Order of the Omni: A Supernatural Romantic Suspense Novel (The Immortalies Book 1) Penny Knight (100 best novels of all time TXT) 📖

you go,” the blonde server places the coffee on the table. “Is there anything else I can get you? Maybe a hot serving of pancakes?” she asks.

“Thanks. No, I’m ok. There are pancakes up there,” I nod to the buffet. “I can grab them if I change my mind.”

“Oh no. If you want some, I will get them freshly made for you,” she says. She really provides amazing service. As she waits for my answer, I do another scan of the others that are here, a middle-aged woman on her laptop who is looking around, raising her hand for service.

“I’m ok, thank you,” I say again.

“Ok, if you need anything just let me know,” she nods and walks off. The woman on her computer calls out, and the server holds up her finger indicating she will be with her in one minute.

This feels a bit weird. Scanning the restaurant, I see the bartenders look down like they have been caught watching me. I glance at the caterers behind the buffet, and they do the same.

I checked the mirror before I left the room. I’m pretty sure my makeup is ok and there’s nothing on me. Now feeling paranoid, I grab my phone and open the camera to look at myself. I look fine, nothing out of place or smeared on my face.

“What are you doing, taking a selfie?” The chair moves and Topher sits down.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m doing,” I say rolling my eyes, and put the phone down. I’ve never taken a selfie in my life.

“Yeah right,” he scoffs. “Hey, I have to tell you something.”

“Ok cool, hang on a sec.” I lean forward then take a quick look around, making sure no one can overhear. “Do you notice anything weird here?” I whisper.

“Huh?” He looks baffled. “Weird? Really, is that an actual legit question after this week?”

“No, not that weird. Like weird with the staff here. Like they are watching and really, really nice.” My eyes go wide. “Like a Stepford wife nice.”

He laughs. “You’re mad, woman. No, I don’t think aliens have taken over the staff and planning an evil attack.”

“Aliens?” I screech. The old woman reading her tablet looks up, eyes wide. Oops. I grab my coffee and take a sip.

“Shh,” Topher shakes his head. “Relax, would you? They’re all being nice to you because they think your banging their boss.”

“What? Are you serious?” I raise my voice again.

“Yep, we are staying in his room. Natasha says you’re the only girl that has ever stayed in his room.”

“Who’s Natasha?”

“The server over there,” he points to the blonde from earlier.

“How do you know her?” I ask.

“Um, because I asked. Plus, I told her it’s true and I’m your brother. Seriously, I tell ya, we’re like royalty here.” He sits back and smiles.

I stare at him, stunned. “You have issues, you know that?”

He winks in response.

I sigh. “So, what did you have to tell me?”

His smile fades and moves closer.

“I finally cracked it,” he whispers.

“The laptop?” My ears perk up and I scoot closer. Wait, I have already forgotten about my pact of not doing anything this weekend. But this is big. Just this one time and then, vacation. Or pretend vacation.

“Yes, it took ages. But I got in this morning,” he says. “The most I can find so far is that he was developing a virus. He has like three Zero-day exploits in the script. It’s unbelievable,” he says in awe.

“Topher, I don’t know what that means.” He always does this. “I need you to speak plain English when it comes to tech.”

“Ok,” he sighs. “Let’s just say that it’s hard enough to get one exploit, but three is nearly unheard of. He would need people in high places. These are vulnerabilities in software that even the companies aren’t aware of yet. So, he can use them to get a back door into a network from possibly a phishing attack to hack into a system.”

“Right, ok.” There was still a lot of geek talk I didn’t understand but I think I got the gist of it. “So, who was he planning on attacking?”

He throws his hands up. “I don’t know yet. There was Versiti in the code a few times, so maybe that’s a clue. I haven’t looked it up.”

“Did he have time to do it?”

He shakes his head. “It was still in development. I’ll look more into who he planned on attacking. I just needed food first. I also need to notify the right parties about the vulnerabilities so they can look at updating the security just in case others are doing the same.”

I nod. “Whatever he was planning to do with it, The Uprising seemed to want it. What was that name again, Vasil something?” I ask as I unlock the phone.

“Versiti,” he says as the blonde server approaches with a large plate of food.

“Ah, you’re a gem,” Topher says and she giggles, placing the plate in front of him.

“Your usual,” she says.

“Perfect, as always. Thank you, Natasha.” He winks at her.

I peer up from the Google search on my phone and shake my head. His acclimatising very well to this lifestyle.

“Your chai latte is just being made, I will bring it out shortly,” Natasha says.

“You’re the best.” He smiles and picks up his knife and fork and she leaves.

He digs into his food, my eyes still on him. “What?” he asks, his fork midway to his mouth with a piece of hash brown on it.

“Nothing, your highness. Are you going to be able to handle your normal, pedestrian life at the Port after this is all over?”

“Why do you think I’m so nice to Leo? I’m hoping he’ll end up adopting me.”

I bark out a laugh and look down at the results.

My face screws up.

“Hmm.” I scroll through the list and they all seem to refer to the same thing. “A blood research centre.”

“Huh?” Topher says through a mouthful of food.

“Versiti. What’s coming up here is a facility in Wisconsin, USA. A Blood Research