“I’ve got a good viewing point here,” the blonde girl said. She was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, which looked kind of odd, because otherwise she was quite smart, with a suit jacket and a pretty shirt worn over classy trousers.
“Lara,” said Sky, making the introductions, “this is Rowan, our sister.”
Lara smiled at Rowan and took off her shades. “It’s so good to meet you.”
Rowan nodded. “If a bit weird, on a street corner, on a stake out.”
&nbs
p; “Yes, hopefully we’ll have time to catch up properly after this…this…whatever it is.”
“Hmm. Yes,” Sky said, “whatever the hell it is they’re up to.”
Rowan wanted to know more about Lara. She had a lovely frothy laugh. “So you’re the girl who got my brother into a suit?”
“Guilty as charged. Am I forgiven?”
“Oh God yes!”
They shared the joke, and then Lara pointed over at the riverside warehouse. “Sean went in there a while back, with four other guys.”
“The building looks out of place,” Rowan commented.
“It’s under a demolition order, has been for a long while. I guess that’s why they’re using it. The site will soon be another office block or apartments.” She pointed beyond the cars exiting the multi-storey car park. “Make sure you hang back. Draco and Rory keep cruising around over that way. If they see us, I’m dead.”
“Me too,” Rowan said, shuddering at the very idea of Sean finding out.
“And me.” Sky dodged behind them, as if that would help.
Rowan felt a bit useless, now they were here, and craned her neck to see, but the few windows on the warehouse were either boarded up or mottled glass covered in security bars.
She was just about to ask for more description of the guys Sean had been with when a familiar voice shouted behind them.
“What the hell are you three doing here?”
All three of them turned on their heels in unison and stared at Draco.
He raced over, face like thunder, and herded them around the corner into the adjacent street.
Rowan took one look at his face and gulped. “Perhaps this wasn’t such a good move after all.”
Chapter Twenty-two
The venue for the hack was grim, a dusty and deserted control office in an abandoned riverside warehouse. Sean attempted to get his bearings as they walked from the vehicle through the empty warehouse to the office, keen to assess and remember distance to the exit, and any places to take cover, should the need arise.
During the car journey there, he noticed at least two of his companions carried weapons inside their jackets. If the cops did arrive, timing and knowledge could be crucial. The memory of his previous arrest was suddenly far too sharp in his mind.
His four companions were largely silent, but for Delahane’s cocky gopher, who still remained nameless. Sean listened carefully to any whispered exchanges, hoping a name would slip—anything he could turn in as evidence. The other three were under a pact of silence that much was clear.
This was far from petty cyber crime but Sean already knew that. It was a harsh reminder. His involvement could see him going back down for a very, very long time, especially given his history.
They’d picked him up outside the diner just after ten, and drove him to the warehouse in a four wheel drive with blacked out windows. Sean figured it was the one Rory had mentioned. Rory had entered the registration number in a text message to Sean, which might be useful if he had the chance to give the police information. Sean was determined to bring these cronies down.
When they got to the office, three laptops were set up on the desk and someone had laid a high speed Ethernet cable. The gopher gestured at the desk, but kept deferring to one of the other guys, a bloke who had a cap pulled low on his brow.
It pleased Sean to know he wasn’t the only patsy. Gopher was also disposable. The guy in the cap was the real right hand to Delahane, for sure. He didn’t speak loudly, whispering instructions to Gopher—didn’t want Sean to hear his voice, had to be near the top of the chain.
Sean picked the laptop with the highest spec and began to load his hacking code. Once the firewall was down, it was a matter of delay tactics until Draco’s colleagues pulled in the cyber crime division. Sean had no way to gauge if enough time had passed.