Part 11 (2/2)
”Okay, right. So this group isn't the original M89, but there has to be a connection between someone in the original group and whoever is heading it up now. They were all based in Boston a decade ago, so I figure it shouldn't be too hard to track where they're all at now and see where that takes us.” I omitted the information about Cooper. I didn't want to shed any light on Blake's connection to the group and Cooper's suicide.
”You're going after these people yourself?”
I remembered Sid's defeated look this morning. ”What choice do I have?”
”What if that just exacerbates the situation?”
”I have a hard time imagining a scenario more damaging than the one we're dealing with right now.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. ”Agreed. What can I do?”
I shared with him the names of all of the original M89 members that I needed to research. We split the names, and when we returned to the office, we set to work tracking down anything we could find on them.
To my surprise, I found a professional history for all of those on my list. Everyone seemed established with a career, though many were now based on the west coast working for technology companies in the valley. I studied their photos carefully, as if somehow their faces could tell me something I didn't already know. Which one of them hated Blake enough to sabotage us this way?
I jumped when my phone rang.
”Blake, hi,” I said.
”How's everything going?”
I glanced at the names written in my notebook and s.h.i.+fted my thoughts back to where we'd left off this morning. ”Fine.”
”Listen, I have to go to San Francisco to take care of some business. I'm flying out tonight on the red-eye.”
As annoyed as I'd been this morning, a pang of regret coursed through me. I tried rubbing the frown from my forehead.
”That's sudden.”
”Something came up. I know this isn't a great time. I don't really want to leave you right now, Erica.”
I sighed. ”I'll survive.”
”I'm confident of that. Have you met Clay yet?”
”Who?” I frowned again.
”I guess not. He's hard to miss.”
”Who the h.e.l.l is Clay?”
”I've hired him to taxi you between work and home. He'll be outside the office when you need to leave tonight.”
”s.h.i.+t, Blake. We talked about this.”
”We did, and this is what needs to happen, at least until I get back.”
The coffee at lunch had given me just enough energy to be outraged.
”Have a great trip, Blake.” I hung up and shut off my phone. I couldn't deal with his controlling s.h.i.+t right now.
James came in then, stopping short when he saw me.
”You all right?”
I straightened and tried to put Blake out of my mind. ”I'm fine. What's up?”
”What have you found so far?” He took a seat and lowered his voice as he spoke.
Not like researching the hacker group we'd all become so familiar with was a big secret, but I didn't want people to know I was on a wild goose chase to actually hunt them down. Thankfully, he already seemed to pick up on that.
”Some enviable LinkedIn profiles. Seems like everyone has moved on and is doing well. Upstanding citizens as far as I can tell. What about you?”
”Same with mine, but there are two people you missed from the list.”
I hesitated, waiting for him to continue.
”I'm a.s.suming you know Landon was involved.”
I nodded silently.
”Okay, and then there was Brian Cooper.”
”He's dead,” I said flatly, betraying what I already knew but had failed to share earlier.
He hesitated a second, no doubt registering that fact. ”Right. Well, he was survived by his mother and his brother, Trevor.”
”Did you find something on them?”
”His mother lives about twenty minutes from here.”
”I doubt she's spearheading a hacker group. What about his brother?”
”I can't find anything on his brother.”
”How is that helpful?” I regretted the way that came out. I was tired and edgy, but taking it out on James when he was only trying to help was unnecessary.
”Don't you think it's a little odd that every other person on this list has a glowing resume and the twenty-five-year-old little brother of their former partner in crime has absolutely no professional a.s.sociations, no Internet presence, no profiles, nothing?”
”Maybe he learned a hard lesson from his brother and decided not to waste his life online like the rest of us.”
He tilted his head, looking as unconvinced as I felt.
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