LITMIR.BIZ

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brother’s laptop. The upgrade file must be there somewhere. Specifically we need the password. Our people have been at it for several days now and haven’t been able to come up with anything that works. His personal security system on the computer will erase all the data if we keep trying incorrect passwords.

      “For everyone’s sake, we desperately need those upgrade plans. We’ve been through Jason’s files at Zip Tech’s offices but we can’t find the information we’re looking for anywhere. Once the product is complete, you’ll no longer be a target. Until then, we can protect you. But none of this can end until you help us find those upgrades.”

      As he explained, the ugly truth became obvious. Zip Tech had already been in Jason’s condo looking for the file. Though he tried to twist things to sound as if this was all in her best interest, the man clearly had no qualms about blackmailing her to get what he needed.

      “Surely he has a backup for all this valuable data? I mean otherwise couldn’t a competitor just type in the wrong password until they wiped the system?”

      “Yes, I’m sure he did have a backup…somewhere. Unfortunately, we can’t find that, either. Believe me, our people have looked. That’s why we need your help.”

      “So you’ve already been in his condo? Uninvited?” She smiled a particularly sugary grin and felt her blood pressure spike up a notch.

      Michael smiled back, a sheepish quality to it that she knew was meant to be endearing. Under other circumstances, he might have been considered charming. He knew he’d been caught but he still didn’t realize how badly he’d screwed up.

      Her literature students could have told Michael Donner that he was about to be pulverized. She might look and sound like a pushover, but she had a reputation as one of those professors you did not tick off unless you had a death wish for your GPA. And you did not lie to Abby Trevor under any circumstances. Grad students called her “the carnivorous steel magnolia.”

      She’d fostered that notoriety in her teaching.

      She could be a pit bull and once she was angry, even she knew it was a long, difficult road back into her good graces.

      The way she saw it, Michael was all about Zip Technologies needing her brother’s upgrade file. Oh, he tried to frame it as a step for the greater good—even for her own protection—but she was smart enough to read between the lines. He cared much less for her safety than he did for the success of his company. If he was truly concerned about her, he would have come to her from the beginning instead of waiting for the attacks to start so he could hold her safety hostage against the guarantee of her cooperation. Additionally, the way his people had broken into Jason’s condo made her hopping mad and slightly ill at the same time.

      Well, to hell with Donner. She didn’t care what happened with Zip Technologies’s contract with Homeland Security. As for her safety…well, that’s what the police were for. Whether or not they believed the hit-and-run that killed her brother was deliberate, surely they couldn’t claim the shots fired were accidental.

      “He signed a waiver fo—”

      Donner was talking but she didn’t let him finish.

      “Tell me, did that agreement say you could waltz into his home and take anything you wanted whenever you wanted in the event of his death?” she asked.

      Donner looked a bit taken aback at being interrupted. After all, he’d graced the covers of Forbes and Newsweek. She had a feeling he wasn’t used to women not falling all over him.

      “Jason signed nondisclosure agreements and proprietary information clauses at Zip Tech.”

      “But no agreements to allow you a search and seizure in his home after his death? You’re a high-tech company, not the Gestapo, but that’s what this feels like.”

      “Ms. Trevor…Abby, I—”

      She kept talking, just like she did in her lectures when a student tried to interrupt her before she was finished making her point.

      “I’m distinctly uneasy with what you are asking and what you’ve already undertaken without permission. Until I speak with an attorney, I’m not comfortable with you or any other employees of Zip Technologies entering my brother’s home. I won’t press charges at this point—but do it again and I’ll have your people arrested.”

      “I don’t understand, Abby. Someone was just shooting at you.”

      “That’s right. And I have no idea who they were. It could have been your competition. Could have been you for all I know, trying to scare me into trusting you just to get into Jason’s condo. I do have a question though. If Jason was so valuable, why didn’t you have security with him while he was doing this upgrade work? You were awfully complacent to have such a valuable employee climbing in his car and driving away every night with the future of your company on his laptop in a briefcase. Seems you might have seen this coming. And if you couldn’t protect him, why should I believe you’ll be able to protect me? I’d be more comfortable with the authorities handling this. Why can’t we call the police about Jason?”

      “I have,” said Donner as he came to sit across from her again. “They don’t think your brother’s accident was anything more than that.”

      “But surely after today’s shooting in the cemetery, the police will reconsider?” She stared hard at them both, her anger still fizzing.

      “Perhaps.” Donner didn’t sound very hopeful. “I’ve been dealing with a Detective Diaz. It might help if you spoke with him.”

      “I’d very much like to do that, I’ll just get my phone. It’s in the bedroom.”

      “Use mine,” offered Donner. “I have Detective Diaz’s direct number in my contacts.” He handed her his cell. “He’s the officer in charge of your brother’s case.”

      “That’s not who I spoke to when I identified his body,” said Abby.

      “There are many layers there at the department,” reassured Donner. “We’ll step outside, if you’d like some privacy.”

      “No, I’ll go.” She stood and walked barefooted onto the balcony that overlooked the city.

      AS SOON AS SHE WAS OUT OF earshot, Donner turned to Shaun. “You’re sure you’ve got this under control? She can’t be left alone.”

      Shaun nodded. “Of course. Though I want to know what the devil happened in the cemetery. That was insanity.”

      Donner shrugged. “I agree but I don’t know if even this will convince Diaz to investigate Jason’s death as anything more than an accident. I have no idea what he’ll say about this latest incident but it will definitely be better coming from her than me. He already thinks I control too much.”

      Shaun raised an eyebrow. “You don’t say?”

      Abigail returned from the balcony a few moments later, shaking her head in confusion. The angry look on her face told Shaun exactly how the conversation had gone.

      “Diaz says there’s been quite a bit of recent gang-related activity in the area around the cemetery. He thinks that’s what happened and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s sending out an officer to investigate at the cemetery, but he doesn’t think the shooting is in any way related to Jason’s accident.”

      She handed Donner’s phone back to him. “I don’t like this,” she mumbled.

      Shaun started to say something but Donner spoke first, pushing the advantage like the business shark he was. “Will you let Zip Tech help? We can offer you protection that no one else can. And if you help us find the file, you can resolve the situation for all of us at the same time.”

      “I don’t want to but I don’t see that I have much of a choice. Tell me why I should help you besides the fact that you’re offering protection as a kind of blackmail?” she asked. “If I can even locate the upgrades how do

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