Integrity, p.12
Integrity, page 12
I mumbled my reluctant agreement and returned my focus to the next five hours of driving.
The rest of our journey went much as it had before I’d so rudely fallen asleep. My anxiety and anticipation built steadily as we approached Tampa, and by the time we rolled into town just after five p.m., I was about ready to climb out of my skin. Sophia found us a hotel and after a quick bug-bug check, we freshened up, then left again so I could meet my contact. What a great and relaxing vacation I’d dragged Sophia on. Once I’d finished my Halcyon task, I was going to find us a five-star hotel in the Bahamas and make it up to her for treating her like a safety blanket. Assuming I was still around, of course. I had to keep assuming. Assuming kept me going.
As we drove out into the burbs, Sophia didn’t ask what was so urgent that I’d made a two-day road trip, but I got the feeling I wouldn’t be able to put her off for too much longer. My contact, Bink, had apparently decided the best disguise was hiding in plain sight. Looking at the two-story house shaded in the pinky-orange-sandy rendered façade common in Florida, with a tightly mown front lawn and tasteful holiday decorations adorning the exterior, you’d never know that nestled inside was enough tech and brainpower to bring down ten governments. And Bink lived and worked alone.
I’d met Bink early in my government career when we’d both been working at the same overseas posting. I was an Ops Officer and they were a contractor tasked with getting us anything we needed from the web. We’d clicked immediately. Well, as much as a regular person—me—could click with a borderline or maybe not-so-borderline sociopath—Bink. Ex-naval intelligence turned contractor, computer genius, actually all-round general genius, Bink could hack their way into pretty much anything. And had, because they’d helped design half of the systems currently in use in the most secure places in the world. Now they freelanced, mostly for law enforcement to help catch “sick fuckers” as they’d once told me, and peeked into what they pleased, whenever they pleased, to help show government agencies and branches, and private companies where their weaknesses were.
Bink was one of the few people who rated highly on my trust scale. Their odd code of ethics meant they were fiercely loyal to those who paid. I buzzed and held up a prepaid Visa card to the doorbell camera, counting in my head. Exactly forty-seven seconds after I’d buzzed—Bink had a thing for prime numbers—the door opened. Huge blue eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses dominated a blankly staring face.
I held the Visa between two fingers, hand outstretched. “Two hundred to get in the door, more later.”
The stare morphed into a smirk. “Keep talking dirty to me. Come in.” They opened the door, but didn’t move out of the way. Bink was the exact opposite of every stereotypical hacker in the movies. No punks or cigarettes or drugs or booze here. Sober and a dedicated vegan, Bink was petite but wiry, sported a neat, short brunette bob with straight bangs, and was never without thick-framed glasses. They reminded me of the cartoon character Daria, even down to the low, deadpan drawl. “Been a while. I’d like to say I’ve missed you but honestly, I haven’t thought about you.”
“Neither.” I gestured to Sophia behind me. “Friend of mine. I vouch for her.” Before we’d left the car, I’d explained in a vague way that the person we were about to see was a little paranoid.
“Good.” Bink raised their chin, red-rimmed eyes studying Sophia. Clearly they’d been up for a few days if the twitchy fatigue was any indicator.
Sophia’s manners won, and she offered a hand. “Hi, I’m—”
“No!” Both Bink’s hands went out, palms facing Sophia. “No identity here. I don’t want to know who you are, what your pet’s name is, or whether you prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream.”
If Sophia was fazed by Bink’s abruptness, she didn’t show it. “Actually, I don’t like ice cream.”
I turned to her. “You…what? How can you not like ice cream?”
“Hurts my teeth.” She grinned, showing those beautiful teeth in a cheery smile.
I lowered my voice. “I’m starting to rethink this relationship.”
Sophia’s eyes widened, and if we’d had more time and we were alone, I might have backpedaled and reworded what I’d just said. But I didn’t. Because either way, in the scheme of things, the exact nuance of language I used to describe us didn’t matter. Did it?
Bink cleared their throat. “Are we going to do whatever it is you’re here to do, or do I have to keep watching this mating ritual?”
“Right, sorry.” I turned back to Sophia and gestured to the L-shaped leather couch taking up a decent percentage of Bink’s living room. “I won’t be long. Will you be okay to wait here by yourself for a few minutes?”
“Sure, no problem,” she said amicably.
Bink held eye contact with Sophia then pointed to the bookshelves that filled each wall of the living room. “Read a book.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a command, or an invitation for Sophia to look at their collection. Bink didn’t have a television and as far as I knew, had never had one. They made a come with me gesture and walked off down the hallway, leaving me to follow.
I flashed Sophia what I hoped was an encouraging and apologetic smile, and jogged after Bink. They led me upstairs, opened a door at the top of the staircase, then gestured for me to step into the huge room that was basically the entire top floor of the house. Bink closed and locked the door behind us. They’d done that the first night I’d met them in an out-of-the-way overseas installation too, only back then they’d pulled out a flick knife, held it up and told me, “If any of those Army pricks come after you, tell me and I’ll cut their balls off.” And I’d nodded and squeaked out “Okay” while trying not to look like I was going to pee myself because I’d thought this stranger was about to gut me. I still had no idea what had made them form an instant, protective attachment to me, but I didn’t question it. Bink was someone you wanted on your side. Hack the securest databases in the world or castrate a creep, it was all the same to them.
Bink folded their arms over their chest. “What do you need?”
Once I was sure I wasn’t going to lean on something important, I rested my hip against the edge of a desk. “I find myself cast adrift and I need access to some files of mine at work, and also military databases.” Crossing my arms over my waist, I hugged myself. Bink’s tech rooms were always freezing but they never seemed bothered.
“Slipping through the government’s back doors. It’ll cost you.”
“It always does.” Shrugging, I added, “It’ll be a cakewalk for you. Not like you haven’t already done it. And probably twice already this month.”
“It’s more like a muffinwalk,” they drawled. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have actually thought they smiled. “Where am I going?”
I gave them the specifics of where to find Hadim’s files. “It’s possible someone has moved them to a more secure location so if you have to go digging, then please do. I need these files. Could not be higher priority.”
Both Bink’s eyebrows raised fractionally. “Am I leaving them there once I have copies?”
“Yes.” The agency couldn’t know I’d been in there. Or rather, that my proxy had been. “I’ll also need the US Army personnel database, active members only for now, with searchability by name, age, rank etcetera.” I was confident enough in my uniform identification to narrow it to that branch of our military. “Male only. It’s possible I’ll need other military branches and even civilian later. Possibly international. Possibly retired service members.”
My hunch was that the American was a current member of one of our armed forces, not just some backyard cowboy pretending to be a colonel in his little militia. And given Derek had agreed, I’d decided that was where I’d start. The authorization for something like what had happened with the Red Wolves wouldn’t have passed through unsecured, amateur channels. Even if it had, I could think of no organized militia within the States that had the kind of clout and cash needed to get something like this off the ground.
“Shouldn’t be too hard. Leave your machine with me.” Bink held out a hand, fingers wiggling, for my backpack.
I gripped the strap tighter. “I can’t.”
Their eyebrows shot up as if electrified. “Tease. I can’t believe you’d dangle a treasure chest in front of me and then snatch it away.”
“Sorry.”
“Liar. Do you want access on your machine or will you come back and work here?”
“Mine. I need to be mobile. And it’s sensitive,” I reiterated. I trusted Bink implicitly. Before they’d been honorably discharged, they had held the highest security clearance. The fact they now used their skills to hack into the databases they’d had an oath to protect was a weird sort of irony. But they understood the importance of secrets. And having been paid for a job, Bink never stepped over a line they hadn’t been asked to. I knew they’d done work for Halcyon before—hence why Lennon suggested I go to Bink—but I didn’t know if they were part of the Division. Of course I couldn’t ask, and it’s not like we had a secret Halcyon handshake.
“It’ll cost you again. That’s a massive pain in my ass, not to mention a huge drain on my servers to download all that.”
“I know.” Thankfully Halcyon had left me plenty of funds.
“You’re lucky I like you.”
“You like how much I’m going to pay you to do the things you love doing.”
“True,” Bink mused. “What else?”
“Video-enhancing software. The agency has their own purpose-built program that you can probably get me. Hopefully I remember how to use it.” I’d sat in on a digital enhancement training course last year, just out of interest’s sake, so should be able to fumble my way through the basics.
“Like riding a bike, isn’t it? Whatever it is, I’ll get you a user manual,” they said dryly.
“Right.” I would have loved to have access to the Department of Defense’s full database so I could run some vocal matching but I had to admit to myself that it was outside my skillset. As it was, manipulating video and photo with a beefed-up version of Photoshop was going to stretch me to the limit. But what I was trying to achieve wasn’t for evidentiary purposes—that was up to Halcyon—and as long as I could make the illegible legible then I’d be golden.
Bink used a thumbnail to scratch the end of their nose. “What’s my timeframe?”
“Two days ago. Oh! And I need a mouse so I can work more easily with the video software.”
“Got it. Earliest I can have what you want is tomorrow p.m. and that’s dedicating my life to it and only it. It’ll likely take longer, depending on whether things are where you say they should be. Good thing I just refilled my Adderall.”
“Wasn’t it you who once told me sleep was for the weak?”
“I was probably trying to impress you.”
“It worked.” I paused, and decided to ask for one more thing, even though it made me feel like shit. “And…I also need you to peek into a civilian file, make sure everything looks legit.”
“Legit how?”
“As in not fabricated. Clean. Organic.” Bink would be able to find the cracks that indicated a put-together life instead of one lived organically from birth to now.
“Name?”
I paused for a second. “Sophia Flores.” Saying her name made me feel like the worst human, but I couldn’t shake my paranoia. And my paranoia had gotten me this far, and still alive. I gave Bink Sophia’s address and DOB which I’d seen on her driver’s license while I’d been snooping around her apartment.
Bink shrugged. “Easy.” They’d written nothing down, but I knew I’d get exactly what I’d asked for.
“I’ll wait for your call.” I handed them a piece of paper with a throwaway cell phone number on it.
They stared at the digits. “This isn’t your usual number.” They peered up at me. “Why do I suddenly get the feeling this job is something really naughty?” Bink’s smile was feral. “Can’t wait.”
Chapter Nine
I wouldn’t tell your boss about this
I’d been working almost nonstop since we’d returned from visiting Bink yesterday evening, trying to find ways to connect dots I couldn’t even see yet, just for something to do, just in case something twigged. Until I had the intel, I was flailing around in the dark. It was futile to hope that writing out all the details I had, and spitballing theories would send a lightning bolt of “aha!” from the sky, but I was terrible at being idle.
Sophia had been antsy since we’d come back from breakfast—staring at her laptop, wandering aimlessly around the hotel room, flopping onto the bed, turning on the TV and then changing channels like someone deathly allergic to every show she saw before jumping up again. She’d been enthusiastic when I’d woken her up by going down on her, but her good mood faded the longer we stayed in the room. Understandable. We’d taken a quick walk along the beach after dinner yesterday, ducked out for breakfast this morning, but other than those few outings, it’d been nothing but four walls. I’d promised her cays, and instead was giving her captivity.
I paused typing and glanced over to where she’d finally settled at the other end of the table with her laptop. She was hammering the keys like she hated the thing, mumbling to herself.
“Do you want to take a walk and get some lunch?” I asked, even though the last thing I felt like doing was leaving the hotel, exposing ourselves. But I was starting to run out of excuses to stall her, and convince her that inside was way better than outside. Sex only got me so far, and I wasn’t an inventive enough lover to keep her in bed for days.
Sophia’s expression turned instantly from meh to hopeful. “Can we? I mean, we can just order in if you want…but, air would be nice.”
I saved my document of unconnected dots and unproductive postulation and closed the clean—a.k.a. offline work only—laptop. “Let me take a peek outside and see what the weather is doing.” And see if anyone who shouldn’t be there was there. “I don’t see why we can’t get some fresh air.” Staying inside would have been preferable, but it was clear she was suffering some serious cabin fever. If this was how she felt after one day, then I was going to have to work hard to manage her feelings and expectations for the rest of this trip. I stood up and as I passed her, leaned down and kissed her temple. “I’m sorry, this is shitty for you. I just got totally absorbed in what I’m doing.”
“It shouldn’t be shitty,” she huffed out. “I mean, sometimes I spend days locked away at my desk when I’m focused on a project. But for some stupid reason now, I’m so bored that being inside is just making me apathetic and cranky.”
I cracked the curtain and took a look out into the real world. “True, but at home you can come and go as you please, do whatever you want to break up your time.” There was nothing outside that jumped out at me—no strange cars or people milling about—and hope surged at the thought they’d given up once we’d left Sophia’s. Or maybe they were still trying to locate me, or had decided to go with a new, sneakier tactic. My gut said it was probably one of the latter two options.
“Yeahhh,” she mumbled in a tone that made me think of a kid scuffing their foot. “I think not having any real work to do isn’t helping. I can’t proceed with my current jobs until I get client approval or feedback, so I’m just twiddling my thumbs.”
I quickly weighed Pros—air, sunlight, food, Sophia happy and no longer making me dizzy with her pacing; versus Cons—leaving the safety of four walls, possibly being out when Bink contacted me to tell me they’d finished my job and having to waste time coming back for the car. Pros, four. Cons, two. I pulled the curtain back into place. “Let’s go out for an hour or so, get some food and some air.”
Sophia brightened immediately. “Really? Are you sure it’s fine? I know you’re waiting on a call from your…friend.”
Fine was at the very edges of what it was, but we’d manage. We’d managed to this point. We’d manage past this point. “Mhmm, of course,” I said brightly. “Let’s do it.” As I secured both laptops in my backpack, I hoped I hadn’t just made a stupid mistake. Another stupid mistake.
Sophia’s declaration of a desperate burger urge had us wandering down the street in search of a suitable burger joint. I pointed to the familiar logo looming above the buildings about three hundred meters away. “McDonald’s?”
She turned to me, her mouth open in horror. “You’re kidding, right? That’s not…I can’t even…shame on you.” Sophia playfully slapped my arm. “Just when you think you’re getting to know a person.”
I slid an arm around her waist and turned her slightly away from the street. Nuzzling her neck, I took a quick look around and when I was certain I could afford a few moments of relaxation, kissed her. She had one hand jammed between us, and she played with the fabric of my hoodie as she opened her mouth, her tongue lazily stroking mine. Reluctantly, I pulled away from the kiss, but remained close. “I think you know me pretty well by now. I’m not exactly a deep well of hidden personality.” Hidden other stuff, sure, but not hidden personality traits. “And as for the things you don’t know, we’ve got time.”
“Time,” she mused. “I like the sound of that.” Sophia dropped down off her tiptoes and indicated a restaurant across the street. Beast Burger. “Check that place out to make sure they’ve got a suitable veggie option?”
“Sounds good.” I had a sudden desire to get burgers and a mountain of fries and take them to the beach. Sit and eat and talk and laugh like a regular couple not worrying about anything, just be together. I forced the intrusive thought out. It wasn’t helpful to be thinking of wishes and dreams right now.
