“What was it?” Peyton asked.
That’s when Ken realized they were all staring at him, and his face heated. “Um… Short version is she inserted a thumb drive with files on it, and someone added a bug to send her information to them.”
Peyton scowled. “Who?”
“I don’t know yet.” He went to the cloud drive to look at the mirrored data. “There are a bunch of spreadsheets and PDFs, and the metadata on them comes from the same computer that bundled the software.”
“Like someone gave her the drive on purpose to infect her computer?” Trevor asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Do any of the spreadsheets have to do with the corporation?” Peyton asked.
“I. Don’t. Know.” He safely copied those files, encrypted them, then sent them to Gillian before calling her.
“Ken?” she sleepily answered. “What’s wrong?”
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t check the time.” He quickly filled her in, and she sounded far more awake. “Let me get my laptop.” A moment later, she said, “Yeah, they’re here. I’ll get to work comparing them to the business records we have. But…” She went quiet.
“But what?” he asked.
“I’m seeing references to things that I believe I’ve seen in the files we’re pulling from the cartel’s computers.”
“Hang on.” Ken put his phone in speaker mode and set it on the table. “You’re on speaker and Peyton’s here, too.”
“Hey, you rat bastard hubby of mine.” She laughed. “Love you. You haven’t disappeared again, right?”
Peyton chuckled. “You realize I’m going to let you get away with a lot over scaring you, don’t you, baby?”
She laughed again. “Damned right you are. Anyway, here’s what I’m seeing…”
Five minutes later, Peyton looked pensive. “You think these might be records dealing with the cartel?”
“Maybe. But these are different.” They heard her typing. A moment later, she gasped. “Son of a bitch!”
“What?” Ken and everyone else asked from their end.
She laughed. “Someone gave her cooked books.”
“Are you sure?” Peyton asked.
“Reasonably. Nothing I’m seeing here adds up, and I know we’re getting good data from our end. It’s like someone took the data, changed it, and then uploaded those files to this drive.”
“Along with the bug they dropped onto her computer,” Ken said.
“Exactly,” Gillian said. “Like she doesn’t have direct access to the data the way we do.”
“Can we get Alvarez to contact our guy inside to see what he knows?” Peyton asked.
“I’ll talk to him,” Gillian said. In the background, they heard the baby fuss. “Oops, I need to go take care of the princess.”
Peyton suddenly looked distraught. “Love you, baby. Kiss her for me, please?”
“Love you, too,” she gently said. “And I will.”
When she ended the call, Ken retrieved his phone from the center of the table. Peyton slumped back in his chair, his gaze unfocused, staring at the table.
“You okay?” Ken felt certain he was tuned in to his fellow new father’s current mood.
