Allison Trent is extremely WIRED to puzzles and computers,
and with those abilities hacking comes easily. Though she
prefers to call it "visiting." She never takes anything for
herself but still worries that someday she will be caught.
Between working on her degree in college, modeling on the
side and trying hard to stay off the radar, she has a full
life. Still she comes to the attention of the F.B.I.
Especially one F.B.I. agent who is very interested.
Agent Liam Scott is seeking a solution to problems with
leaks in the department and only a skilled hacker will do.
He wants Allison to break into the F.B.I. computers and
find the leak and the traitor. His plan is simple -- find
the genius to do the job and get it done. He can't
understand why she doesn't want do work for the agency.
Allison might find Liam to be a handsome devil, with
his "Aussie" accent and the fact that he seems to get her
and not think she is weird is nice, but -- why is the
perfect man one who could arrest her?
WIRED is everything fans look for in a Julie Garwood book
and, as always, you won't want to put it down. Her
characters have a depth to them that makes them real. The
family dynamics in her storylines are always unique. Poor
Allison has an extremely unique aunt and uncle and I
actually cheered out loud (luckily I was home alone) when
she was finally able to stand her ground and put a stop
their abuse.
I have to admit that as far as Liam went, I did have a
tough time with him. Loved his accent, his dimple his sense
of fair play but it was his "she's an asset so hands off"
attitude that bothered me. It wasn't that he had that
rule but that he just couldn't stick to it. He gave off
such mixed signals that even I wanted to kick him. He did
finally admit that she is more important than his job and
got to the rescue just in time. Which we knew would happen
but this author likes to make us wait for the HEA.
Added into this well written, if somewhat twisty, love
story are a number of interesting set ups that included a
computer program that could potentially be worth millions
that someone else wants, an overprotective sister and her
husband, an assortment of friends that include Jordan
Clayborne (from SHADOW
DANCE), her roommates (two guys)
and a very sweet clothes designer Giovanni Donato. Throw in
just the right hits of danger and intrigue and you have a
romance written as only Julie Garwood can.
It may have been awhile since Ms. Garwood has given her
readers a contemporary (according to her website the last
was FAST
TRACK in 2014) but she's back and I had a
blast visiting her action packed, love filled world once
again.
A beautiful computer hacker and a bad-boy FBI agent
must
collaborate—in more ways than one—in the sizzling new
novel
from #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie
Garwood.
Allison Trent doesn’t look like a hacker. In fact, when
she’s not in college working on her degree, she models on
the side. But behind her gorgeous face is a brilliant
mind
for computers and her real love is writing—and hacking—
code.
Her dream is to write a new security program that could
revolutionize the tech industry.
Hotshot FBI agent Liam Scott has a problem: a leak deep
within his own department. He needs the skills of a
top-notch hacker to work on a highly sensitive project:
to
secretly break into the FBI servers and find out who the
traitor is. But he can’t use one of his own. He finds the
perfect candidate in Allison. Only, there’s one problem—
she
wants nothing to do with his job and turns him down flat.
What Liam doesn’t know is that Allison is hiding secrets
that she doesn’t want the FBI to uncover. But Liam will
do
nearly anything to persuade her to join his team, even
break
a few rules if that’s what it takes. A temptation that
could
put his job—and both of their futures—on the line...
Excerpt
Allison looked at the wall of agents behind her. She had
had enough of Phillips’s patronizing attitude and wanted
to get out of there, but it was apparent she wasn’t being
given a choice in the matter, so she reluctantly
followed. They proceeded down a hallway where the
walls were clear glass. There was so much activity she
didn’t know where to look first. They passed a huge room
filled with computers and techs, all men dressed in suits
and ties, but with their jackets off. Allison stopped to
watch. They were typing furiously and watching their
screens. Against the far wall facing her was a giant
world map. Dots of light appeared with lines curving
from relay station to relay station, bouncing off
satellites around the globe. It was obvious to Allison
that they were trying to pinpoint the exact location
where a cyberattack originated, but the person or persons
at the source had put up barricades. The screen was
filling up with more dots, indicating the techs weren’t
getting anywhere.
When Phillips noticed Allison wasn’t behind him, he came
back for her. “What are you doing?”
She didn’t answer for a couple of minutes. As she
watched the lights jump across the screen, she began to
recognize the pattern. It was one she had seen before.
“Is that a training session?”
“No, of course not. This isn’t a training facility.
These are all professionals.”
“Then why is it taking them so long to…” She paused.
Trying to be more diplomatic, she revised her question so
that it wouldn’t sound antagonistic. “How long do you
think it will take before one of them pinpoints the
location?”
“It could take a day or two, sometimes longer, and
sometimes the location disappears before we can locate
the point of origin.” He stared at her while she
continued to study the map, then offered a challenge.
“You think you can do better?”
There it was again, that smartass attitude in his tone
and expression. She decided she wouldn’t let him
irritate her, but then he said, “I didn’t think so.”
Oh, it was so on. She brushed past him, opened the door,
and walked into the room. The air smelled clean but with
a hint of aftershave. Every male in the room looked up
at her and froze. She smiled, hoping to put them at ease
as she walked over to a tech in the back row and said,
“Would you mind if I have a try?”
All heads turned in the direction of Phillips, who was
still outside the glass. He nodded.
Another tech nearly knocked his chair over when he stood.
“Here,” he said, “You can use the station next to Stan.”
He rushed to the back row, inserted his card into a slot,
then pulled out the chair. “Here you go. All set.”
He introduced himself. Then eleven others followed suit.
They wanted to know why she was there, but she didn’t
explain. She sat, adjusted the chair, stared at the
screen for several seconds, and started typing. Her mind
was so focused on the task at hand, she no longer was
aware of her surroundings.
Phillips stayed outside feeling annoyed. He had a lot of
work to get done, and this exercise with Allison seemed a
waste of time to him, but orders were orders, and he
would, of course, acquiesce. His instructions were to
show her the unit before the evaluation; however, her
sudden focus on this cyber problem might just produce the
results he expected. If that happened, he could bid Ms.
Trent good-bye sooner than later.
“Sir, how long do you think it will take before she gives
up?” one of the agents asked.
Phillips didn’t answer him.
Another agent said, “She doesn’t need to know her way
around a computer. Not with looks like that.”
“Do you realize how sexist you sound, Pierce?” the first
agent chided.
Phillips kept checking the time. Fifteen minutes passed
before Allison stopped typing. She reached for a small
Post-it, picked up a pen, and wrote something. Then she
stood and thanked the techs for letting her join them.
“Give up?” Phillips asked what he thought was the
obvious question when she came through the door.
Smiling, she slapped the Post-it on the lapel of his
jacket, turned, and walked down the hall to find Jordan.
He pulled the piece of paper from his lapel to see what
she had written. It was an address in San Francisco,
California. “What the…”
“Sir?” Agent Pierce standing next to him motioned to the
map on the wall. Every tech had stood and was watching
as dot after dot and the connecting lines disappeared.
In less than a minute only one dot remained. Above it
was an address, the same address Allison had written on
the Post-it.
“Did she do that?” the agent asked.
Phillips was frowning as he handed him the Post-it and
answered. “Yes.”
“How…how did she do it?” Pierce wondered.
“I don’t know,” Phillips admitted.
“Do you think it’s the right address?”
“I do. Roberts, call the San Francisco office. Tell
them to get a SWAT team out there.”
“Yes, sir,” Roberts replied, rushing into the nearest
office.
The three remaining agents glanced at each other. “What
if we’re wrong?” Pierce asked.
“Then we’re wrong.” Phillips was looking up at the empty
screen when he said, “Healy, you better go get him.
He’ll want to see this.” And gloat, he silently added.
“He was right, wasn’t he?” Healy asked.
Phillips sighed. “Apparently so. Go get him,” he
ordered again. “And, Norton, you bring Miss Trent to my
office. Where did she go?”
“She’s in the encryption room with Mrs. Clayborne. I’ll
get her.”
Pierce spoke up. “I’ll get her.”
“No, I’ve got this,” Norton insisted, hurrying away.
He found Jordan and Allison surrounded by men who were
all trying to explain what their job was. When Norton
told Allison that Phillips wanted to see her, Jordan
offered to go with her, but Allison told her to stay.
Phillips was on the phone when she entered his office.
He motioned for her to sit, but she continued to stand in
front of his desk. The second he disconnected the call,
she blurted, “Aren’t there any women working here?”
Detecting annoyance in her question, he retorted, “As a
matter of fact, there are women working here.”
“I haven’t seen any,” she replied.
“We’re just filling positions for this new office, but we
already have many women on our support staff. And if
you’d gone into other departments you would have seen a
couple of women who are analysts and…”
Allison didn’t hear the rest of his answer. Out of the
corner of her eye she saw a man walking toward the
office. There was something familiar about him. She
lost her train of thought, and, although it was rude, she
turned her back on Phillips and watched as the man came
closer. The gun told her he was an agent. A tall,
attractive agent, she corrected, with sandy blond hair
and the physique of a Roman gladiator.
He came into the office, his expression serious. He
looked at Phillips for a brief second before turning his
gaze to her.
“You were on the mark,” Phillips told him with a hint of
reluctance.
“Yes, I heard,” he replied.
Allison looked up at him in amazement and recognition.
“It’s you,” she said. “You were at the seminar when
Jordan spoke. You were watching.”
“Yes, I was there. That was a while ago.” He seemed
surprised that she would remember.
“What is this all about? What’s going on?” She didn’t
give him time to answer before adding, “Who are you?”
The agent just smiled and held out his hand. “My name is
Liam Scott. And I am very
happy to finally meet you, Allison.”
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