Page 30 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

She’d done her best to persuade him, yet part of her wanted to know why he would help her at all. But she didn’t want him to rethink his decision. She got the strong sense that he might reach out and touch her cheek. Run his fingers through her hair. Without her permission, her body instinctively leaned forward in response. She wanted that touch from him. That she was so utterly drawn to this ... ahem, stranger ... flew in the face of all reason.

She shut her eyes, wanting to lean closer. But not now. Not here.

Opening them, she stepped back and away from the overpowering attraction and searched for an escape. Fresh air. Mackenzie moved out onto the porch and Alex followed.

“If I’m going to help, I need to know what’s going on.”

She drew in a breath. Where did she start?

“I’m not sure how much you know about my past.”

“Nothing. Why would you think I would know anything?”

Relief swept through her. However, it was kind of disappointing that he hadn’t looked into her. “Well, I interviewed with the DSS.”

“They told me nothing, and despite what you might think about me, working for a federal agency doesn’t mean I invaded your privacy and looked at your records.”

She angled a glance and caught his half-dimpled smirk.

“Good to know.” Mackenzie dragged in a breath. Might as well get it over with, though sharing the truth with this guy she liked might change the way he looked at her.

“I’m listening.”

“I was sixteen when I committed a crime. A cybercrime. I won’t go into how I got sucked into it, other than I was in a bad place and needed ... I needed attention. That’s no excuse, but I fell into a scheme that I thought was like Robin Hood and I could do good and help others. But it didn’t work out that way and...” She was rambling. If she wanted his help, she needed to make sense. “In Michigan, several days ago, my former partner in crime found me and bumped into me, literally, to pass on a warning. Then someone immediately injured him in a hit-and-run.”

“Go on.”

Mackenzie took a deep breath, then told Alex everything, this time without showing the video in the QR code that had elicited a laugh from Nora. When she was done, she risked a glance at him. Suspicion swept across his features, but at least he hadn’t asked what the warning meant. He probably understood the world of video games and cybercriminals. The warning joined both worlds with the terms vulnerable and deadly attacks.

“This partner in crime have a name? And how did he learn of the threat?”

She hoped he didn’t see her stiffen at his question. “It doesn’t matter.”

She wasn’t ready to give up her source yet, at least to Alex, even though she was asking him into this with her.

“Okay, then.” He searched the woods. “We should get back inside.”

She hadn’t considered that the woods near his cabin could be dangerous. But if a drone could follow her, track her, so could the danger.

Once inside, Alex paced the small space. “The message sounds multilayered and could mean both a digital threat and a physical threat. And now the spy drone and the shooting make sense, although I haven’t often heard of a cybercrime including physical violence of this nature.”

He didn’t say more while he continued to pace, a deep frown building in his brows and around his mouth.

Then he turned and loosely pointed her way. “You’re a threat to whomever is behind the exploitation. You are their vulnerability. Such extreme measures make me wonder what’s going on at Hanstech. What’s so important?”

She nodded. “I agree. I’m trying to learn that from my sister. Last night I tried to convince her to let me in to help. Someone is actively searching for a vulnerability, if they haven’t already found it.”

“Come on, Mackenzie. With your cybersecurity skills and the fact that you teach penetration testing, you could get into the system on your own. But I get it. You want her permission.”

“The Hanstech system is air-gapped. It’s an intranet system.”

“So that’s why you’re in Montana, and ... here in my cabin.” He stopped pacing and locked gazes with her.

Understanding passed between them, confirming that she’d made the right decision in coming to him. She needed to physically get to the company computers because they were not connected to the outside world, the Internet, or any other network or device connected to the Internet. Alex was someone with whom she could communicate. He understood even when her sister hadn’t.

Thanks, God, that Alex is here in Montana too.Despite her mistakes, God still cared, and she hadn’t been forgotten or discarded because of them.

“Partially. I came here to warn my brother. Now that he’s gone, I wonder if his death is linked to the warning. If I was too late to stop it.”