Chapter 4: Two-Factor

Knock, knock

Cyrus! What are you doing here?" Olivia looked up to see Cyrus standing in her office doorway.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by and say hello," Cyrus said, good-naturedly.

Olivia raised an eyebrow and looked at her watch. It was 1 p.m. "Yeah, right, Cy. The Chief of Staff of the Leader of the Free World just so happened to be walking by my building in the middle of a week-day afternoon," she said, somewhat sarcastically. "Out with it, Cy. What brings you here?"

"You, actually," came the reply.

"ME? What about me?" Olivia asked, surprised.

"Well, you left Ethan's baby shower last weekend in quite a hurry and you seemed, I don't know, you seemed…scared," Cy said, genuinely concerned. "After everything you've gone through recently, I was worried that something bad had happened or that you saw or heard something that triggered a bad memory for you."

Olivia just looked at Cyrus. She wasn't sure how to react. A couple years ago she would've been touched by his concern. There was a time when she looked up to and admired the man and trusted his counsel. He was practically like a father to her. But now, well now, she wanted to keep her distance. Cyrus, with his "Fitz was meant to be great" speech, was the primary person who had convinced her to leave the White House behind, and Olivia had lived to regret that decision.

No, Olivia thought, as long as Fitz was President of the United States and Cyrus was his Chief of Staff, she couldn't fully trust him.

"Cyrus, I'm fine. Seriously. An emergency case came up and Huck called me into the office. Honest," Olivia said, giving Cyrus a tight smile.

Cyrus looked around the office, as though he were a burglar casing the joint. What is he looking for? Olivia wondered.

"Well, you know Liv, if there's anything, anything at all I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask," Cyrus said. "I mean it."

"OK, Cyrus, I'll keep that in mind," Olivia said, shaking her head, contradicting the words that were coming out of her mouth.

Cyrus turned to leave and said, "by the way, I see you've expanded your staff. Who's the new guy?" he said pointing his head in the direction of Huck's office.

"Oh, Huck's working on a new project and he brought in an outside consultant to help," Olivia said evasively.

Cyrus slowly nodded his head as though he was comprehending something she hadn't said. "Well, that must be one hell of a project. As I recall, Huck is pretty handy around a computer."

Olivia didn't immediately respond. "Well, Cyrus, if there isn't anything else you needed to talk to me about, I really must get back to work. I've got a 2 o'clock meeting I need to prep for and…," Olivia said, her voice trailing off.

"Yes, of course, and I've got to get back to the White House…." Cyrus' voice suddenly cut off as a dry cough attacked his throat. "Gosh, I must've got a frog stuck in my throat," he said beating his chest, his voice suddenly hoarse. "Olivia, would you mind getting me a glass of water, please." (cough, cough)

Olivia went to the break room to get Cyrus a bottle of water. As soon as she left, Cyrus stopped coughing. Casting a quick glance around to make sure nobody was watching, he whipped out his iPhone and snapped a photo of Ariel Eisenstadt sitting at one of Huck's computer terminals. "Gotcha!" Cyrus whispered under his breath. "I don't know who the hell you are but I'm going to find out."

After Cyrus left, Olivia went into Huck's office. Huck wasn't there, but Ariel was sitting at the computer staring at the screen. He was engrossed in what he was looking at and didn't hear Olivia enter.

"Where's Huck? I want a status report about what you two have found so far about Farheed Davi and his connection with Billy Chambers," Olivia said.

Ariel didn't respond. He continued to look at the screen and then let out a low whistle like the type you hear construction workers use when they see a pretty woman. Ariel then started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Olivia said, annoyed that he was ignoring her. She stomped over to his desk and looked at the 17-inch screen. A little shriek escaped her lips when she saw what he was looking at.

Three different windows were open on the screen. The first was Olivia's Gmail account. The second was the web site for La Perla, a luxury lingerie brand, and the third was a candid photo Olivia had taken of herself wearing a brand new push-up bra and panty set. Ariel clicked on the mouse and a different photo came up, this one a close-up of her cleavage.

"OH. MY. GOD! What the…?! Where did you get this?!" Olivia's eyes were as wide as saucers. She couldn't believe her eyes.

Ariel clicked again and up popped another photo of Olivia, still in her undies. She was giving the camera a sexy pout, her bee stung lips showcased in a scarlet red lipstick. Her normally perfectly coiffed hair was a mane of wild loose curls that tumbled forward and covered one side of her face, as though she had just experienced a tremendously satisfying fuck.

Next click, there was Olivia sitting in an overstuffed armchair, wearing a push-up bra, panty and black silk stockings with a garter belt, her legs spread wide open with one leg thrown lazily over the side and her hand reaching down and inside her panty to touch her…

"STOP IT! TURN IT OFF!" Olivia yelled as she yanked the computer cord out of the wall. The screen went dark.

Ariel spun around in his seat and looked at Olivia with an amused expression.

"I must say, Ms. Pope, you have a mighty fine…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Olivia lifted her hand and went to slap him in the face. Anticipating her move, he grabbed her wrist before her palm made contact.

"Uh, no, no, no, I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said with a smile. His smile was disarming and for the first time Olivia noticed the beautiful long eyelashes that framed his intense hazel eyes. Olivia tried to wrench her wrist away but he wouldn't let go. Olivia glared at him. "Let go of my hand!"

"I will if you promise not to attack me," Ariel said, lightly rubbing his thumb along the inner part of her wrist. The sensation of his touch was unexpected and so erotic that Olivia began to question her own sanity. She felt a warm tingle invade her girly bits. Olivia wanted to despise this man but she couldn't.

She exhaled, releasing a sound that seemed like a cross between a moan and a sigh. Ariel let her wrist go. Olivia immediately took a big step back away from him.

"OK, Mr. Pervert, would you mind telling me how the hell you got into my Gmail account?" Olivia asked angrily.

"I was trying to prove a point," he said calmly.

"A point?"

"Yeah, a point. I wanted you to see how vulnerable you are to being hacked."

"But I change my password every month," Olivia protested.

"Doesn't matter. You're not taking enough precautions online and that's how Farheed Davi learned so much about you before he even met you," Ariel replied.

"You mean that he electronically rummaged thorugh all my emails," Olivia said shocked.

"Yes, he most definitely did. Do you use your Gmail password across different web sites?"

Olivia nodded her head.

"Well, you basically gave him the digital keys to your kingdom," Ariel replied. "Once Farheed had your Gmail password, it unlocked any other online account you had that was linked or that used the same password – Facebook, Amazon, iTunes, your bank account, your stock brokerage account, your lingerie account…"

Olivia looked up at him ready to raise a hand to his face again. Ariel raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger!" he said. "Sure there were less embarrassing ways to show you how easily you could get hacked but none would've been as effective or as…arousing." He fought to keep the smirk on his face from spreading.

Olivia shook her head. She was mortified. How could she have been so careless? She shuddered to think of Farheed Davi going through her accounts, reading her emails and seeing all these intimate and mundane details of her life. Shit! It made her sick to even think about it!

Ariel sensed Olivia was silently chastising herself and he stood up and took a step toward her. "Hey, listen, the majority of people out there are vulnerable to being hacked. You didn't do anything wrong," he said, trying to cheer her up.

Olivia didn't respond.

"I'm here to help you and I am going to help you," he continued. "There is a way to tighten your security online. What you need to do with your Gmail account is set up two-factor authentication.

Olivia looked up. "Two factor what?"

"Two-factor authentication," Ari repeated. "Two-factor authentication means something you know, like a password, and something you have, which means your cell phone."

"I'm not following you," Olivia said, confused.

"You set up your Gmail account so that you have to enter both a password and a PIN number in order to access the account. The PIN number is generated by Google and sent to your cell phone. A hacker might be able to figure out or crack your password on their own, but unless they also physically have your cell phone, they won't be able to get access to the special PIN that Gmail automatically generates and sends to your phone. It's really very simple and very secure once you set it up."

Olivia just looked at Ariel. She felt emotionally drained. She just wanted to get this whole thing behind her. "Let's do it," she said. "Let's set this thing up."

"OK, but let's do it later. I'm starving and I can't think clearly on an empty stomach. You hungry?" Ariel said reaching behind the chair to grab his jacket.

Olivia was about to say no when she immediately reconsidered and decided she would say yes. Why not? It was just lunch, after all. "Sure, let's go!"

"By the way, would you mind emailing me that photo of you where you're…"

"Don't you even dare say it!" Olivia interrupted him, punching him in the arm and stifling a laugh.

A/N: So what do you think of this quirky friendship developing between Liv and Ari? If this were a western, would Ari be the guy wearing the white hat or the black hat? And what about Cyrus with his little phone trick? Was he taking a pic of Ariel to ogle over the Israeli Adonis later on (lol) or is Cyrus going to go into pit bull mode and do a background check on Ari?

Speaking of photos, I wonder who Livvie originally intended to show those photos to? A certain dashing POTUS, perhaps?

Your reviews are my tips, so please "tip" generously. :) Thanks!

P.S. If you have a Gmail account, seriously consider adding two-factor authentication to it. Hacking Gmail accounts is a serious and growing problem. Protect yourself and your privacy. OK, this public service announcement is over. Now back to our regularly scheduled fan fic programming….