AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He took her by her shoulders, spun her around, and deposited her back in the chair.
She resumed typing as though no interruption had occurred. “When rich-ass people like Devine hire fancypants digital-security folks, they sometimes forget random shit that’s internet connected. Like, say, bidets.”
“Bidets?”
“’Member what I said about you getting confuzzled? Try’n be a smidge less on-brand, X. Yes, bidets. Of the Japanese variety. TheID of the automation device that manages the spout, cleaner, lights, dryer—all that—it doesn’t have some long string. It’s only, like, five hex digits, easy to brute-force, and it just happens to be the default password for the API that they so helpfully documented in leaked internal docs I got from a friend on IRC. And it grabs firmware updates over the internet. So guess who built her own firmware with a backdoor and shipped it over the air to said device?” She jerked dueling thumbs toward her chest, the dangling diamond providing a sparkly bull’s-eye. “This guy. Then I used it as a beachhead into everything else, popped into Devine’s private network.Uh-maze-ballz, right? Oh, and also, as a kind gesture to bidet users the world over, I patched the firmware at the bidet company called—I shit you not—Pee-Pee Fresh, to make it more secure than it was before, ’cuz I’m Robina Hood.”
“I’m toldRobinis also the feminine ofRobin.”
“Whatevs. Either way it’s a hacker’s wet dream. Own something and leave it better than you found it. Except for the one belonging to the asshole hedge-funder with a God complex.”
“Impressive,” Evan said. “But you still can’t get past the Faraday cage. The system is air-gapped—”
“Unless AHFWAGC charged the wireless keyboardoutsidethe cage on the side table beside the chaise longue he likes to sprawl on when he’s messing with the minds of impressionable aging Orphans. And unless that keyboardalsorequired the occasional over-the-air software update. Which I may have just pushed before he took it back inside the Faraday cage. So while you were busy drooling into your pillow on your floating bed all morning, I’ve been perusing his files.”
“And you learned what?”
“The Labor Day files are full-wiped. Secure deletions, written over, not retrievable.”
“Shit.”
“But.”
“But?”
“Of coursebut. Weren’t you listening? This is the part where I come up with something awesome, show you how I’ll save theday, and you’re chastened and humbled by my superior being. So. Are you prepared for chastenment and humblement?”
“I am.”
“Nothing can leave there not on a flash or physical drive. But the zsh shell log happens to show when a physical copy last got made. And one was made. A year and change ago.”
“Just after Labor Day.”
“Someone saved footage of what went down that night. Someone made a copy.”
“Tenpenny,” Evan said.
Joey flung her arms wide, let her hands flop out to the sides. “Wa-la.” She took in his expression. “What?”
“I thought you’d be able to retrieve the footage here. So I could just watch it.”
Her lips set in a firm line of disappointment, mirroring Vera III’s expression. “You know what, X? You’re getting lazy in your dotage. Flyin’ on private jets, making me do all the legwork digitally, forgetting the analog world you came up in. You’re X! Go break into a motherfucker’s house already and see what’s up.”
She looked so goddamned put out that, despite his best efforts, he was charmed.
She scowled at him. “What?”
He shook his head. “I’ve created a monster.”
54
Uncharted Territories
When Evan ducked through the clamshell door into the Cirrus Vision Jet in the northside hangar of the Santa Monica Municipal Airport, a heavyset gentleman waited for him in the second row.
Aragón Urrea pulled himself to his feet. He was striking and homely at once, a grin lighting his broad, bold features. His wild shock of thick, wavy hair now tilted more salt than pepper and his bearlike build had grown a bit more stocky around the midsection since Evan had seen him last. Even so, he looked hearty, robust. A few days’ worth of stubble textured his face. It struck Evan that he’d never seen the man clean-shaven.
Aragón wrapped Evan in a hug, pinning his arms to his sides, picking him up, and planting a smooch on his cheek. He set Evan back on his feet, and they took up executive leather seats side by side.
