Tamed by Texans (Doms of Destiny, Colorado 5)

Chapter One

Jena Taylor hit the send button and smiled. “Who says crime doesn’t pay?”

She shifted in her chair. Four hours of coding had made her shoulders tight. Stretching, she looked around the large expanse of the warehouse.

I would’ve never dreamed I’d be in Odessa, Texas.

It was already past six o’clock. How much money was Scott Knight willing to spend?

Apparently, quite a lot.

This was the seventh control room he’d set up for her. She’d estimated the funds it took to get all this equipment to be more than one hundred thousand dollars. It had to be more than a million in all the locations.

Going legit felt great, especially with the kind of bankroll Knight had.

Time to relax.

She sipped on her coffee. Just a few more tasks and then she could get some much-needed rest back at her hotel.

She’d dreamed of being on this kind of project since leaving MIT and escaping Carl, her ex-boyfriend.

A real job. A paycheck. Security.

What a difference from her recent past. Skimming a few bucks here and there from deceitful unsuspecting corporations had been necessary. Selecting only the greediest and worst companies to steal from, she’d merely kept a portion of the proceeds to shelter and feed her family. The money had been used to keep Kimmie safe and away from Carl. The rest had gone to the corporations’ former employees who had been laid off to ensure the bastards at the top got their big bonuses.

Now, she was getting real money, playing the role of a cyber criminal instead of actually being one. Her boss was a billionaire who had her testing his company’s security systems. She’d already shown him that they weren’t foolproof.

What a shock it had been to get Mr. Knight’s introduction e-mail.

Of course, her first inclination had been that it was a trap.

She’d almost gotten caught last year when she’d siphoned ten thousand dollars from a known mobster. The FBI’s trace on his transactions had captured her digital trail. That’s when she’d left Kimmie with her mom and hit the road. It took three mont

hs of sweat and blood, but now she felt safe from being discovered.

God, she missed her daughter. Now that things had finally settled down, she believed it would be safe to go get her. With the big payday Knight was going to give her once this job was complete, she could have a fresh start with Kimmie and her mom.

When she’d verified that the origination of Knight’s e-mail was TBK Tower in Destiny, her worries about it being a trap had subsided.

This morning Knight had e-mailed her a virus he wanted to test on the new firewalls. When she first tried it, no go. Then she put her tweaks in, and voila, she was in.

She was definitely doing her job. There had to be at least thirty or more sleeper viruses inside their network. The past few months had been more difficult due to the two new coders they’d brought on. The security measures were top of the line, but she’d broken each and every one of them.

The game with those two excited her.

She liked their handles. Tall Texan and Country Boy.

“Let’s see what you do with the code I got past your firewall today.” She imagined them as geeky-looking guys—oversized glasses, skinny, non-threatening. “Check. Your move.”

This was fun for her.

Computers made sense. People never did.

Computers didn’t betray you. People always did.

Computers were pure logic. People? Never.

Just two more weeks and her big payday would be here. No more running.

A bang shook her from her thoughts.

The front and back doors swung open at the same time, and three men with guns rushed in.

Her heart was racing. She stood and lifted her hands to the sky.

The one with hazel eyes looked at her with surprise. “I never expected you to be a woman.”

The guy who had come in through the back shook his head. “Might be sexist, but me neither.”

Her hands were shaking. “I never expected you to find me.”

The one in the sunglasses kept his pistol pointed at her chest. “Name?”

“Jena. More importantly, who are you?”

“Gorgeous, we’re asking the questions here, not you,” the hazel-eyed stud said.

“You’ve got the guns. I know who is in charge.” All she could think about was her daughter. She had to survive this for Kimmie. “Take what you want. It’s all yours.” Knight must’ve insured this place. He would be out nothing. Besides, none of it was worth her life. Kimmie needed her.

The handsome guy who’d entered alone from the back leaned forward. “You working alone?”

“There’s about five people that should be coming back from break any time,” she lied, shaking her head.

“About five? Not true. You would know exactly how many people work here. Good try, miss, but cut the lies.” The man in the sunglasses was quite attractive, too. But unlike his two buddies, he had a silver band around his wedding finger. He turned to the hazel-eyed guy. “Matt, cuff her. Sean and I will start carrying this equipment out.”

What are they going to do with me? “Hold on. Are you the police? There’s been a mix up apparently.”