“You’re crazy. This is the United States Government. They’re a little more sophisticated than that.” My roommate was usually the cynic. This time he was taking the side of the government. My rebellious roommate who hated the cops and any other form of authority. He was backing the Department of Defense. The thought actually depressed me.
In the early gray morning, James stood up and gave me a cold, hard look. “There may be something going on, Skip, but you don’t just walk into a government agency and steal them blind.”
“Have you been listening, man? You’ve heard the same stories I heard tonight, James. J.J. and the briefcases. Chi Mak, who just e-mailed the secrets to his home computer. It was that simple. We’ve read stories about missing uranium, government secrets, the KGB-I mean there must be hundreds of other stories. Security is a joke. Look how easy it’s been for us to walk through Synco. Hell, we opened up Conroy’s computer, James. And we didn’t even know what we were doing. Installed a smoke detector that doubled as a camera. Compromising these agencies, these groups, is just too easy. Think about it. I mean, two complete idiots like us, we’re accidentally able to identify a national security issue. How safe is that?” I’d raised my voice and he raised his eyebrows. “And Synco Systems is a company that has a contract with the federal government. I can’t even get my mind around this. You and I just strolled in and walked out with some very scary information. You know I’m right.”
He walked to the concrete wall and slammed his fist against it. “Ouch.”
“James, we’ve got to go to work.”
“Knowing that Feng tried to kill us last night. Do you think it’s safe to ever go back there?”
“He’s not going to kill us at work.”
“Skip, I wouldn’t be surprised at anything that happened after last night.” He spit on the concrete and opened the door.
“Born in the U.S.A.” blared from my phone. I didn’t even look at the number. Anyone who called was probably trouble.
“Skip, are you there?”
“Yeah, Michael. What’s up.” I felt whatever energy I had start to drain.
“Listen, Skip, we’ve got a bit of a problem.”
I wanted to tell him he had no idea how big our problem was, but I waited for him to tell me his “bit of a problem.”
“Top guy says no-go on the hookup until we get our money.”
I’d seen it coming. I wasn’t totally ready for it, thinking that maybe there would be a last minute save, but I’d seen it coming. “You haven’t gotten the down payment, right? She was supposed to send it, Michael.”
“That’s why you’re my top guy, Skip.” Sarcasm was creeping into his voice. “You’re so good at figuring these things out.”
I wanted to go right through the phone and strangle him. “I’m going in to Sandy Conroy’s office this morning, Michael. I’ll confront him and get at least half the money. Can we turn it on for half the money?”
“You get half and I’ll see what I can do, Skip. I’ll see, okay?” He waited for an answer I never gave him.
I flipped the phone closed. Conroy didn’t know what we knew. He didn’t have a clue. He was still playing it straight up, like everything was okay. Maybe he’d give me the down payment. Maybe he’d give me the entire amount. Sure, this was doable. Sandy Conroy wanted everyone to assume that it was business as usual. He wanted to be the upstanding businessman. Therefore he’d pay the bill. If he paid the bill, then everything would appear to be all right. And right now, just before all hell broke loose, Conroy needed things to appear to be all right. Right? This was going to work out. I was convinced. For that moment.
“I’m going in for the money, James.” James was no longer there. He’d gone inside to take a shower, get dressed for work, take a powder. Whatever it was, he’d left me on the porch by myself. “I’m going to walk into Conroy’s office and walk out with a check,” I yelled through the back door. Damn the neighbors. I was working my ass off, almost getting killed in the process, and somebody was going to pay me for my time.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
J ames drove the truck. Minus the Water Connection signs. We’d left early enough that last night’s caller was probably unaware I’d stripped the signs from the doors. James just shrugged his shoulder and tossed the rolled up vinyl on the floor.
“What are you going to say, pard?”
“That we’ve done the work and haven’t been paid.”
“Sarah was supposed to-”
“Forget Sarah. Remember? She’s going to be the first one they throw under the bus.” I had no idea where that statement started, but it seemed to fit.
“We could tell her.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly what we want to do. Tell the hooker that she’s going to be betrayed. Listen, James, I want my money. We’re-I’m walking a very thin line here. I still stand to make a lot of money. I’m not giving up on that dream. You, James, you screw it up and I’ll make your life miserable.”
“Screw it up?”
“Yeah. Get a moment of moral superiority and tell Sarah? Or mention this to someone else.”
“Amigo-”
“Don’t amigo me.”
“You’re my roommate, Skip.”
“Yeah?”
“My best friend.”
“Thanks, man.” I softened.
“No, what I’m saying is that you hired me for this job.”
“I did.”
“You got me into this mess.”
I had no comeback.
“And ever since we’ve been working for Synco Systems, my life has been miserable, so how is this going to change things?”
I refrained from slugging him.
We arrived fifteen minutes early. I didn’t see the yellow sports car, but then again I’d never seen it any other morning. Maybe he parked it in a private spot.
“There’s one good thing about today, pard.”
“Name one thing, James. I’d love to hear it.”
“It’s Friday.”
“Yeah?”
“Date night.”
“Ah, yes, the lovely Eden Callahan.”
“Who knows, man?”
“I hope she doesn’t bring the tear gas and the gun.”
“Handcuffs maybe.” He grinned. We got out of the truck.
Sarah met us at the door in a short, silver skirt and scarlet blouse. “He’s not in a good mood, guys.” She wore a fragile frown.
“Something we did?”
“Something about a smoke detector? And it appears that someone hacked his computer last night.”
My chest tightened up, and I had trouble catching the next breath. I just didn’t think that was going to happen.
“How do you do that?” James asked. His nervousness was apparent. “How would anyone hack Mr. Conroy’s computer?”
“Well, I’m not sure, but I know that he called me in this morning, and-” I detected the tremor in her voice, “and he showed me the screen. He said there was a record of the sites that were visited and he asked me if I’d been-” she sniffed and I knew right away she was going to cry. “Oh, God, Skip. I wouldn’t know how to hack anyone’s computer.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, and I felt about as low as I could. Not low enough to admit that I’d hacked it, but almost that low.
“Hey, I’m sorry. The guy can apparently be a jerk, huh?” I took a tentative step toward her and gave her a hug, feeling her softness press into me. At that moment she felt very tender and frail.
“You know who I think used his computer?” Wiping her face with her hand, she pushed off me and stared into my eyes. Then she shifted to James.
“Maybe we don’t want to know.”
“Oh, I think you should know.” She sniffed, and with her delicate condition it was hard to picture this creature as a call girl.
“Sarah, this isn’t any of our business.” James took a step back.