Natural Magick

Natural Magick

Aaron’s Kiss Series

Book 3

By

Kathi S. Barton

World Castle Publishing

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

World Castle Publishing

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2011

ISBN: 9781937593629

First Edition World Castle Publishing November 1, 2011

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover: Karen Fuller

Editor: Brieanna Robertson

Dedication

To all the nerds in my life, this means you Paul. I want to thank you for your help with this one. Sometimes you were a little too “helpful”, over my head I mean, but you kept the systems straight and the computer online. I love you son. Thanks so much, Mom. Also to all of those who just love a good steamy romance. Thanks to everyone. I hope that you enjoy this third book in the series of Aaron’s Kiss and stay tuned for the rest of them. This story is one of my favorites and I hope you love it as much as I do. Kathi

CHAPTER ONE

“
Mr. Bartholomew, what did you think you were doing when you did this? You’ve been caught tampering with the alarm and security system for Mackey Corporation, twice. As much as I hate to tell you this, they are willing to drop the charges if you show them how you managed to circumvent their very expensive system in —it says here in less than fifteen minutes. Is this right?” He turned to his bailiff to confirm the time. It was apparent that the judge was not amused. It was said that he hated hackers and hated young smart-assed ones more. And this company wanting the help of a criminal was not the way the law worked, in his exalted opinion.

“
That’s not correct, sir. My client is a female.”

The public defender had had it pointed out to him just this morning, and was unthinkingly glad to have someone else make the same mistake. As soon as he heard the woman next to him snicker, he knew he had made a tactical error.

“
You really think that this is the time or the place to point out that instead of a boy, your client is a girl? What possible reason could I care what his or her gender is? We are here because that person standing next to you hacked into a company’s system and tampered with it. A company, I would like to point out to you, that she does not work for.”

Judge Lucas was known for his short fuse and his even shorter temper when it came to hackers. And it was just their luck that they drew him today of all days. Pete said nothing as she stood there with her court appointed lawyer.

“
No, sir, I don’t. I apologize for that. My client is willing to work with the company and show them what she was able to do.”

The judge glared. Pete Bartholomew smirked. It was fine by both, it appeared, that there was no love lost between them.

“
Fine! Case dismissed. You have five days to comply with the company’s request. Next case. And you.” He jabbed the gavel toward Pete. “Get out of my court room.”

~~~

“
When can you come by and show us your work?” Jacob Sailor wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. He was waiting outside the court room for Pete when she exited. He was the one who had recommended the security firm that had been hacked into by this twit, his brother-in-law’s firm, to be perfectly honest.

“
I can be there now, or in the morning after eleven. I have another job until ten and can’t be there until then.” Pete answered him with a smirk.

“
Another hack job you have to correct?”

Jacob was royally pissed. He didn’t want to be here, not with her and certainly not in this courthouse. It gave him the creeps for some unknown reason. His boss, Mr. Mackey, had not been happy about how easily the new system had been broken it to, and in less than fifteen minutes after it had been demeaned complete and operational. The whole system had taken nearly a year to write and another six months of glitches to work out before it was finally working. Then minutes after it was installed, the entire company’s bank records, financial statements, profit and loss, everything was captured. At least she hadn’t done anything with the information. She had just emailed the entire package to the president with a little note telling him he had been hacked and how easily it had been done.

“
Nah, this one pays. You should really try and curtail your gambling online on the company time there, Mr. Sailor. Its company time you’re screwing around with. You’re not going to be able to borrow much more against your 401k, and everyone else’s.”

Jacob stuttered for a few seconds, shocked that she had that information, and that she was also correct. He looked around to see if anyone else heard her then realized that no one would care. He was a well-dressed rich man and she was…well, she wasn’t.

“
You just mind your own fucking business and I’ll mind mine. What I do with my money isn’t your concern. You’re just lucky no one is putting your ass in jail like I suggested. And be warned that I still have the ear of the president, hack.”

“
Whatever. Remember, fuck-tard, what goes around can come back and bite that tight ass of yours. So which will it be, now or later? No sweat off my back.”

He watched Pete as she looked around the hall, probably looking for a fast trick, he thought. She looked...well, bored came to mind. As if she didn’t have a single care in the world. Probably didn’t, he thought, living off other people’s money she had stolen, no doubt. He stiffened again, remembering her comment. That’s not what he was doing at all. He was investing the company money, not stealing it.

“
Tomorrow morning, and don’t be late. I have a full schedule. I don’t want to be waiting on you all day to show up.”

Jacob realized he needed away from her before he gave in and simply backhanded her hard across that smart mouth of hers. He might have, too, if he wasn’t afraid she’d hit him back. Women like her usually used violence when they were confronted with someone smarter than them. He straightened up, knowing he was the better person for not hitting her when she so richly deserved it.

“
No problem. See ya in the morning, Jakey boy.”

Before he could correct her on his name, she turned and walked away. Insolent bitch! Well, he would show her in the morning. He would make her wait on him until he was good and ready. Petty? Of course it was, but he was a petty sort of guy.

~~~

Pete was at the office of the Mackey Corporation at ten-thirty the next morning. She hadn’t dressed up. Her jeans and baggy flannel were clean; her black high tops were scuffed but laced up tight, and clean as well. She went directly to the reception desk and told the woman the who, what, and when of her visit. Shelia asked her to wait, as Mr. Sailor was in a meeting. She gave Pete a little smile as if to say, “He told me to say that,” and then winked.

Forty-five minutes, later Shelia called Mr. Mackey.

“
Ms. Bartholomew has been here nearly an hour and Mr. Sailor has yet to come and get her. I don’t think he’s being very professional.” She turned her back to Pete to continue to speak into the phone in lowered tones. “He told me to say that he was in a meeting. I don’t think that’s where he’s at. He called her the ‘hacker extraordinaire.’ What would you like for me to do?”

Shelia had been with the company for many years, working her way up through the ranks as her father had told her to. “If you want to learn a company from the inside out, then start with the bottom rung of the ladder,” he had told her. So she had, and now she sat at the front desk to learn that part of the job, and her daddy, the one and only Mr. Karl Mackey himself, was quite proud of his little girl. And no matter what Pete had done, she had caused the company no harm, but had saved them a great deal of embarrassment if the records had been sent anywhere but to her father. Shelia also believed that Jacob Sailor was an ass.

“
Don’t let her leave, honey. I’ll be right there. If Sailor shows up, well, I want you to keep Ms. Bartholomew there. All right?”

“
Of course, Mr. Mackey. You know you can depend on me.”

Less than two minutes later, Karl came around the corner to receive the young woman.

“
Ms. Bartholomew, I’m Karl Mackey, sorry to have you keep waiting. Come with me, let me show you around. Shelia, when Sailor finally decides to grace us with his presence, please tell him that Ms. Bartholomew is in a real meeting and we are not to be disturbed.”

~~~

Karl had asked Sailor what Pete would require to show the tech team what she had done to break into their system, and Sailor had responded that she just needed a computer. It became apparent that Sailor had not bothered to ask or get any information. He had just assumed. Karl was beginning to see that this was the way Sailor did most of the things he had been assigned, half-assed.

“
We can get you whatever you need to work with. There are ten techs that want to meet with you, pick your brain so to speak. Let me introduce you to them then let’s get you started. I’m sorry; I didn’t catch your first name.”

“
Pete, I go by Pete.”

When she looked at his face, almost daring him to make a comment, he left it at that. She had a pair of dark sunglasses on, but Karl knew that she was looking him in the eye. He had a lot of friends who had to wear sunglasses during the day and didn’t think anything of her doing so now. He was impressed with Pete already and Karl Mackey was not a man who was easily impressed.

At six o’clock, Karl went to the third floor conference room to see how the meeting had gone. He’d been tied up all day in one meeting after another and hadn’t had time to go anytime earlier. He’d just gotten off the elevator when he saw one of his people still at his desk. He told Karl that he’d not seen any of them all day and thought they might be still at it. He believed that they were still in the conference room on the fifth floor. Karl looked at his watch to make sure he had not misread the time as he took the elevator up. It turned out the intern was correct, all of them were still deep in conversation and looked to be nowhere close to wrapping up when he opened the door.