by S. K. Lessly
“Okay, so you showed Lionel what you could do.” Ethan assessed, bringing me to the present. “When was this? Before or after you got caught hacking?”
I sighed heavily. “Ethan, I didn’t get caught hacking.”
“You just did, which is surprising to me, but I guess I should have expected it,” he said matter of factly.
“Wow, so much for loyalty,” I mumbled under my breath but he heard me.
“What did you just say to me?”
I looked at his frowning face, swallowed, and repeated what I said. He laughed.
“You have got to be joking, loyalty. You mention loyalty and you’ve done nothing but lie to me.”
I sat up straight in my chair. “Are you kidding me? I lied to you? What about you? Has anything you’ve told me been the truth recently? The things you said, the things you’ve done.”
“That’s different.”
“Really? How so?”
“I was just doing my job. That goes without saying.”
I smirked, desperately trying not to let his words destroy me, and folded my arms in front of my chest. I rebutted, my voice firm. “You say tomato, I say bullshit!”
“Alexis, I’m not a criminal.”
“Neither am I, Ethan. Yes, granted, I did somethings in the past that I’m not proud of but I had my reasons and they weren’t criminal. I’m telling you, I did not do what you are accusing me of. I don’t sit around hacking into various places just for the fun of it. That’s not cool. I don’t agree with that.”
“Huh, a hacking geek with a conscience.”
Ethan stopped abruptly after calling me the very thing I have been called all my life. The very thing Clint called the both of us when we were kids, and he sounded just like him.
I put my head down, shutting down completely. Everything I had ever wanted was no more. A family with this man was no longer in my future. I’d realized finally that too much time had gone by. He thought I was an idiot hacking geek criminal with a conscience. Fabulous!
There was a knock at the door and my head shot up expectantly. Ethan reluctantly stood and opened the door. Someone I couldn’t see handed him a piece of paper. He didn’t say a word, just took the paper and closed the door. He read the paper as he took his seat. He then turned it to face me and pushed it in front of me.
“This is all hard to believe, Alexis.” God, I hated hearing him say my full name. It was just proof I had lost him. “You’re sitting here telling me you’re innocent of all charges when the evidence keeps stacking up against you.”
“What evidence?” I said, defeated. I wanted to just give up. I was losing this fight and I really wanted this to be over.
“So, correct me if I’m wrong. Hackers have signatures or fingerprints that can identify them from the rest, correct?” I nodded, he continued. “If that’s the case, why have we recently detected your fingerprints all over the DOD? We found your calling card when you hacked into Detroit school district to locate that student. It’s the same fingerprint you used to hack into the database of the DOD three years ago and now. Please enlighten me as to why that is?”
I was fed up and it showed. “That’s not possible, Ethan, because I for one am not your average hacker geek.” I bit out tersely. “I didn’t do this. I don’t know how many times and ways to you want me to tell you?”
“I want you to stop lying to me!” he yelled.
I wanted to shout too but I had no energy to, instead I said calmly, “I didn’t do this, Ethan, and I can prove it.”
He looked skeptically at me. “Okay. By all means, prove it.”
I took a deep breath before I spoke then said to him. “Last night, I was doing a walkthrough of my parents’ home when I found a small camera embedded underneath the roof of the porch. I wasn’t sure if my mom had a security system and had forgot to tell me. However, there was no receiver inside, or in the basement. Naturally, I got curious and hacked into the system that ran the cameras and found videos of me, my mom, and—”
I frowned and looked at the table. Something that I was trying to figure out just hit me like a freight train. “That son of a bitch!”
“What?” Ethan asked and I jumped. I didn’t know I spoke out loud. “Alexis?”
I looked at him and told him, still in shock, “I found a video of my ex fiancée having sex with her.” I turned the picture around to face Ethan then I pushed it forcefully towards him.
He didn’t say anything at first; he just looked at the picture and then at me. I leaned back and looked at the one-way mirror. I had nothing more to say and I think either Ethan knew that, or he was being summoned because he got up and left the room without saying another word.
I had been racking my brain trying to figure out where I had seen that woman from the picture. She looked familiar to me, but I just couldn’t place her. When I hacked into the camera feed’s source, I found a list of videos. Not only were there videos of my parents’ house, but there were videos of the apartment I shared with Lionel. On one of the videos, I learned that Lionel was a lying, cheating bastard.
In fact, I found multiple videos of him having sex with the very woman from the picture Ethan showed me. I remembered all of it. As if someone flicked a switch in my brain, everything fell into place in my mind. I had everything. From the videos I found, Lionel coming with a bottle of wine, to me taking a sip and—
“That son of a bitch!”
***
It was a while before Ethan came back inside the room, but this time, he wasn’t alone. The same man I saw carrying my laptop out of the house was sitting across from me. The man was rather cute, sexy even. He wasn’t as tall as Ethan, but he was just as fit. This man placed two laptops in front of him and looked sternly at me. I wanted to laugh. I could tell he wasn’t a badass, more like the designated IT guy. But the “wannabe” hard look on his face was priceless.
I waited expectantly until the man broke his silence.
“You say you hacked into my system? Why can’t I find you?”
I didn’t respond. He asked me again, but I still didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what he wanted to hear. Ethan sighed loudly and pulled out his gun and sat it in front of him.
“Rules still apply, Alexis. Answer his question.”
I reluctantly replied, “I don’t know.”
“Alexis,” Ethan drawled out impatiently, but I cut him off,
“Ethan, what do you want me to say here? That his system apparently sucks. That the security he used is a joke and so easy to get into, a girl scout could do it? Or maybe my skills are just better, what?” I spoke so fast and with fear I didn’t realize what I said until I saw the man in front of me frown.
I didn’t apologize, however. I just remained quiet and waited for the bullet.
“How did you do it?” the man finally asked me.
I looked at the gun next to Ethan and sighed. “It looks like you’re using the Trinity approach to find me, correct?” He nodded but Ethan looked confused. I explained, “Us geeks, as you call us, use certain approaches to hack into a system. There are different codes used and methods used to breach a system’s firewall and, depending on the hacker, the method may vary. The Trinity approach is something that most hackers use that work for the government. It gives them certain liberties to break into systems undetected and quickly. I, on the other hand, use a different approach, rare, have been for some time now.” I looked back at the man who seemed to be on the edge of his seat waiting for me to speak. I put him out of his misery.
“It’s called the Infinity approach.”
The man’s eyes in front of me grew. “Holy shit! You serious?”
It was my turn to simply nod.
“What the hell is the Infinity approach?” Ethan asked. No one spoke at first and I could tell he was growing more irritated. I knew what would follow.
The man answered him. “It’s a few steps above the Trinity approach. The Infinity gives you autonomy to hack into any system you choose, if you
know how to use it correctly, undetected. Not many people know how to get in much less yield it. And you did?”
I just nodded.
“Well no wonder I can’t find her,” the man said to Ethan, but he was still watching me. “Can you do it again?”
“Do what?” I tossed back, my palms beginning to sweat.
“Get into my system?”
I shook my head. “Oh, hell no! You’re not going to trap me like that. I’m not—”
“No, no, no,” he said quickly. “This is my system and I’m giving you permission to go in. Please? I really need to see this for myself.”
I was still hesitant. I looked at Ethan and he nodded once. The man turned my computer towards me, and I turned it on. Once it booted, it only took me about three minutes to get into his system. The second I was there, I turned my computer back to the man who was now drooling. Well, not literally, but it seemed like it.
“Is she in?” Ethan asked the man next to him. He got no answer, so he spoke closer to the tech’s ear. “Billy, is she in?”
“Yeah, yeah, she’s in.” He looked up at me and smiled for the first time.
“Can you see that she hacked in?”
Billy grabbed his laptop and checked. After about two minutes, he looked up and shook his head. “No. I don’t see her. But…fuck me…she’s in there.”
Ethan looked over at me. “Show me the video where you recognize her?” He pointed to the black-haired beauty in the photo. I turned my computer around and found the video. I mean, how could I forget the images? I played it back for him, but this time I muted the sound.
He watched a little of it and said, “I don’t see where you can identify her clearly.”
I leaned in closer as he pushed the computer out to me. I paused the video on the faces and looked at him. He shook his head. “It’s not clear. How do you know it’s her?”
I cleared my throat knowing that what I was going to say next wouldn’t go over well, but hell, it couldn’t get any worse.
“Well I used facial recognition software to make the picture clearer.”
“Yeah? Which software did you use?” Billy prodded excitedly. “I’ve tried everything. The facial recognition software we have can’t read the digital image. It’s too grainy and there isn’t anything else on the market better than what we have.”
I shifted in my seat and met his vibrant brown eyes. “I, uhhh…used Aries.”
Billy’s eyes widened then he gave me a brilliant smile. “Oh, you’re good.”
“What’s Aries?” Ethan asked. I didn’t respond and neither did Billy. He was too busy staring at me, smiling. Ethan then smacked Billy upside his head.
“Billy, stop drooling all over her and answer my question. What is Aries?”
“It’s facial recognition software used by the NSA in their snapshot program. You know the one that they use—”
“I know what it is,” Ethan replied sharply. He brought his jeweled eyes to me. “You hacked into the NSA?”
I shook my head. “No, I did not!” I countered, sitting upright in my chair. “First of all, Aries isn’t owned by the NSA, they are borrowing it. It’s actually owned by a company called The Stevenson group. They created the software and allows the NSA to use it.”
“So how did you get the chance to ‘use it’?” He used hand quotations gestures.
I shrugged. “I know the programmer that created it. He gave me permission to test it out for a few minutes and that’s all I needed.”
“Can you do it again?” Ethan asked me. I started to answer but the frown he made next caused me to pause. He then took an ear piece from his ear and resumed his attention on me. “Can you do it again?”
“Yes, I can do it again,” I replied a little too eager, but I would do anything to get him back in his good graces.
I tapped the keyboard a few times and in about five minutes, I turned the computer back around so he could see the faces.
“Billy, run Face Rec against the picture.”
Billy looked at me for approval to use my computer and I nodded.
“Oh, for fucks sake, just do it.” Ethan rolled his eyes but then rested them on me.
I tried to read his expression, but I couldn’t. Gone was the anger, the rage, the hurt that was directed at me, in which I was grateful. In their place was a slew of emotions that, again, I couldn’t read. Indifference maybe, I don’t know. It was infuriating, nonetheless.
“Viola!” Billy turned his computer to face Ethan. “It’s a match. It’s her Ethan.” He smiled at me. “You are amazing!” he praised, his eyes all dreamy looking. I merely smiled back and nodded my thanks.
“Get out!” Ethan barked low.
Billy stood quickly, and gathered both computers. But before he left, he said to me, “Do you think we can one day sit down and talk? You know, go over strategies and talk shop?”
I shrugged. “Sure.” If I’m not dead.
“Get out, Billy, before I shoot you!”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
Once the door shut behind Billy, Ethan stood. He looked down at me for a few vexing moments before he said, “Uh… we’re also going to need the name of that student you helped.”
“There’s no point,” I said sadly.
“Yes, there is, Alexis. It wasn’t right what you did.”
“Yeah well, I found that out the hard way, believe me.”
“What do mean?”
I sighed, my shoulders slumping as the memories of that girl flooded my mind. “Lashara, the girl I helped, she was killed in a drive by shooting the day after she graduated. She never made to Stanford, but she made it to the city morgue as most of the young kids seemed to be doing in that city.”
“And…did you help anyone else like Lashara?”
I shook my head no, but that was a lie. I had helped countless others get out of their situation and on to a better life. I wasn’t going to tell him that. Those that I helped have either gone on to graduate schools or got jobs making a difference in their lives and communities. Ethan could say what I did was wrong but I disagreed.
Ethan didn’t reply. He held my gaze for a lot longer than was necessary before he sent a nod my way and left the room.
About a minute later, one of the big guys that put me in this room came back. He told me to follow him and he led me to a room with a bed and covers. I went straight to it, got in the bed, and pulled the covers over my face. I wanted to forget this day completely. It was supposed to be the start of a new life. I never imaged it would almost be the end of it.
Chapter Seventeen
Ethan
“She is the real deal,” Billy argued adamantly. “I don’t care what you say, Jessica. I believe she didn’t do this.”
“Oh, you would,” Jessica countered bitterly. “You practically had a hard on talking to her.”
Billy blushed looked quickly at me, but I didn’t react. I couldn’t. I was too busy feeling like shit.
We were sitting in one of the meeting rooms at the warehouse debating on the merits of one Alexis Stone. It was myself, Billy, Jessica and George, who was staring back at us from a large monitor mounted on the wall of the meeting room.
The interrogation didn’t go as expected. We thought we had this case wrapped up. We didn’t. Shit was unraveling fast and we had no answer for it. Billy knew that and was trying to plead his case. Jessica was in fucking denial. And I was… fuck, I was trying to figure out how to beat my own ass.
I had but a few regrets in life and one of them was accepting this case. The moment George explained to me the charges against Lexie and what he needed me to do, I said no. The man knew how to push my buttons though. He said to me, “We need you on this case. You know her better than we do. I’m sure you don’t want your childhood friend to go to jail for something she didn’t do. If she’s innocent, you’d know. If she’s lying, you’d know.”
Turns out, I didn’t know shit.
I failed miserably. I should have known
that shit wouldn’t be the same between us. Too much time had passed. We were two different people. I was a fool to think she was the same helpless girl from high school. I had changed, drastically I might add. What made her any different?
I brought tired eyes to my team and the anger I had felt before began to surface but for very different reasons. I fucked up. I should have gone with my gut, stayed with what I knew was right. Alexis was innocent. How could I have forgotten that? How was I so easily persuaded?
I was so sure days ago of her innocence. I was ready to run away with her even if she wasn’t innocent. How did all that change in a matter of hours? How did I allow doubt to manifest into stupidity?
I ran a frustrated hand down my tired face. There was a lot of shit I needed to sort out. One of them was my twisted mind and heart.
I closed my eyes and thought about the warning I’d given George and Jessica when they accused Lexie of treason. “You just better make sure you’re right about this because if you’re not, so help me fucking god…”
They told me they had her dead to rights. Jessica even gave me her word that the shit she discovered was reliable. But oh, how wrong they were. The evidence collected at Alexis’s family home was proof of just how wrong we were.
I leaned back in my chair, pointed my eyes skyward and sighed. I was over the back and forth. I wanted everyone to shut the fuck up so I could go find a bed and be done with this fucking day.
I heard Jessica growl in frustration, which brought me back to the present conversation or argument taking place before me.
“Sir.” Jessica turned her fiery gray eyes to the large screen displaying George’s displeased face. “I don’t understand why we’re discussing this. We can’t believe a thing she says. If she is good at what she does, she could be playing us right now. Who’s to say she hasn’t done this type of thing in the past?”
“She’s not guilty,” I finally spoke up and all eyes shifted to me.
“And how do you know?” Jessica asked, folding her arms in from of her chest.
I looked up at her. “Alexis was supposed to have drunk a bottle of wine all by herself, correct? That’s what the evidence we collected suggests.” I shifted my eyes to everyone in the room before they fell back on Jessica. “Well, I know for a fact that wine gives her migraines. She gets sick to the stomach and everything.”
