In Deep with the FBI Agent (14 page)

“Noah, be quiet. He didn't ask you anything,” the lawyer said.

Sam hid a surprised smile behind the soda can.

“We didn't mean any harm, I swear. I didn't think the FBI would care.”

“We don't care about Bob Underhill, Noah,” Sam said. “Tell us about the other schools. Was that for the social engineering challenge, too?”

“What other schools?” The look of confusion on Noah's face was genuine, though it would be analyzed later by the experts.

“The other schools you hacked. Don't pretend, Noah. We know exactly what you did.”

“I don't know what you're talking about. We only went into our school. Seriously, dude.”

Sam slammed his soda can down and leaned forward. “Don't call me dude. I'm an FBI agent. You may call me ‘sir' or ‘Mr. Cooper.'”

Noah looked as if he might cry. “O…okay, sir.”

“How much money did you pull? How many Social Security numbers did you sell?”

“Money?” Noah's eyes widened, and the attorney looked as if he was going to say something.

“Yes, the money? What'd you spend it on?”

“Nothing. I mean, we didn't take any money. We changed a name. It was the tech challenge, I swear.”

Sam abruptly stood. He believed the kid, having been identical to him once upon a time. “We're done here.” He looked at the attorney. “Tell him not to leave the state or the country and we may be calling with more questions, but we're done for now.” He turned to leave and glanced back at Noah, who was slumped in his seat looking like he'd been hit by a city bus.

“Be smarter next time, kid. Our country needs smart computer programmers, but only ones we can trust.”

The kid nodded vigorously, and Sam knew he'd been scared enough to never even roll through a stop sign in the future. As for himself, he was annoyed. If Noah and Sean weren't the hackers, who the hell was? Back to the drawing board.

He returned to his office, dejected and frustrated. Once there, he perked up slightly because a lot of the log files and data from Montgomery Prep had been sent over. Sam went through them with a fine-tooth comb and froze fifteen minutes in.

There was no question his alma mater had been hacked by the same perpetrator who'd attacked the other schools. Once again, he'd used a login and password of one of the school employees.

“Shit,” Sam muttered, staring at his computer monitor, suddenly feeling as if he'd taken a punch to the gut.

He picked up his phone and then replaced it. This was a conversation that needed to happen in person or not at all. He was hoping for the not at all option, because the data he'd been given pointed to the fact that the log-in and password used to hack the school was none other than Casey Cooper's.

Sam picked up his phone a dozen more times to call Casey. In his gut, he knew she wasn't the hacker. He'd known her for fourteen years, which was long enough to trust her, and it was also long enough to know she didn't have the computer chops to pull off anything like this.

He was torn about what to do. With all the previous hacks, they'd instigated a background check on the person whose password had been used. In this case, a background check wasn't really needed. He knew Casey, and he knew she didn't do it.

Unfortunately, he still had to follow the law and examine all aspects of the investigation. It was only a matter of time before Dan, the IT guy at Montgomery Prep, figured out that it had been Casey's log-in. Better they and Casey should hear the news from him directly with him being able to emphasize that it was a social engineering hack and that Casey was totally innocent.

They might blame her, and he didn't want her to suffer a moment of uneasiness.

He picked up his car keys and headed over to Montgomery Prep to ruin his girlfriend's day.

Two Weeks Later, Montgomery Preparatory Class of 2005 Reunion

S
am wandered in to the reunion late, partly because work had run a little long and partly because he was a little nervous, dammit. Embarrassing but true. When he'd last been with all his classmates, he'd been several inches shorter and less cool by an infinite power of a very high number. Not that he was sure he was cool now, but at least he'd found his people and a career that people seemed to think was cool.

He'd texted Casey to see if she wanted a ride, but she'd been at the campus all day setting up. He was flying solo as he parked at the school and entered the building that he'd been inside more in the past month than in the past ten years. She had texted back that she'd meet him at the reunion. They'd had several phone conversations, but work had only allowed one dinner date and sleepover with her.

He knew things were dicey at work for her. Her boss had seemed to understand that the breach was not Casey's fault. Still, Casey was working extra hours to show how diligent an employee she was and that she was trustworthy.

He and Casey hadn't discussed how they wanted to handle things tonight. If Sam had his way, they'd be holding hands and introducing each other as their significant other. But maybe he was moving too fast for her. They'd had a few dates and some seriously spectacular sex, but perhaps he was emotionally more invested than she was, and he had to admit he was a tad worried.

There'd been a few times in the past few weeks when he was free to meet after work, but she wasn't. She'd been cagey and slightly mysterious about her plans. He didn't think she was dating anyone else, but she was hiding something from him. With his FBI credentials, he could discover her whereabouts in under ten minutes, but he didn't want to spy on her. He wanted her to confide in him. Tonight he'd play it cool. If she didn't come running to meet him, he'd respond in kind.

At least Arianna and Valerie would be here, giving him some allies.

“Sam? Sam Cooper?” A short, slightly balding man clapped Sam on the back, stopping in the entry.

Sam eyed him, wishing for a name tag, because he had no idea who this guy was.

“It's me. Andrew Beckman.”

Sam shook the proffered hand and stared as the memories came flooding back. “Beckman. Wow, good to see you, man. How are you?”

“Great.” Andrew pulled a brunette woman closer. “This is my fiancée, Mara.”

Sam shook the fiancée's hand, stunned that the kids in his grade were buying engagement rings, and, if rumors were correct, baby carriages. “Nice to meet you.” He turned back to Andrew. “Can't believe you're getting married. Seems like we were just at prom together.”

“I know, right?” The three of them walked together toward the gymnasium, which was hosting the big party tonight. “How about you? Seeing anyone?”

“Uh. I'm seeing someone, but it's pretty new.”

“Nice. Good luck with that.”

They all reached the entrance, where a long table was laid out with pretyped name tags. Annie, Casey's assistant, was staffing the desk and greeted them with her usual bright smile. “Welcome back to school. If you could sign in with me and then grab your name tag.” She turned to an older lost couple. “The nineteen ninety-five class reunion is in the cafeteria. Remember where that is?” Then she turned back to him. “Oh, hey, Sam.”

“Hi, Annie.”

Andrew looked at them curiously. “How do you two know each other?” He gave Sam's arm a light punch. “You have been loyal to the alma mater. You said at graduation you were never coming back, but here you are at the reunion.”

“Well, he's seeing—” Annie blanched. “Sorry, never mind.”

“I've been helping with some of the computer systems upgrades,” Sam lied smoothly to cover Annie's gaffe. He wondered if Annie knew about their school's security breach, or if she'd been about to reveal that he and Casey were dating. Obviously, Montgomery Prep didn't want their cyber attack discussed publicly tonight, especially to the alumni who Casey was hoping would make donations. It would come out soon enough.

Sam grabbed his name tag, slapped it on his chest, and led the way into the gym. “Let's go find the bar.” He entered the large room, which had been completely transformed and was unrecognizable as a normal PE classroom. Drapes of white fabric covered all the walls and the lighting was dark and mysterious.

He scanned the room for Casey, but didn't see her immediately, so he headed for the bar to grab some sparkling water. He wasn't on duty, but there was a chance he'd get called into work anyway as things were overloaded as usual.

Andrew and his fiancée fell behind, greeting people as Sam got in line for a drink. “Never thought I'd be drinking legally on campus,” the woman in front of him muttered loudly enough for him to hear over the music.

He chuckled and she turned to smile. Both their smiles grew as they read the other's name tag, but Sam wouldn't have needed it to recognize Amy Oldman, one of his favorite people from school. She'd been one of those girls who defied a clique. She was on the cross-country team, got decent grades, but partied really hard with kids outside of the school. Sam had liked her, although they'd lost touch after graduation.

“How are you, Sam?” Amy asked, leaning into him to give him a hug. “Heard you're some sort of super-secret hacker now.”

He smiled. “I'm with the FBI, cybersecurity division.”

“That's awesome. You'll have to tell me all about it.” It was her turn for the bar, and Sam bit back a smile when she ordered three shots of vodka and a Corona.

“Need a hand?” Sam offered when he saw that all the drinks were for Amy. He followed her to one of the many round tables scattered around the gym, and they set the drinks down. The people at the table all rose to greet them, and there was a lot of hand shaking and back slapping as they reconnected with people they hadn't seen in ten years. From the corner of his eye, Sam saw Casey standing in the same circle of girls who'd followed her around all through high school.

He tried and failed to catch her eye, so he turned his attention back to the crowd of people at his table. They all exchanged the
how are you
's,
what have you been up to
's,
where are you working
's. As usual, Sam won with the job title that garnered the most interest. He spent ten minutes answering questions that, as usual, ended with the inevitable question. Yes, he was currently carrying a weapon.

He hadn't been friends with these kids in high school. He hadn't not been friends with them, but they'd been on the periphery of his existence. If he was going to go through the effort of showing up at this reunion, he wanted to see the kids he remembered hanging out with for hours on end at the computer lab.

Luckily, they found him. Within a few minutes, three men and two women came over with wide grins on their faces. Sam relaxed, falling easily back into conversation as if it hadn't been ten years. Now that they were all talking again, he inwardly berated himself for not doing a better job at keeping in touch. He'd genuinely liked these people as teenagers, and he could tell that he liked them as much as adults.

They fell easily into conversation about their careers, or lack thereof—the economy had been hard—and their lives in general. Sam kept his attention on the conversation, but a part of him kept glancing around for Casey and his opportunity to greet her. Now he was feeling stupid. He should have walked right over to her the second he saw her.

But it was as if they'd fallen right into their high school personas, where she was the untouchable queen bee and he was the geek on the outskirts. Well, screw that. He wasn't sixteen anymore.

“Excuse me for a moment, I see someone I want to say hi to,” Sam said, and smiled at his new-old friends. He turned and walked purposefully toward Casey.

Casey's grip tightened on her glass of wine as she watched Sam walk toward her. She tossed her hair and smiled at something her former best friend said. She was having an
oh shit
moment as Sam drew closer. On one hand, a piece of her was right back in high school ready to ignore the nerd; on the other, she was sleeping with him; on the other hand—wait, she was out of hands. Regardless, he'd ignored her for the first half hour of this reunion.

She'd politely rejected his offer to drive her to the reunion because she had to be way early for setup, but still, he should've found her the second he walked in the room. She'd spotted him and waited for him to approach, but no, he'd gone to the bar and flirted with stupid Amy Oldman, even carrying her drinks.

“Oh, my God, is that Sam Cooper?” Tania asked from behind her martini glass.

“Wow, he grew up nicely,” Amanda added.

Casey wanted to claw their eyes out. How dare they ogle Sam? It was also a dilemma, because she wanted to give him a little payback for ignoring her, but now she also wanted to lay her claim and give him a kiss in front of everybody. And then Tania said, “I bet he's still a computer geek.”

A defense of Sam was on her tongue, only she didn't have time to say a word, because Sam came up at that moment.

“Sam Cooper,” Amanda said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. “How have you been?”

Tania repeated the gesture, and Casey noted that each clung to his biceps longer than necessary.

Sam turned to her and raised a brow. She raised her own back at him. Was he waiting for her to kiss him and fawn all over him like Tania and Amanda? Well, he'd have to wait.

A hurt look crossed his face, and she took a sip of her wine to cover her uneasiness, but then Tania was asking Sam what he was up to. The second they learned he was an FBI special agent, they about wet their pants.

“Do you carry a loaded weapon?” Tania asked, “Can I see it?”

Oh, come on, was Sam actually smiling at that line, which was so old it needed an AARP discount? “Girls, can you excuse me and Sam for a second?” she asked, but didn't wait for an answer and dragged Sam off by his hand.

Sam walked silently alongside her until they were out in the hallway and then in the girls' locker room. He looked around, a look of interest on his face. “I've never been in here. I always imagined it was a palace of velvet couches and secrets, the way you girls came in here in groups.”

She found a smile. “It's the same as the boys', dummy.” Then she remembered why she'd dragged him in here and scowled at him. “Why did you ignore me?”

A frown settled on his forehead. “Ignore you? What are you talking about?”

“You'd been at the reunion”—she glanced at her watch—“twenty-seven minutes before you deigned to come say hello.”

“Casey, I looked for you the second I arrived, but I couldn't find you in the crowd, and then I was talking to everyone. As soon as I could, I came over. And
you
were ignoring me first. I was trying to respect your boundaries.”

She was about to protest his version of the events, when he said, “Am I going to get to see high-maintenance Casey tonight? I'm kind of excited about it, to be honest.”

“What are you talking about? I'm not high-maintenance.”

He smiled and kissed her forehead before she could scoot back. “Come on, Casey. I've known you a long time, and I knew some of the guys you dated back in high school. I overheard things. And one of the things that was said about you was that you were high-maintenance. It's cool. I still want you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, grateful for her high heels that put her at a slightly more even footing. “You're being an ass. And I am not high-maintenance.”

He grinned and played with one of the locks on the gray metal locker. “Oh, really? You didn't accept my offer of a ride so we could arrive at the reunion together, and now you're bitching because I didn't fly to your side the instant I entered the room? That's laid back?”

He might have had a point. “That's not the point.”

“What is the point?” He stepped into her space and curved an arm low on her waist.

“The point is that if we're together, we should act like we're together.”

“Works for me. That's what I wanted in the first place.” He hauled her in close for a kiss, which she reciprocated until she found a metal locker at her back and a six-foot FBI agent at her front. His mouth was hot on hers, lulling her cranky mood into something soft and sweet. “How's this, princess? Is this together enough?” He pulled back long enough to whisper against her cheek.

In answer, she pulled him in for another kiss before she remembered she was one of the hosts of the reunion and had to stop making out with her boyfriend in the locker room and get back out there to make sure the slide show ran at the appropriate time.

“I have to go,” she said.

“Okay,” Sam said, but his lips kept doing something sexy to her earlobe.

She squirmed out of his way, wanting nothing more than to test their ability to make love on a locker room bench. “Sam.” He released her and she stepped away.

“We seem to have a thing for bathrooms, don't we?”

She smiled. “Do me a favor. When we go back out, don't flirt with Amanda and Tania, okay?”

He held up his hands. “Hey, they flirted with me. You're the one who ignored me.”

“Because you ignored me first.” They grinned at each other, then she started for the door, grabbing Sam's hand to tug him along, but there was no moving Sam until he was ready.

“What's the plan?” he asked, tugging her back to face him.

“Plan?” But she knew what he was asking.

“Are we going out there as a couple? The biggest nerd from our grade and the most popular girl?”

“You were never a nerd, Sam. Change it to the smartest guy and the most kick-ass girl. But I don't think we should advertise our relationship. Nancy is here tonight, and things have not been good for me at work. She still might suspect I was the one who told you about the hacking incident here, coupled with the fact that it was
my
password used in the hack. I've been avoiding her all week, and maybe I'm imagining it, but I think she's been avoiding me.”