Jewell (The Kings of Guardian Book 8) Read online

  Jewell

  Kings of Guardian, Book Eight

  by

  Kris Michaels

  Jewell

  Kings of Guardian Book Eight

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, transmitted, or distributed in any form or by any means without permission.

  Cover Art by: Digitally Imagined

  Interior Formatting by: Digitally Imagined

  Copyright © 2017 Kris Michaels

  Published by Kris Michaels

  Blurb:

  Obsessive. Toxic. Ice Princess. Witch. Jewell King ignored the epithets slung at her behind her back. Hell, after six, or was it seven, personal security officers asked to be reassigned rather than continue to guard her 24/7, maybe she deserved the names. She didn't care. Good riddance. Well… the last one had kinda weaseled his way into her daily routine with his compulsive cleaning and insistence on health foods. When he left, she noticed and was… hurt. But that didn't matter. She had no time for emotions. Handling the information and data systems for Guardian required 28 hour days and triple her current staff. On her shoulders rested the weight of defending Guardian against a brilliant hacker determined to take down all billionaire David Xavier had built and destroy her family in the process. He'd tried before. She had frustrated his first attempt by the slimmest of margins. This time he’d made it personal and he just might succeed.

  Zane Reynolds waded through several weeks’ worth of empty energy drink cans, cast off candy wrappers and stale pizza boxes, and viewed Jewell's office with a resigned sense of deja vu. He was back—against his will and despite his best efforts to stay as far away from Jewell King as he could get. The fact she hated him would make Jewell King a difficult assignment. He should walk away like all the others, except he couldn’t. He’d seen through the woman’s veneer and had witnessed the true kindness of the person hiding under the beautiful, yet caustic façade. This time, Zane had non-negotiable conditions before he'd agree to return as Jewell King's personal security, and he told the CEO of Guardian as much. This time, he was doing things his way.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  About Kris

  Other Books by Kris Michaels

  Chapter One

  One year ago:

  Countless hours of coding, developing cutting edge tech, thousands of bots assaulting impenetrable firewalls, and his amazing fucking skill had finally done what his peers had said was impossible. He leaned back in his chair gazing at the vast directory of information at his fingertips. Guardian Security's most secure information, unlocked and vulnerable. The sneer that lifted his lip was forged in hatred. Hatred for the people who hired him, for the bastards behind Guardian's electronic defenses and hatred for those who said he'd fail. Fuck them all.

  He connected the empty server he'd built for this occasion and started downloading. He'd find the information the Bravata wanted and claim his paycheck. It was almost comical that the access point he needed came from the Bravata and was gleaned from a cell phone used by a Guardian undercover operative. But he was inside Troy, and like the deceitful warriors that laid waste the ancient city, he would find the rulers of the kingdom and bring them to their fucking knees. He could see the Dark Net chatter now. He had arrived. The world was his, and no one, not even the mighty Guardian could stop him.

  Present day:

  Jewell King glanced over her shoulder. Again. The black leather executive chair she'd ordered for him mocked her with his absence. Not that she cared. Zane Reynolds was a royal pain in her ass, and she was better off with him gone. His forced presence in her life was nothing more than an inconvenience. Well, that was bullshit. He was way more than a simple inconvenience. The protection detail "Guardian" had subjected her to had become irritating. She couldn't get rid of the sensation, like the time she'd fell into a patch of poison oak, always itchy and there was nothing she could do without making the irritation worse. Besides, the man they assigned to her was nothing more than an intrusion on her privacy. Protective Detail? Bullshit. He was a babysitter. Someone her brothers paid to watch her. He was gone, and she rejoiced in her freedom. No more turning around and running into a six-feet-five-inch wall of muscle. Damned blond-haired, brown-eyed gorilla. She grabbed her energy drink and downed the last of it. She could drink as many as she wanted now. Nobody would limit her intake or force her to eat 'real' food. She worked the hours she wanted and slept when she crashed.

  Jewell tossed the empty toward her overflowing trash can. She'd take her trash down to the collection point. The cleaning staff wasn't cleared to be in her wing, so the people who worked here cleaned their own areas. She'd get around to it—later. Zane would freak out if he saw the condition of her office. Jewell sneered to herself. Whatever. The man was her shadow for almost a year, and then he simply… wasn't. She knew exactly when he'd left. That day had been insane. Not only had the organization been working the aftermath of the Bravata mission, but her brother, Jacob's division, executed four, simultaneous, overseas operations, any one of which when run alone was labor intensive. Four at one time? That was a fucking nightmare. Her section was overworked, understaffed, stretched tighter than a crossbow string and slammed every minute of every day. The day Zane left, it felt like the world was spinning out of control. She'd eked out time to work with one of her best coders, Ernest, to beta test a new firewall, one the Bravata's son-of-a-bitch computer genius couldn't penetrate. Ever since the Bravata's hired hell-hound of a hacker had found a way into their system, she'd been tenacious about making sure it could never happen again. Now that she knew how he'd gotten into her domain, she was able to defend against any other attacks.

  Yet, Jewell remembered the moment Zane had stood, stretched, and grabbed his tablet before leaving her office. It wasn't uncommon for him to stroll about the section. Except, this time he didn't return. He didn't say goodbye, and when she'd finally returned to her apartment that night, his belongings were gone. He'd just fucking left.

  Jewell lowered her toe and swiveled her chair away from her monitors. She'd found the email releasing him of his duties in her inbox… two days after her brother Jason had sent it. The fact Zane hadn't said goodbyedidn't bother her. Protecting her was his job. Nothing more. Good riddance. At least now she could do whatever she wanted when she wanted. She'd gone back to pretty much living in her office, showering in the gym downstairs and ordering food from the small rest
aurant around the corner or calling out for pizza. Pizza was her mainstay. Did it take forever to make it through the security in the building? Yeah, but hey, cold pizza rocked.

  Life at Guardian had resumed its pre-Bravata ebb and flow. Critical mission information, surveillance feeds and secure communications status updates scrolled across all four of Jewell's forty-inch monitors. There was always a crisis, or a mission, or a report due. She'd grown used to the stress of never ending demands. Dealing with those things without Zane to glower over her was a piece of cake.

  Jewell jumped and pivoted at an almost silent ping that resonated louder with her than the sound of a five-alarm disaster. The chat room icon that had been silent for over a year blinked with a message.

  > I'm ready to play again.

  Jewell stared at the monitor hosting the Dark Net chat room she'd built. The computer was a emissions shielded stand-alone and wasn't connected to any Guardian Systems. The chat room remained open only because Guardian hadn't caught the hacker when they took down the Bravata. She'd been ordered by her brother, Jason, the CEO of Guardian, to report any communication from the Bravata's computer savant and not to engage under any circumstances. But… this was her chance to catch the bastard that had found a way into her systems. It was her section's fault that the Bravata had the intelligence to attack her family, and she was ultimately responsible for her section. The blame rested on her shoulders. Not that anyone had said those words, but Jewell knew where the buck stopped. She slid the keyboard onto her lap.

  >We played. You lost.

  Jewel waited and counted the blinks of the cursor to still her nerves.

  >You should play again.

  >Not interested.

  She didn't want to fuck around with this guy. He was too damn good.

  >The stakes of the game are too high to fold.

  Jewell absorbed the possible meanings of the comment. The stakes are too high for who? The hacker… or her?

  >I don't gamble.

  Jewell grabbed one of the pencils she'd pushed into her hair and popped it into her mouth destroying the metal band because she'd already chewed off the eraser. She pushed the keyboard back to the desk and grabbed her ergonomic keyboard that was connected to her Guardian systems. The interoffice messaging system appeared on her main monitor, and she typed in Jason's name. She'd let him know the guy had contacted her. She tapped out a message but paused before she hit the send button. The asshole hacker had replied.

  >Smart for a cop.

  >Smart, period.

  Asshat wasn't getting any information from her.

  >We need to meet.

  >Hell will freeze over first.

  >Challenge accepted.

  >Not a challenge. Fact.

  She couldn't resist the taunt.

  > We need to meet. We could do amazing things together.

  >Not into crazy.

  >You intrigue me.

  >I'm smarter than you.

  >We need to meet. You are good. But I am better.

  >Not happening.

  >We shall see. As an olive branch to solidify our new relationship, you have five minutes until a nasty virus I uploaded six months ago activates. I could stop it if you'd give me access.

  Jewell hopped up and hit the red button at the side of her desk. A shrill warning klaxon sounded, alerting every operator in the section to immediately secure and backup all data before disabling and disconnecting their systems. She activated the countdown clock setting it to four minutes, just in case the son of a bitch had lied to her about the timing. Her fingers flew over her keyboards. She'd forced her section to practice for this very event once a week since the first breach had been detected.

  Her office door flew open. Jason's massive frame filled the doorway.

  "Sit Rep."

  "Virus, due to activate in less than," she glanced at the clock, "two minutes." She didn't stop. She was racing time to lock down all information and systems before the virus could cause havoc.

  "How did you find it?"

  Jewell locked down her system before she reached behind the computer and yanked her fiber cord that connected her systems to the rest of the facility as well as the power cables. "It was written into script left in the system six months ago." She didn't have time for fifty questions. She barged past him and ran down the steps to help her people. Jason followed on her heels.

  "Can we stop it?"

  "As long as everyone follows procedure, yes. Let me finish this. I'll give you a report as soon as I can." Jewell dismissed him and started pulling cables along with the rest of her team. The klaxon sounded again giving them a one-minute warning.

  "Clear in Section One!"

  "Clear on Two!"

  "Comms are down and secured."

  "Video feeds are down. One satellite feed for an overseas op in progress."

  Fuck, that meant Jacob…

  "What the hell is happening?" Her brother Jacob stormed into the section bellowing like a rampaging elephant. Jason called him over. Thank God for that. She didn't have time to pacify her family right now. They still had two sections and five information platforms to secure. Her team converged in an orchestrated dance of chaotic precision.

  "All IS platforms segregated."

  "Section Three is clear."

  Jewell raced over to the last section. She took over and directed the operator to the back of the station. "Pull those fuckers when I tell you." She'd never typed so fast in her life. The lights in the room flickered. Fuck, fifteen seconds. She watched the system shut down and silently begged it to hurry. There!

  "Pull it!"

  Jewell looked up in time to see the last seconds click off the clock. The Klaxon silenced, and the lights returned to the indistinct lighting her operators favored.

  "What the fuck happened?" Alonzo, one of her senior operators and programmers, damn near screamed the question from across the room.

  Jewell shook her head and pushed a large strand of hair behind her ear. "There is a virus that was embedded months ago. It was set to activate in five minutes." Her quiet reply carried in the sudden silence of her section. Her hands shook from the adrenaline pumping through her system.

  "Jewell?" Jason's voice brought her head up. She glanced around and noticed Jacob was gone. He'd probably be trying to clean up any mess from the sudden loss of intel from the satellite feed.

  "How bad is the effect on Jacob's mission?" She didn't really want to know, but if people lost their lives due to this incident, it would be her fault. They hadn't found the virus, and they had swept every system. Now it was a matter of segmenting platforms, compartmentalizing information and mitigating any losses the virus could cause.

  "The team aborted without incident."

  "Thank God."

  "How much longer are we going to have to do this dance?" Jason leaned against one of the workstations. "What alerted you to the threat?"

  The pressure of his questions fell hard around her. She was dealing with a genius; she had no idea how he'd left code they hadn't seen.

  "I don't know. At least we were able to contain it. I'll send you my report when I get this cleaned up. It will give you the details." She glanced at her team who had gathered behind her.

  Jason lifted off the workstation. He surveyed the theater and her people. "You did a great job. Thank you." He turned and headed toward the door. "Fix this, Jewell," was tossed over his shoulder. God, she wished she could. Hell, she thought she had. All the hours of work. The weeks she never left the fucking building, and still they missed a threat. How?

  She flopped down onto the chair and drew a deep breath.

  "Standard protocol, boss?" Alonzo's quiet question prodded her into action.

  "No. This time it's all eyes on every system. I want everyone to have buy-in on all sweeps. If we don't find where the virus is hiding or figure out how to stop it, we won'
t have an agency to work for, so it's all hands on deck. I want each section to be sanitized before we connect to anything, anywhere. We start with the mission critical equipment and work down. Understand?"

  All heads went north and south. "Okay, separate into specialties. I need all my coders at the top station. We are running code, line by line. With the programs on the clean computer, we can make a comparison." Jewell looked around and spoke to the rest of the room. "After the code is scoured, we need every eye on the programs in case this shit is located in something other than the operating platforms. Nothing goes up until every one of us has cleared it. Got it?"

  "But if it is a polymorphic virus we aren't going to have any contextual clues to go by. It will change its appearance with each infection." Darla plopped down on one of the station chairs as the handful of coders reached the top workstation.

  "So we scan for algorithms as well as strings. Hang tight for a second." Jewell popped into her office and retrieved the clean laptop and the charging cord. She sat it down on the workstation. "My guess is we have a hybrid, a multi-partite, and a fucking nasty one."

  The groan that came from several of her best employees echoed her own internal lament, but she couldn't let them see it. "Good news is, we will be getting more overtime."

  Cayden snorted. "What good is money if you never have any time off to spend it?"

  "This shit will pass, man. We thought we had it all, but now we need to buckle down. If any of you can't hang, speak up." Alonzo's voice held no room for bitching. Jewell threw him a grateful smile. She'd go toe to toe with anyone when there was a computer issue, but she wasn't great with the one on one interactions. Alonzo was good with people. They set up shop in silence. It was going to be one hell of a long night. Jewell sighed, who was she trying to fool? They'd be lucky to get through the clean-up in… She glanced around the section she'd built and shook her head, it would take weeks to make sure they were clean.