Rory takes a seat opposite me. “That could work. Honeypot, so we lure the hacker into worming his way back into our system, making them think they’re getting more important information, but it’s actually fake. And then a tarpit so their system slows down long enough that we can trace their IP.”
“Exactly,” Hunter validates. “And I met with our customer service department early this morning. There have been more than just ourotherclients whose systems have shut down, but only a few were robbed like Gabriel.”
Rory’s hand rubs over his chin. “Could this be a coordinated attack? Or are the robberies the anomaly, and we need to focus our efforts on the hack?”
“Could the alarm system shutdowns be a side effect of the hack, or should we operate under the assumption that the affected clients were targeted?” My fingers steeple in front of my face with my elbows resting on the table.
Hunter rubs his eyes. “I don’t know if we can rule anything out at this point. We need more information.”
“I did some digging,” I add. “It’s not clear where the hack came from, internal or external. So, I secretly installed akeylogger on Shawn Winthrop’s computer. I plan on uploading one in most of the departments.”
“You think it’s a mole?” Rory sits forward in his seat.
“We can’t rule it out,” I declare.
“Good work,” Hunter praises. “Let us know what you find out from those.”
Resting my head on the back of the chair, I inform them of the setback. “Well, it’s going to be tricky. I don’t want to tip them off, so the data won’t transmit. I’ll need to go to their computers regularly and download the data.”
“We can take turns,” Rory elucidates. “If it were just you, it would look suspicious showing up every day.”
“It’s decided then.” Hunter nods.
“I can formulate the fake info for the honeypot,” Rory volunteers.
Rising from my seat, I offer, “I’ll get started on putting together the tarpit.”
“Oh. One more thing.” Hunter stops us before we leave. “I hired a third party to find where and how the hacker got in.”
My head tilts, and Rory rears his head back like he just got slapped in the face.
“I went to The Circuit on Friday and did some scouting,” Hunter says by way of explanation.
“And you didn’t think to run that by us?” Rory’s fists clench.
Hunter narrows his eyes. “We needed something done. I found a way to get it done.”
Rory takes a step away from the door. “We’re supposed to make those kinds of decisions together.”
“What are you—” I start.
Hunter stands taller. “What crawled up your ass and died?”
Blinking, Rory’s posture relaxes as he shakes his head. “Nothing.”
He rushes out, darting past me, and I follow right on his heels.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” I accuse.
Rory doesn’t stop or turn around. “I’ve been busy.”
I raise my voice a notch. “You’re a terrible liar.”
As he reaches his office door, he finally turns around with an offended look on his face. “I’m not lying.”
“Sure.” Stepping up to him, I fold my arms. “And the reason I haven’t seen you since Saturday is because you’ve been, what? Giving your time to the local animal shelter?”
Rory blinks at me. “No. I’m just…busy.”
