Chapter 2
“You know I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important,” Max said. “It’s not like you to have holiday plans. I know you, old man, remember? We go back a long way.”
Liam McConnell shook his head, then spoke into the phone. “Don’t remind me how long, okay? I’m not getting any younger, and trust me, it shows,” Liam said in a deep voice that still held traces of an Irish accent even though he’d been living in the United States since he was a young boy. “So, go on, tell me, what’s so damned important? I’m all ears.”
For the next fifteen minutes, Max updated Liam on the situation at Telluride. He knew for a fact that Liam McConnell was the best in the business when it came to information security. He had a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, a Harvard law degree, and had worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for two years before going out on his own. He was one of only a few experts on electronic-information security. Max knew that Liam could pick and choose when and where to work, but he was also sure that Liam wouldn’t turn him down. He was offering his best cabin at the resort as long as he wanted and, of course, he would pay him whatever his usual fee was. Then he had an added surprise, but he wasn’t going to mention that just yet. Something Grace had cooked up, and he’d agreed wholeheartedly, though that wasn’t the main reason for his wanting Liam’s help in finding the culprits who were trying to destroy his business.
“And you think one of your employees is hacking into your systems?” Liam asked.
“More than one,” Max said.
“You do realize I am at my beach house on Sanibel Island and planned to spend December fishing and relaxing?”
“No, I didn’t. If you can’t do this, I understand. I just wanted the best. And you are the best,” Max added with a lilt in his voice.
“Ah, you do know how to get to a man’s heart. All right. I am yours. For two weeks. If I haven’t located the source, then I’ll have had a free ski vacation, and you, my friend, will be shit out of luck.”
They talked more, laughed about old times, then Liam wrote down the date when he would need to fly to Colorado. After they finished their call, he had a strong suspicion his old ski buddy had something more than a job waiting for him.
Liam shook his head and reached for his iPad. Plans were made to be changed. While he disliked the idea of spending Christmas at a ski resort where hundreds of people would be filled with holiday cheer, he supposed it could be worse. In all honesty, he’d truly been looking forward to spending a few weeks at his home on Sanibel Island, but Max was a good friend. Liam counted his few close friends as priceless. If forgoing a bit of fishing meant helping his friend out, he consoled himself with the thought that he could fish any time. With that in mind, he called Pierce, his pilot, and made arrangements to have his Learjet available for a trip to Colorado.
Liam wasn’t much for holidays. Any of them. Too much money spent on silly things, in his not-so-humble opinion. He remembered a woman he’d been dating last year. She’d spent a small fortune on a fountain pen for him. He’d wanted to take it back to the store where she’d purchased it and insist she use the money for something meaningful. like a charitable organization. He had more expensive fountain pens than he could count. And to be honest, he liked BIC pens much better. The woman—he couldn’t recall her name—had been deleted from his list of female contacts. The list was getting slimmer and slimmer. The women who knew him knew that he was fairly well-off. Indeed, that seemed to be the major attraction he held for them. Unfortunately, for him it was an instant turnoff.
Whatever happened to women with respect? Brains? Goals other than marrying a rich man to take care of them, to provide them with meaningless baubles and fancy cars? He was sure he’d remain a bachelor because there didn’t seem to be that one special woman who couldn’t get past his wealth. Or, if there was, he hadn’t met her yet.