Shelby Quinn

I wander around the desks that are piled high with various chips and drives, watching as The Hacker's deft fingers sweep across the backlit keyboard. Logan enters the password to his sophisticated setup and soon several screens flicker to life, booting up to display various kinds of operating software, none of which make any sense to me.

The jargon that flickers across the glass may as well be an alien language for all I know..

"What does this one do?" I lean curiously over one of his open laptops that appears to be running financial figures and he jumps to his feet with an inpatient scowl carved into his dark brow..

"Don't touch that!" Logan barks and I take a swift step back, holding up my hands in feigned surrender, muttering under my breath..

"I wasn't going to touch it, Jeeze!" I roll my eyes at the overprotective way he strides across the room to check on his computer, as if it were some precious newborn baby whose life I'd threatened at knifepoint..

"It's mining." He types in a few quick details and the screen flickers to a pleasant image of seaside scenery, disguising whatever he had been doing.. "You break it, you bought it, Barbie. Might wanna keep your hands to yourself.. Unless you feel like digging a ditch deeper into my debt."

"Pfft, oh please. I don't owe you a damn thing, Lone Star.. We have a deal, remember?" I wrinkle my nose in objection and he chuckles quietly before returning his attention to the main screen, leaving me hovering awkwardly at the opposite end of the office..

"You're such a pain in my ass, Beauty Queen, how could I possibly forget?"

"Whatever.." I grumble, glancing between his laptop and him. "What do you mean mining, anyway?"

"Crypto currency." Logan replies as if the terminology means anything to me other than the obvious..

"Mining for money? What is that, like digging through the sofa cushions of the internet looking for loose change?"

“Sure.. That's one way to put it.." A half smirk tightens one side of his mouth..

"Why?" I question out of genuine curiosity.. "What do you need it for?"

"I use it for virtual trade." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now, do you want to sit here discussing the finer points of blockchain, or do you want to know about my progress breaking into Blackstar's system?"

"No, show me your progress.." I hurry over to stand beside him, looking over his shoulder as he pulls up some kind of diagnostic panel.

"So– Gabriel's been updated since the last time I accessed the clearance information stored on their servers, the open ports have all been patched.. That shit is locked down, airtight, so now I gotta find a new way in." He makes a surprisingly patient attempt to explain his process to my ignorant ears, but the words are lost on me..

"I literally have no idea what any of that means." I admit and he smiles knowingly.

"Gabriel is Blackstar's privacy protection software, it's made by Sabre Security, and they recently added fixes to the errors in their backend script that allowed me to access the holes in their firewall. So now I need to find another vulnerability to exploit since they updated their system to lock me out.. It's gonna take me some time.."

"Oh.. So.. You're looking for, like, a back door or something?" I simplify, feeling stupid for my below basic understanding..

"That's exactly what were looking for." He nods inclusively towards the screen where a black and white interface ticks and scans.. "See I wrote this forced entry script and it attaches itself to all their external data logs, looking for a way in." For once he doesn't patronise me as if I were incapable of comprehending, but his expression turns to one of doubt. "Wait– Am I boring you with all this?"

I shake my head vigorously, not wanting him to stop talking.. "Not at all.. I just– kinda wish I understood it better.."

The way his mouth moves to shape around the intricate explaination and the way his eyes light up with interest humanizes him in a way I've never stopped to consider before.. His passion is powerful and it's effect on me even more so..

"It looks more complicated than it is." Instead of dismissing me he appears almost excited by my interest, eager to teach me and becoming more animated, proud of his achievements as reaches out to drag the chair in the corner closer for me.. "Here, sit down– I'll show ya."

I sink into the chair, watching as he pulls up a breakdown info page through the browser that lists the basics of what he is saying. My eyes scan the bullet points and I am quietly amazed by the impressive capabilities of his software.. "You really created this program?"

"Yeah-huh.." He smiles.. "Actually– I wrote it the day I met you."

"I knew you were going to help me." I nudge him in the arm with my elbow and he chuckles..

"No you didn't, Barbie.." His intensely rich amethyst gaze engages mine and I feel a heat spiralling up from my belly, spreading through my limbs, flooding me with unfamiliar feelings..

Sitting so close to him I can smell his cinnamon scent and my palms feel clammy as I rub then over my jeans..

Oh shit..
He makes me nervous..

Severing the tension I turn back to the screen as I clear my throat.. "Uhem.. So.. Did you really go to Annenberg?"

"Yeah-huh." Logan hums.. "Got my masters in political science and global comms.."

"Yikes.." I breathe.. "So you're like– smart smart.. Did you go on a scholarship, or–"

He scowls through a dry chuckle, shaking his head.. "You're doing it again, Barbie.."

"What am I doing?" I blink..

"Being a snob." He rolls his shoulders back.. "Yes it was a scholarship, I couldn't afford tuition back then.. And no– I didn't cheat and hack myself into admissions if that's what you're thinking.."

"No– I wasn't implying anything– it's just impressive.." I bite defensively, frustrated with myself for the unflattering tone of my percieved judgement.. Forcing a softer approach, I sigh.. "You raised Dallas all by yourself and somehow still found time to get a dual degree– I mean–I barely managed to graduate.“

He lifts his head to frown at me, studying me as though trying to discern if I am being truthful or fucking with him.. "That's not true, you graduated with an MBA and full honours."

"How do you know that?" The flutter in my chest spikes to a sharp sensation..

Logan, seemingly unaffected just smiles and shrugs.. "I know everything about you, Barbie.. You're kinda– fascinating."

"Fascinating, huh?" My cheeks burn and I find myself half flattered and half unsettled.. "I thought you hated me.."

"Oh, I definitely do.." He grins.. "But you're an Ivy League Beauty Queen Marine.. They don't make 'em like you where I come from.."

I laugh, the sight of his earnest smile lightening the weight that has been constantly crushing me for so long.. "They don't make them like me anywhere, Logan.."

He winks.. "It's a good thing too.. Any more of ya and I'd go insane."

"Hey!" I giggle.. "And just when we were starting to get along.."

"Aw, hell, Barbie.." He gazes at me with a newfound appreciation, softer and warmer than ever before.. "You're not so bad, I s'pose– for a Fed."

"I guess you're not terrible yourself.." I narrow my gaze on him, my stare searching the depths of his vibrant eyes for answers.. "Even if it is a little bit creepy that you know everything about me.. How do you do that?"

"Call it research.." He shrugs.. "I prefer to know what I'm getting myself in for.. Though nowhere in your background file does it say anything about your combative attitude– Iris really should make a note on that–"

"In sure she had it pencilled down somewhere.." I reach up to brush my ponytail back over my shoulder, feeling suddenly self-conscious on the receiving end of his good humour.. I can handle him being an asshole, actually that made it easier to forget about how drop dead gorgeous he is.. But this whole playful, funny and charming thing he is doing, is utterly disarming.. "I still don't know a thing about you though, it hardly seems fair.."

"I s'pose not.." He hums in agreement.. "But I doubt knowing any of it would make you like me anymore.."

"What makes you think I don't like you?" I bite as he rolls his eyes..

"Please.." Logan scoffs.. "It's written all over that pretty face everytime you look at me..

"Oh, so you're a mind reader as well as a stalker?" I smirk and he staves off a smile..

Leaning back in his seat he folds his arms casually across his broad chest, the fabric of the soft grey shirt he wears clinging to the perfectly sculpted mass of muscle underneath.. "I prefer to think of myself as a curious opportunist.."

I shake my lusty head, forcing my eyes upward.. "Well, I haven't even had the opportunity to be curious about you, you've been too busy trying to make me hate you.."

"So, are you?" He leans a little closer as he arches a sculpted brunette brow in my direction.

"Am I what?"

"Curious about me?" He grins mischievously, a twinkle in his espresso eyes..

"Maybe.." I admit halfheartedly, unwilling to give myself away.. Of course I am curious. The man is a mystery, everything about him makes me twinge with lustful interest and twist competitively into knots..

I don't care if he hates me, but still, I want him to like me.. I want him to see me as a woman and not one of the guys.. I want him to notice me in the way all my Marine Corps peers had dismissed and overlooked me..

"Shoot, Shelby, what'dya wanna know?" He cocks his head to one side..

"Okay, how about, where are you from?" I start simply, already knowing the answer since Dallas had spilled his secret at lunch.. But I had promised her I wouldnt say anything and I would really rather hear the truth from him firsthand..

"I'm from Texas, mam'.." He shifts uncomfortably with a polite and rigid nod..

"Obviously.." I giggle.. Anybody with ears could tell he is from the lone star state.. "But like, where in Texas?"

"Waco.." He suddenly turns his eyes away ashamed and I bite my bottom lip.. The same calculation of his age racing through my head to paint a clear picture of what I had already assumed.. 

He must have been a kid over twenty years ago which means he lived in Waco during the siege on The Children of David church..

Everybody knows about it, the siege is part of the zeitgeist, it's just common knowledge..

He lifts his amber eyes to frown at me, his gaze guarded.. "I know what you're thinking, Beauty Queen.."

"What am I thinking, Loagn?" I know I shouldn't ask the question, but the curiosity in me burns white hot, a deep desire to know his secrets yearning in my chest.

"You're wondering if I was anywhere near the Hilltop Compound when the Feds went in and took control of them crazies from the church.." He sneers at me as if I were a sideshow patron, amusing myself with his scandalous and controversial history.. "Right?"

I nod honestly, in no position to lie.. "Were you?"

"Yeah-huh.. I was born there.." He brushes a hand back through his thick, dark hair, pain etching it's way onto little lines around his eyes.. "My mom and dad.. They were big COD believers.. They put their faith in the wrong guy and it got 'em killed.. Me and my sister Dixie became property of the state after that.."

"Fuck.. No wonder you hate Feds." I breathe.. "Logan, I had no idea–"

"No idea what? That me 'n my sister were raised in a cult?" A dry chuckle rumbles low in his chest, bitter and sad.. "Cus I seem so fucking normal 'n all.."

I shake my head at him.. "You are definitely not normal.. You're something else.."

His gaze burns into mine like warm cognac swirling in crystal cut glass, beautiful and deep with a haunted sorrow behind it.. "Aw yeah? What's that?"

"I dunno– you're – you're different.." I confess, glancing back at the code that runs across the multiple screens of his computers.. "You're smart and capable and you look after your niece like she were your own.. Honestly, I've never met a guy like you before.."

Following my lead he too turns his attention back to the screen, clicking around at various intervals.. "Careful, Barbie, or I might just start to believe you have a soft spot.."

"Maybe I do.." I shake my head and he stops his tapping to tin back to me, bewilderment burning in his stare.. "Or maybe you're not who I first thought.. I guess I'm still trying to figure that out.." The intensity becomes too much for me and I break eye contact, looking down to where his hand rests beside mine on the desk.. "But there's more to you than meets the eye.."

"So the ice queen thaws.." He chuckles to himself.. "S'pose I'll take that as a compliment.."

"It was a compliment, Logan." I assure him, swallow my pride.. "I was wrong about you and I'm sorry.."

"It's alright." He waves a dismissive hand, fixating again on his code but I reach out to squeeze his arm, drawing his full attention to me.

"It's not alright, Logan.. I was rude to you and I made a snap judgment when I should have just been grateful.." I struggle steady my voice.. "And it was selfish of me to have Iris try to convince you into taking this job.. Listen, I'm not proud of  the way I acted, but I was so desperate for you to help– I–I didn't know what else to do– My father is the only family I have left and after what happened in Strysakstan– I-I- I can't be alone– I can't lose him–" I choke on the words, unable to explain myself..

"Hey–" He turns to angle his muscular chest and stacked shoulders in my direction. "Seriously, Barbie.. We're good.. I haven't exactly been in my best behaviour.. Lets just call it even and find your dad."

"Dallas was right–" I smile.. "You're a good guy, Logan."

His fingers slowly creep across the desktop toward mine, inching closer until his thumb brushes over the backs of my knuckles, a strained whisper of tension caught between us as he growls my name with a deep gravelly breath.. "Shelby– What happened to you in Strysakstan?"

What is this dumb dizzy drunkenness he has hypnotised me with? It makes me want to tell him things I've never told anybody, not even my therapist after the Corps made a quitter out of me..

Around The Hacker I am like an open vault, all my secrets tumbling out to scatter at his feet, all my senses stupefied and my words coming out all crazy and confused..When I'm with Logan I'm not myself.. I'm somebody else, a completely different woman and I have no idea who she is.. But maybe I want to find out..

"I–" My gaze lifts back to his and I find myself drawn into his intense warm-whiskey pools of passion, leaning closer to inhale the scent of his cologne, saccharin and rich, like brown sugar and cinnamon spice.. Everything about our connection is electric, I know that whatever is happening between us is dangerous.. But I'm just so sick of playing it safe.. "I was captured and–"

-BUZZ-BUZZ-BUZZ-

A humming vibration shatters the tense silence and I start as his hand jerks suddenly away from mine before I reach for the buzzing in my pocket. Blinking up at Logan with apologetic eyes, I wince.. "Shit.. Sorry– I have to take this.."