A large room with dark hardwood floors and crisp, white walls opened up before her. An elaborate computer setup pulsed with light nearby, the screens of multiple monitors dancing with lights. Along the far wall to her left was a white tiled kitchen and dining area, filled with tripods and lights and cameras, poised and ready for someone’s close-up. A sliding glass door stood open to a large rooftop balcony, turfed with green and populated with deck chairs and a large hammock. Two plush velvet couches sat in an L shape in the center with a short coffee table stacked high with photography books and fashion magazines.
Briana went to the workstation and knelt down, staring in awe. The case was matte black with a red flame pattern emblazoned across the surface. Lights shone behind a clear panel, pulsing blues and purples. A small cylinder filled with orange coolant swirled as the fluid flowed through clear pipes that fed a heat exchanger installed over the CPU.
“Liquid cooled? This thing must really scream,” Briana said.
“Have no idea. Somebody else set it up for me. You know computers?”
“Yes. Well I did. I didn’t have a lot of money growing up so I saved up my allowance for parts and I’d build my own. I wanted to be a software engineer when I was younger.”
“That’s so cool!” Leish said. “What happened?”
“Boys don’t like nerdy girls. Well, not real, real nerdy girls.”
“It’s a guy thing. They love to know more about this type of stuff. The dude who set it up mansplained the whole process to me like I could give a shit. Come on.”
Leish pulled her past a wall sized flat screen down a long hallway, painted black. “Your room’s down here.”
They swept by a closed door on the left. Briana slowed. “Is that your room?”
“The whole apartment is my room.”
Leish tugged her hand to the end of the hall and motioned to a door on the right. “Bathroom’s in there,” she said before opening a door on the left. “You’re in here.”
A twin bed sat against one wall, covered with plush hyenas of all shapes and sizes. Some had fallen on the floor. Briana almost jumped as she noticed a big one at least four feet tall next to the door. It sat on its haunches facing the bed, its orange eyes glassy and bright.
A nightstand was tucked next to the bed with a small lamp on top. A pink scarf lay draped over the shade. Leish bent and turned it on, bathing the small room in a rosy glow. She swept some of the plushies onto the floor then took Briana’s bags from her and tossed them onto the bed.
The pasties began to flash. Leish cupped her breasts and looked down, brows knitted together. “Uh oh. Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back,” she said before disappearing back down the hall.
Briana sat on the bed and blinked for the first time since entering Leish’s apartment. This place was nothing like back home.
On the floor lay a loose pile of fabric covered in zigzagging black stripes. She picked it up, holding it between her spread hands. It was a bodysuit of some kind, with a hood. A zipper ran all the way up the back.
A soft flutter whooshed by her ear and she recoiled as a large insect wheeled around and hovered above her, just out of reach. Glittering in the dim light, its wings were an orange blur, shiny eyes twitching back and forth.
Not eyes, Briana saw. Cameras.
She eased onto the bed and lifted a hand. The drone hovered closer. Tiny motors whirred as the cameras on its head adjusted, ticking back and forth.
“It’s okay,” she said, extending an index finger. “I won’t hurt you.”
The drone came closer, hovered for a moment before lowering onto her finger. She let out a soft “oh” and smiled. It barely weighed anything. Its body was a silvery green, about the size of her pinky. The wings were about six inches long, made from a thin gossamer film that looked very much like real dragonfly wings. Instead of shot through with veins though, small, interlocking diamonds were etched across the translucent orange surface.
Pulling her hand closer, the eyes followed hers and she could see her face reflected in the tiny lenses. The legs tightened and the hairs on her neck stood up as she stared into the glassy depths of those shiny, little eyes.
Not eyes, Briana thought. Cameras.
“I think it likes you,” Leish said from the doorway. She’d slipped on a pale silk robe patterned with graphic style koi fish. The drone lifted from Briana’s finger and hovered for a moment, cameras scanning in all directions before it flitted up to a corner. It rested upside down on the ceiling, legs twitching before it fell still.
“Amazing,” Briana said. “Where did you get it?”
“Just came in the mail one day. It’s a beta unit. I get stuff all the time,” Leish said, waving a hand over the boxes stacked against the far wall. She sauntered over and flopped on the bed next to Briana. More stuffed hyenas fell on the floor.
“Why?” Briana asked.
“I’m an influencer. Companies send me their stuff to try out.”
“Like this?” Briana said, holding up the stripped bodysuit.
“Sure. It’s not very sexy so I only tried it on once.” She nodded to the large hyena next to the door. “That big fella over there showed up the other day with a card that said ‘from a secret admirer’. I mostly get workout clothes or skin care products, energy drinks. If I can find an angle on how to sell it, I will. Depends on the product and the contract. I was in the middle of a shoot when you showed up.”
“A shoot?”
“Yeah, I have a whole automated camera rig and lights that can be set up based on preprogrammed styles. It’s in the dining area. I prefer natural light though. I take a lot of pictures out there on the patio. Didn’t you check out my Instagram?”
“I’m…not on Instagram.”
“Oh my God, girl. If you’re going to make it out here, you got to be on social,” Leish said as she flashed a devilish grin. “We’ve got so much work to do.”
Briana’s gaze flicked away and she fidgeted with her skirt. “That’s what you we’re doing when I got here? Taking pictures?”
“Trying out a new product. The pasties are trackers, so when you take pictures or video the software puts different shapes over your nipples in Realtime, like stars or emojis. They were running low so I had to go charge them. I recently started streaming games too. Mostly League and Fortnite. I do unboxing and tech reviews too, dressed to entice likes. Nothing beats a pushup bra to get a bump in followers.”
Briana looked up. “That’s how you make money?”
“Yep. I get paid based on how many followers I have and the number of likes I get while promoting. Some of the stuff I get, I just sell online. I keep all that junk in here. One of my biggest sources of income though, is exclusive content. Only Fans.”
“Only Fans?”
“Nudes,” Leish said. She leaned in and brushed her fingertips across Briana’s cheeks. “You’re so adorable when you blush, baby doll!”
“Shut up,” Briana said with a laugh, pushing Leish’s hands away. “My gosh, what don’t you do?”
“My gosh?” Leish said, shaking her head with a grin. “Well, country girl. I can’t sing like you.”
Briana blushed again and glanced away.
“I remember when I first discovered you on YouTube. Your voice, so clean and raw with emotion.” Leish lifted Briana’s chin with a finger. “It’s who you are. The real you. That’s when it hit me. Leish, I said, you bish. You want, no, you need to help this girl realize her dreams.” She smiled, her eyes sparkling. “And you’re so pretty. Way too pretty to waste on corn fields. And now here you are. Meant to be.”
Briana smiled and bit her lip before glancing away.
“You should take down those videos on YouTube of you shooting shotguns and stuff with your dad, though,” Leish said. “Especially the hunting ones.”
“Okay,” Briana said, face falling. “Why?”
“Makes you look like a redneck. That’s a bad thing out here.”
“Oh.”
> “By the way,” Leish said as she slipped a clipboard and pen out from under the bed. “I need you to sign this release form.”
“Yeah, okay,” Briana said, her smile fading even further. She took the pen and scribbled her name on the line at the bottom. “What’s this for?”
“No big deal. Standard form. It just means you understand that while living here, your image may appear on various social platforms in some form or another, but only after your express permission, which you just gave. I stream a lot so if you’re here, you’re going to be online. Understood?”
“Okay,” Briana said, bending down to pick up one of the plush toys from the floor. “What’s with all the hyenas? You got a whole pack.”
“It’s called a cackle, not a pack. And the hyena is my spirit animal. What’s yours, do you think?”
Briana stared into the shiny eyes of the stuffed hyena. Its head hung down at the end of a long slender neck. She tugged at the scruffy orange mane that sprouted along its back.
“I don’t know…” she trailed off. Then she sat up straighter and spoke with a voice stronger than she’d intended. “A lioness. Part of a sisterhood. Self-sufficient hunters at the top of the food chain.”
Leish raised her eyebrows, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “Very good.” Then her expression darkened. “But did you ever think that as strong as she is, a lioness still serves an alpha male? Hunting for him, fucking whenever he wants, killing her babies if she dares mate with another male. Is that what you want to be?”
“No,” Briana said, her voice going soft.
Leish’s phone rang and she slipped it from a pocket. “Tell me what I want to hear, Melvin.” She listened for a moment before rolling her eyes. “That’s not good enough and you know it. Call me back when they agree to everything in my rider.”
She dropped the phone on the bed and lay back again, head resting on the spotted hide of a plushie. She reached up and traced her long, delicate fingers along its snout. “I’m telling you, girl. Hyenas got it all figured out.”
“Yeah?”
“The cackle is run by the females, led by a queen. And they’re not just scavengers like most people think. They’re hunters. All kills go to the females and the males take what’s left, fighting over scraps with the vultures.” She sat up and took Briana’s hands in hers. “As women, that’s what we should always strive to be. Amazons of the animal world. Hyenas. And we take whatever the fuck we want.”
CHAPTER 13
Rooftop
Dante placed his hands on the parapet and exhaled as sounds of the city drifted up from far below. A horn blared out followed by squealing brakes as someone almost got themselves killed on an electric scooter. The sun winked out as a swarm of delivery drones whizzed by before splitting off in various directions. Heat from the metal trim bled into his palms but he barely felt it.
Who would come at him like this? Colin?
For years not a word then out of nowhere, the guy just happens to drop in the same day Dante’s career is torpedoed by a thirty second video. And what a video it was.
Disgusting, he thought as he swallowed, wondering if he’d ever scrub it from his brain. Could Colin have done this though? He was a talented coder for sure, but the poor guy looked worse than the last time Dante had seen him. He never was the vindictive type. More of a lifelong victim. Always had been. You don’t get the nickname “Twitch” for nothing.
Skylar Westfall though, was brilliant, had the motive and the means, but he was just a punk-ass. Wasn’t he? He also said he’d wanted to help Dante, and it looked like he meant it.
This didn’t really fit either one of them. They were both wicked smart and could probably just hack Dante’s accounts and steal from him.
Why come at me like this? Dante thought. And show up on the same day? It didn’t make sense.
It was definitely personal though.
Dante thought back over his career. He’d rubbed some people the wrong way over the years. Fired people, canceled contracts. He was in the middle of a few lawsuits right now. He’d walked away from bad deals and been burned by a few himself, but it had always been business, not personal. Most people understood that, but some couldn’t separate the two. It could be anybody though.
The comments on YouTube following his NAB presentation years ago on the psychology of selling had devolved quickly. In ran the gamut from ravings about the government trying to control people’s minds, specifically by the CIA and their MK Ultra operation in the sixties, to subliminal mind control by greedy mega corporations.
What seemed to be most agreed upon, though, was that Dante and people like him perpetuated a never-ending campaign of disinformation that defrauded people every day. Defrauded them of what, exactly, no one seemed to be able to articulate. In reality, the Internet was a big place full of angry people with nothing better to do then to pursue a cause, no matter how misguided.
Someone was trying to smear him, discredit him. Another firm going after the Hind’s & Younger deal maybe, trying to take Ellis Media out of the running. It was a big win, for whomever got it. Years of work across several campaigns.
Character assassination, then. Had to be. Cancel culture taken to the extreme. It was fucked up no matter how you looked at it. Worse than that.
It was criminal.
He turned and strode across the roof and back downstairs to his office.
CHAPTER 14
House Calls
Gary sat on the couch in a daze. A tech from Home Safe stood near the front door, interfacing with the alarm system via USB cable and tablet. He was a small man dressed in blue coveralls with thinning black hair and a thick, bushy mustache. Sweat beaded his forehead even though the AC was back on, full blast. The little man shook his head and poked at the tablet, causing the screen to flash.
Ms. Elamin, a rep from Think Thermo, sat at the dining room table bent over a laptop. She hadn’t offered a first name. Young, in early twenties, she was dressed in dark blue slacks and a white blouse. A matching blazer hung over the back of the chair. A hijab kept her hair back from her face, revealing a pair of meticulously kept eyebrows above large, dark eyes.
The boys were wrestling with Sergeant Chavez on the floor, squealing with delight. It just so happened that Chavez and his wife were pregnant with twins as well and they couldn’t be more delighted.
Talk to me again in a year, Gary thought.
As soon as Chavez realized a false call had been made, he’d shut off the main breaker, plunging the house into glorious silence. As the rest of the SWAT officers left, he’d helped calm the kids down and personally called the alarm and thermostat companies, threatening large fines if they didn’t send somebody out right away. This had all transpired well after Gary had been handcuffed while a heavily armored knee crushed his kidneys.
Chavez placed the twins in the playpen with a juice box for each and came over and joined Gary on the couch. Gary rubbed his lower back with a grimace.
“Sorry about that,” Chavez said. “I knew you’d been swatted as soon as we busted in but we have to secure the scene first.”
“Swatted?”
“Yeah, it’s a form of criminal harassment. It’s when somebody calls in a false report of erratic behavior of a person or persons at a residence, most likely armed. Then we show up in all our gear and bust the door down.”
“This happens a lot?”
“Didn’t used to, but it’s becoming a real problem. Internet streamers do it to each other so it’ll occur live on stream to get a laugh or for revenge. Guys do it to ex-girlfriends and vice versa. A young guy was recently shot and killed in Kansas during one of these incidents. It’s expensive, too.”
“I’m going to get charged for all this?”
“No, not you. We find you who did it though, you better believe they get this tacked onto the bill. I didn’t mind this one too much though, right guys?” Chavez said to the boys who lay happily in the playpen. He turned back to Gary. “You have any i
dea who’d do this? An estranged family member, somebody at work? Ex-girlfriend or boyfriend?” Chavez glanced at the twins then back at Gary. “Someone else maybe?”
“Well, if my wife is stepping out then she’s got more energy than me. I just got let go from my job so if anybody’s got a beef it’s me.”
“Do you?” Chavez asked.
“Do I what?”
“Have a beef? With somebody at work I mean.”
“No, I was just saying,” Gary said. “I can’t think of anybody, really.”
Chavez grunted. “Well, if you remember anything, give me a call.” He passed his card to Gary as he rose. “Listen, sorry again and have a nice day.”
Gary followed him to the door.
“And take care of those little rascals, okay?” Chavez said.
“Thanks again,” Gary said as he closed the door.
“Well, everything looks good,” said the tech from Home Safe. He unplugged the cable from the alarm system, whipped it around the tablet and dropped it inside a tool bag at his shoulder.
“What was wrong with it?” Gary said.
“Don’t know. Just a glitch. Won’t happen again. One of those things, you know?”
“I do. I work in IT.”
“God bless you, buddy.” He saluted with two fingers and left.
Ms. Elamin still sat at the dining room table, squinting down her laptop. She typed for a bit, the keys clacking under her fingertips. Gary checked on his sons before sitting down across from her.
“Weird,” Elamin said.
“What’s that?”
“You had a virus, but it’s gone now.”
“Gone?”
“You’re in IT, right? Sorry, I heard you tell that tech.”
“Yeah, we run virus checks all the time,” Gary said.
“When the software finds the virus, what does it do with it?”
“Quarantine, then adds it to the database.”
“Right,” Elamin said. “So, my anti-virus found it, then it just disappeared. I mean it was a blip, blink and you miss it. Fortunately, I was watching when it happened. The virus count read zero, jumped to one then back to zero, but nothing made it to quarantine. You ever see that before?”
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