Page 35 of Meeting Her Mate
“Does putting your life in jeopardy seem like a fair trade to you for finding things out for yourself?” I asked.
“Ever since I first came across the vampires wandering so brazenly in the forest, and ever since they attacked the Grimm Abode, I have been on high alert. For me, at that time, it seemed like the only logical thing to do. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t have seen Maurice interact with Ralph if I hadn’t taken a bit of risk,” Will said.
“A little bit of risk? I’m sorry, but you were completely reckless. You went all by yourself, with no backup, and you went all the way down to the cove. If someone had found you out, what would have happened? If they kidnapped you, what would have happened then? If someone had opened fire on you, would you have stuck around to find out if you’re immune to bullets?” I asked.
“Which is why I didn’t do it again. I realized my error. That’s why I’m coming to you for help. Now please, what do you make of all of this? And why are you going in there?”
“I’m going to beg the manager to give me my old job back,” I said.
“Surely a woman of your skills and talents can find better-suited work than a waitress at a diner,” Will said.
“What do you even know about me? You don’t know me enough to say something like that,” I said defensively. In truth, what he had just said had shaken me to my core. It was a compliment, something that I rarely received.
Then Will came closer to me and looked me intently in the eyes, and said, “You are profound. I have yet to see anyone stronger in our pack. Quick on your feet and with a sharp wit to boot, you’ve got it all. Why do you undersell and underestimate yourself?”
There was an awkward pause filled with anticipatory silence during which the two of us just stared at each other. For the most part, I was confused, but I was also inexplicably drawn to him as he spoke those words of consolation.
This moment did not last longer than a second. I recoiled, stuttering and averting my gaze, and said, “So…what’s this job you speak of?”
Will reciprocated and took a step back, too, awkwardly twiddling his belt buckle and looking up at the diner’s awning. “The family business. The Grimms run the wharf. I can make sure that you get a managerial position that pays well.”
The bubble of hope he’d inflated burst with a loud pop when he mentioned the wharf. “I worked at the wharf. There’s no managerial position there. It’s all very physical work. Have you ever been to the wharf? Business is down in the dumps. They can’t even afford to stay afloat. Do you see the irony in that? Ever since the vampires started barricading the town exits and controlling who came and went, local shipping businesses took a massive hit. People use other city ports now. It’s only the local fishermen that use the wharves anymore, and even they’re dwindling.” I hated being this pessimistic with him right after he had said those kind words to me, but what I was telling him was the brutal truth.
“Well, can you hold off on begging your old manager for the job for just one more day?” Will asked impatiently, rubbing his brow with his fingers; one of the classic tells that shows a man is getting angry.
“Sure,” I said, not wanting to deal with his grumpy side. “I’ll do that. But don’t you go making a habit of disrupting my daily life.”
“I promise not to disrupt your life from this point forward,” Will said, releasing his pinched brow and forcing a smile on his face. “Do you want to hear my proposition?”
“Go ahead. What’s the big plan?” I looked at the diner one last time before getting back into my truck, making a mental note to return here later.
“Back in the Second World War, the Allied Forces used code breakers. People like Alan Turing developed specific machinery called computers for that very purpose. To decipher the encoded messages that the Axis were sending each other. One might even go so far as to say that Alan Turing’s magical machinery helped turn the war’s tide. Do you know that?” Will asked.
“Duh. They tell that story in every single intro to computer science class in community college,” I said, unsure of where he was leading.
We drove around aimlessly in my truck as Will explained his plan.
“I was thinking that maybe we can do something to decode the messages that Maurice receives on his cell phone. In theory, that can be done, right?”
“That’s awfully bright of you to think of something like that,” I said, genuinely impressed that Will could conceive the idea of hacking all by himself. “Did you really come up with that?”
“Why? Yes, as a matter of fact, I thought hard, and I concluded that this was the easiest way to track down Maurice and spy on him.”
“You know, you keep saying you’re not adjusting well to the twenty-first century, but I think you’re wrong. You’re taking to it quite well. Although your thinking worries me. What you just described is called hacking. It’s highly illegal and requires a level of skill that I don’t possess, but I know someone who does.” As I said this, I began regretting the notion of introducing Maliha to Will. Maliha was a woman without any sense of propriety. Who knew what she’d say that would set Will off and make him angry? It was like throwing kerosene on a dumpster fire.
“Will we be able to track him down using hacking?” Will asked. There was so much sincerity in his voice that it felt like a child was asking a grownup if they could buy ice cream once they were at the store or like a dog whimpering at its master’s feet to let it out for a walk. In so many ways, Will retained his innocence.
“We’ll be able to do more than track him down. We can eavesdrop on his calls, see what messages he’s sending, and who he’s talking to. But like I said, it’s very illegal. We get caught, we’re going to jail for messing with a government official,” I said, hoping he’d back down from this idea and see reason.
“Whom do you know who can hack?” Will asked. Maybe I imagined it, but there was a tinge of jealousy in his inquiry. As if he was being possessive about me. Yep, the deluded prima-donna in me was just imagining it.
“It’s just a girl. She’s sort of like my best friend,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him relax his tense body upon hearing the response. I thought it wrong to smile, but I did anyways. “So, how are things at the commune?”
“I’m training them harder every day, hoping they learn how to become better werewolves and stronger fighters, even the women and children. It’s a gradual process, but I’m starting to see some improvements,” Will said.
“Have you had any more outbursts of anger lately?” I asked, carefully adjusting my tone so that he wouldn’t misperceive it as me being condescending or snarky.
“Yes. I do get these violent fits of rage. But I have learned to anticipate them. Rather than take them out on a person, I’ve started practicing at the shooting gallery.”