“No, I didn’t even think about that,” I mutter. “How did they know which files to take?” I ask aloud.
“I think they just took everything recent,” she surmises. “Everything past a certain date is missing.”
“Makes sense,” Gio agrees. “They probably just wanted to cover all their bases, make sure you didn’t have anything on them.”
“But if Danny was right, and there is a backup, all we need to do is find it,” Sofia concludes.
“How do we do that?” I wonder.
“It makes sense that the backup would be on the newspaper’s mainframe,” Gio says.
“Which is in a temperature-controlled room on the same floor,” Sofia adds.
“How is it accessed?” Gio prompts.
“Through a digital key,” Sofia says. “Which I think we can get from Mr. Harlan’s computer if we can find a way to make a copy of it.”
“We have some guys who can work on this,” Gio replies.
I run through the list I’ve been keeping in my head of all the contacts my father keeps on his payroll. Sure enough, there are a few tech wizards who are doing some high-level espionage-type things involving computers.
“How long do you think it would take for them to come up with a way to read Harlan’s key?” I ask my uncle.
“Shouldn’t be long,” Gio says. “Give me a minute.” He pulls out his phone and steps outside to make the call.
Sofia and I wait silently. We’re both hoping for the best possible outcome, yet there are a lot of questions that remain. Even if Gio can find a way to copy Harlan’s keystrokes, doesn’t that mean we’ll have to physically be in the building? And which one of us has the plausible deniability to show up at one of Andretti’s businesses without raising suspicions? I’ve already been there once to break up with Sofia. I think my odds of getting in and out undetected are slim.
Gio returns with a smile on his face. “They can have a bug ready in about two hours,” he reports. “All I have to do is pick it up.”
“It’s not digital?” Sofia asks, confused.
“It’s on a hard drive,” Gio answers. “What you’ll have to do is get into Harlan’s office and plug it into his computer.”
“How am I going to do that?” Sofia moans.
“What if you handed the drive to him and told him to plug it in?” I suggest.
“Why would he do that?” she wonders.
“What if you had a taped confession regarding my activities in my father’s organization?” I reply. “That would be worth money in the bank for Andretti and Harlan would have no choice but to check it out.”
“You would do that for me?” Sofia asks, astonished.
“I’m not going to serve time for this,” I explain. “I’m just going to confess on tape so that you have something to trick Harlan with.”
“But what if he passes it along to the police?” she says.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I reply. “Besides, I think you already know that my father has his own connections within the police department.”
“I do,” Sofia mutters, nodding her head.
“Let’s do this,” I say.
“Okay,” she replies. “Where do you want to sit?”
“Here is fine.” I show the couch.
Sofia stands up, finding a spot in the middle of the room where she can videotape me freely. She starts to roll film, but I’m not prepared.
