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Finally, she leaned back, but only so she could kiss me. I sank into it, letting her feel some of the longing that had dogged me for weeks.
“Mm, it’s a damn shame we’ve got an FBI briefing to attend,” she said when I let her go.
Almost as though Stef’s words had summoned him, Agent Mitchell approached us. “You guys ready? I think you’re gonna love what we’ve got to tell you.”
“Thank fuck for that.” Stef slipped her hand in mine and didn’t let go the whole way up in the elevator.
We were herded into a large conference room and shown to our seats in the front row, the air thick with anticipation and tension. A large screen loomed at the front of the room, casting a pale glow across the assembled faces. Stef made a point of shifting her chair close enough to mine that when she sat down, she was almost in my lap. I would have smiled if the situation wasn’t so fucking dire.
There was a buzz of anticipation around the room as Agent Mitchell moved to a table at the front and pressed some keys on the open laptop there. An image flashed up on the large screen. Stef drew in a sharp breath and immediately clasped her hands together.
Up on the screen was a photograph of a fairly average looking guy with light brown hair, pale skin, thin lips and light blue eyes. Just a very bland, harmless looking person. How could this guy be the one causing so much trouble?
“He seems so…normal,” Stef said quietly. “Like, you wouldn’t look twice at him if you saw him in the street.”
“I agree.”
“It weirds me out, though. Seeing him like that.”
I leaned back in my chair, laying my arm along the back of Stef’s so she could snuggle closer to me, which is exactly what she did.
Agent Mitchell cleared his throat. “The hacker we’ve been dealing with goes by the name of Ethan Blackwood. He’s a former employee of Rivers Enterprises, where he worked as a computer engineer for a few years.”
I gave a start of surprise, looking more closely at the photograph.
“Do you know him?”
I shook my head at Stef, a frown on my brow. “I don’t think so.” Had I ever met him? Even heard his name before? But it was no use. I’d hired so many people over the years, it was impossible to keep track of them all.
“According to paperwork supplied by River’s Enterprises Head of Security, Blackwood was let go from his job because of hisbehavior and his inability to work effectively as part of a team,” Mitchell continued. “He’s highly intelligent and has a talent for computer engineering. But he’s also deeply insecure and has a tendency to become fixated on others, especially those he perceives to be more successful or powerful than he is.”
Wolfe leaned in from his seat behind me. “I guess that explains it.”
“I guess it does.” It was all making sense now. The hacker’s obsession with me, his desire to bring me down. It was all part of some twisted power dynamic.
“Blackwood’s upbringing plays a significant role in shaping his psychological profile,” Mitchell went on. “His father was largely absent from his life growing up, leaving him to the care of his impoverished single mother, in New Jersey. This left him feeling neglected and isolated, yearning for the attention and validation he craved but seldom received. Despite her best efforts to provide for him, Blackwood felt a deep-seated resentment towards his mother for her perceived failures as a parent and her inability to convince his father to stay with them. This resentment fueled his desire for recognition and validation from external sources, driving him to seek affirmation through his achievements and interactions with others.”
“What a fuckhead,” Stef said, almost under her breath.
I nearly laughed at that. It seemed to sum up the guy perfectly. Both Stef and I had had cold, distant fathers, more interested in money than their families. But we’d never let it consume us the way Blackwood had.
“Blackwood left home at eighteen, to attend MIT to study Computer Science with a full scholarship. Not to put too finea point on it, the guy is a fucking genius. He graduated top of his class and immediately went to work for Google. He left after less than a month, citing a lack of focus and drive within the company. Apparently, he wanted to work somewhere visionary, where his talents could be appropriately harnessed.
He found reasonably long-term employment at two more companies before finally landing at Rivers Enterprises. His performance evaluations show a highly motivated individual who has difficulty submitting to authority, to the point where he kept trying to take charge during projects, despite having no managerial role or experience. According to the last review before he was let go, he expressed some frustration with the fact that everything was done by the book. Apparently, people are too rigid and if they could be more flexible, the sky’s the limit on what can be accomplished. He’s taken that flexibility too far, bending the rule of law to suit his own preferences. Since his departure from Rivers’ Enterprises, he has not been gainfully employed. Instead, he seems to prefer to use his hacking skills to maintain his lifestyle.
To conclude, the psychological profile of Blackwood’s tumultuous childhood and fractured family dynamics have left deep emotional scars, shaping his worldview and influencing his interactions with others. His unresolved feelings of abandonment and resentment fuel his obsession with seeking validation and recognition, driving him to extreme measures in his quest for acceptance and adulation. He seems to have become fixated on Grayson Rivers and, through him, Stefania Moretti.”
I hated the tension that made Stef turn rigid next to me.
“If you know all of this, why the fuck haven’t you arrested this guy?” There was an edge of anger to Rhett’s tone.
“The part where I said he was a genius? I wasn’t fucking kidding. He’s in the wind.” Mitchell held his hand up when Rhett protested. “Yes, he’s cagey and clever. Yes, we’ve had him under investigation for years, with no meaningful success at tracking him down. But he’s showing his ass here. We have a name, we have family details, employment records, a last known address, a psychological profile. And, thanks to Stef, we know what he looks like. Apprehending him is only a matter of time. We’ll now move on to the next part of the briefing. Okay?”
“I guess.” Rhett wasn’t liking this any more than I was.
“Blackwood is in daily communication with Stef, through a special phone he gave her, just for this purpose. He’s very careful about not giving away any details that might help us catch him. But with every phone call, Stef is building his trust, so that there is a good chance he might slip up. Or invite her to meet with him.”
“That won’t be happening.”