“Parker’s party. Remember?”
I close my eyes as I nod, remembering our conversation.
“Right. Of course.”
“Good night, Oliver," he says, and then he slips through the door, through the crack into the oncoming night, leaving me broken in more ways than one.
Chapter Nineteen
Sloane
After a long, hot shower, when I finally collapse in bed, I am exhausted.
I stare up at the ceiling, my mind wandering to earlier, on Oliver’s doorstep.
When I kissed him and got carried away. I hadn’t seen any cameras near his porch, but the thought still nags at me. I try to shove it away, telling myself I’m probably being paranoid, but paranoia wins out and after an eternity of tossing and turning in my bed, I get up and grab my laptop and bring it into bed with me.
The soft glow of the screen comes to life as I log into Ghost, my custom private server that functions as my internet security system and cloaking device. The Veil was created to enhanceexisting systems, and Phantom was proposed to be Veil’s firststandalonesystem, but it wasn’t technically the first.
Ghost was supposed to be a side project, and in many ways, it still is. I don’t trust anything I didn’t write the code for. Call me paranoid, but I prefer to have all the information and complete control. Especially when it comes to my personal life, especially on the internet.
Veil was always about surveillance security. Even a one-second delay can be pivotal, especially in a life or death situation. Veil takes away that delay. It boosts whatever system it’s attached to, increasing detection and emergency response. But Ghost? There isn’t much I can’t access with Ghost. Like Veil, it boosts internet security, but also erases the digital footprint. I’ve never put it to market, though, and I likely never will.
Safety isn’tsafeif it is misused. And I’m smart enough to know that if Ghost fell into the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic.
But sometimes, it pays to be discreet. It doesn’t take me long to run the program and detect the cameras closest to Oliver’s apartment.
I cycle through them, looking to see how many there are, where they are positioned, and how often the tapes are wiped. I know it’s not ethical, and I know it’s not legal to do this, but it isn’t the first time I’ve done illegal things. Though it’s been years since I’ve put myMast3r_Gl1tchhacking skills to use, and the first time I’m using it for my own personal reasons. I can’t shake this feeling of paranoia and dread. It’s like a compulsion. Ineedto know what I’m dealing with in case anything backfires on me.
The Zulu Company, the company that owns Oliver’s building, has very few cameras. One in the parking lot, one focused on building A, one on the back end of building B. I cycle through the feeds, comparing them to maps and blueprints as I try to line up the locations with Oliver’s apartment, and that’s when I seeit. The cameras poised outside of building C—Oliver’s building—are turned off.
“That’s odd," I say as I stroke a few keys. It’s possible that they could have crashed, or the battery could have died, or there could have just been a malfunction with the server or connection, but… something tells me it’s more than that. Call it a hunch.
A couple taps of my keys and I’m turning the camera back on remotely. It snaps and blurs until it adjusts, and I run it back to the last frame before it turns off. I don’t see much. Just a dark head of hair slightly out of frame.
Could be a landlord or a maintenance man. Or a neighbor.
But something in my stomach twists with an unsettling familiarity.
I can’t put my finger on why or what.
I rewind the feed, all the way back to what looks like the beginning of the day when Oliver left.
So Zulu wipes their tapes daily. Noted.
I’m just about to backtrack and disappear out of the server when I see a device listed that stands out. All the cameras share the same server, but this…
This one makes my blood chill. The title readsMaster Computer Program.
And it looks like it’s got a stronger signal than the other devices listed. It could be someone’s hot-spot or someone’s bluetooth device. Hell, it could even be a home Dot or Alexa or something like that, but…
The name is all I need to know to know it’s not just some accident, some inconsequential thing.
How many people know the original villain ofTron?
How many people know it’smyfavorite movie?
Three. Chickadee, Oliver and…
