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He was out. That was clear. She saw the curtains were closed, and there were no signs of movement beyond them. He was hopefully at work, which was why she’d timed this trip to arrive in the midafternoon.
I need to check the place out. See what I can find,Cami thought, knowing the big challenge that lay ahead and wishing that she had someone with her for support. Having a friend here right now would make a big difference. But since she had no idea where this foray would lead her or what its outcome would be, she had thought it was wiser to arrive alone and not tell anyone where she'd been. Plus, she didn’t want to get anyone else in trouble—or even in danger.
There were no security cameras in the front of his house. She guessed that there were some in the neighborhood, but she'd arrived by bus and hadn't used a car.
She glanced at the road. It seemed quiet, but she wasn't happy about those houses opposite, their windows facing the street. If someone looked out at the wrong time, they could see her. And if she was spotted now and someone got suspicious, this would end in total disaster. With any luck, everyone was at work.
She took a deep breath. Now that she was here, this was the risk she had to take. She needed to find out about him.
"Were you the one who sabotaged that case file?" she whispered under her breath as she walked confidently around the house, hoping she looked like she was supposed to be there. Inside, she didn't feel confident, though. She felt scared to death at what she was doing, deeply aware how bad this could go. But scared or not, she was doing it, nonetheless.
"Because, when I went into the FBI case to look for Jenna's file, there was a program attached. It corrupted the file, and it tracked the IP details of the person looking for it." Cami still felt a shiver of fear at the thought that someone knew she'd been in those archives. Someone—Liam, or somebody else—might know she'd been in there already. But she'd found a counter program that had overridden this malware. She'd gone back in and gotten the file anyway.
"Was that you, Liam?"
She went around to the back of the house that had a secluded backyard with tall, gracious trees, trimmed grass, and a wooden fence. This was private. From here, nobody could see her.
There had been no way into the house so far. The windows were closed, and the curtains were drawn. There was no conveniently unlocked back door. She tried it to make sure.
That meant that if she was going to get in, she needed to find another way. Here, secluded from any prying eyes, was where she could do it.
She sat down on the back doorstep and took out her phone. Quickly, she searched to find out what technology was nearby. What could she pick up?
Here was Liam’s home network. Although it was secured, she hoped that it was nothing a few minutes of work couldn't crack. She started the program running, hoping that she'd get into it. The only problem was time, because she didn't want to lurk around here any longer than she had to. Every minute she was here presented a bigger risk.
Work,Cami urged the program, frowning down as if her own impatient gaze could hurry it up. To her utter relief, as she watched, it started throwing out some information.
She clenched a fist into the air. It had found the access password. Now she could get in and see what was connected to this network.
He had a home that had smart features, she saw, even though it was not completely smart. They were coming up now, one by one. An alarm system, but it wasn't turned on. A coffee machine. A smart fridge with an intelligent cooling system. A couple of other gadgets, power banks, and a sophisticated air conditioning and heating system.
And the locks. This was what she needed. Now, Cami's fingers dug into her palm as she saw what was here. The locks.
There was a smart locking system for the home's front door. Not the back, just the front. She guessed that was for security and convenience.
Where was the passcode and could she override it?
Hoping that she might find a use for it, she'd brought a program with her that she’d worked on for weeks, which could do exactly that if it was able to talk to the home's system. And she thought it would be able to do that talking, because she could see a gateway. Here, she could insert her code into this set of instructions.
Cami watched, feeling breathless, as the code whirred by, the coding and instructions now running faster than her eyes could follow.
There was a pause. She felt as if the air itself was holding its breath.
And then, a flashing message: "Access granted."
She heard a faint, magneticthunkfrom the front of the house. She had done it. The door was open. But did she dare to go in?
Cami rushed around the house, feeling breathless with amazement that her plan had succeeded. Should she take the next step?
As she hesitated, feeling overcome by nerves at the enormity of what she was about to do, a warning beeped on her phone, and her heart accelerated even faster.
Glancing down, she saw the opening instruction came with a time limit. Ten seconds, and it would automatically lock again, and the entry code would reset. That would mean she'd have to rerun the program, and next time, she might not be so lucky.
Should she do it? She hesitated, but she didn’t have the time to think further. Already, she had just five seconds left to make the decision. Knowing this could get her into terrible trouble, Cami did it anyway.
She strode up the path, pushed the door handle with the side of her hand, and opened it just as if she was the home's normal occupant. With just one second to go, she'd made it inside.
Feeling as if every synapse was crackling with tension, Cami turned and closed the door.
