Five minutes later I’m sitting next to Cheryl in the conference room still thinking of Brittney.
Fuck.
That’s five minutes longer that I’ve ever thought of a girl after sex.
There’s something going on with her here.
144
Brittney
"Brittney, can you hear me?"
I hear Walter's voice coming in through my tiny earpiece, which is hidden underneath my long hair. The sound is low, but the quality is good.
"Loud and clear," I say.
"Are you at Ethan’s computer?"
"Yes, but now what? I don't have the password for this machine, you know. It's locked."
"Okay, I'm going to walk you through this," Walter says. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. I don't hear anyone coming, so it's now or never," I say, looking tensely over my shoulder.
"The first thing you need to do is shut the computer down."
"What? Why? Doesn't that seem counterproductive to be turning this thing off?"
"Just trust me, okay?" Walter says. "I know what I'm talking about."
"Okay, it's off."
"Good, now reboot it in Safe Mode," Walter instructs. "You need to do this so that you can effectively login as an administrator to the machine."
"You're speaking another language … but sure," I say. "Okay, done. Now what?"
"Now, you'll need to reset the password."
"The password for which account?"
"For the account that's locked," Walter says. "If we're going to gain access to the Illicit Escape software and plans, we'll need to change the administrator password so that we can unlock it all."
"Since when did you get so high-tech on me Walter?" I joke.
"Just here to help, darling. We've got to move quickly."
"Okay, that's done; now what?" I ask. I'm acutely aware of noise now coming from down the hall and I wait a few extra seconds before making any noise in case anyone walks in. After those moments are up, it seems like the coast is clear, so we resume.
"And for the record," I say, "I've given this account a password that no one is ever going to fucking crack. I think there's enough letters, numbers, and symbols for it to be its own equation."
"Nice work," Walter laughs. "Okay, now we'll need to shut this machine off."
"Again?" I ask.
"Yes, shut it off and reboot," Walter says. "When you're turning it back on, you need to immediately hold the F8 key."
"Why is that?" I ask. "Is something about to melt down on me? You'd at least warn me if that was the case, right?"