Page 13 of Easy Steal

“Come,” I said, gesturing with my head to the back of the shop.

We went through the back exit, to the big dirt yard behind the shed. She slipped her sunglasses back on as the sun pelted down, and she looked around at the piles of scrap metal.

I pointed to one particular heap.

“What? You crush it?”

I laughed, “no. That chunk of metal used to be one of those inside. It was a wreck that got crushed.”

“Ah,” she nodded, “so you take the VIN off of the wreck that no one is looking for and put it on the flash new stolen one.”

“Basically, yep.”

I led her back inside to show her around, and the boys approached.

“Who’s this?” Daniel asked, eyeing her up and down with a smirk on his face.

“This is Livie, she’s just helping out for a few weeks. She’s gonna help us deal with the Redliners.”

“Uh-huh,” Zeke crossed his arms, “how exactly is she gonna help?”

Livie had a small smile on her face but her eyes narrowed on Zeke. She reached over to her backpack on the floor and took out her laptop, “with this,” she said, waving the computer in front of his face.

“So you have a plan already?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course I do,” she snapped, putting her laptop down on the dirty workbench and opening it up. She began typing, pulling up a few links and then turning the screen towards us.

“This,” she pointed, “is for relaying signals from FOB’s to access the keyless entry cars. I’m guessing you guys still operate old school when it comes to getting inside the newer cars?”

I nodded once, crossing my arms.

“Well with this, we can pick up the signal from the key FOB from metres away. Then I can duplicate the signal and imprint the codes onto a brand new one. No need to disable the immobilisers, because as far as the car knows, you have the key.”

“Pretty cool, but not exactly what we need,” I said slowly.

“I’m not done,” she said, holding up a finger and silencing me.

I smirked and stole a glance towards the boys who were holding in their laughter. “This,” she pointed towards a small black box on the screen, “is what we need.”

“It’s a scan tool dongle,” Zeke shrugged, shaking his head. “We use them all the time to diagnose issues.”

“Uh-huh, and what does it connect to?” Livie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“An iPad, or phone, or computer?” Daniel offered.

Livie smiled, gesturing towards her computer.

“If one of these are plugged in, I can bypass the security measures and send instructions directly to the ECU and CAN-BUS.”

No one spoke, we all just looked at her.

She groaned, rolling her eyes.

“What does the CAN-BUS control? Anyone?”

“Everything,” Zeke said slowly.

Livie smirked, folding her arms over her chest, looking happy with herself.

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