Free Breach of Trust by Jodie Bailey Page B

left his side four years ago, Meghan felt the kind of safe she’d never been able to find anywhere else.
    Leaving the army had been her wisest decision ever if her skin could still flush this hot whenever he was around. She felt a little bit like some of the middle schoolers gushing over whatever boy band was hot on any given day. He made her stomach flutter, as though little dancing chipmunks had taken up residence there.
    Chipmunks? She should bang her head against the wall. A concussion would go a long way toward explaining the insanity rising inside her. Fighting a tremor, she flipped the cover on the alarm and keyed in her code, silencing the insistent call of the tiny device.
    Like yesterday.
    Meghan froze, the cover light as she held it halfway closed, all thoughts of Tate and what might have been blown to shreds. “Who gave you the alarm code?”
    â€œWhat?” Tate was closer than she’d thought; his question came from over her left shoulder.
    â€œIsaac had the alarm code.” In the same way she’d done in the past, Meghan ignored the way he churned inside her, tangling her emotions and stealing her professional coldness. “Where did he get it?”
    The silence stretched long, and Tate took a step back, allowing Meghan to gather her composure. She slipped sideways and turned to face him. The dim light played shadows on his face, making him seem almost menacing. He could easily intimidate anyone who got in his way...or be the man whose quiet strength had long ago let him work his way into her heart.
    â€œI’m assuming from Phoenix,” Tate said, oblivious to her thoughts. “He could have hacked in or—”
    â€œThe alarm is a closed system, and it’s hardwired. Once the alarm company installed it, I plugged any holes. The system is controlled by a dedicated computer in my office, and it has no off-site network capabilities. Passwords are individual to the user. Six of us have one. Unless he was physically in the building to see someone key their code or to gain access to the computer...” The idea he’d physically walked the halls around her and she’d missed it made her skin burn. She turned on her heel and headed for her office. If she never did anything else, she was eliminating this hacker.
    Tate was at her side. “Why the tight security? You training future operatives in the computer lab?”
    â€œHa-ha.” Meghan pushed all the sarcasm she had into the words. “We had a break-in last year. Vandals trashed the building. Holes in the drywall, razors to the carpets, spray paint everywhere.” The epithets dripping down the walls had been horrific, invectives too hideous to say out loud. “The kids never saw it, but I’d hate to think how scared they’d have been if they had. We lost a couple of families in the aftermath. The police upped patrols, and we strengthened the alarm system. I’m the sole nonadministrator with access because I run network security.” Yvonne, the principal and a friend since high school, had had to convince the board Meghan’s credentials made her more capable than any security company.
    Meghan shouldered her office door open. On humid days, it always stuck, the heavy wood screeching a protest against the metal frame. “Isaac had a key, too.”
    â€œHe didn’t.” Tate took a post inside the doorway and watched the hall. “I bumped it.”
    She should have known. He’d long ago mastered opening doors by using a specialized “bump key” to manipulate the tumblers inside a lock. She’d tried to talk the school into more sophisticated locks, but the cost was too prohibitive. “Who rearmed the system?” Small puzzle pieces kept dropping. If she’d had to turn off the alarm today, someone had reset it last night.
    Tate shifted and caught her eye, not letting her turn away. “Since I told you to get as far away as you could as fast