Page 30 of Digital Desire

“They went to shower.”

“Do you need any help?” Aubrey asked looking around the kitchen area.

“No, I’m good thanks. Go relax,” Alex replied as he added more spice to the mixture that was making her mouth water.

She wandered over to Will who was sitting with his laptop open, already typing at a furious pace. She sat down next to him on the couch and curled her right leg under her left as she watched code fly across the screen. “What are you doing?” she asked, in awe with his skill on a computer.

“I’m hacking into the embassy to see if I can access Pierre’s computer.”

“Oh, I should have said, Drew downloaded that,” she said as Will glanced at her and winked.

“I know, but he wouldn’t have gotten all the deleted files.”

“How did you get into this? Hacking and everything?” she asked, wanting to know the man behind the ink.

“I always had a head for numbers even as a young kid. I loved anything to do with numbers and I was lucky my math teacher saw it and introduced me to computers and coding. By the time I was eleven, I had written and sold my first programme,” he said with a shrug as if what he could do was nothing special.

“Wow, Will, that is awesome. What are some of the programmes you’ve written?” she asked and was surprised when Will blushed.

“I wrote a programme that helps kids with dyslexia when I was fifteen. I wrote a programme that helps detect microbes and dangerous pathogens in river water and then filters it accordingly when I was twenty-two. Oh, and I wrote one that detects if a young person will develop dementia by analysing brain waves and patterns last year.”

Aubrey could do nothing but stare at him open-mouthed as he listed all the amazing things he had done with no intent to show off. To Will, what he did was nothing, it was like her solving a simple speeding offence.

“You have no clue how amazing you are, do you?” she said with a smile as his face reddened.

“It isn’t a big deal to me. I see code the way other people can read a book. It comes easy to me, so if I can do good with it, then I want to,” he replied giving her his full attention.

“Which makes me wonder why you hacked that bank.” Aubrey watched as his eyes went stormy with pain. “It doesn’t ring true, Will. It doesn’t add up, and I want to know why.”

“Sometimes things just happen,” he said looking away.

Aubrey took his hand and brought it to her lap. “No, I don’t believe that. The man that invented a programme to help dyslexic kids does not just turn around and hack a bank. Why won’t you tell me the truth?”

“Because the truth will hurt too many people,” he replied pulling his hand away and turning back to the screen. Aubrey dropped the subject as the rest of the team started to filter into the room.

“Is that Ropa Vieja?” Drew asked as he headed towards Alex.

“Yes, it is, how did you know that?”

“I like to eat,” he answered as if that was an answer in itself.

Alex seemed to accept that as he began to serve up. Aubrey looked away as Jack walked towards them, his hands in his pockets.

“Find anything?” he asked as he looked at Will.

“Maybe. Pierre had a hidden bank account that the idiot was accessing through his work computer. It shows that he was getting money from a Manx account.”

“Isn’t that where Rhea Winslow had a home?” Jack asked, moving closer to look over Will’s shoulder.

“Yes, but it isn’t tracing back to her as far as I can see, but I’ll keep digging.”

“Fine, we need to figure out who might have the skills to set you up with doctoring the CCTV and would want to. I also have questions regarding Chopper. Can we talk after dinner?” Jack asked, and Aubrey was pleased to see that there was less animosity than before.

“Yeah, we can talk over dinner if you like, that way I can tell everyone together.”

“Fine but I do need to talk to you on our own in private afterwards.”

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good,” said Will looking up at his brother with so much regret that Aubrey had to swallow the tears at the pain she saw between the two men. She dearly hoped they could work out their differences because they needed each other now more than ever.