“You told me that already.”
“Yeah. I know. It’s just…” Alix trailed off. “It was kind of a joke name, right? Like the kid was big and tough, even though he wasn’t. I think Azicort maybe did something to him. I never got a chance to ask, though.” She frowned, tapping the file on the table thoughtfully. “Moses would know.” She snapped a pic of the memo with her phone and then carefully put the paper back where she’d found it. “I’ll bet the lawyers in this class action would give a lot to know what’s in Dad’s files.”
“You’d seriously sabotage Dad like that?” Jonah asked.
Alix didn’t know how to respond.
Jonah looked pained. “Come on. You can’t be serious.”
“What would you do if you were walking past someone on the sidewalk who was bleeding, and you were the only person in the world with a bandage? Would you let them bleed out?”
“What kind of a screwed-up question is that?”
Abruptly, Alix realized she’d said too much. Don’t get him more involved. Get him out. Make him forget about all this. She made herself smile. “It’s nothing. I was just thinking.”
“Oh no you don’t. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”
“I think we’re done for the night. It’s 3 AM.”
“I’m your brother.”
“You’re my little brother.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Seriously. Let it go, Jonah.”
“I could still tell Dad,” he threatened.
“You could,” she admitted. “But you won’t.”
“How do you know?”
Alix grinned. “Because if you do, I’ll let everyone know that you’re the one who called in the bomb threat last fall.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Shhhh.” She put her fingers to her lips. “I’ve got some things I need to do, that’s all. It’s probably better if you don’t know what they are. It’s no big deal. I promise. Just be good for a while, until I get back.”
Jonah was frowning, his brow knitted. “You’re going down to DC,” he said. “You’re going down to DC and you’re not going to take me.”
38
A WEEK LATER ALIX WAS on the Acela with Moses, cruising south. The Acela ran smooth and fast, down through Connecticut countryside before plunging into the heart of New York City. Minutes later the train emerged, rushing for Philadelphia, Baltimore, and, as Jonah had guessed, Washington, DC.
“Are you sure Jonah isn’t going to rat us out?”
“Will you calm down about that? I know him. He’s mostly just pissed I’m not bringing him along.”
“How did you persuade him to stay?”
“I told him that if he kept his mouth shut, I wouldn’t turn him in for his bomb-threat prank on Seitz last fall.”
Moses warned, “You know this is just a scouting trip, right? We aren’t going to try anything this time.”
“I know.”
“It probably won’t work,” Moses said. “A lot of these things, they’re just about trying different approaches. Learning about the people involved. Learning how their systems work.”
“I know.”
“We tried this before, you know. We never got past the front desks.”
Alix grinned. “I know.”
“You act like you’re listening to me, but I don’t think a word I’ve said has actually stuck inside that head of yours.”
Alix leaned back in her seat, watching the greenery and buildings rush past. “I heard you.”
“What did I say?”
“The program you’ve got isn’t as good as the one Kook wanted to use before. This is only a keystroke logger. We need to get it installed on Dad’s computer, which is basically impossible, because it’s inside all these layers of security that you can’t get past without someone like Kook doing the hacking, and even if she was she wouldn’t have access to their main servers, and blah blah blah…”
“I’m serious, Alix.”
Alix patted his hand reassuringly. “I know you are. But we’ve got Dad’s swipe card already, and I’ve got the key to his corner office. I think that counts for something.”
“Yeah, well, just because you can grab his wallet off the kitchen counter—”
“And clone his key card. I did that, too.”
“Only because I gave you the machine to do it! Don’t get cocky, Alix. Sneaking around and snooping your dad’s stuff at home isn’t the same as this. This is real. We’re talking about real—” He broke off, leaned close, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “We’re talking about real breaking and entering.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “You’re cute when you worry.”
“Why are you so calm about this? When Kook and Cyn and Adam and Tank and I were doing this, we never figured out how to crack the Doubt Factory. Never. We figured out how we might have gotten inside, but after that Kook needed some way to get on the network, and for that we needed security keys…. It was a mess.”
“But we’re already further along than that,” Alix pointed out. “Anyway, I’m sure we’ll work it out. Dad knows I’m coming down to DC for vacation with Denise and Sophie, seeing the nation’s center of political gridlock and all that, and letting Denise check out Georgetown for the millionth time. He’s not going to even see this coming.”
Moses scowled. “You know what the problem with amateurs is?”
“Too much confidence?” Alix asked brightly.
“That’s right. Too much confidence.”
“You told me that last week.” She kissed him again. “I think you’re forgetting something, though.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“This time, you’ve got me.” She smiled so dazzlingly that Moses was almost fooled into believing their scheme would work.
“Mr. Banks? Your daughter is here to see you.”
Alix waited at the front reception, tapping her fingers on stainless steel. In her head, Moses’s instructions kept repeating themselves.
“Look at the tags for the security people. Pay attention to their uniforms. Watch how they make your visitor pass.”
The man smiled at her and said, “Elevator four.”
She went in and the doors closed. She’d never thought about how infuriating it was to have no buttons on the elevator, but right now it felt like a serious crimp. She could only swipe a building pass and then get on an assigned elevator and finally ride up to the pre-programmed floor.
So the first hurdle was to get inside the building, which was owned by some other company. Then to get access to the elevators, then to ride up to where Banks Strategy Partners was located on the tenth floor. Alix had grabbed Dad’s swipe card and office key at home, but they had no way of grabbing his computer password. Hence the keystroke logger.
“I can get us into the main office building, but after that it’s all on you. You’re the one who has to get passes for the elevators and keys for your dad’s offices,” Moses had said.
“How, exactly, do you break into an office building where you aren’t invited?”
“Don’t worry about it. I just need to bump into the right worker.”
“How is it that easy?”
Moses had grinned and held up her keys. Somehow, he’d gotten them out of her purse, while it was on her shoulder…
“That’s amazing!”
“Here, let me see your bra…”
That had led to a pleasant distraction.