“Oh, do you sing?” This time Fallyn’s response didn’t sound as forced.
“I suppose everyone who opens their mouth and lets notes come out sings. But I’m not on the same level as someone likeDanny.” The drawback to working with actual musicians—it was always clear who was going to shine at karaoke. That didn’t stop me from enjoying the entire thing, though.
“Actually”—Elliot turned down the music a few notches—“he’s being modest. He’s got an incredible voice.”
I wasn’t bad. I could hold my own through a few songs. “You’re going to sing, right?” I was still focused on Fallyn.
She scrunched up her face in hesitation.
“So much for not being shy or timid.” Mocking slipped into Elliot’s voice.
Not. Cool. I glared at him. “Ease up.” The warning in my tone should be enough for him.
“I’m just saying.”
“Now.” I reinforced thesuggestionthat he stop.
“It’s not that.” Now Fallyn was barely audible above the radio. “But I was hoping to keep a low profile in that specific room. I’m not exactly a crowd favorite at AcesPlayed.”
Elliot’s nostrils flared. “Probably smart.”
And now the conversation was dead again.
A short while later, we pulled around behind the convention center. It was early enough that only a handful of vendors were here, and no attendees. We dropped her off, and headed on to the office.
At work, the tension was heavy in the developer rooms. Elliot called us all together for a morning huddle. Which mostly meant that most everyone stood up in their cubicles if they couldn’t see him from their desks.
“I know the sitting around, fucking off and doing nothing, kind of sucks,” he said. “Especially after so many months—years—of pushing hard. Enjoy the calm while it’s here, but of course be ready to jump at a moment’s notice if something like last night happens again. Go play the game, play something else,wander RinCon… As long as you’re close and available for the rest of the week.”
There were a few weak cheers, and some grumbles, but mostly people turned back to their computers.
“Shouldn’t we be doing more to take care of what happened last night?” Chris’s question rang out above the mutters.
Elliot fixed him with a penetrating look. “Link and I took care of it, with Luna’s help. The issue is resolved.” His tone implied that was the end of the conversation.
“Are you sure?” At Chris’s question, several heads popped up above cubes again.
Presumably because no one questioned Elliot. It wasn’t that he had a rule against it or anything, it just didn’t tend to be needed.
Elliot fixed Chris with a hard stare. “Iamsure, yes.”
“So what was the issue?” Chris asked.
We’d agreed last night, when talking to Luna, that no one needed to know that the attack was related to Fallyn in any way, even if it wasn’t her fault. Most everyone here already had enough animosity toward her, though Luna apparently didn’t.
“You know what the issue was. There was a DDOS, and we put new security protocols in place to stop it,” Elliot said. “Any other questions? No? Good. Back to fucking around.” He turned away from the room.
“I thought we’d already accounted for DDOS’s,” Chris said. “And do we know where it came from?”
Elliot paused, and while I couldn’t see his face, I swore I could hear him counting to ten. Instead of walking back into his office, he strolled up to Chris. “You’ve been doing this for… what? Fifteen years now?”
Chris didn’t back down. “About.”
Elliot gave him a thin smile. “Have you ever figured out how to make your code completely foolproof?”
“Well, no, but—”
“And have you ever seen me lead the team in the wrong direction?” Elliot’s question held a tone ofgo ahead, give me the wrong answer.