93 Roof garden

Next morning Aiden spent in Sarah's office discussing tools they are using for password cracking, network scanning, network analyzers, scanners for databases and files, etc. When he finished introducing tools they are using, he concluded. "I noticed you are using other tools. Do a comparison of these versus the ones you are using, and if you find that yours are performing better, let me know. Based on what you suggest, we might modify our tools or just use the ones you are using."

He talked about the hardware and how he is using it when he is working on a project. "We have seven data centers available. They are under various names and companies and can't be traced to White corp. When I work, I use at least five for my signal to bounce before landing on the target. As soon as you ping one of servers in that data center, script will start executing for that server to start sending and receiving random traffic. In case you are being traced back, these signals are decoys that will give you more time to pull out. In case outside trace reaches last data center you are using, it will forcefully kill the server, so that you can't be traced back here."

Sarah carefully listened all that Aiden explained. He gave her more links and resources. He checked the time. "It's almost time for lunch. I want to show you lab where servers are, let's go and check it out before lunch." Aiden stood up and went to the door.

Sarah didn't move. He turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised. "Why are you not moving?"

"I'm not sure if you are using code words or not."

He laughed. "Which one would you prefer?"

"I feel that no matter what I answer I will be at a loss..." Sarah admitted with a smile.

Aiden came back and took a seat on a chair next to her. He tilted his head and observed her face carefully.

She found that he is too close, and his smile made her heart rate go up. "Can you not flirt with me here?"

"You started it." He accused her.

Sarah pursed her lips. "I guess I did."

He leaned in for a kiss.

Sarah protested while putting her arms between them. "Not here."

"Just one." He inched closer.

"It's never just one…" Sarah was leaning away.

"OK. You can stop whenever you had enough..." Aiden held back of her head and pulled her closer for a kiss.

"It's never enough..." Sarah said between kisses as she kissed him back.

There was a knock on the door. Sarah panicked for a moment before answering. "Come in."

"We are going for a lunch, newbie, do you want to join?" It was Daniel. He looked at Aiden and added, "You too, of course."

Sarah was not interested, but Aiden was needed by all of them, and she should not monopolize him at work... because of this they should join. 'But what if Evalina is there? Well, that will give him a chance to reject her advances.' Sarah was not sure if she would be able to handle seeing that... in a moment there was flood of thoughts in favor and against. So, she decided to look at Aiden, and let him decide.

Seeing that she is looking at him, Aiden thought for a second and nodded.

Sarah braced herself and forced a smile. 'Lunch with everyone it is!'

"Great! We leave in five minutes!" Daniel exclaimed and left Sarah's office closing the door behind him.

"Come, I want to show you something." Aiden said with a smile. It looked that he has something on his mind.

"What about lunch?" Sarah reminded him.

"We will do that also."

Sarah could only respond with an "OK."

They stopped by Daniel's desk first. "You go ahead. We will join you shortly. Treat this as a team event."

Daniel and Fox were happy. If something is a team event, it means cost is covered from the team budget. Everyone loves free lunch.

Aiden took Sarah to the elevator and pressed to go to 22nd floor. From there, they took another set of stairs up and ended up on the building roof. Sarah was surprised that roof looks like a well-maintained garden. Roof is covered in a layer of lush, neatly trimmed grass, there are four benches, each is facing a different direction, and all is surrounded with flower beds.

"This is nice!" Sarah said and observed the view. 360-degree view from the roof was better than the one from their apartment. Here Sarah could also enjoy view of the North, where mountains could be seen in the distance. Aiden took a seat on one bench and patted next to him gesturing to Sarah to join. Once she sat, he hugged her, and she leaned her back on him.

He inhaled scent of her shampoo before talking. "Jeff will be here tomorrow. He will ask to meet with you."

Sarah thought for some time. "I'm sure there is a reason you are telling me this"

Aiden nodded. "He wants to talk about Eve."

"What about her?" Sarah frowned.

"I'm not sure exactly, but he is interested. My guess is that he will want either to add Eve to the company or for you to make another version."

"Eve can't be duplicated... and I don't want her to be part of any company. If that happens, she will not be mine anymore."

"I know... that is why I'm telling you this." He kissed back of her head.

Sarah nodded. She knows that Aiden is giving her advance notice so that she can be prepared for what is coming. Thinking about that made her feel warm and fuzzy. She sank deeper into his embrace. Feeling safe.

They sat like that on the bench for some time before Aiden checked his phone. "Let's go to lunch." He texted Daniel to confirm where they are, and Aiden and Sarah headed to meet up with them.