Tech
They probably thought this was the stalker they were hunting, but they couldn’t have been more off. This was a friendly, albeit an annoying friendly, who loved to use shock factor. Tech smiled and put his hands up to settle down the team. He knew exactly who the fucker was that hacked into Tech’s own system and was communicating with them from wherever the hell he was. He’d recognize that snooty accent anywhere.
“It’s alright, guys. I know him, this is—”
Tech was cut off again. “I think you ignored something critical there, detectives. Your famous friend said he’d been receiving threats in Virginia, more personal, intimate attacks on his belongings and office, but when he came to Atlanta was the victim of a completely different form of attack. A deadly one. Who knew you were coming to Atlanta for a few days? How many people did you inform… your manager, secretary, maybe a couple others? Your entire staff wouldn’t know of one critique you were coming to do. A fan wouldn’t know that, either. Critiques aren’t announced, usually, the chef doesn’t even know when a reviewer is appearing until he or she is there. So we can ignore the employees and fans for a minute—”
“We? Tech, what the hell is going on?” God growled, cutting the speaker off.
“Hold on, God. Let him keep going,” Tech shushed God, only to be given a threatening look, but they had to know the speaker was starting to make sense.
“Thank you,” the speaker continued. “The nasty stuff was definitely related, but was merely a decoy, a distraction, you understand. To detour your thoughts from the real culprit… the mastermind. Make it look like this is someone who has a personal vendetta... a weird fan. But a weird fan doesn’t typically escalate from petty vandalism to cold-blooded murder. Who knew you were here, Mr. Vaughan?”
Pres looked at Day and when he got the nod to answer, Pres rattled off a few names. His assistant, his driver, Ric’s boss, two managers, and his business partner in the critique business. “Except for my driver and Ric’s boss, the others are right here in the Atlanta offices.”
“Dig deeper, Techy. This organizer isn’t an idiot; he’s someone with a little clout, aware of confidential comings and goings, with enough money to hire flunkies. So start from the top and work your way to the bottom,” the disembodied voice suggested.
“Okay, enough. Who are you?” Syn spoke up.
“I’m your new Tech,” the speaker announced.
“Excuse me?” God looked at Tech for answers.
“It wasn’t the introduction I was looking for, but he does like to make an entrance. God, Day, this is Lennon Freeman. He’s a technology freelancer. Free, this is the team.” Tech glanced at a still-pissed-off God and hurried to explain. “You guys only work with the best, so I found him. Syn said to get a replacement, quickly. Free prefers to work behind the scenes. You won’t find a better man – skill wise – for the job.”
“I haven’t agreed to the job, Techy. I’m simply here on a trial basis.”
“You got that right. Might be the shortest trial ever,” God said loudly.
“Do forgive my intrusion, lieutenant, just wanted to get a feel for you guys. I may be a bit daft but I’m not that bad… really. By the way, sounds like congratulations are in order on taking the vows. I do love weddings.”
Tech walked over to his station. “Free, where the hell are you?”
“I’m at the airport. I thought I’d get myself acquainted with your system, Techy, while I waited for you to pick me up. You know you always leave footprints right to you and a gaping backdoor.”
“Bullshit,” Tech blurted, still scanning his system to see where Free was hacking in from. The guy always was sneaky. “What do you mean, waiting for me?”
“I could always remote-drive your truck here. While I was having a look around your system, I noticed the Tesla autonomous software—”
“Okay, okay, shut up. I’m on my way,” Tech rushed to cut his friend off.
“I thought so. See you in twenty.” A click resounded and Tech wasn’t sure if Free was really gone or not.
Tech turned to look back at his team. They wore mixed expressions, ranging from indifferent to impressed.
“Syn said to find a replacement, and fast. Why would I bring someone in here who’d need a bunch of tutorials and training when I could bring in the man I learned from? He’s amazing, as you can see, and he happens to be available. Not only can he hack anything in the world.” Tech stressed the last word. “But he’s also smart as a whip. He was only listening for a few minutes and look at the direction he took us in.”
“I was also thinking of who else knew you were in Atlanta,” Day said, sitting back down next to Pres.