by Jeff Adams
“It seems like an innocuous system to go after.” Dad looked thoughtful, as if trying to find the missing piece.
“Unless it’s further smokescreen,” Mom said.
“Let me focus on this system today.” I looked between them and then landed my gaze on Oliver. “Do you have anyone trusted I can work with to analyze the attack?”
Oliver sighed and looked unsure. “I’ll introduce you to our head of IT security today.”
“Why the hesitation?” Dad asked. “If it’s about Theo—”
“No,” he said quickly. “It’s not that. All of this makes me wonder who I can trust. Melissa’s been with the company for a couple of years. I’m sure….”
“We didn’t find any red flags on our first analysis of the employees yesterday. As we dig deeper today, we’ll check her out first.”
Oliver visibly relaxed at Dad’s decision.
“And how will you be able to find anything?” Marcella asked, redirecting the conversation to me.
“I might not. But I can put in monitoring systems, that only I know about, to look at the network activity and perhaps catch anything that doesn’t look right from the inside or out.”
“You mentioned yesterday that you wanted to try to hack the system from the outside,” Oliver said. “Is that still your plan?”
“Given what’s happened, it’s better if I go into more of a defensive mode and look for traces of how the breach happened to prevent another.”
Oliver nodded, and he and Marcella shared a look.
Oliver fixed his gaze on my parents. “What do you two think of the strategy?”
Mom spoke first. “When it comes to computers or technology, I trust his judgment one hundred percent.”
“In the meantime,” Dad continued, “we’ll look at the employees further and continue to question the people apprehended last night.”
“How should we go about the day?” Marcella asked.
“As normal as possible,” Mom said. “We don’t want to give away to anyone that there’s concern. We managed to keep the media focused on the power outage and away from the attempted abduction. There’s no reason not to have a regular day. If anyone asks, just state the obvious. Yes, you were there last night. Yes, it’s a shame the event was disrupted.”
“I’ve got studio time booked today plus the live stream to release the new song tonight.” Sofia spoke for the first time, and she sounded very businesslike. “Should we reschedule?”
Once again, Marcella and Oliver exchanged a look—this time of parental concern.
Mom stepped in. “Unless there’s a business reason that you would cancel the performance, I say go forward. If you’re inside the Glenwood building, you should be safe. The attempts so far have all been in public places where you’re more exposed.”
“Or, if you don’t want to do it.” Marcella looked at her daughter as she laid her hand over hers.
Sofia thought for a moment. “Let’s do it. The song needs to get out there. It’s bad enough those assholes disrupted a wonderful tribute.” She put her hand over Marcella’s. “Let’s not delay this part of it. The performance is in our building with only fans in attendance, so it should be okay.”
Marcella beamed at her daughter, and she gave a shyer smile in return. Sofia was impressive. The public persona I’d seen a little bit of didn’t compare with how she behaved around her family.
“Theo, can you go with Sofia?” Marcella asked as she adjusted to hold Sofia’s hand in hers. “Just to, you know, be there. Just in case.”
I looked to Sofia. “I don’t suppose the studio is in the same building as the distribution system and the IT team?”
“It is actually. We’ve got a few studios at headquarters.”
“Then perfect.”
“This streaming event. You said it was for fans only. What does that mean exactly?” Dad asked.
“Only people who RSVP’d in my Facebook fan group are admitted. And probably not all of them because of space limitations.” Sofia shrugged.
“A couple of hours before the event, we tell people they can queue up outside the building,” Oliver added. “And we’ll cut the line at the capacity mark.”
“This sounds risky,” Dad said. “I assume this would be mostly teenagers, and we don’t want to put any young people at risk.”
Everyone was silent for a few moments, considering alternatives. The event was secondary to me as I wanted to dig into the computer systems.
“It’s happening in a small theater inside the building. Everyone will go through security, and we can even preview the list ahead of time from the RSVPs.”
“Theo’s gonna be with me, so I feel completely safe,” she smiled, and I felt like I’d been flirted with.
My face heated. I knew she paid me a compliment, but it made me uncomfortable and embarrassed.
“And look at how cute he gets when he blushes.” Sofia looked at me with a teasing grin.
I didn’t know her well enough to know what kind of comeback to make. I just shook my head and tried to be exasperated. It didn’t help that my parents giggled.
“Careful, he’s got a boyfriend,” Dad said.
Sofia raised her hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that.” She continued to eye me as a smile played across her lips.
That didn’t reduce a vivid red blush across my face.
“Okay.” I pushed my empty breakfast plate away and grabbed my half-empty can of Dr Pepper. “I’m gonna walk away before anyone says more. Give me a half hour to get cleaned up and my stuff together. That okay for you, Sofia?”
“Sure.”
I turned to Mom and Dad. “I’ll catch up with you later. Let me know if you find out anything useful, and I’ll do the same.”
“Will do.” Dad clapped me on the back.
I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like to spend the day with Sofia, especially if she made cracks that embarrassed me. This was definitely the weirdest mission yet.
Chapter Ten
AS PLANNED, I spent the day at the recording studio with Sofia. Oliver hatched a plan to pass me off as an intern on an MIT project. It wasn’t much of a stretch, of course, and it allowed him to easily ask one of his IT people to walk me through how the distribution system worked. Melissa Jones, Oliver’s chief security officer, took me through how it worked from the moment a song file entered the system until it became publicly available to be downloaded or streamed. She seemed surprised by some of the deeper technical and security questions I asked, but she answered because Oliver granted me full clearance.
The recording studio, in some ways, was more comfy than our living room. Sure, there was the functional area with the huge control console which sat in front of the glass that separated the studio from the production and guest area. It was the space behind the engineer that was plush with couches, chairs, and places to relax. There was even a small kitchen area. You could, if you needed, live here for days. Which I guessed musicians did sometimes.
I carved out a back corner for myself. After taking over a chair that had a side table as well an ottoman, I switched back and forth between having the computer on my lap and using the ottoman as a desk.
Once Sofia’s friends arrived, I was introduced as a friend from Boston. She didn’t try to pass me off as someone she didn’t actually want in the studio, which was cool because I’d thought she might try to make it seem like she’d been forced to bring me.
Oliver was in and out as the day went on. He was eager to see if I found clues. Nothing concrete surfaced by four, but I’d methodically gone through the system to increase the chance of not missing anything.
I wrapped up my analysis when Sofia sent her friends away, so she could prepare for the live stream. There were grumbles; a few people had expected to be allowed to stay. But Sofia held her ground and didn’t try to placate her friends.
As they filed out, I put my stuff away, so I’d be ready to move to the theater.
�
��You’ve been pretty quiet today.” Sofia flopped down onto the couch adjacent to the chair I was in. “What’d you find?”
“Nothing yet.” I shrugged. “Do you always have as many people in here as you did today? It’s not exactly good for security.”
“I’ve known most of them since elementary school. There’s no way they’re caught up in any of the shit going on. You got friends like that, right?”
I scooped up my backpack and took a drink from the Dr Pepper I had. “If someone wanted to get to you, they might use your friends to do it. Like the ones who didn’t want to leave, for example. I don’t want to make you paranoid, but you should keep that in mind.”
She scowled. I prepared for pushback, or maybe a celebrity-style tantrum, but it didn’t come. Instead she nodded and looked sad. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll think about it.” Her energy roared back a moment later. “Come on,” she said, standing up. “I need to make sure everything’s ready.”
I followed, slinging my backpack over my shoulder as we headed into the hallway.
My phone rang with John’s ringtone. It was the unsecured line.
“I gotta get this.” I swiped the screen to connect the call as we got in the elevator. “Hey, John, this is a pleasant surprise.”
“It is, yeah. I didn’t plan on coming to New York, but I’m here now. I’m in the lobby of Glenwood Music, and I need someone to give me authorization to come up.”
John was here? Interesting. I guess Mom or Dad asked him to come assist.
“Sure. One second, I can help you out.” We got off the elevator and stepped into a very posh theater lobby. “Hey, Sofia, a colleague is in the lobby. Can you give the okay for him to come up?”
“How well do you know them? We can’t let just in, you know?” She gave me a smart-assed look.
“I deserve that.”
“Yes, you do.” She put her hand out for my phone, and I let her have it since it wasn’t a secure call. She talked to lobby security, so John could get credentials.
I waited for John while Sofia went into the theater to talk to the technicians. A bartender set out sodas and snacks. This lounge space, which seemed a more appropriate term than lobby, opened into the theater that looked like it could be set up for multiple uses. In this case there were lots of places for people to stand as well as couches and seating areas on platforms along the perimeter of the room. There were only supposed to be a hundred people here, a lot smaller than last night’s event.
I turned as the elevator opened and John stepped out along with one of the large security guys that I recognized from downstairs.
“Hey, John, good to see you.” We fist-bumped.
“Is Sofia here?” The security guy looked around. “I need authorization to—” He looked at me and then my badge. “Actually, you’ll do.” He handed a badge to John. “Make sure you drop that off when you leave tonight.”
John nodded, and the security guy left.
How did I have authorization to authorize? I looked at the badge I’d worn around my neck all day. It had my name on it, with Theo in bigger letters and my last name beneath in smaller type. There was a green stripe at the bottom.
“Let me see yours a sec.” John handed his over. His name was in the same style as mine. The badge, however, was gray whereas mine was white. Apparently my access extended beyond IT information.
“One day here and you can already tell people what to do. I’m impressed.” John smirked as he took the badge and put it around his neck. “I’m supposed to meet up with Oliver, so I get access to information about all his security people. But he was on the phone, so I decided to check in with you first.”
Music started in the theater. I gestured for John to follow so I could keep watch on the person I was supposed to be guarding. Sofia was on the stage listening to the band and occasionally stopping them to discuss things.
I dropped my bag on a table. “I don’t have much. The distribution system is huge, and it’s taking me time to work through it in detail. On first look though it was tight.”
He nodded. “I heard your skills were on display last night.”
“Little bit.” I shrugged and stared off to the stage. “I got us caught, so it wasn’t exactly my best moment.”
“Things don’t always work out like you want. You know that from the simulations you’ve been through. That it was okay in the end is sometimes all that really matters.”
I looked at John. “I know. And I know if I wasn’t there, Sofia probably wouldn’t be on that stage now. But, I can’t help that I want to be better.”
John knocked his shoulder into mine. “Take it from someone who’s been in this for a while—you’re doing just fine.”
“There you two are.” It was Oliver, looking rushed. “You must be John. I’m sorry I didn’t have the right badge for you downstairs. I just now got Victor’s message that you were coming. I’m sorry it’s been a busy afternoon and I seem to have left my manners upstairs. Oliver Glenwood.” They shook hands.
“John Keller. Nice to meet you. I was just catching up with Theo.”
Oliver nodded but didn’t pick up that conversation. He probably wanted to forget last night. He handed John a new badge and the green stripe was visible. “I understand you want to review all the company and personal security teams.”
“Yes. Victor and Katherine thought I could help out on the personnel side of things.”
“Happy to have you on board. My head of security has already discussed his concerns with me, and he’s reviewed everybody over the past couple weeks. He’s also offered his resignation since he feels responsible. You want to come up to my office and we can talk? I’m sure Sofia is about to crank up the volume in here.”
John nodded. “That’ll be fine.” He looked to me. “We’ll catch up later.”
“I’ll be down here until after the live stream is over.”
John clapped me on the back and headed out with Oliver. I dropped onto the couch and watched Sofia do her thing. The band played the song from last night, which sounded even more amazing with the addition of strings. She sang softly, without a microphone, and moved around the stage as if thinking about what she wanted to do.
I pulled out my phone and tapped FaceTime to see if Eddie was around. In the middle of the afternoon, he could be any number of places, but I knew he was off work today. It only rang once before his face filled the screen.
“How’s hanging with the stars?” He grinned at me. He was somewhere outside with blue sky filling the space around his head.
“Surreal.”
“Where are you? There’s music in the background and it’s kinda dark.”
“Let me show you.” I flipped the camera so Eddie could see the stage.
“No way. You’re at that live stream thing? I’m so jealous. You were with her last night, weren’t you? I saw the news about the craziness.”
I turned the phone back, so I could look at him. “Yeah.” I tried to make it sound boring. “It was a snooze between the reception and the dinner. The music was good—and yeah, you heard that right. I liked the music. The whole power failure thing was just obnoxious. It took forever to get out of there.”
“But you got to do it with them.”
“Are you about to become my starstruck boyfriend?” I teased him because I still couldn’t believe he followed celebrities like he did.
“Maybe. Just a little bit.” He looked sheepish on the screen, and I wished I was with him to help wipe that look off his face. “How long’s it take to get there?”
“Three-ish hours on the train.”
“Damn. It’d be cool to be there with you. I guess I’ll just have to settle for watching online.”
I hadn’t been paying attention to the stage where the music continued, so when Sofia plopped in next to me on the couch, I jumped.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to spook you.” She looked me over and then sounded apologetic. “And I’m interrupting a phone call. Sorry.”
/> “Is that Sofia?” Eddie practically squealed. “Right next to you?”
In nearly two years of going out, I never heard Eddie make a sound quite like that. I struggled not to laugh. He’d never forgive me if I embarrassed him in front of Sofia after all.
Sofia turned the phone toward her and waved. “Hi! You must be the boyfriend. You’re very lucky, dude.”
“Yes, I am.” I didn’t have to see Eddie to know he was working hard to control his excitement after that outburst. “I’m looking forward to the stream tonight. It sounds like the new song is pretty epic.”
“That’s what we’re hoping for. I’ll send Theo back with an autographed copy for you.”
“That’d be amazing.” Eddie drew out amazing into about ten syllables.
“Sofia!” Someone from the stage called out. “We’re ready for you.”
“All right, gotta get back to it. Nice meeting you, Theo’s boyfriend.” I turned the phone back toward me and saw his beautiful, grinning face. “You should come down front and stream this rehearsal just to him. It will be like you’re here together for a sneak peek.”
“You into that?” I knew Eddie’s answer, but I asked anyway.
“Hell yeah.” As expected the contorted look on his face told me I was crazy. “I might not be able to speak to you if you don’t let me see.”
I went down front but stayed far enough away from the stage so Eddie had the full view. Sofia did “Guardian” with the full band behind her. She also did a couple of other songs.
“That was so cool,” Eddie said after it was over, and I had the camera back on me.
“Glad I could share it with you.”
The wide grin on his face was adorable, and I badly wanted to kiss him.
“I should go. I’ve got things to do before the stream starts.”
“All right. Glad we got to hang for a bit. You’re awesome. Call me later?”
“For sure. I love you.”
“Love you too.” We made kissy faces at the screen before he disconnected.
