious hacker into a trap, hope rekindled within him.

Perhaps I have been approaching this from the wrong angle, he thought.

Control came from the person who held the digital world in the palm of their hand, and that person would fear him. He would have it all. He would be successful in bringing down the Saif-Ad-Din family. He would reclaim his empire. All he needed was a little persuasion and the right bait.

One

New York City

Present Day:

"You can let me out here," Junebug Rain instructed.

"You got it," the Uber driver, John, cheerfully replied.

Junebug stared with wide, excited eyes at the arrival terminal of JFK International airport. She had never been here before, even though she had been born and raised in the city. In fact, there was a lot of the city that she had never explored… at least, not in person. Virtually, she had been everywhere thanks to her older sister, Midnight.

"Have a nice day," John called out.

Junebug, lost in thought, pushed open the door of the compact SUV and slid out. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and stood looking at the entrance with a mixture of awe and exhilaration. She started forward with a small group of enthusiastic travelers, following them as they entered the building.

Even in the pre-dawn hours, the airport hummed with activity. She scanned the lines forming in front of the agents before bypassing them and heading for security. She fished out her passport, the ID she was using, and her global security pass.

Eager and weary travelers alike glanced at her as she passed them. Quite a few men stood a little straighter, hoping she would notice them. Quite a few women sighed, glared, or elbowed their partners. Junebug was oblivious to the disruption she was causing.

"Tyler, watch where you're going!" a woman hissed.

The crash of a suitcase into the metal sign caused it to fall over. The woman's curses combined with the man's defensive muttering. Several people chuckled.

"I didn't see it," Tyler was protesting.

"That's because you were watching her!" the woman snapped.

Junebug continued to the security gate. She had memorized the sections of the airport that led to the area she was going, and she glided through the early morning travelers with an ease that belied the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. This was the first time that she had ever been in an airport in her life! She presented her documents to the TSA officer and gave him a brilliant smile that left many people around her feeling dazzled, then collected her backpack and computer, and continued on toward her gate.

Junebug stepped onto the moving sidewalk. Her delighted expression made an older couple chuckle. She ignored them as she leaned forward to study the way the metal pieces fitted together to create the walkway.

"Where are you going?" the old woman asked.

Junebug straightened and blinked. "A long way from here. Why do you want to know?" she asked.

The woman looked startled. "I… because it seems strange that you are traveling alone," the woman replied.

Junebug stared at the couple before she shrugged, turned, and walked away.

"Well," the woman softly exclaimed with surprise and indignation.

"When you look like that, who needs manners?" her husband teased.

Junebug thought about what the couple said. They thought she was rude? And how would someone's appearance affect their manners? Midnight had warned her about talking to strangers. It was none of their business where she was going... or why she was alone. So, who was the rude one in this situation? Bugs didn't actually know, but she quickly forgot about it as she got closer to her gate. The first leg of her flight would take her to London. She would plan her next leg after that.

All of this had come about a bit unexpectedly. It was the result of a conversation with her sister, Midnight, and the encrypted message she had received. She bit her lip as she processed her decision. Midnight was the one who physically handled dangerous missions and saved people in trouble, but this time the danger was personal.

Neither of us should stay home right now... but it won't be forever. It can't be.

Junebug paused in front of a departure message board and stared up at the changing flights, destinations, and times. Her flight would be boarding in fifteen minutes. She had booked First Class so that she could board first and wouldn't have to talk to people. The idea of saying a complete sentence to anyone but Midnight was enough to send her into a panic attack—well, almost. She was doing ok so far. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

Still, chatting with faceless people online who didn't use their real names was much preferable. She could handle that. It was the in-person stuff that was difficult. Having to look at them, make small talk about things she didn't know or couldn't care less about, that was what scared her. She liked the cryptic language of computers.

"You can do this, Junebug. You've got this," she muttered to herself.

"Do you need help finding your gate?"

Junebug stiffened and partially turned toward the deep, friendly voice. A swift glance gave her all the information she needed: male, approximately 26 years of age, brown hair, brown eyes, Hawaiian shirt, board shorts, crocs… with socks, and a worn carry-on. Threat level on a scale of one to ten: two.

The only reason Hawaiian Shirt made it to a two was because of the appreciative way he was looking at her. He seemed to be hoping he would get lucky if they were on the same flight. No chance of that.

"No," she replied, turning and walking away.

"Hey, it's okay," he said as he followed her. "I just wanted to make sure you're not lost, but it seems like you're not. I'm heading to⁠—"

She stopped and turned on him. Hawaiian Shirt almost ran into her. She looked up at him. He was a good foot taller than her curvy, five-foot-three frame.

"I said no. I don't need help. I don't want to walk with you. I am in love with someone and I am going to find him," she stated.

There, she thought. She could provide details to people who didn't deserve them. She was getting less rude by the second. Take that, old lady, she thought victoriously.

Hawaiian Shirt frowned. "Did you lose him?"

"Who?" she asked.

"You said you are going to find him. Did you lose the guy you love?" he inquired with a short laugh.

She stared at him. "No, of course not. I haven't even met him yet."

She turned and walked away with a shake of her head. Ok, technically she had met Jam-man, just not in person. Either way, she was done talking to strangers now.

No wonder Midnight warned me to be careful. What is wrong with these people?

She reached her gate. The airline hostess was calling for First-Class passengers. Junebug walked to the front of the line, showed her passport, and scanned her boarding pass before continuing down the enclosed gangway.

She breezed past the hostess and settled in her seat, placing her backpack on the floor in front of her. It contained everything she would need. She had two changes of clothes, a brush, a bag of marshmallows, and her electronics. She kept her money and passport in a small cross-body clutch.

"Would you like a drink?" the hostess inquired.

Junebug blinked. "Water… please," she said.

Her heart thudded as the passengers filed through. She was doing this—really doing this! She was on her own. There was no Midnight to guide and protect her. There wasn't the usual anonymity behind a computer screen. She was out in the world… all by herself, and she was both exhilarated and terrified. For once, she was going to have to deal with people.

A barrage of thoughts and emotions hit her. She closed her eyes and rocked gently back and forth in her seat, tapping the tips of her fingers together in a pattern. Pulling Jam-man's image into her mind, she let the familiar meditation and the mental image of him calm her.

"Would you like anything else?" the hostess asked, placing her glass of water in front of her.

Junebug opened her eyes and shook her head. "No…. Thank you," she murmured.

No, the only thing I need is to find answers... and build a new life. No biggie.

* * *

Jawahir: Cyber-security division:

Six years earlier:

Sheikh Jameel Saif-Ad-Din weaved back and forth in the office corridor as he tried to hold on to a collection of file folders and text on his phone at the same time. He missed the knowing grins and amused looks of his co-workers as they stepped out of the way before he ran into them. It wasn't the first time they had to do this since he started working in the cybersecurity division three weeks earlier. One did not run into a royal prince of Jawahir—even if it was the prince's fault.

Jameel rounded the corner, heading toward his office in a lower level of the Jawahir palace. Excitement surged inside of him as he studied the screen in his hand.

How did the new patch I sent you work? Were you able to trace the rootkit back to the source?

He chuckled as he typed in a response.

Yeah. It was just like you said. It was an analyst working with the accounting division. He was having an affair with an analyst in the cybersecurity division. He used her information to access the database. I never would have found the error.

You would have… in a year or three.

Lol. Definitely not before someone found a way in the way you did. You even guessed who it was.

It wasn't hard. I just followed the money—which btw is no longer in his account. The local animal shelter received a hefty donation last night. It was like watching one of those fake office vids on TT. All drama this and cheating that. They are so dorky.

Yeah, but addictive. Hey, I'll send you payment in a few for your help.

No worries. This one is on the house. It was fun working with you. I don't often get to meet another hacker as good as you. Hey, have you tried out that new game I was telling you about?

Yeah. I'm stoked. The maps and world-building are phenomenal. I'll be on in a few. Will you be there?

Of course. I helped with the⁠—

A soft 'oof' jarred Jameel out of his conversation with Bugs, and he dropped his phone. His scowl of annoyance at the interruption turned to a good-natured grin when he realized who he had run into. The answering scowl on his older brother's face didn't change.

"You are going to knock yourself out one of these days if you don't pay attention to where you are going," Tarek dryly commented.

"Sorry, Tarek. I was working on that security issue you asked me about and— Thanks, uh, I got that," Jameel muttered when his brother bent and plucked the phone off the floor.

Tarek scanned the clearly visible message and handed the phone back to him without saying a word. Jameel held the phone to his chest, pursing his lips to keep from making a smart-ass comment when he noticed that the amused expression on his brother's face had flared anew at Jameel's behavior.

As the youngest of the four brothers, Jameel often felt… less than his talented siblings. His oldest brother was Crown Prince Qadir Saif-Ad-Din. Qadir was tall, dark, and brooding. One glare usually had people bowing and stuttering.

Tarekheld the prestigious title Head of Military Intelligence, and he was a Cabinet Minister. Tarek had excelled in the military. There wasn't much that Tarek missed when it came to what was going on in the kingdom. The only one who probably knew more was their father, Melik Saif-Ad-Din.

Even his identical twin brother, Junayd, was an overachiever. Junayd was a medical doctor and Director of Medical for the Kingdom of Jawahir. Junayd's passion for medical research and helping people was only slightly more intense than his love of the desert.

The only thing Jameel really had in common with his brothers was their appreciation for the fairer sex. Jameel suspected that most residents of the kingdom perceived him to be the least talented of the four. He wasn't a leader. He hated the strictness of the military, and he got nauseated at the sight of blood.

Well, actual blood. The fake stuff isn't bad, he mused.

While his brothers had been off doing their thing, he had found solace in the tech field. He had always preferred hanging with gamers online and exploring programming languages over the duties of royal life, which is how he had met Bugs.

He had been exploring a new game six months ago when he came across a user who used an avatar of a small smiling bug. She teased him into exploring an unreleased beta level in the game together. There had been an instant fascination with her. She tweaked the code as they played, making the game more interesting and the levels more complex.

Since that night, they had spent hours playing games, chatting, and challenging each other to write code that could wreak havoc on the world if it were ever shared. He knew by the end of the first night that he was chatting with a woman. By the end of the first week, he knew he had met someone extraordinary, and not just because of her skills. What he didn't know was who she was—only her online name, Bugs.

"Earth to Jameel, are you there?" Tarek dryly commented.

Jameel gave his brother a crooked grin and flushed. Tarek was scrutinizing his face with the same amused expression that so many people got when he spaced out for a second. He shifted from one foot to the other and looked away.

Having your brother as your boss sucks sometimes, he ruefully thought.

"I'll expect an update on the security breach in an hour," Tarek continued.

"I sent you the report thirty minutes ago. The Black Hat is a guy named Ramel from accounting," Jameel responded.

Tarek frowned. "You found who it was already? I just gave you the information last night."

Jameel grinned and nodded. "Yeah. The issue is fixed. The money he earned has been donated to a local animal shelter. Oh, and there is info on the assholes he was working for, as well. Some corporation called Atri Holdings. A friend of mine is shutting those guys down. They are going to regret thinking we are some third world country they can use as their personal piggybank."

"Well done. You've done amazing work over the last three weeks, Jameel. I guess all those years you've spent on the computer are paying off for Jawahir now," Tarek stated.

Jameel flushed, and his grin wavered. This was a hefty compliment coming from his brother. He just wished he could take all the credit for it.

"Thanks, bro. I have some other things I'm working on. I'll send you an update later," he said.

"Excellent."

Jameel watched as his brother walked away. He looked down at his phone and grinned. Cute, animated bugs crawled all over his screen. He gripped his phone and hurried to his office. He couldn't wait to put a face behind those creative little insects.

Two

Jawahir

Present Day:

Jameel eagerly awaited the notification that Bugs was online, his gaze flickering to the bottom of the screen periodically. He leaned back in his chair, but he was not at all relaxed. A familiar frustration tensed his muscles. It had been over six years, and he still had no clue who his mystery lady was, only that she continued to intrigue him.

Oh, he had dreams about her. Dreams that left him restless and unfulfilled. He had spent a considerable amount of time searching for another woman who could hold his attention as long as she had. He was beginning to doubt that Bugs was a real person.

"Damn it. Leave it to me to fall in love with an AI!"

His declaration bounced off the soundproof walls of the dark corner office he had claimed and mocked him. He pushed back from his desk and rose to his feet, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension. He walked over to the coffee station in the corner and poured himself a cup.

When he returned to his seat, he scanned the screen where he was monitoring Colin Coldhouse and Andrius Bronislav. Both men were on the top ten list of most wanted in Jawahir. They had both tried to kill members of the royal family. Thanks to Bugs, he had shut down most of the funding flowing into Bronislav's companies, and Cold Methods Security, the mercenary group led by Colin Coldhouse, was now out of business for good.

Unfortunately, the two men were still a threat. He glanced at the series of world clocks on the wall, remembering all the times he had tried to guess where Bugs lived. It had been impossible to tell. She came and went like a ghost throughout the day and night.

He didn't know when she slept. He needed at least six hours to be functional. There had been times when she posted almost continuously for days, especially once the attacks on his brothers began.

He had tried to track her once, and she had snubbed him. He had expected her to blow up at him. Instead, she had returned the favor… with a vengeance.

The rootkit she had installed had taken him a month to disable. During that time, he was trapped in a virtual room, unable to exit the game to access the rest of his computer. The virus had spread to the rest of his devices too.

He had rebooted into safe mode of course, tried different VPN addresses, new logins, everything he could think of. Every time he logged in—on any device—he was back in the barren room with a thousand doors that all led back to the same place. He even bought a new device, but connecting it to his old ones in any way had transferred the virus to it.

He had found the solution eventually, and he was a better hacker because of it, but her message had been very clear. If he messed with her again, she could, and would, do much worse to him. The most powerful message of all was when he tried to reconstruct what she had done and found that all traces of her coding were gone—wiped clean—in a manner he had never witnessed before.

He grimaced at the memory. Since then, he had resorted to the old fashioned way of researching—writing everything down. He stroked his thumb over the tattered journal he kept with him. It contained interesting tidbits of information that he had gleaned from his conversations with Bugs. It also contained a lot of his personal feelings and thoughts. The notebook was a dangerous thing to have, but he found comfort in writing and reading his posts.

The ping of the computer drew his attention. He sat forward, placed his coffee mug on his desk, and opened the message. His smile grew as he typed.

Hey, beautiful. You're up early. Is everything okay?

This isn't Bugs. Is this Jam-man?

He stiffened, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. Fear made his stomach clench. His eyes froze on the screen before he read the message again, twice. He typed a curt reply.

Who is this and where is Bugs?

You helped me find my mystery lady.

He sat back when the reply came. Confusion flooded him. There was only one person that could be—his twin brother, Junayd. What the hell was Junayd doing on Bugs' computer?

Shaking his head, he typed a brief quote, leaving the ending for the person on the other end to complete. If someone had been monitoring their conversations, they wouldn't know this one. It was a running joke between the two of them.

'You know that you are supposed to be'…

… The sane one out of the four of us.

Disbelief held him immobile in his chair for a split second before he typed out a furious reply. His heart hammered with fear. If his brother was there, that meant something had to be wrong… seriously wrong. No one knew who Bugs was. It didn't make sense that his brother would know before he did. Junayd was a frigging doctor—not an IT or security genius!

What the hell are you doing on this system? Where's Bugs?

We think she is coming to see you.

Jameel stared at the screen in stunned silence. Bugs… was coming to see him? Did she know who he was? They had never talked about it. Well, she had never asked. That had seemed strange to him, especially after all the time he had spent trying to find information on her.

She knows who I am? How are you on her account?

He waited impatiently as the dotted lines showed that his brother was typing. It seemed to take forever before Junayd replied. When he did, the air swooshed out of Jameel's lungs.

Her sister is my mystery lady. She is worried that Bugs will be in danger because she… is not used to being out in the world alone. Have you heard from her?

Bugs was in danger? A deluge of memories of all the really terrible people Bugs had brought down—including Coldhouse and Bronislav—swept through his mind.

Danger! She's walking into a frigging minefield if Coldhouse, Bronislav, or more than half the countries in the world find out her identity! he thought with growing horror. And what did Junayd mean when he said she wasn't used to being out in the world alone?Was she held captive all these years?

He realized that his brother was waiting for a response. He quickly typed one, along with a promise to keep in touch—after he found out some answers. At least he had a starting point. He could link what he knew about Midnight to Bugs.

The ping of the computer alerted him that Junayd had sent a few additional pieces of information. Bugs had used a ride-share. That would create data. He concentrated on the cameras around the area where she was picked up to get a visual on her.

"Finally!" he muttered as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

The frantic pounding of his fingers on the keyboard drowned the tick of the world clocks. He locked into the GPS system on Junayd's security forces. He knew that either Yahya Walid or Issa Zayn would have been assigned to follow Midnight. Their vehicle would have a GPS tracking system on it.

"Bingo!"

Yahya had been at a location near the Brooklyn Bridge early this morning. Jameel brought up a new screen, searching for any ride-share pickups in the area during the timeframe Bugs slipped out. There were four.

Ten minutes later, he was cussing under his breath. None of the four were a young woman. He accessed the city's CCTV traffic system. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the dark SUV pull up down the street from where Yahya was monitoring Midnight's position.

His relief turned to frustration when the vehicle suddenly disappeared. He moved the timeframe back and forth. One second it was there, the next it was gone. No one entered the vehicle in the seconds between the frames.

He slammed his hand down on the desk next to him before sitting back in his seat. She had deleted the video… just as she had deleted the information of her pickup. For someone who wasn't used to being out in the world on her own, Bugs knew how to cover her tracks!

He scanned through the different videos. It took a while, but he finally located the route the ride-share took. It stopped at the JFK airport in New York.

The airport had numerous cameras located both inside and outside the terminals. He located a camera near one of the main doors, and glimpsed the SUV pulling away. A split second later, the grainy image of a blonde woman briefly appeared.

"Got you!" he breathed with growing excitement.

He froze the image before he clipped it and dragged it into an image enhancement program that he was developing using AI facial recognition. He sat back and waited impatiently for the image to clear up.

When the program finished, Jameel lifted a hand to his chest and rubbed the spot over his frantically beating heart. He finally had a face to go with his mystery woman—and she was breathtakingly beautiful.

* * *

"Do you really understand all of that?"

"Yes."

"What are you doing?"

"Mm?" Junebug blinked at the annoying man sitting next to her. She had answered him without looking up, but now she recognized him by the Hawaiian shirt he was wearing.

That was suspicious. The man who had spoken to her on the way to the gate just happened to be her seatmate on the plane? His threat level seemed like a four, now.

"I'm hacking into the accounting department of the World Bank and transferring funds from a mafia organization in the US to the World Animal Wildlife fund," she replied with a direct, assessing look at him.

If he was someone who had been sent to find her, there was no need to pretend that she wasn't who she was. He was here; she was found.

"You're.... What?"

His face was the definition of flabbergasted. He gave a small laugh that he aborted halfway through when he registered that she wasn't joking.

"If you don't leave me alone, you'll find out," she warned.

"Oh."

For a moment, he was completely nonplussed. Then he rallied.

"I'm Craig, by the way. Are you always so… blunt?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

There was a moment of silence. He seemed to be waiting for her to elaborate. She didn't.

"You are…. That's okay. I'm good with bluntness," Craig replied with a charming grin.

Junebug glanced at him suspiciously, finished what she was doing, and in seconds, she had Craig's boarding pass open. It was weird hacking someone who was sitting right next to her, watching her do it, but it was necessary. She needed to know what to do, and for that she needed information.

Five minutes and several ignored attempts at small talk later, she had his life history, including his financial records. She tsked.

"What's the matter? Hey, is that me?" he asked, leaning into her space.

She gave him a sweet smile and nodded.

"Yes," she said innocently. "You don't have very good money management skills. You are paying over thirty percent interest on some really frivolous purchases. You shouldn't have booked First Class if you couldn't pay cash for it. My-oh-my, your longest employment has only been six months, and I can understand why. How can you have a degree in Business Management and Finance and be so bad at it? Oh, never mind. You are a trust fund baby living beyond your means. Mm, your granddad is Harvey Lippen, president of a financial investment group based out of California. That may explain part of it, but not all. You had excellent grades until you started high school. When your academic performance drastically declined, your parents sent you to a prestigious boarding school in Virginia. You did a little better there."

Craig sat back as if a viper had bitten him. His eyes were enormous. Satisfied that he had moved out of her space, she closed the laptop. Craig's accountants could handle the situation. He wasn't a criminal, he was just irresponsible. The worst of Craig the Second's secrets were a few speeding tickets and terrible judgement.

She leaned her seat back and closed her eyes. Craig cleared his throat. Irritation flared inside her. She lifted an eyelid and peered at him.

"What do you want?"

He cleared his throat again. "Are you…. Who do you work for? Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare if you don't leave me alone. I can send your expense reports to your grandpa," she replied.

She flashed him a brilliant smile before closing her eye. Her fingers curled around her laptop and she hugged it to her chest. She had already moved on from Craig. He wouldn't bother her again.

Midnight said that she was too trusting. She might not be good at reading people in the flesh like her sister, but she was damn good at reading their digital lives. Craig was a user. Everything and everyone was sacrificed in the name of 'fun'. It may have taken her slightly longer to learn that than Midnight would have, but it wasn't really a race.

Midnight's opinion of her social skills was based off information that was so old by now. Things change. She could do this.