Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
He couldn’t help himself. Whenever he was talking about Athena, he simply had to gush. His sister was far smarter than him, and she possessed the kindest heart. He truly believed she was going to change the world for the better.
Kairo’s expression seemed to soften at the mention of Athena. Good. That was what he needed. He was fine if Kairo stayed mad at him, even if he hated him. It was critical that he worried about Athena. The only thing that mattered to Izzie was making sure his sister escaped this mess unharmed.
“She was taken at the same time as you?”
“No. Separately. Once they figured out I couldn’t get them what they wanted, they suggested bringing in a hacker. I could give the hacker enough access to ease their way into our systems, but I refused…until they captured Athena. Then I didn’t have any choice.”
“And you’ve seen your sister? You’re sure they have her?”
Izzie nodded. “Before you arrived, they’d been allowing me to spend a few hours every day with her.” A small grin sneaked out. “Athena can be a bit stubborn and willful when she’s upset. They discovered that she’s far more agreeable when we get to spend time together.”
Kairo nodded and seemed to stare at the nearly empty bottle of water in his hands as if he were thinking over everything Izzie had told him. When he looked at Izzie again, his expression was twisted. His eyebrows were arched and his nose was wrinkled. “And you want me to hack into your company and steal this encryption token?”
“From my understanding, it’s more of an algorithm that keeps changing the token so that even if the token is hacked once, it wouldn’t be reusable because the algorithm has come up with a new token already. At least, that’s how it was explained to me by the company programmers.” His smile had returned. Kairo was picking up on this very nicely. He was going to do great. But there was one catch.
He glanced over at the door for a second and then to Kairo. There would be at least one guard standing on the other side, and he could not afford to be overheard. Not for this part. Scooting to the very edge of the bed, Izzie lowered his voice and leaned as close as he could to Kairo.
“That’s what they want. If it’s possible, I’d really like you to create a good fake. I don’t want to hurt the livelihood of all those customers who have trusted my family’s company just to save my own skin. That’s too selfish. But if your fake could fool them for a while, it would buy you some time to escape with Athena. Get her somewhere safe.”
Kairo jerked backward, surprise and confusion replacing his skepticism. “And where are you in this escape?” he inquired sharply, though he did keep his voice low.
“Oh, don’t misunderstand me,” Izzie quickly said, waving both of his hands at Kairo. “I’m hoping to be right there with you and Athena, but if you needed someone to stay behind and create a distraction or if you can save only one person, I want to be clear that you need to protect my sister. I’m hiring you to protect Athena. Not me.”
“And you realize that if you stay behind, they will fucking kill you? You get that, right?” Kairo demanded.
Izzie’s throat tightened, making it impossible to squeeze out any words, so he nodded his head while smiling at Kairo. He had no desire to die. He was twenty-nine years old. While he might never be as innovative as his father or as brilliant as his sister, everyone said that he had his mother’s kindness, and the world could use some more kindness.
Plus, he wanted to know what it was like to fall in love—the good and the bad. In his life, he’d climbed mountains, skydived, raced cars, sailed around the Pacific islands, and even gone swimming with sharks. It seemed like it would be a horrible oversight in his life to never get to experience what it was like to love and be loved.
“I would really like to live, but I know my parents expected me to protect my sister always, and right now, I’m doing a rather horrible job of it,” Izzie explained when he got his wayward emotions under control. “But that’s why I’m looking to hire the best.” He reached out and patted Kairo on the shoulder. “Think of this as just another job interview, Mr. Jones. My goals are to supply Vanko with the ‘encryption token’ that he wants,” he said, making the quotation marks with his fingers, “and I want you to save Athena. The bonus would be saving me, too.”
“Except for this job interview, I’m finding out what the requirements are after I’ve been forced to take the job,” Kairo snarled.