“Damn, this is delicious. May I have more?

Nicole held her plate out, begging for another helping. Nick spooned out more of the creamy concoction his adoptive mom had taught him to make. She knew he was going into the Army, and they’d feed him three squares a day, but she wanted to be sure he could fend for himself when needed. He’d never been happier than right now to have been an unwilling pupil to his adoptive mom all those years ago.

“You really like it?” he asked. “Or… is it you’re so hungry you’ll eat anything.”

Nicole scooped another forkful into her mouth and moaned with pleasure. Since he’d heard that very same sound emitted from her during the throes of passion, he took it to mean she was enjoying herself.

“Wiiits deeewishhhus,” she said with her mouth full. He interpreted that as delicious, so he was pleased.

They continued to eat until they’d both had their fill. Nick appreciated a woman with a hearty appetite and not picky eating bowls of healthy grains and strange leafy greens. It was clear Nicole faced life head on, full-steam, and didn’t let shit slow her down.

“You like chocolate?” he asked.

Her eyes widened. “Have you just met me?” She paused, then laughed. “Oh, right… you have just met me. Yes, I love chocolate in any shape or form.”

He had some chocolate bars in his stash. Good for a sugar fill and a lift of caffeine, if needed in a survival situation. He could spare one of the dark chocolate bars if only to put a bigger smile on her face.

“Here you go,” he said.

“We’ll share.” She opened it up and broke it cleanly in half. “Damn, I’m good.”

“Yeah, you are,” he muttered. When she quickly lifted her dark eyes to his, he clarified, “I meant, in your job and such. Programming computer code for military contracts isn’t your run of the mill work.”

She tilted her head sideways as she sucked on the chocolate and considered what he said. “I have a head for math and logic and figuring things out, so I naturally tended to the programming. What can I say? I’m a geek to the core and really love what I do. I’ve been able to work on some cool projects.”

“Like when you worked for Delta Shandong?”

“How did you— oh, right.”

“It was in your dossier.”

“It was a cyber-security firm, and we did do some innovative products. They were always talking about more. Bigger and better things, ways to control the back doors of the internet.”

She plucked another piece of the chocolate, and instead of putting it in her mouth, she served it to him. He opened his mouth slowly and accepted it, careful not to connect his lips to her fingers. “How so?” he asked.

“They wanted full knowledge of key searches so they could sell the data to marketing and advertising firms. Knowing exactly what people are looking up all the time. Also, they were in the market for any kind of encryption devices which never came to fruition.”

Nick furrowed his brows. “Encryption codes?”

“Codes, messages, data, anything traveling on the information superhighway that they could glom on to like shopping preferences, login locations, personal information, and then turn into money.”

“As much as I like using it—and need to use it—the internet sometimes fucks with my mind at how much people can find out about you.”

“Right,” she said. “That’s all part of the programming and the keywords you search on.”

He propped himself up on his chin as he set his elbow on the table. He tried not to focus on her dusty nipples, free of her bra, almost showing through his white T-shirt or how his boxer brief rode low on her hips when she got up to pour herself another glass of cola. He averted his eyes, trying not to remember the feel of her soft ass in his hands, grasping and needing, experiencing all of her.

Coughing a bit to clear his throat, he asked, “So, is that what’s on the data drive everyone’s after?”

She bobbed her head up and down. “See, I got a recommendation from Delta Shandong to go and work at Terratech. I thought it was some sort of pull my father had there since it’s a strict military contractor, yet it turns out my friend in China, Mei Ling, set me up for her dad’s sake. He’s the owner of Delta Shendong, and he was one of the three Chinese men I saw in the boardroom that Saturday morning when no one knew I was there.”

Shaking off this information, Nick halted her. “Wait… I don’t know about this. Start from the beginning and fill me in.” Here, he’d had it made out to him that Nicole, a company programmer, had absconded away with some stolen software programming codes the company wanted back when that wasn’t the case at all. He listened intently as she explained working through the night, going to the kitchen in the early morning for water, and seeing and hearing the exchange between three Chinese businessmen and executives at Terratech. Now, he understood why she was on the run, especially after she shared how they’d called her in for a company interrogation Monday morning and how the goons from the airport had shown up at the building to do God knew what to her.

“So, that’s why I copied the TDE-5X data, source codes, and the security tapes from Saturday morning to show that executives high up in Terratech are selling US military commissioned and getting paid to sell our programs to the Chinese government.” She set down the chocolate and pushed it away. “I mean, what the fuck was I supposed to do, Nick? Let them walk away with a million dollar piece of software like that? Let them bully me and do who knew what else? I had to take matters into my own hands. I had to protect the United States.”

“That’s a tall order for someone so small,” he said.

“That’s just it. It’s not small at all. It’s fucking huge.”

His alpha male protective urges kicked into higher gear, and he was now more sure than ever he’d done the right thing by intervening. “Why would Delta Shandong want something like that if you say all they’re into is marketing data and selling shit to people.”

“It’s a ruse. A cover. Delta Shandong is a front for the Chinese military and their government. This is the level of international crisis shit, I’m telling you,” she said passionately. “You have to understand, TDE-5X isn’t just some device enabling our military to encrypt anything. It’s got a hidden back door to it allowing the potential to decrypt anything. Anyone’s encryption, no matter where it comes from. The algorithms and coding have keyword search criteria that make Google’s search engine seem like a box of alphabet cereal.”

He mulled this over and scrunched up his mouth. “Uncle Sam wouldn’t take it too kindly, the idea of a foreign government having that much access. Or control. Especially after the US government footed the bill for the development.”

“Exactly,” she said. “There’s always been a saying that ‘knowledge is power.’ It’s never been more accurate than now. So, you see why I did what I did. I don’t know who to take this to or what to do about it. That’s why I have to get to my dad. In his position, he’ll be able to get it to the right people and take care of everything.”

Nick wondered if that were the case. Damn right, there was no way TDE-5X could fall into the hands of any other world power. However, his biggest question right now was how did a retired Air Force Brigadier General fit into all of this?