Chapter 6

I scrolled through the emails again; I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It had taken me two hours once the virus had taken to the system, to logon to the intranet and access Dom's personal emails. Tobias had been on the money about every claim; Dom was using underground hackers to access personal information on politicians, celebrities and even the general public. Then he was selling that information to other criminals on the deep web.

He had also sent a string of heavily encrypted emails to his lawyer in regards to Deedee Falon, a famous up and coming singer who had recently committed suicide. It must have been her family employing Tobias for this case. Dom had been asking his lawyer if he was liable, as the tragic star's suicide note had blamed his paper for making her life a living hell. The bile rose in my throat as I read on, Dom's lack of concern at causing a person's death was beyond disgusting.

Delving deeper I had come across something truly bone chilling; Dom had been using a surveillance company to monitor employees in work. Normal enough, most companies watched what their employees did online on work time. What was harrowing though was that Dom was taking the information and the personal details of all his employees and selling to the same people on the deep web as his hacked information. My details were floating around for any thief, creep or murderer to get.

I sat back from my computer, the blood draining from my face. This dickhead had a ton of dirt on him, but he had also sold us all down the river for a quick buck. I glanced at my alarm clock; it was 4am. Reluctantly I closed my laptop and put it on my bedside table. I would arrange to meet Tobias tonight to give him everything he needed, then I would improve the security in my home.

I buried myself under my duvet and wondered at how much had changed in the short span of a week.

...

Can we meet tonight?

I had passed the hastily scribbled note to Tobias as soon as I saw a break in the day. It had been manic all morning, security were swarming the building obviously due to our little foray last night. I was a bag of nerves, convinced Dom knew I was somehow involved, but Tobias was calm as always playing his part perfectly.

Thankfully no one had realised the server room had been the target, rumour was it had been a group of amateurs messing around, trying to see if they could break in. I had almost laughed at that one, amateurs? They wouldn't have said that if they'd seen Tobias last night. He had looked like a man in his natural habitat, and I wasn't entirely convinced he was just some run of the mill PI.

He looked up at me now with his icy blue eyes, and nodded. My nerves steadied under his gaze, he just seemed to ooze serenity in any situation and it was always infectious. I wasn't sure that was necessarily a good thing. I walked back to my desk, happy that this whole mess was going to be over in time for the weekend. I planned to sleep through it all seeing as I had only managed about 4 hours a night so far.

A few people had commented on the random update the intranet had prompted them to install. I smiled, good, the more people who downloaded the virus the less likely anyone would be able to find out what I had done. The genius of this virus was it linked every IP that downloaded it to its origin, so if anyone tried to trace it back to me, they would only find a mass of different IPs all originating from this work place.

I was satisfied I had covered my tracks and certainly no one suspected Tobias for breaking in. All that remained was to give him the info he wanted and watch him walk out of my life. But I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit sad about that, and I couldn't put my finger on why.

I was on edge for most of the day, and Tobias didn't come near me at any point. He probably thought it safer to keep his distance due to our unusual alliance and criminal activity the previous night. Andy kept asking me if I was okay, my face likely betraying my nervous energy and lack of sleep. I kept reassuring him I was, smiling at him half-heartedly.

Around mid-afternoon I was sent out on a stock shot job. Exteriors of some politician's office; nothing too hard. I used the time alone to clear my jumbled thoughts and try and pin point this aching feeling in my chest. I was eager for things to return to normal, or should have been. I still couldn't stop feeling like something was about to end too soon. I had been frightened, angry, scared and pushed to my limit these past few days, but deep down I had loved every second of it. Then tonight it would be over, as if it had never happened.

I put on the same navy blue dress I had worn the last time I had visited this restaurant. My laptop stowed safely in Helen's borrowed purse. She had been texting me insistently, trying to find out who my mystery date was. I told her to bug off and mind her own business fondly. It was odd that I would never be able to tell her what had happened this week, or Andy for that matter.

The same waiter was standing at the door tonight, he recognised me instantly.

"Madam, right this way. Mr Rieper is already waiting for you." I gave him a small smile, too weary to get annoyed at his change of heart towards me.

Tobias was sitting in exactly the same place, and I had a strong sense of de-ja-vu. Once the waiter had left us I got out my laptop wordlessly. This was why we were here after all. He watched me coolly as I booted it up, the silence deafening between us.

"Are you ok?" His voice broke through the quiet. I broke my gaze away from my laptop and finally looked at him.

"Yes." I answered curtly, then after a moment I followed it with, "Are you?" His curious little half smile appeared, and his eyes softened slightly.

"Of course." He continued to watch me login and access the emails, with an expression that I could have sworn was amusement on his face.

"You're very serious tonight." He commented out of the blue.

I stopped mid type and gave him a sarcastic look. "Bit rich coming from you." The half smile widened into a full-blown grin, reaching all the way to his eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Fair point." He said the smile audible in his voice. "Are you done?" He asked nodding at the laptop. I acknowledged by turning the laptop to face him. The emails were all ordered by date and information type. His grin faded as he looked down at my handy work.

"Impressive Morgan." His eyes flicked up to me over the laptop. "To get this much information in the time span you did without being detected." He raised one eyebrow at me, "I'd say you're in the wrong profession."

I coloured slightly at his praise, "Thanks." My stomach tightened a little under his steady stare.

He focused back on my laptop and pulled out the USB drive I'd given him yesterday.

"I'd like to keep this if you don't mind." I frowned at his odd request.

"Sure, it's not much use now. I only designed it for my work's system." He inserted it into my laptop.

"Can I transfer these emails to it?" I nodded at him.

"Yeah, the virus isn't dangerous on there. It should be able to store those emails too."

The half smile I had become so familiar with returned to his face. "Think of it like a memento, for me to remember the past few days."

He was being very open tonight, it was like he trusted me suddenly. Once the emails had finished transferring he ejected the drive and placed it back in his jacket pocket. Gently he pushed my laptop back towards me, I retrieved it and hid it in my handbag.

"So I guess that's it then." I said, keeping my eyes on my handbag. I could feel the sad ache rising in my chest and I didn't want him to see me getting emotional.

"Yes, I have everything the client wanted me to get and you will have no repercussions following our recent unorthodox partnership." I risked a glance up at him; he was watching me carefully.

"I forgot to ask, who was that guy sneaking around my work last night? He looked a bit over dressed for a security guard." Tobias frowned as he remembered what I was talking about.

"He was a hired mercenary." My mouth dropped open.

"What!? Who hired him? Why was he there?" Tobias' eyebrows rose at my barrage of questions.

"Your boss appears to be very paranoid, and has hired him to guard the office after hours."

I shook my head, a heavy sigh I had been holding in for the past week escaped me.

"I just can't believe what some people are capable of. He was selling our details too you know." I leveled my gaze at Tobias, he stared back unblinking.

"You knew didn't you? Why didn't you say anything, all my information is on the deep web somewhere for any weirdo to see. I could be taken out tomorrow by some hired hitman."

He shook his head slowly, "No, you won't." The stress and sadness I had been feeling all day began to boil and turn to anger.

"How do you know that? You don't know that!" He was un-phased by my rising voice or my livid expression.

"Because I saw it and told the site that was selling it to take it down or they'd regret they ever entered their sorry business." The deadly edge to his voice sent a shiver up my spine.

"Thank you." My sincere gratitude was met with what appear to most as indifference, but I had got to know Tobias' subtle expressions and he looked at me kindly.

"It was the least I could do." He paused, thinking for a moment. "Morgan, can I ask you something?" For the first time since I'd met him he sounded unsure.

"Of course." I waited patiently for him to form what he wanted to say.

"What made you want to be a photographer?" I blinked at him a few times, the question taking me by surprise.

"I guess it was my parents," He didn't say anything, just sat there listening to me. I didn't know why he wanted to know this, but I couldn't think of any ulterior motive.

"We lived in the country and they always encouraged me to love the outdoors. I started taking photos of the wildlife around my home; there was something exhilarating about getting a good photo after tracking an animal. I did quite well actually, won a few awards then decided to study photography at Uni."

Tobias' eyes didn't leave me as I spoke. "Were they proud of you?"

"Yes, they thought I was going to become a world famous wildlife photographer, big dreamers as all parents are." I smiled at the memory of my mad parents screaming when I got my place in Uni, and then their pride when I told them I had got a job at a paper in London. I hadn't seen them in a year, and a gnawing, lonely feeling settled in my gut.

"They framed all my photos; foxes, rabbits, otters. I took loads, but there was always one animal I wanted to get that I never did." He tilted his head to one side.

"What was that?"

"A peregrine falcon." I said simply, "But not just a nesting one or one sat in a tree. A hunting peregrine." I could feel the excitement catching in me talking about this, I hadn't spoken to anyone about photography like this for a while. For some reason it was really easy to tell Tobias.

"They're the fastest bird of prey, and at hunting speed they can reach speeds of up to 240 miles per hour." His eyes widen slightly, that had impressed him.

"To get one of those diving for its prey…well that would make me a truly great photographer." I grinned at him, he stayed quiet letting the excitement hang between us.

My grin slowly faded and I frowned at him, "Why did you want to know that?"

Tobias looked towards the door of the restaurant as he replied, "I was interested in what made you decide to do what you do." He turned back to face me, "I'm glad I asked." He half smiled at me, I gave a small smile back.

"I have to go Morgan." He stood up and looked down at me. "I have to do something tonight and I might not see you again. Thank you for helping me, and good luck."

And with that he turned and left me sat at the booth. I watched his broad figure retreating, the barcode tattoo still standing out on the back of his head.