Hacker Wedding Read online

  Hacker Wedding

  Linzi Baxter

  Linzi Baxter

  Contents

  1. Sam

  2. Patty

  3. Sam

  4. Patty

  5. Patty

  6. Sam

  7. Patty

  8. Antonio

  9. Sam

  10. Patty

  11. Sam

  12. Patty

  13. Sam

  14. Patty

  15. Sam

  16. Sam

  17. Sam

  18. Epilogue - Wes

  Pursuing Phoenix - Sneak Peek

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Hacker Wedding

  White Hat Security, Book 9

  Copyright © 2021 by Linzi Baxter

  Cover Artist: Cassy Roop, Pink Ink Designs

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without permission of the author.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  1

  Sam

  My fist connected with the punching bag, a poor substitute for having a fight in the ring. Across the gym, I heard the sound of flesh connecting, and I grunted in frustration. Nobody in the gym would fight me, but not because they were scared to lose. Nope, I was engaged to the future queen, and they worried about hurting me. I feared I might explode if someone didn’t challenge me soon.

  The bag gave me a good workout. I huffed with each punch, and perspiration slicked my body. Not wanting to stop, I used my sweatshirt sleeve to dry the moisture dripping in my eyes.

  The men who worked for the royal family considered me royalty, not a hardened SEAL who spent hours boxing with his teammates and friends. I contemplated leaving the palace and finding a boxing gym, but the royal guards kept a close eye on me at all times. Only one of the guards knew the secrets I kept from Patty, and I needed to let my frustrations out soon, or I might explode.

  Secrets from Patty were the last thing I wanted to have. It wouldn’t be long before she figured out what I was hiding. I needed my team in Shialia to help fix the issues. My brothers back in Fort Lauderdale weren’t my team anymore. I’d handed that company over to Brock a few months after Patty and I moved to Shialia. The men I’d hired for Shialia over the years were good, but not as good as the men and women back in Florida. The staff in Shialia were all members of the royal family and followed the old protocols. When Patty officially took over, I’d work with her to change a few of the policies—mostly ones put in place more than a hundred years before.

  Brock or Antonio Ross wouldn’t care if I was royalty. Both would jump into the ring and probably lay my ass out. I hadn’t fought anyone in five years—not since I was at my gym in Fort Lauderdale. Patty and her missions in life were more important than me being in the ring.

  My second-in-command walked over and handed me a bottle of water and a towel. I wasn’t the only one dripping with sweat. Wes Barley leaned against the wall, catching his breath, his knuckles gashed from a fight in the ring.

  Wes was one of the first men I’d hired after moving to Shialia. He came recommended by Patty’s dad. At times, I wasn’t sure how much I trusted the king because he seemed to keep too much important information to himself. When we hired Wes, I’d been desperate, and he had a great résumé. He was a former SEAL injured in the line of duty. I was lucky to have him as part of the royal guard, but he wouldn’t get in the ring with me, either. I’d even tried bribing him with a large sum of money.

  I unwrapped my hands and wished they had a few cuts or bruises—something to make me feel some pain because I deserved it.

  “Looks like the workout did nothing to cool your mood.”

  I pulled the damp sweatshirt over my head. “It would be better to actually fight someone.” I threw the wrap in the trash and sat down on the bench.

  “You really need to read the policy guide for yourself. Nobody is going to subject themselves to imprisonment for fighting you.” Wes had spent hours learning every aspect of the policy. It came in handy because I hated reading through the old laws. His second-in-command wasn’t the only person to constantly remind him of the rules—Patty’s guards did it too. All new hires went through a two-month training on protocols and rules.

  I shook my head. “Patty wouldn’t put someone in jail for joining me in the ring,” I laughed. This wasn’t the first time he’d heard the argument, but we had enough other issues to talk about.

  “She wouldn’t have a choice,” he countered, running a towel over his face.

  “Who would report someone to the court system for getting in the ring with me?” I let out a sigh.

  “Someone wanting to get a leg up or a promotion,” he replied before twisting the cap off his water bottle and drinking half.

  Rochelle walked into the gym area. I’d seen her around the palace a few times, but she seemed to come into the gym more often lately when I was working out. I had no clue what she did for the palace—I didn’t know what most people did. But something felt off about her.

  Wes tensed next to me as she sauntered over only wearing a black sports bra and workout shorts. She pulled her blond hair back. She was pretty but was nothing compared to my future wife.

  “Hello, Mr. Blackwood,” she purred.

  Wes cut in before I could respond. “Is there a reason you're bothering His Royal Highness, Rochelle?”

  I hated being called Royal Highness, especially since it wasn’t official. Not until Patty and I married would I have the title, although most around us already considered us together. Even being called Mr. Blackwood drove me crazy. From the tick on Wes’s jaw, I could see that this wasn’t the first run-in he’d had with Rochelle. And from the determined look in her brown eyes, it wouldn’t be the last.

  “His team keeps telling me his schedule is busy. But clearly, he has time if he’s in the gym every day,” she countered, glaring at my second-in-command.

  “I’m right here. You guys don’t need to talk about me like I’m not. What was it you wanted to speak to me about?”

  A smile spread across her face, and she reached up and pressed her hand to my forearm. Even without fighting in the rink, my reflexes were still fast. I quickly grabbed her hand and pushed it away.

  “I asked what you needed. I didn’t give you permission to touch me,” I said.

  Rochelle stuck out her bottom ruby-red lip. “The security in the palace has gotten a little over-the-top. The guards won’t let me bring my boyfriend with me to work anymore. I can’t video anything in the palace, and furthermore, Patty doesn’t need three guards. Who would ever want to kidnap her, anyway?” She didn’t let me answer before she continued. “You know, many other women would happily fill your bed.”

  I blinked, not believing the vile words that came out of this woman’s mouth, or the fact that she outright said she wanted to sleep with me. “Let’s get one thing straight. I wouldn’t touch you even if someone paid me. Patty is my fiancée and the only
woman I will ever sl—”

  “King Beckett slept with many women around here,” Rochelle said.

  That wasn’t the first time I’d heard about the women of the royal staff who the king slept with. Wes tensed next to me and ground his teeth. My second-in-command didn’t seem to like when anyone put King Beckett down.

  It really surprised me that we hadn’t found more of the king’s children. That was one of the projects I’d been working on and keeping from my wife. I’d developed a task force to hunt down all of King Beckett’s children. The number was lower than I’d initially thought.

  Once the DNA proof was in place, I would let Patty know about her siblings, but not until I had everything in order. It would be her choice what she wanted to do. I didn’t care as long as she had an option.

  Rochelle made my blood boil. The fact that she wanted to videotape inside the palace was ridiculous. A month after moving to Shialia, Patty and I had decided to block videotaping in the palace after we found four YouTube channels making money off someone filming there. A month before, we’d implemented a new house rule that we would fire anyone caught doing exactly what Rochelle wanted to do.

  There was a chance the person who’d made the videos was Rochelle. We also had a leak from inside the palace. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from yet. It seemed whenever we were about to question someone regarding the local kidnapping, the person disappeared. Rochelle was part of the problem the palace had been facing the last few years. I was sick of dealing with it.

  “You’re fired,” I said.

  “You can’t fire me,” she screeched and took a step forward. Everyone in the gym stopped and stared. “I work for the king, and until he comes back, there is nothing you can do about it.”

  My lip twitched. “You’re wrong.” I smiled, loving the fact I could get rid of this woman and not have to see her again. “King Beckett put Patty in charge, and I’m in charge of keeping everyone in this place safe. You are a threat to security, if you don’t exit the premises in the next five minutes, I’ll have you arrested.” I wouldn’t really have her arrested. My need to knock the woman down a few pegs was buried deep inside.

  One of the palace guards walked over and wrapped his hand around Rochelle’s bicep. “I’ll make sure she gets off palace property immediately.”

  Wes nodded. “Make sure to have her security disabled right away.”

  “This isn’t over,” she growled as the guard escorted her out of the gym.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d heard those words. Scarier men made those threats and didn’t live to carry them out. Patty and my daughter were my concern. My daughter would one day take over for Patty, and I wanted a country she would be proud to lead, not the mess we were still working on cleaning up.

  “I do have to give her credit for tracking you down,” Wes said. “Maybe we should start closing off the gym for when you want to use it or have another gym built for you.”

  “No, we are not closing this place down when I need it. Our background check on staff isn’t working,” I muttered.

  Brock and his team were busy in the states. I’d used the staff put in place years before to run background checks, but it was time I looked deeper into what they were doing.

  “It will take years to recheck everyone’s background,” Wes said.

  I nodded and headed for the showers. When I came out, Wes was standing in the locker room, wearing a perfectly pressed suit. He sat down on the bench near my locker as I got ready. His jaw clenched. The entire time we worked out, I could tell there was something on his mind, but he wouldn’t have asked many questions at the gym. Too many people listened to everything I said.

  Once I was ready, he followed me to the left of the building and into the secret passage that led back to my office. Only a few people were allowed to use the tunnels. Dim lights glowed in the narrow walkway. I could hear Wes’s steps behind me. I knew he wouldn’t leave me alone until he’d said his piece.

  “Out with it, Wes,” I growled.

  “Have you told her?” he asked. I couldn’t help but wince. “Her father doesn’t want her to know yet.”

  “He doesn’t want her to know he’s back in the country or that he’s planning to shift power over to her?”

  “Both,” I sighed.

  “How about the news that you found five more of her siblings?”

  “I’m not sure she needs the added stress!” I barked.

  Wes was the only person who pushed me about the fact that I was lying to Patty. If Brock or Antonio knew what I was doing, they would do the same thing—tell me I was an idiot for keeping something from her. I planned to tell her. I just didn’t know when I was going to do it. Wes seemed to be pressing the sibling issue even harder than usual.

  “Bullshit,” he said.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” I hated myself for keeping the secrets. Lashing out at Wes didn’t make any of the shame go away. The longer I thought about it, the more it stressed me out. “I’ll tell her tomorrow.”

  “Today would be better,” he said.

  I opened the old oak door to the back of my office, the one place where I could escape from everything in the world. In my office, I could lock out the troubles. Except that Wes had followed me from the gym. There was no escaping the conversation we’d been having since Patty’s dad arrived in Shialia.

  Luckily, the palace was so massive that William Beckett could stay in the guest quarters, and nobody would even realize he was there. He’d made me promise that I would wait a few more days before telling Patty about his plan and that he was back in the country. I needed my close friend Brock and his wife, Jessica—Patty’s twin sister—to come to Shialia early. Brock would help me wade through the family drama that would unfold over the next couple of weeks.

  “Instead of worrying about what I’m not telling my fiancée, you could work with the local police to figure out how these women are disappearing.”

  “Throwing the missing women’s case in my face isn’t going to take away from the fact that you’re keeping things from my...from Patty.”

  “Fuck. I know you’re working with the police. It’s frustrating that every lead we get is blown. It’s also fucked-up that the royal guards aren’t allowed to interfere in police matters. The only thing the chief has to do is meet with us and explain what is going on. If they would work with us, we could find these women sooner. And I could figure out if the mole is on our team or the police force.”

  “The media is going to run the story soon.”

  Worry slid over me. “I’m thinking about adding another guard for Patty.”

  There wasn’t any pattern to the girls and women who disappeared. They all had different hair color, and their ages ranged from eight to forty. We couldn’t find a single tie between them.

  “We don’t have any extra guards.” Wes poured himself a drink and sat in the chair across from my desk. “Unless you want to hire a few more people from outside of the country.”

  I’d hired Wes after King Beckett had told me about a SEAL who’d been injured and wanted to work with a mercenary company. The idea of hiring more former military people was on my mind. “Do you know anyone looking for work?”

  “I might know someone, but he’s not a frogman. He worked for MI6. The last time I spoke with him, he was talking about doing contract work.”

  “Do you trust him?”

  “Yes,” he said without hesitation.

  “Okay. Get him here as soon as possible, and let me talk to him. I also plan to call Brock and Antonio and see if they can come earlier than planned, since the power transition will happen before the wedding. At least the coronation won’t be for another year.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Wes nodded and exited through the main door of my office. I pulled out my cellphone and dialed Brock’s number. My longtime friend answered immediately but with sleep in his voice. I winced, knowing it was the middle of the night. In the past few years, I’d of
ten called without paying attention to the time. At least my friend never seemed to mind.

  “Sorry,” I grumbled.

  “No problem. What’s going on?”

  “I was wondering if you and Jessica could come a week early. You're not the only two I need. I’m planning to call Antonio, but I’ll wait until morning. No way do I want to be on Kat’s dangerous side. Who knows what she’ll give us for a wedding gift.”

  Brock chuckled. “My guess is you’ll get an alligator. She tried to give us one, but I took it to the everglades and let it go.”

  They all still included me in the group texts, and there was a chain of them dedicated to Kat and her antics. For years, she’d worked as an assassin for the CIA. Now she ran a women’s shelter, but she tended to kill any man who crossed one of the women there. Then she would manage to feed the bodies to the alligators in her backyard.

  Patty and I don’t need an alligator.

  “Yes, I can come early,” Brock said.

  “You don’t even know why I’m asking you to do this.”

  “We talked about it at the club last weekend. Everyone needs a break, so we planned to come earlier, and Jessica misses her sister.”

  I worried that Jessica wouldn’t come. I also knew my wife wouldn’t hold it against her sister for not making the trip. On two different occasions, Jessica had been kidnapped and tortured. It bothered me we were still having issues with women getting kidnapped.

  But the guests would be safe in the palace. One of the first things I’d done when I moved to Shialia was to have cameras installed in every inch of it except the tunnels.

  “Patty doesn’t know I’m asking you guys to come earlier yet. Her father has been back for a week.”