Page 46

“Did you say Cypher?” Dad asked.

“Yes, sir, she did,” Cypher said, his gaze flicking from the pan to the timer, then toward the oven before he looked at her father.

“It’s his road name, Dad.”

Dad held up one hand in her direction as his gaze moving up and down Cypher, pausing for several seconds on the tattoo on the outside of Cypher’s forearm. She’d asked what it meant shortly after they’d started seeing each other. Cypher had told her it was digital rain, and it translated to a phrase he used as his signature when he’d been a hacker.

“No. It’s more than that. It’s his handle.”

Cypher’s brows lifted. His gaze met Dad’s.

“I’m sorry. Lauren never told me what you do. Have I met you before?”

“Not face to face, but we’ve worked together before. About three years ago, you helped locate a leak in my department. We thought someone had hacked in and were accessing our servers. You figured out we didn’t have a hole in our security. We had an employee who had been turned.”

Lauren turned to look at Cypher, waiting to see what he had to say.

“I remember. Any more leaks after we identified he leak?”

“No,” Dad said with a shake of his head. After a moment, his attention turned to Lauren. He studied her for a moment then turned back to Cypher. “Can I assume that whoever did that to her is no longer a factor?”

“That would be a safe assumption,” Cypher said.

Lauren looked back and forth between them, then to Mom, who looked as confused as she felt.

“I’m missing something.”

“Yeah, sweetheart, you are. There are some things we need to sit down and talk about it, but we’re not the only ones who need to be included. Can we finish breakfast before we have that talk? I’ll need to call Hex and see how he wants to do this. If he wants to come here, probably with at least one or two others, or if we should head over to the clubhouse.”

Lauren looked back and forth between Cypher and Dad again, then shrugged. She’d long since decided she trusted Cypher, not just with her life but also with her heart and with her children, that meant that whatever it was they needed to talk about, they’d figure out, at least from where she stood. She didn’t know how long it would take but they’d figure it out. And since Dad no longer seemed concerned, it could wait an hour or two.

“Later is fine.” Lauren turned to Mom. “How do you want your eggs?”

Mom blinked several times, frowned, then Lauren wasn’t sure what was happening in her head, but it looked like what was going on and the question finally registered.

“Oh! Whatever is fine.”

“Can you do poached?” Dad asked.

“Sure can. Soft, medium, or hard?” Cypher asked before bending and pulling a straight sided skillet and got busy.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“Tell me what’s happened?” Hex said. He’d come in a few minutes earlier with Wrath and Cyclone. After introductions, they’d all taken seats around the living room Cypher shared with Lauren. Hex and Wrath had been welcoming, mostly, but Cyclone had crossed his arms over his chest and glared. He was in charge of security around here and he clearly didn’t like anything that might be a threat to it, even if he didn’t know yet what direction the threat was coming from.

“Mr. Callahan recognized my handle.”

“Well, not just the handle, but the tattoo. I’ve seen it before,” Lauren’s father said tilting the top of her head toward Cypher.

Hex lifted one brow.

“Really? In what capacity?”

“Apparently, I helped them find a rat in is division a few years ago. He thought it was a technical leak. I proved it wasn’t.”

Hex turned his attention to Mr. Callahan.

“You’re a feeb?”