Hacking Mr. CEO by Anna Hackett
You Shouldn’t Play Around on Ladders
Remi
Adrenaline pumped through me and left me a little jittery.
I hefted my toolbox and the lightweight aluminum ladder, and headed into the front of the Rivera Tech office building in lower Manhattan.
My brown coveralls were baggy, and I had a tool belt slung around my hips, and a brown ball cap pulled on my head. Across the top of it was stitched Atlas Electric.
I headed to the security desk, pasting on a smile.
I’m just a nobody electrician headed to work. Nothing to see here.
“Hi,” I called out. “I’m here from Atlas Electric to do a job.” I lifted a scrap of paper. “Some maintenance on the 49th floor for Rivera Tech.”
The guard frowned, and tapped onto the computer in front of him. “We have you down for tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I finished a job round the corner, so they sent me here. Someone was supposed to call.”
The guy glanced at my toolbox and ladder. “Show me some ID, and let me search your gear.”
I rested the ladder against the desk and hefted the toolbox onto the bench. I pulled out my Atlas Electric ID that I’d made myself. I’d burned my finger on the laminator.
Man, Maverick Rivera was paranoid.
Maverick Rivera. I smiled as the guard searched my toolbox. I had my tablet in there, but at a cursory glance, that was nothing that an electrician shouldn’t have.
I couldn’t believe I’d played hacker footsie with the big man himself. The guy had minions. Hell, his minions probably had minions, and yet, he still monitored his own system. I felt a faint prickle of unease.
I’d analyzed the data from my flyby. I’d tapped my gray-hat contacts. Everyone said hacking more than a few layers into the Rivera Tech couldn’t be done. So here I was, going into the dragon’s lair. I was going to place my little angel directly into the system.
I hated the terms trojan, or virus, or malware. My sweet little angel was pure beauty.
I’d hacked Atlas Electric—it had been ridiculously easy—and I saw they were sending someone tomorrow to fix an electric issue at Rivera Tech.
That person would still turn up, never knowing that I’d visited today.
“There you go.” The guard handed my ID back. “Elevator seven.”
With a nod, I grabbed the toolbox and ladder—both of which I’d nabbed from Steve’s garage—and headed for the elevator.
I maneuvered my ladder inside and kept my face hidden and looked at the floor. I knew where all the cameras were. If they did get tipped off, they wouldn’t get a good look at me.
Rivera only had a small office in the city. He had a big sprawling complex with labs and manufacturing warehouses called Rivera Tech Park, upstate near Syracuse. I would kill to get in there, but it had much tougher security. They had prototypes up there, so they were extra cautious.
But here in the head office, it was easier for a desperate, enterprising hacker trying to save her mother to slip inside.
The elevator slowed, and I hefted the ladder and toolbox.
The place was all open plan. It was dotted with sleek desks, and breakout spaces with colorful couches. At the back were huge touchscreens on the wall and people stood at them touching their fingers against the data and code.
I itched to look at it, but I forced myself to walk to the reception desk.
A young man and woman were seated behind the polished, high desk. The woman looked up at me—she had funky, blue hair.
“Ah, the electrician for the lights that aren’t working,” the woman said. “Let me show you.”
The woman led me back toward the back of the offices.
Now, the layout of the floor changed. There were several doors leading into some conference rooms and offices. As we walked past one office, I glimpsed a computer on the desk.
I stifled a gasp. It was a Rivera Tech Ultra400. It wasn’t even on the market yet.
Pure need filled me. I’d sell my kidney for one.
“Here.” The receptionist pointed up. “These lights are either off, or they flicker. Benji from Accounting almost had an epileptic fit.”
“Got it,” I said. “I’ll take a look.”
I set up my ladder. I’d gotten the schematics of the building. If I was correct, I should be able to find the computer cabling in the ceiling and tap into it.
Humming, I climbed up the ladder and pushed the ceiling panel up. I poked my head in.
Bingo.
I spotted a huge wad of cables of all different colors and grinned. Standing on the top rung, I fished around. I needed the network cable, and I needed not to electrocute myself.
I gripped the blue cable and smiled. Come to mama.
Carefully, I climbed back down and rifled through my toolbox. I grabbed my tablet and some pliers, then climbed back up.
Quickly, I spliced the cable and plugged my tablet in.
There. I was in the Rivera Tech network.
I couldn’t help but feel it was like cheating. A good hacker liked to storm the castle and get through the defenses with wit and cunning, not sneak in like this. Well, a girl had to do what a girl had to do.
I couldn’t afford to stay long, but I wouldn’t need to.
Tapping on my screen, I quickly copied my little angel into the system.
“Go, little gal.” It would quietly sneak around and give me a way in later.
I glanced at all the other wiring. I had no clue how to fix the lights. If I tried, I’d likely electrocute myself.
Carefully, I disconnected my tablet and stuck it in one of my pockets. Then I taped up the cable.
Adrenaline zinged through me.
“Mav, I put those financial reports on your desk,” a voice said.
“Did you have to?” a deep voice replied.
I froze.
Maverick Rivera.
Don’t, Remi. Let him pass.
Ooh, but I really wanted to look at the man in person. I climbed halfway down the ladder and my body stilled.
Oh, crap.Photos of the guy did him no justice.
He was standing nearby, in dark suit pants and a crisp, white shirt. He was scowling at a tall, lean guy in a suit.
Rivera was big. A few inches over six feet, with broad, broad shoulders. They stretched his shirt to the extreme. He might be a billionaire, but he looked like he could heft a broadsword and take it to the battlefield.
He had black hair, a little shaggy and in need of a cut, a rugged face, and that gorgeous black stubble on his cheeks and firm jaw.
I whimpered quietly. Yep, I was a sucker for stubble. I had a thing for the bad boys.
“Read the reports, Mav,” the man said, sounding determined.
Rivera grunted. He turned and walked away.
I leaned out, trying to keep him in view.
Oh, man, the guy’s ass was prime fantasy material.
The ladder shifted beneath me.
Oh, shit.
I tried to right myself, failed and overcorrected, and the ladder started tilting. I sucked in a breath. It all happened so fast.
I fell and hit the floor on my back. The air rushed out of me with an oof.
The ladder, thankfully, didn’t land on top of me. It hit the floor beside me with a clatter.
A rugged face came into view, dark brows pulled together. Maverick Rivera in full, close-up glory.
“You okay?”
His voice held the edge of a growl.
I sat up. “I think so.”
“You have a death wish? You shouldn’t play around on ladders.”
My anger spiked. Thank you, Captain Obvious. “Yes, I totally woke up today and thought, I know, let’s fall off a ladder.”
His scowl deepened.
I leaped to my feet, then made a shooing motion. “Run along, I need to finish my work.”
His eyebrows went up. Ah, I bet the grumpy billionaire was used to bowing and scraping, not smartasses.
“What did you say?” he said.
“Oh, is this where you use the old ‘do you know who I am?’ line. Because I hope you aren’t that clichéd.”
“I think you must’ve hit your head.” With a disgruntled noise, he stomped off.
He might be a big lump of grumpiness, but the man’s ass was still bitable.
Right. Time to go.
I’d tell blue-hair lady at reception that I needed to order some parts, and that someone would be back tomorrow.
Then I’d get home and wait for my angel to give me a way in.
* * *
Mav
Mav let himself into his penthouse.
“Lights.”
The lights clicked on. It’d been a long day, with an afternoon of endless meetings. He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over a chair.
He had some leftover empanadas to eat. His mom had made a huge batch for him last time she’d visited.
Then he wanted to check if his hacker had been back.
He hadn’t received an alert, so, if she had revisited, she hadn’t set off any alarms.
He stepped into the kitchen, and set his laptop on the huge island. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the top. It was a microbrew he liked. He’d found the brewery on the trip upstate with Zane and Liam one long weekend.
He sipped the beer and leaned against the island. There’d be no more guys’ trips away, now. Zane and Liam had snagged women they wanted to keep. They’d be having romantic weekends away.
Mav sighed.
It wouldn’t be the same, but he’d still spend time with them, and with Monroe and Aspen.
His laptop chimed with a call. He saw his mother’s name and smiled.
He touched the screen. “Hey, Mom.”
“There’s my boy.”
He had the perfect view of one of his mother’s dark eyebrows.
Mav rolled his eyes. No matter how many times he showed her the tablet camera and how to get it right, the lesson never stuck.
“Wait, wait,” Maria Rivera said. “There.”
Her smiling face came into view.
She was going gray and didn’t care. She’d told him, I raised four children, Maverick, I’ve earned those grays.
His parents still lived in the same apartment Maverick had grown up in in the Bronx. He’d tried to buy them something else, but they refused. He’d paid off their mortgage and updated the place for them, at least.
“You don’t look like you’re eating enough.” Her gaze narrowed on the beer. “You can’t drink beer for dinner.”
“Mom, I just walked in the door. I’m about to heat up some of your empanadas.”
She looked slightly mollified. Then she licked her lips. “So, I saw your photo in the paper. You were at some party.”
Mav grunted. He went to far too many parties for his own liking.
“You were with a blonde. She was very beautiful. I think her name was Alyssa. They said you’re dating.”
His hand curled around the bottle. “I told you not to read that crap, Mom. They make shit up.”
“Maverick, that mouth.”
He pressed a hand to the back of his neck. “I met that woman at the party. We talked for three minutes. That’s it.”
His mother’s shoulders slumped. “So you aren’t dating?”
“No, Mom. I don’t date.”
Her face got a look. Shit, he hated that look.
“Your brothers and sister are married. I have two grandbabies.”
“So you should be happy.”
“I want you to be happy, Maverick.”
“Mom, I am happy.” He waved an arm at the sleek kitchen.
His mother made a harrumphing sound. “All alone in that giant place. That’s not happy.”
“I love my work and I have good friends. I’m happy.”
“Your friends have women now.”
“Yes,” he conceded through gritted teeth.
“You need a good woman. One who makes you laugh, and who doesn’t let you get your own way all the time.”
“Mom—”
“It’s all that woman’s fault,” his mother spat.
God, Mav didn’t want to talk about Hannah. “No, I—”
“She was all gloss, but rotten inside. None of us saw it.”
“It was a long time ago.” He knew his mother needed to run out of steam, get it out of her system again, so it didn’t really matter what he said.
“Yes, so you should stop letting what she did still control your life.”
He stayed silent. He just needed to wait until his mother was done.
She stared at him. Sighed.
His father walked past behind his mother. “Hi, Mav.”
“Hi, Dad.”
Hector Rivera was as tall as Mav, but had a lean, wiry body. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and disappeared.
“How are Linc and Nora?” Mav asked.
Asking about the grandkids was a surefire way to distract his mom.
“I know what you’re doing.” She shot him a resigned look, then she smiled. “They’re great. Nora is crawling now, and Lincoln drew me a new picture.” She pointed a finger at the painting stuck to the fridge.
“Ah, it’s very colorful,” Mav said.
“It’s a bus,” his mom said proudly.
It looked vaguely like a yellow-and-green hurricane to him. “Right. I’d better get going, Mom.”
“All right, Maverick. Come to dinner soon.” A pause. “Bring a girl, if you like.”
Not happening. “Te quiero, Mom.”
“Te quiero, hijo mio.”
Mav ended the call. Just then, his computer pinged.
His pulse spiked. It was a security alert.
He tapped on the keyboard and brought up his monitoring program.
Hmm, a hacker was skimming again. He trailed the hacker. They weren’t delving deep, but all his instincts told him it was the same hacker as last night. His guess was that she was a gray hat. Flexing her skills for the thrill of the challenge.
He opened the chat window and took a chance.
You’re back.
I’m back.
It was her.
I warned you. I’m going to track you down.
You wish. You might be the mighty Maverick Rivera, but you aren’t God.
God, another smartass. He’d already had a tiny, feisty electrician snip at him today.
I’m the God of my system.
He set his tracker to work, but he suspected she was too slippery for him to trace. He’d have to work a lot harder to pin this hacker down.
So you aren’t busy, out buying a yacht or test-driving a new sports car?
Mav shook his head and typed.
No.
You’re not out buying a new tuxedo, or jewels for your supermodel girlfriend?
I don’t have a girlfriend.
Shame, might sweeten your disposition.
He frowned. What did she mean by that?
Do you have a boyfriend?
You don’t know for certain that I’m a girl. And maybe I like girls.
She was female.
You’re avoiding the question.
No, I don’t have a boyfriend.
Why are you back poking at my system, Ms. Hacker? Just for the thrill?
No.
He frowned.
Have you ever made a bad mistake, Rivera?
He thought of Hannah.
Yes.
Well, I made one, but for the right reasons, of course.
I’m totally sighing dramatically over here.
Mav’s lips twitched.
You can recover from bad mistakes.
I hope so. I just…
The cursor blinked.
What?
Regret that some people will get hurt.
Mav felt a shiver down his spine.
Why are you here?
There was no response, and he realized that she was gone.
