He indicated his Mac then gestured to his laptop resting on the shelf behind him. “Is there a way to tell if you’ve been hacked?”

I blew out a breath, happy to have something to work with that was familiar. “Are you experiencing any issues with your software?” I asked, setting my bag in the empty chair in front of his desk.

“No,” he said.

“Okay.” I rubbed my palms together. “Is the computer moving slower than usual?”

“No.”

I dropped my hands. “What makes you think your equipment has been compromised?”

“I didn’t say I thought I had been. I was asking you if you could tell.”

I narrowed my gaze. “Theoretically, yes,” I said. “If I dug deep enough, sure.”

Tanner raised his brows, his eyes casting a calculating look. “Interesting.”

“I wouldn’t suggest hiring someone without reason, though,” I added.

“Why is that?”

“Because if you have no symptoms, you’d be paying the tech hourly to look for something that may not be there.”

A small, tight grin as he slid his hands in his pockets. “Well, I wouldn’t hire someone. I have you.”

I swallowed hard. Sean had mentioned Tanner constantly used him for tech support when he’d been at Wilmont, but Tanner’s tone was what made my gut twist. Like he knew he could call on me for whatever he wanted because he understood perfectly well how much sway he had with admissions boards.

“It would be difficult to hack your system anyway,” I said finally, glancing at his Mac.

Tanner straightened. “Are you speaking from experience?”

I blurted out a laugh, but Tanner wasn’t amused.

“No, sir,” I said, shaking my head. “I wouldn’t be that stupid. Plus, I don’t have a need.”

Not 100 percent lie.

I hadn’t hacked him.

Yet.

I had only recently settled on an idea for the challenge with Amber—a desktop switch for every computer in Wilmont. It would take days to untangle, and even longer for me to pull off.

“I mean that Sean hooked up your security so well…” I ran my fingers through my hair, shrugging. “It would take someone incredibly skilled to crack it.”

Tanner looked down at me like he was trying to unlock some sort of puzzle.

I stared back at him, totally blank. Why had he called me in here if his tech was showing no signs of tampering with?

The prank.

“Is this about the video, sir?”

He stalked around his desk, stopping in front of me. “Do you have any leads on that?”

I furrowed my brow. “No.”

“I thought that perhaps those who joined your little Code Club might be prime candidates, but you’ve only had one person interested.”

That’s the main reason he forced me to run the club? To monitor who had the skills to take his system down?

That makes sense.