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“Did it work?”
Rafe interrupted to wave to the sink. “Go see.”
Gemma went to the sink to turn it on, and the water flowed. “It did!”
“And now that this error has been corrected, this diligent employee is deleting all records that any reports were made about this account at all,” said Rafe. “Right, Max?”
“Yep.”
“Cool.” She came back and watched as Max made the entries while Rafe turned from his laptop to observe as well. “Can you teach me that?”
“I’ll do better than that,” said Rafe as Max continued typing. “I promised your sister that I’d crack the whip about you doing your homework. Now there’s a bunch of stuff left to do. I haven’t got the gas sorted yet, and Max needs to set up an autocorrect for the water that will automatically cancel any disconnect order on this account. I just finished doing the same for electric, and since I haven’t gotten to the gas company yet, I’ll go get us some pizza and some more beer. Your sister doesn’t seem to keep much beer around. Tell me what you want to drink, and what kind of pizza you like, and when I get back we can eat and review your homework. If it’s all done, we’ll eat more pizza while we hack the gas company together. You can do it. I’ll talk you through it.”
“He’s a good teacher,” said Max, making the admission with a bit of grudging reluctance. It was true, though. Rafe knew his shit, and even better, he knew how to instill knowledge in a way that made it easy to learn.
Her eyes shone brightly. “All right!”
Rafe held up a finger. “One thing. You have to promise not to tell Simone I taught you hacking. I promised I’d teach you about computers, but your sis doesn’t really know what that means.”
Max frowned. “You sure that’s a good idea, Rafe?”
Rafe frowned. “I don’t think Gemma will have any problem picking it up.”
He shook his head. “Not what I meant,” he said under his breath, deciding to let it go.
“Promise!” said Gemma, as though Max hadn’t raised any doubts.
“People who don’t know computers have no clue what hacking even means, so to her it’s like I was teaching breaking and entering.” Rafe sounded a bit defensive, as though aware Max was still low-grade disapproving of the plan.
“I understand Simone might not get what you’re doing,” said Max. “I just worry she won’t like secrets.”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt me,” said Gemma with a charming smile that revealed a dimple. She practically jumped in place. “This is so cool.” She grabbed her books. “Lemonade to drink and anything but anchovies on the pizza.”
“Good girl,” said Rafe.
“I’ll be in my room setting a land speed record for doing homework!”
“As long as you’re thorough. I will check and I will interrogate you. You’re my prisoner until the homework ransom is paid in full.”
Max rolled his eyes but chuckled. He was too busy with the auto-order for the water company to actively participate, since he’d registered his objections to hiding the hacking from Simone.
She saluted. “Oui, mon capitaine.” Then she was gone in a clatter of echoing footsteps. Rafe left a minute later, and Max got back to work.
He inserted a few modifications to the website. Now it would send him a text message if anything odd was going on with the account.
He was tying up the loose ends when she came down the stairs, frowning.
“Pizza’s not here yet,” said Max. “The delivery guy must be a slow ass.”
She didn’t even crack a smile, and he doubted it was because she felt instant loyalty to his friend. “Simone said someone was playing a joke on us. It’s more than that, isn’t it?”
Max hesitated. “I think it is.” When she stared at him, he realized he needed to expound, and a quick answer wouldn’t cut it for the kid. “She didn’t want you to be scared, so don’t be, but do be extra alert for a few days until we know more. At home, don’t open the door for anyone without checking that it is who you think it is. Even if it’s Simone, if there is someone with her and she doesn’t mention them, keep it locked. Same for me or Rafe. We’ll announce anyone you don’t know. If we don’t, then that means we really don’t want them coming in.” He made a mental note to establish that protocol with Rafe and Simone the next time they were all together.
“Okay.”
“At school, you know the drill.”
“Don’t talk to strangers, don’t accept rides…”
