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The audience clapped for Mack’s good fortune.
John looked up at them. “A yes is easy. A wedding is easy. That’s not your question, is it, Mack?”
“No.”
“No,” John repeated. “What you want to know is, does she truly love you, and will this work out?”
“Yes,” Mack said, with a quiver in his voice.
John laid out more cards.
The audience gasped.
Chanti leaned in. “The Five of Swords is betrayal, the Tower is things crashing down, Three of Swords is heartache. That last one that he set to the side by itself, that one’s the Two of Cups. In this reading, it means love built solidly on friendship.” She squeezed Piper’s shoulder and sat up.
“Mack, man-to-man here, the one you’re about to ask to marry you, it looks like it starts great and ends up in the crapper. But there’s this relationship just over there getting ready to move into the picture. This is the kind of relationship that will see you through old age together.” He tapped the cards. “Now, I’m not telling you to go home and break up with anyone or accuse anyone of anything. This could damned well be you shitting on the relationship and not her at all. What I am saying is maybe slow down a bit and see if this is an infatuation that runs hot, then turns toxic. You just met, and it's been a whirlwind?”
“Yes,” Mack whispered.
“Enjoy it. But give it lots of time to mature. If it’s what you think it is, there’s no rush.”
“Thanks.”
Mack looked like he’d taken a punch to the stomach, the wind knocked out of him.
The crowd clapped as the stagehand with the microphone turned and handed the mic to Piper.
Piper pressed it into Chanti’s hands.
Chanti leaned into Piper and whispered, “I’m going to ask him about my panini dream.”
Piper laughed. “Perfect. Do it.”
Chanti’s grin fell off when she focused on the reader. “Hi, John. I’m Chanti, and I want to know if I continue doing my job, will I end up in prison?”
“Are you serious?” John asked.
“A little, maybe.” She licked her lips. “Yes, actually.”
“I hate to ask. This is Washington after all.” John waited for the audience's laughter to die before diving in. “What do you do? Rob banks?”
“On occasion, I try to,” Chanti said. “I look for security holes that allow for breaches using AI.”
“To exploit them?” John asked as he shuffled his cards. “Out of personal curiosity, do you find the holes when you go looking for them?”
“All the time and without much effort,” Chanti said.
The crowd rustled in their seats uncomfortably.
John paused, stared. “But you’re doing this for legitimate clients, right? Or are these people you met in a back alley somewhere, and they’re asking you to hack into companies?” John began shuffling again.
“It’s my legit paid job with taxes, medical, and dental,” Chanti said. “Companies hire me to find flaws in their security. They were safe. Now, AI is finding ways in, and they need to make sure all their corporate information, including banking data, is unhackable.”
“What do they call that? A white hat?” John asked.
“I don’t put that on my business card. But in essence,” Chanti said.
“Okay. Let’s see here.”
