Burned Hearts (Burned 3)

“Something caught your attention.”

“Yes. This.” I pointed at the icon on the screen. “Devices with removable storage.” I clicked on the official-looking shield with initials in the center of it and a new page came up with Encryption Launcher stamped across the top.

Dane asked, “What are we looking at?”

“It’s a program that launches an encrypted, password-protected thumb drive.”

“I don’t have one of those.”

“We should definitely get you one, then. For all this top-secret stuff you collect.”

“I’m officially out of the spy business, remember?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Because I’m willing to bet that Ethan has an encrypted thumb drive and used it with your computer.”

“Ari.” There was a hint of warning in his tone.

I knew I was about to cross a line. Again, this was Ethan we were talking about. Dane trusted him above all else—with the exception of Amano.

Still, I flashed Dane a look that I hoped conveyed my confidence in what I was doing.

I explained, “What happens when you use one of these storage devices is that you plug it into the USB port and the program automatically downloads so that you can put in a password and move files onto the external drive—without them ever hitting your recycle bin, so you don’t really know what’s been copied over. Or removed.”

“Fuck,” he mumbled.

Continuing, I told him, “When you’re done, you eject the device. Now, if you do it correctly, shutting down the thumb drive through the icon option, I think the program goes away. If you just pull the device out of the USB port, the program remains installed.”

“As it currently is.” He straightened.

“Yes.”

I felt the rage instantly radiate from him but still jumped in my seat as he bellowed, “Son of a bitch!”

chapter 15

“This can’t be right, Dane.”

He prowled the office once more. I didn’t disturb the flight path, letting him mentally dissect this new twist for a few minutes.

When the suspense became too much to take, I asked, “What purpose would Ethan have for moving files from the hard drive to another external source?”

“Must’ve been something on the laptop that he didn’t want me to see.”

“Are you suggesting he spent the entire trip back from Switzerland going through all that documentation you’d collected and somehow felt threatened by some of the information?”

“I can’t think of a better explanation.” He gazed unwaveringly at me. “Can you?”

My spirit sank. What could Ethan possibly be doing behind Dane’s back?

“Obviously,” Dane said, “Ethan is keeping things from me. Like knowing my father.”

“That is odd, I’ll admit. Questionable. Once again, what purpose would he have for not mentioning it when you first arrived at Harvard?”

“I can’t think of a single reason. So my father was a Yale man. That wouldn’t have any bearing on why he wouldn’t tell me they’d met seventeen or so years prior to me showing up on the Harvard campus.”

“No, it wouldn’t. At least, not in my mind.”

Our eyes remained locked. I could practically see his brain churning. Likely, he thought back to the time he’d met Ethan, his years at Harvard with him, the business investments they’d shared, the secret society they’d served.