“Is there somewhere we can sit down?” asked AJ.“This is important.”
“Oh, sure.Cool.Come on back.”
They waved the four men toward the back of the office, noticing that every cubicle had someone with their head down, staring at a screen, not even bothering to look up.If they’d been killers, no one would even be able to give a description of them.
“Energy drink?Water?Soda?” asked Beanie pointing to the small rolling cart.It was lined with sugary sodas and energy drinks that should have been made illegal for the amount of caffeine in them.
“No.And you know those things will kill you, right?” said Tanner pointing to the energy drink in question.She shrugged popping open one and chugging the first few sips.
“Need something to keep me going here and I don’t like coffee.That’s for old people.What can we do for you?”
“Old people?” frowned Tanner.AJ gripped his arm, bringing him back to the reason they were there.
“We recently saw the story on your morning show here in D.C. about gaming and credit card fraud, all of the fun things in our business.”
“Oh, yeah.That was a cool story,” she grinned.
“You think it’s cool that kids go into a game not suspecting anything, just wanting to play, and their parents are robbed blind?” asked Hiro.
“Well, when you put it that way,” she frowned.“Look.It happens.Yeah, we’re trying to stop stuff like that but when people are stupid enough to put their dogs name as their password we can’t really help them.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” growled AJ.“These people are losing their lives and their livelihood over this shit.Are you doing anything at all to stop it?When people make complaints do you do anything at all?”
“Uh, yeah.I mean, we look into every complaint and we send a notice to the company responsible that they could face federal charges but that’s about it,” said TJ.
“So, you don’t do a fucking thing,” growled Tanner.
“Hey, we try!” said Beanie.“I mean, we get thousands of calls and e-mails a day.Do you know how hard this is?Like I said, people are pretty lame about their personal information and protecting their devices.”
“It’s not hard at all.We had it happen to one of our own family members and knew the company within a day.We won’t be sending letters and making calls.We’ll be showing up at their door.”They both laughed, shaking their heads.
“Good luck with that.Most of these businesses don’t have a door.They have thousands of online gamers ready to scam someone at any moment.They’re good.Really good and they know how to get around all the supposed security systems.They do it every day.They’re in every country and often work together.”They heard a loud bell and just sat there.Waiting, they heard it again.
“Are you hearing that?” asked Hiro.
“Oh, yeah.Sorry, it’s my game pinging me that they want me back in,” smiled TJ.
“You’re just fucking with me now,” said Wyatt.“You’re playing a game, at work, knowing that they could hack into your phone and steal your shit?”
“Dude, I’m a professional,” smirked TJ.“My phone is foolproof.No one…”
“John Tyler Borden.14825 Central Parkway, Apartment 1512, Alexandria.Mother, Terri.Father, Tyler.Two sisters, Anna and Julia.You bank at First National, you have a little over five-grand in your savings, about twelve-hundred in checking.The credit card connected to that phone ends in 5744.”
Wyatt, Tanner, and Hiro smirked at AJ while TJ and Beanie couldn’t seem to manage to close their mouths.
“Your system isn’t foolproof.And your phone damn sure isn’t.I got into that in less than sixty seconds.Nothing, or at least most things, aren’t foolproof including your shit.Don’t fool yourself, son.There are people out there a helluva lot better than you and I’m one of them.”
“H-how did you do that?” he asked turning pale.
“My secret,” said AJ.“Now, who the fuck is really in charge here.”
“Um, Marilyn Sanders.She’s not here today.She’s attending some global conference in Paris.She’ll be back in two days.”
“Cool.We’ll be back in two days.Do me a favor.Brief her on why we were here and stop playing fucking games at work near government computers.”
When the four men left, it seemed that suddenly all eyes were staring at them, looking up to see what just happened inside the meeting room.Beanie and TJ stood looking confused and unsure of anything.
“Oh, one more thing,” said AJ.“Get a new front desk person or make sunshine Sally out there take some classes.She’s about as friendly as jock itch.”
