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“I don’t know.” And she didn’t. Part of it was nature, and the rest was just what she did to survive.
He let out a scoffing laugh. “Come on, your mom will be wondering what we’re doing in here.”
Dropping her hand from his arm, she squared her shoulders. “I can’t apologize twice in a decade, but I will make more of an effort to be part of the team.”
He took her hand and led her out of the bathroom. “Well, here’s hoping your effort doesn’t get us all killed.”
Really, there was nothing she could say to that.
It took Elle over an hour to find what they were looking for in Francesca’s office. Through it all, Rachel and her mother sat at the desk she used for paperwork, eating lunch and watching Elle like she was daytime reality TV.
Harvard would have been amused by their behavior if he hadn’t been busy hunting down his own clues. He’d scanned the room for anomalies but had found no surveillance devices. He had, however, discovered that someone had tampered with the biolock, basically rendering it ineffective. Anyone who pressed their hand to the scanner could unlock the door. How long it had been like that, he didn’t know. It wasn’t something you’d notice unless you tried to get unauthorized access in the first place.
“Hot diggity dog!” Elle shouted from under the computer desk in the corner of the room. “I’ve got it. I can’t believe how stupid I am. All this time, I’ve been looking for hi-tech answers, like hacking and server tapping, when it was a low-tech heist.” She wriggled out from under the desk with a tiny black box in her glove-clad hand. It was about the same size and shape as a chewing gum packet. They all leaned forward to examine it.
“What is it?” Francesca asked.
Elle let out a disgusted laugh. “A Wi-Fi memory card reader. It sets up a Wi-Fi hotspot, a private network essentially, between a couple of computers or phones. Its transmission range is only about twenty meters, and it’s mainly used for transferring files between devices without using a USB port or Bluetooth.” She popped open one of the little slots. “The information’s saved to a micro memory card.” When she held up the card, it was barely the size of a fingernail.
“Like the cards from our phones or cameras,” Francesca said.
“Exactly like those. Easy to hide and won’t set off a metal detector.” She glared at the box, as though it’d personally offended her. “This is seriously low-tech. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”
“How does the box thing work?” Rachel stared at it intently.
Harvard answered, drawing her gaze, and finding a softer aspect to it than he’d seen before. “Someone would have to set it up on the computer to use it. But basically, all that means is getting the computer to recognize it, then typing in the Wi-Fi password.”
Elle nodded. “It’d take five minutes at most. Especially if they were lucky enough to catch the computer while it was still running, but before the security screen kicked in. That thirty seconds to a minute or so wait time would be enough to get in there and keep the computer awake long enough to set this up.”
“And then,” Harvard said, “the box would lie dormant until someone gave it the command to save files from the computer. Triggering the Wi-Fi on the box would knock out the Wi-Fi the machine normally connects to, but it would only be for a matter of seconds. Hiccups that you’d barely notice, Francesca.”
“Oh, I noticed.” She frowned. “I also complained about the Wi-Fi in here several times over the years. I told them it glitches sometimes. The last time it happened, the head of security and IT, Terrance, came over himself to tell me it was all in my mind. I’ve never liked that man.”
“Yeah, well,” Harvard said. “It definitely wasn’t your ima
gination. Elle? Is that thing battery powered?”
She turned it over to look. “Yep. Rechargeable. Judging by its size, I’d say they’d be lucky to get two or three hours out of it before it needed charging again.”
“But they’d only use those hours in intermittent bursts of just a few seconds, right?” Rachel said.
“Right.” Elle looked at the box in disgust. “Depending on how often they used it, it could go for months without needing a recharge. Even then, all they’d need to do is plug it into any micro USB port to do it. It’s probably never left this room. If it were me, I’d have charged it here.”
“How much memory does it hold?” Harvard asked.
“Total capacity’s five hundred and twelve gigabytes.” She looked up at him. “That’s more than enough space to download the files our thief needs. Hell, you could save all of the Lord of the Rings movies onto these—twice.”
Harvard turned his attention to Francesca. “During the time Samantha was in here, was she out of your sight at any point?”
“No, not at all. She’d only been here a few minutes before you arrived, and we spent it chatting about the wedding.”
“Did she touch your desk or computer?”
Francesca shook her head. “Definitely not.”
Rachel looked up at him with an openness he hadn’t seen from her before. “What do we do with it?”
Elle’s head almost shot off her shoulders as she swiftly looked from one of them to the other, appearing shocked that Rachel had deferred to him.
