Page 43 of The Hacker
She was getting a kick out of creating a false front for their real mission. It was fun to outsmart whoever their opponent was.
He gave her a polite smile as a late customer passed them. “See you then.”
When she got to the weight room, only one woman was using a machine. But Dawn gave a convincing performance of looking for Leland’s phone, even asking the lone customer if she’d seen a stray cell.
She was back in the hallway in eleven minutes. Leland stood outside the locker room already. “Did you find it?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Let’s check Ramón’s office. Luckily, I have a key.”
“He must trust you.” Leland fell into step beside her as they headed toward the front desk again.
“We trust each other.” Ramón had given her the key when he’d taken Vicky on vacation to Costa Rica, saying that someone might need something from the office while they were gone. No one had, and Dawn had tried to return it to him when he came back. He’d told her to keep it. “I’m only using it now because Ramón wouldn’t want the gym to be involved in anything illegal.”
No matter what Natalie said, Dawn was sure of that.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am.” As they approached the door, Dawn took a quick glance around the hallway without being obvious. She bent her head as though looking at the keys in her hand. “There’s a security camera in the corner diagonally to my right.”
“I was afraid we wouldn’t find it in the locker room,” Leland said in acknowledgment.
Dawn slid the key into the lock and twisted. Opening the door, she flicked on the lights. Leland had warned her to keep to their cover story while in the office until he made sure none of the computers had cameras activated.
“I’ll check Ramón’s desk,” Dawn said. “He’s always stuffing things in drawers and forgetting that they’re there.” Which was true.
She began riffling through his junk drawer while she watched Leland wander around the office as though he were just occupying himself while she searched for the phone.
“We’re clear,” he said, placing his laptop bag on the credenza behind Vicky’s desk where the router was positioned. He had his laptop out and plugged into the router faster than Dawn could sort through the miscellaneous crap she’d pulled out of Ramón’s drawer.
Leland didn’t bother with a chair—he just bent down and started typing, his fingers flying over the keyboard with the fluidity of a pianist, except the music was a rapid-fire clicking. His gaze was fixed on the screen, the glow of it lighting his face and reflecting in his glasses.
Watching him at work intimidated her. He radiated focus and brilliance, while she had no idea what the crazy stuff scrolling across his screen meant. Yet something about his intensity sent a sexual thrill through her. However, she was pretty sure that she could have stripped naked and he wouldn’t have noticed.
She turned back to Ramón’s desk to finish straightening the drawer she’d opened. As she shifted the plastic office-supply tray to replace a package of pencils she’d pulled out, the corner of a black metal box caught her eye. She removed the tray to see a gun safe, something she recognized because one of her brothers owned a handgun, much to his wife’s disapproval. The safe in the drawer was high-end—it had biometric security. In addition, Ramón’s full name was engraved into the lid in a florid gold font.
Shock vibrated through her as she stared down at the ominous box. Ramón claimed to abhor violence of any kind after all the terrible injuries he’d seen—and inflicted—in the boxing ring. How could he say that and own a gun?
Unless Natalie was right, and her beloved boss was involved in whatever illegal activity was pouring through the router.
Bile roiled in her stomach and tears burned behind her eyes. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe that of him. There had to be another explanation.
She blinked hard to stop the tears and debated whether to tell Leland. He would assume the worst, and she didn’t know how to defend Ramón when evidence to the contrary was staring her in the face.
She carefully placed the tray back on top of the safe, closing the drawer without a sound. In fact, the room had gone silent, and she glanced over at Leland. His fingers had stilled but code continued to march across the screen. He stared at it for a few more seconds, then nodded. “Got it.”
After typing in a few more strings of commands, he closed the laptop and disconnected the cable to the router. Straightening, he shoved his computer back in its case. “I’ll analyze this data when I get back to the office.”
“You’re not going back there tonight,” Dawn said, following him to the door and hitting the light switch. She pulled the door closed behind them and tested the knob to make sure it had locked.
The look he gave her nearly collapsed her knees. “Tomorrow morning,” he said. “Tonight I have to make up for all that time I wasted sleeping.”
“You needed it. I’d remind you that tomorrow is Sunday, but I know that’s irrelevant to you.”
“The work has to get done.” But he sounded more tired than convinced.
They walked in silence until reaching the lobby. Tiffany looked up from her phone. “Did you find it?”
“Despite Dawn’s heroic efforts, no, we did not,” Leland said, giving her the full treatment with his drawl and a slow smile. “I must have lost it somewhere else. I just wish I could figure out where.”
