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"The press calls me an internet entrepreneur but I'm a web developer and programmer at heart.
I've designed software and various applications in social media. Some have done extremely well and
some flopped right out of the gate."
"You designed a secure chat software for the military?"
"I did."
"Some people can be touchy about military applications, even the ones with the most innocent
uses. Have you ever received any hate mail or threats about working for the US government?"
"First, I don't work for the government. I designed HomeFront independently and licensed the
rights to it the DOD. Secondly, yes, of course, I've received some nasty-grams from unhinged jerks
but that was years ago. They were all cranks. I haven't heard a peep out of them since then."
"Do you make a lot of money doing this?"
"I'm starting to, yes."
"How much?"
"That's a complicated question."
"Ten million? Fifty million?"'
"More than the first but currently much less than the latter," I answered a bit cryptically. "If
you're talking liquid assets I could get my hands on in a week or less, I mean. If you're talking the
current valuation of LookIt and the amount I personally stand to bank if I sell the platform to Insight,
then you could easily quadruple that top figure."
The expression on Kelly's face changed to one I couldn't read. Before I could contemplate what
he might be thinking now that the numbers were on the table, Lev continued with his barrage of
questions.
"Insight is that internet search engine, right?"
"They started as a search engine but they now own pieces of various social media platforms,
news organizations and digital media companies."
"And what is LookIt?"
"It's a blogging platform."
He shot me a bemused smile. "And why is called LookIt? Is this an American expression I'm
unfamiliar with?"
"It's something my brother used to say," I explained. "Whenever he got annoyed with me or
thought I needed a lecture, he'd say, 'Look it, Bee& '"
"I see." Lev scribbled on his pad. "And your company is called?"
"JBJ TechWorks."
"Your company currently has how many employees?"
"We have twenty-one, including me, in the Houston office here, but we also outsource on a
contract basis with various providers for tech support for the users of the blogging platform."
Lev made more notes. "And of the twenty people in your office, how many of them are against
the possibility of selling to Insight?"
"None."
Lev's eyebrows arched. "None?"
"They stand to make a lot of money if the sale goes through," I explained. "They've all been
incredibly encouraging. Most of them have been with me since I put out a call for help during a
hackathon I held over Spring Break a few years back. They want this as badly as I do."
Lev frowned. "A what-athon?"
"Hackathon," I supplied. "It's when a group of coders get together to tackle a project."
"I see." His pen scribbled some more. "You compensate your employees well?"
"Sure. We don t have the outrageous perks some of the startups in Silicon Valley offer but it's
still very nice."
"What about ex-employees?"
Two names came to mind. "I'm currently being sued by Richard Hawkins. He was hired to be
the COO of JBJ TechWorks but he didn't work out so well. The guy had all the right qualifications to
push a startup into the stratosphere but he was extremely difficult. It wasn't a good fit so I let him go
after seven or eight months."
"Why is he suing you?"
"He started a new company and poached some of my employees. One of them is a guy named
Trevor Cohen who stole a project from me and used it as the basis for one of their products. When we
rolled out the original product in beta, Richard sued us so I countersued. Now he's brought a second
suit against me for more compensation based on the employment contract between us." I waved my
hand. "It's a whole complicated thing."
"When was the last time you spoke to either of them?"
"It's been awhile since I've spoken to Trevor or Richard. We communicate through lawyers."
"And is this Richard Hawkins actually owed further compensation?"
"Absolutely not," I said forcefully. "He feels that his connections at Insight are what brought
interest to LookIt but that's not true. The deal they offered wasn't even thrown onto the table until
nine months after he left. He received a generous severance package. Believe me. He made out just
fine on that deal."
"Regardless of what did or didn't happen, he may feel wronged. People do stupid things when
they're feeling vengeful."
I considered the gross gift box. "I don't think Richard is that sort of guy. I mean okay maybe
I could believe that he had Trevor spoof my site but breaking into my home to steal my undies
to& you know?" I shook my head. "That's not him."
"You would be surprised at what some men will do." Lev tucked his notebook back into his
pocket. "We'll need some time to come up with a proper protection plan but I would strongly suggest
you take on full-time guards. You need a minimum of two men working around the clock to secure and
protect your person. We may need to add a third or fourth body when you're traveling or going out in
the evenings."
I glanced at Kelly for some guidance. He nodded in agreement. "All right. Let's do that."
"I'll assign two of my men to start today. If you don't like them, we'll go through the roster until
we find men who fit with your personality."
"You only need to find one other man," I interjected. "Kelly can be one of them and then you can
pick someone else."
Lev cast a quick look Kelly's way. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
"He's personally involved with you. I don't allow the guards to cross that line. It's not safe for
the clients."
I didn't insult Lev by denying what he could see so clearly and bit my tongue at the thought of
correcting his assumptions as to just how close we were. When I dared to meet Kelly's gaze, I was
surprised by the calm expression. He hadn't spoken since Lev began his interrogation but now he
seemed ready to say something.
"Dimitri?" he addressed his boss.
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