The Gambit (42 page)

“I want all law enforcement to go to the airport. Get SWAT down there, get every last agent we have down there! We are going to come down so hard and so fast on them Owen and Rachel will be in handcuffs before they can even fucking blink.”

A small smile began to emerge as I processed the newbie’s words.
Every
line he called was busy. There wasn’t a chance in Hell that was mere coincidence. I relished Veronica’s frustration, and although I struggled to find a way to revolt against her, I was pleased to know there were people out there working towards the same goal. Whoever was helping Owen and Rachel, they were good at what they did—great, actually. My smile turned into a grin, knowing that Owen and company were valiantly fighting against us. If only they knew, that someone on the inside was right there with them.

My excitement was practically overflowing, and I suppressed the urge to smile. I had prepared for a moment like this since I was fourteen. I dreamed of performing a hack this grand, and now I was a football field away from walking through the door where I could execute it.

That was what most people didn’t realize. The best hackers were experts in what we referred to as social engineering. Of course, we knew what we were doing, but the majority of our successes were dependent on whether or not we fooled the people we were trying to hack. The most famous hackers I have read about always worked their way from the inside out, and that was
exactly
what I did to prepare for this.

The laminated nametag clipped to my breast-pocket bounced around with every step. The uniform I was wearing was a little baggy, but I used my belt to tighten everything up. During mine and Briana’s excursions here, I discovered the janitorial staff and the maintenance staff wore identical uniforms. Navy khakis and a white polo tucked in. It was a fatal mistake on their part because I called the airport’s customer service line to complain.

I told them I had missed my five o’clock flight to JFK because two of the bathrooms nearest to my gate were being serviced by the janitors, and I had to walk to one far away. Of course, I made sure my flight information was accurate, and I gave the lady on the phone a hard time. She directed me to the manager. I let her know my fake title, then proceeded to tell her I frequented the airport often, and that I didn’t want it to happen again.

She made the mistake of giving me the hours the bathrooms were serviced daily, and that was
all
I needed. I knew someone would walk in on the janitor sooner or later, but by that time, I would be long gone. I neared the door to the security room that read
Employees Only
. On our second visit, Briana flirted with a maintenance man and got close enough to him to cut his ID tag that hung from his belt. When we got back to the loft, Briana implanted my picture on the ID and re-laminated it. All of this was what I was hiding from Owen and Rachel. They didn’t need to know the process, it just had to work. This was the final and most difficult step of my plan—step three.

I held the ID up to the wall scanner and the door clicked open. I quietly opened it and saw how much darker it was in here. Carefully, I closed the door behind me, trying not to draw any attention to myself. There were twenty or so employees sitting in front of a line of computers, facing away from me. On the back wall was a projected image from someone’s computer screen, which they were all staring at. I slipped in behind the crowd and looked at the script that was being displayed, the script that
I
created.

“We just don’t know where it came from,” a female adjacent to me announced. “What do you guys think?”

I had my arms crossed, just feeling things out before I made my move.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” A man standing a few feet beside me answered. I didn’t even see him there. “Pedro, can you tell where this came from?” he asked another man beside him.

“No way man, I have no idea. It almost seems like this code came from within, like maybe it’s a glitch or something.”

“Hell of a glitch,” the woman said, scratching the back of her head. I could only see her profile, but from what I could tell she was beautiful. Tan skin and long, black hair. I liked it. “No one can call out, and no calls can get in. Whatever it is, we have to get it fixed—soon.”

This was my chance
.

“I think you’re right,” I spoke up. The sound of my own voice scared me. “It looks like a glitch, but, if you look at that piece of code right there,” I pointed toward the bottom of the screen. “The execution looks like it was directed through the mainframe.”

The Hispanic girl’s eyes were on me, as were many others. Her colleague who sat beside her wasn’t bad looking either. The man and his counterpart, Pedro, huffed in frustration.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Pedro groaned.

“Who is that guy?” one of the employees spoke up.

My gut clenched from his words. Who
was
I? I was the hacker posing as an employee who had just screwed up their system. Fuck.

“He’s the new guy,” the Hispanic girl replied. I was shocked. What a lifesaver.

“He’s cute,” the girl beside her murmured. I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Well,” Pedro and his counterpart walked behind me, roughly patting me on the back. “We can let the
new
guy
fix it. Have fun with the mainframe.”

“Good luck,” his counterpart muttered.

I don’t need it
.

“Yeah, you’re doing us a favor,” Pedro said and threw me a set of keys. “Let’s go for a smoke, Carlos.”

I turned awkwardly to face the crowd of employees that lined the computers. I glanced at the attractive face of the Hispanic woman and hoped that my question wouldn’t reveal I wasn’t an employee.

“They haven’t shown me where the mainframe is yet…” I admitted.

She pointed to a door in the far corner. “Down the hall, last door on the right. Get us up and running—fast.”

“Got it,” I nodded and headed for the door. Getting them up and running was the
last
thing I was going to do, but what they didn’t know, didn’t hurt them. I hurried down the long white hallway lit by bright fluorescent bulbs. I glanced at my watch—3:35. I had ten minutes. When I reached the door I saw that it needed a key to access. I became overwhelmed as I searched through the many keys on Pedro’s key-ring.
What if someone saw me struggling to find it? They would know I’m not a real worker…

I painstakingly tried every key, rushing as quickly as I could. Finally, one of them slid all the way in.
Thank God
. I opened the door and was engulfed in darkness. The resonating hum of computer towers filled my ears, and when my eyes adjusted, the sheer size of the room was hard to take in. Rows upon rows of computer towers filled it, with only small walkways between for an employee to walk through. I could feel the heat emanating from them while simultaneously feeling the ice-cold AC blowing to keep the room at the ideal temperature. I walked down one of the aisles, grinning like a child in a candy store. Ah—pure power.

At the far end of the room, I found the main server. It had a large, flat-screen monitor, and three massive towers that formed a triangle. I moved the mouse, and the Windows home screen came alive. Immediately, I went to the command prompt. I grabbed the flash drive out of my pocket, found the USB slot on the mainframe, and shoved it in. The Windows desktop disappeared and was replaced by a black screen with green scripts racing downward.

“Yes!” I shouted and nervously checked behind me to make sure I was still alone. Suddenly, the script stopped, and the computer emitted a loud warning sound. I knew that sound. Something didn’t work. My heart pounded in my chest as I glanced at the spacebar, flashing every second on the screen. I leaned in to see what it read.

/permission parameter invalid

My eyes grew wide and I controlled a trembling exhale. I was
so
close to finishing the job. Step three
had
to work. Trial and error was my only option.

/authorize

/denied

/reroute

/denied

“Fuck!” I suppressed the volume of my voice. I glanced down at my watch in the dim lighting. 3:40.
Damn it!
I only had five minutes left.

“Come on, Grey…” I whispered as I looked down at the time on the phone Briana bought me. Frustrated, I flipped it closed. Where
was
he? He was very stern in his intentions. 3:45 on the dot, then he wanted me to go without him.

Did they catch him? Did his plan work? He was so mysterious about the whole thing. I wished I knew what was going on. I chewed on my lower lip, giving into my anxiety. My eyes roamed over the patterns in the concrete because I was too afraid to look up. The last thing I desired was for someone to recognize me as Owen’s accomplice. I did glance to my left every minute or so, in hopes of spotting Grey coming out of the terminal.

My nerves were wrecked. I wouldn’t feel better until Grey was safe, but it gave me some relief knowing Owen was on his flight, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It had been less than half an hour, and I already missed him more than I ever had another man. The closest comparison would be the emptiness I felt when I lost my father…but this was different, it was fresher, it stung like an open wound.

I flipped open the phone again. 3:46—I shook my head, contemplating my decision. I wanted to wait, but Grey’s request was non-negotiable. He knew what was best for the plan.