Page 33 of Love at First Sighting
El quickly takes a seat in the old, clearly leftover gaming chair in the corner of the room and lets out a pleased sigh as she leans back. “I think I see why people invest in these.”
She lets out a littlewhoo!as it spins, and I want to get sucked into Leonard’s gaming PC fans and be chopped into a million pieces.
I lean on El’s chair, halting the spinning.
“So,” Leonard begins. “Let’s talk.”
El glances to me. She’s done her job. I need to fill in the rest.
“Leonard, do you know anything about the archive PIS uses? It’s in the Santa Monica Mountains.”
“Oh yeah, Site 47.”
“I need to get in there, and I don’t have high enough security clearance. I need to take a look atonefile. My dad’s. I don’t want to take anything or cause any problems.”
Leonard and I don’t go into deep trauma spills over late-night Taco Bell, that’s for sure. But if I’ve learned anything from my time with El, it’s that it not only benefits me to be honest and real, it feels good, too.
“It’ll help me figure out what happened to my family. They’re going to be purging old personnel files soon, and if I don’t get my hands on it now, I’ll never know. I want to get in and out and go home. Could you get me in?”
Leonard breathes heavily for too many breaths.
“Leonard,” El butts in. “I hope you know we wouldn’tdreamof asking you to do this for nothing. I’ve got some connections at G-Babez and I bet I could get you into their annual party at the GamesWorld Expo next summer. I might even be able to connect you with their head of brand management. I know they’re looking for actual professional gamers to join their little troupe.”
I have no idea what G-Babez is, but El clearly does. I wouldn’t put it past her to have established a sponsorshipconnection in the past hour in order to gain some leverage over Leonard.
“So, do you think you can get us into this archive?” she presses.
Leonard bites down on his bottom lip, then turns back to his computer, instantly pulling up a…it’s a very scary hacker terminal with a lot of numbers and glowing lights I don’t understand.
“Oh,” he says, “I can get you in. I can get you inanywhere.”
“Well, will you?” El continues.
Leonard’s typing away at his console, and within minutes, he’s pulled up a map of the archive.
“PIS is one of the easier agencies to hack into.”
“Yeah,” I say, “we’re not known for being too tech savvy.”
“So, we just waltz in there and find the file?” El asks.
“It’ll be more complicated than that,” Leonard explains. “I’ll have to walk you through and get the doors open. I can wire into their systems and take over the cameras and locks. It’s up to you guys to be as quick as possible.”
I think we can do that. Get in, take pictures, get out. I know I can’tstealthe file, but I can have some proof for myself and closure. No one else needs it but me.
“Is anyone else going to be there?” I ask.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to be really careful inside, but I can get you in.”
He’s right. It’s all we’re asking of him. Leonard can’t solve all our problems. I’m amazed he’s even willing to dothismuch.
“All right,” I agree.
Leonard reaches into his desk, pulls out a simple black box, and pops it open. He passes me two small…beans?
“To communicate,” he says.
“Damn, where did you get earpieces?” I ask. This is the kind of thing I would have killed to have during my secret agent games with my dad.
