Page 36 of Barron

“When you see him again, write down our number. Offer him a discount.”

“Will do.” Barron moved to the doorway. “See ya, brother.” He gave a quick wave and walked out, his thoughts already focused on Yoanni and who the hell was trying to hurt her. One way or the other, he was going to find out who was behind these attempts before things got worse.

CHAPTER EIGHT

On his way to the agency, Barron made a quick stop at the first discount department store he saw. He lived in a home geared for a single man and his dog. That needed instant adjustment. He skipped through the aisles picking up the first round of items necessary to make a Little feel welcome and happy. Before he hit the cashier, two stuffies, a rabbit and a unicorn, found their way into his cart.

Loaded with all his goodies, he sped to the agency. By now, Shifter was likely climbing the walls with impatience. The man was such a drama queen.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Shifter grumbled as Barron entered the computer room.

“Chill, dude. Blade asked me to stay. What do you want from me? Should I tell our prez I can’t talk to him ’cause Shifter’s waiting?”

Shifter narrowed his eyes. “Nice try, bud. I wasn’t born yesterday, and I know a special Little is staying in that pigsty you call home. I wouldn’t doubt it for a second if you went shopping. Hmmm?”

Barron’s face got hot. “Well…”

Shifter laughed. “You’re the worst liar. And forget bluffing. I’ll never take you to a poker game. They’d stripped you clean in a heartbeat.”

“So I stopped, okay?” he huffed. “Go fuck yourself. Stop chewing my ear off and show me whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Aren’t we touchy?” Shifter grinned. “Pull up a chair next to me and take a peek at the screen.” He circled the mouse on the pad, moving the cursor. “Five of us, you, Blade, Johnny Gun, Lobo, and yours truly have credentials to log in to the computer and access the main folders.”

As he explained, he clicked on folders with drop-down information and smaller files. “Each folder is titled with the name of each case and all the collected information. Eventually, I’ll create a main folder with subfiles. But for now, they’re individual cases. Now, here…” He opened the internet through a VPN, and a new screen opened with official-looking logos.

Barron pointed at the screen. “Are those…?”

Shifter nodded. “Government sites.”

“But why? How?”

“There’s always a back door in. To be used when all else fails. What I’m after is mostly domestic, nonclassified information. I don’t want to go near international or sensitive data unless we get a case that requires such digging. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we get there. Plus, Blade would have to agree.”

“Sorry, man. This stuff is way above my pay grade.”

“Duh.” Shifter grinned. “I’m only showing you where we are and our potential, but I’m not giving you or the other guys access to the VPN. There’s only one other person, my backup man, who’ll have limited access in case of an emergency.”

“Who?”

“Funny you ask. As we speak, Deacon is on his way over. He’sgoing to supervise my system’s stability and give me a thumbs up or down on the VPN and my open-source tools.”

Barron waved a hand over his head. “Whew! That went right over me.”

“You’ve seen the movies, though the process in real life is trickier and more dangerous. A hacker attempts to gain access to a high-security computer, but in order to enter without being caught right away, the signal has to bounce from one proxy server to the other and be done correctly to avoid detection. The guys at the other end have every resource available to them and are just as good, if not better, than you.”

“Gotcha.”

“After Deacon checks me out, I’ll tweak my software again. It’s important to change and rearrange things. Otherwise, you get picked up.”

“Hmm… I don’t think I know this Deacon.”

Shifter leaned back, stretching his legs. “Deacon was one of the first, a true Devils’ Spawn original. He rode with the MC during the Warden days. Dude’s now in Dalton. After Warden got shot, Deacon got sick of the violence and wanted a peaceful life. He opened the Spawn chapter in Dalton. Sadly, his wife passed a few years ago. Now, it’s just him and his daughter. He was army intelligence and is real tech savvy. I wouldn’t mind another pair of expert eyes to check this project.”

“Dalton is near Chattanooga. It’s a hell of a ride for a favor.”

“Well, Savannah used to be the guy’s old stomping grounds. I have a feeling he’s bringing his daughter and turning the invitation into a short vacay.”

“I would too…” Barron paused as an idea floated into his mind. “What about facial recognition software?”

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