My coconspirator peppers his eggs, rearranges his silverware, then clears his throat. “What about ransomware?”
The assistant clucks his tongue and rolls his eyes. “Those programs attack applications. Ours are all virtual.”
“So, you’re saying it’s impossible to break into the cloud?”
“Correct.”
Huh. His false beliefs give me insight into the company’s mindset. If an intern is spouting this nonsense, it’s part of their culture, and anyone could use it to their advantage.
Chewing his first forkful of eggs, my client swallows, and points to the kid’s laptop. “Can you ask your boss if he has security slides he shows to investors? If so, we’d really like to see them. It could be an immense help to our research.”
Kill me now.
“Sure.”As the kid types into his expensive tablet, I shoot my companion a what-the-fuck look.
More than an hour later, the Power Point ends. Leaning back in his chair, Dash’s dark eyes watch employees bringing back their trays, then he turns to me. “What do you think. Should we go?”
“If you insist.” My professional smile frozen in place, I rise, dump my garbage, and say goodbye at the door.
Soon, we’re back in an Uber where we cross the famous floating bridge.
Inside the hotel, the duplicitous man yawns and stretches in the elevator. “I’m going to catch a few Z’s before our flight.”
Not looking forward to the red-eye, I heartily agree. “Good idea. Call me if I’m not in the lobby by ten.”
“You do the same. By the way, nice job in there today.” As he wanders down the hall, I stop in front of my door, a weird feeling in my gut.
Suds says if you sense something wrong, you should pay attention. Your subconscious has the power to read between the lines, to see between the frames you missed, and to know when something or someone isn’t on the level. Having grown up in the city, I have great respect for spidey senses and right now, they’re tingling. I can’t explain it, but I know with certainty, Dash is up to no good.
In black jeans and one of my husband’s oversized sweatshirts, I tug my hair through the back hole of a ball cap. With the rim over my eyes, and the huge hood pulled over the hat, I play Wordle on my cell phone and sit in the lobby.
Unlike what most people think, surveillance, is hard. One can easily become distracted and miss the moment you’ve spent hours waiting for or become discouraged and give up. A professional, my diligence pays off around seven.
Montclair, dressed all in black, exits the building. As he climbs into an idling Uber, I jump in the back seat beside him.
“Hi there. Where we off to?” I give him a lot of credit for showing no surprise.
“Back to CloudTekToys.” He waves a fob in front of my face and my jaw drops.
There’s no way we can use it. Shaking my head, I speak at a low volume, making sure the driver can’t hear. “Surely, by now, someone will have reported it missing and it will be disabled.”
“Then, we turn around and come back home. By the way, did you notice it isn’t needed to exit the building? Oliver won’t know he lost this until morning. By then, it’ll show up in lost and found.” His smug smile worries me. Breaking and entering is never that easy.
“What about elevator access?” I recall our young guide using a thumbprint and shudder. Did Dash cut off his finger?
“This opens the first-floor door to the stairwell.” As he places the plastic piece in his pocket, I’m still not convinced he doesn’t need his head examined.
“They have security cams everywhere.”
“Which they don’t monitor until midnight. Many of their developers work all night and crash on couches in the lounges. Weren’t you paying attention?” His brows raise.
“Sure, but I wasn’t planning a heist. So, wait, why are you… are we… breaking into our client’s building?”
“Obviously, we need a password to get into their network.” His tone grates on my nerves.
“And you think someone is just going to hand it to you?”
“Something like that.” His arms cross and he tilts his head, ready for war but I don’t engage.
