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“I’ll need that on a spreadsheet, not a scrappy text message.” The more solid evidence he could spring the better.
The gopher nodded.
“This is going to be a tough job. Have you even given any thought to internal security?”
“Delahane has a man on the inside, been in situ for sixteen weeks now.”
Bad news. Sean had been hoping they had come at this half-arsed and he could point it out. Delahane had obviously prepared well in advance. He’d been putting in groundwork even while Sean was still inside. It was Delahane’s M.O. and Sean wasn’t really surprised, but the level of prep made him doubt there was a way to scupper the job, as he’d hoped. He couldn’t bring himself to fake a positive response, so he simply nodded.
“He’s advised mid morning, the busiest time of the day, and the inside man will deactivate the firewall for the appropriate block of accounts for a short window of time.”
“Risky business.”
The gopher grinned. “Yeah, you’ll have to work fast to stay out of the clink.”
Sean shot him a warning glance. He was itching to give this guy a good pasting. “Are you done?”
“How long do you need to prepare?”
“At least twenty-four hours.”
“That works for us. Let’s make it Friday morning, eleven. Anything else you need?”
“A neutral location. You sort it.”
“Specifics?”
“It doesn’t have to be close to the target but ideally near the mainframe won’t do this on my home turf.” He would use an obscure I.P address, but if it got out of hand, he didn’t want security or the internet police to zone in on Rory’s home or workshop. Draco had offered the apartment he and his girlfriend lived in, which wasn’t far from the banking district, but Sean turned him down.
The gopher smirked. “Shouldn’t be a big deal. The inside man knows how the mainframe works, he probably doesn’t even need you…but better it’s not an inside guy, right.”
Sean gritted his teeth. Delahane had designated him the patsy, a disposable tool of less value than the inside man.
The gopher rubbed his hands together. “Cool. Cash in the bank for the weekend.”
Another dig. Sean would be the only one not earning. He didn’t give a damn, but this guy was doing his best to rub Sean’s nose in it.
“If you pull it off nice and clean,” he continued, leaning in on Sean, “you and your pretty little Welsh girl will be off the hook.”
Sean wasn’t stupid enough to believe it.
The gopher stood up and headed for the door. As he left, he shouted back over his shoulder. “Just so I’m sure, that kid is yours right…?”
Sean glared at him.
“Would be such a shame to lose her.”
Blind rage descended. Sean was on his feet in a heartbeat.
The sound of crashing crockery barely reached him, only Draco’s voice shouting: “No, Sean. Don’t do it.”
But it was too late.
Sean dragged the guy by the scruff of his neck, out the door and into the nearby alleyway. He flattened him against the wall, one hand against his chest. With the other fist, he took that look off his face once and for all, closing his eyes, turning his smirking face away with a fierce blow to his temple.
When the gopher buckled, Sean reacted fast, ducked and delivered a left hook blow under the rib cage, pushing him back up the wall with all his might.
His adversary doubled over.
