Page 36 of Slap Shot
Oliver watched through the small window as Phoebe's gaze swept the area and landed on the stairwell door. For a split second, their eyes met through the glass. Her brow furrowed slightly, then understanding dawned across her face.
"Actually, you know what?" Travis said. "Let me just grab those files from my office real quick, then I'll help you with the costume."
He started toward the stairwell. Oliver's pulse spiked, there was nowhere to go.
"Wait!" Phoebe called out, her voice suddenly urgent. "I think it's getting tighter! I can't breathe properly in this thing!"
She began struggling dramatically with the costume, making exaggerated gasping sounds that echoed through the corridor.
Travis immediately reversed direction. "Oh shit, hold on. Let me call maintenance. They'll have tools to cut you out if necessary."
As Travis hurried away, phone already to his ear, Phoebe caught Oliver's eye through the window again and gave him the slightest nod before disappearing around the corner, still making distressed sounds about the costume.
Oliver waited until their voices faded completely before continuing up to Heather's floor. He made a mental note to thank Phoebe later. Somehow, she'd read the situation perfectly and created the ideal distraction.
He knocked once before entering Heather's office. Multiple monitors displayed scrolling code and data logs that made his chest tighten with recognition.
"I’m glad you’re here," Heather said, glancing up with relief before immediately returning to her screens. "We need to work fast. I don't know how long before someone realizes you're here."
"What happened?"
"Someone's mounted a coordinated attack using twelve different access points simultaneously." She gestured to the screens. "They started with our database servers, then moved to communication systems, now they're targeting personnel files. They're not just stealing data. They're mapping our entire operational structure."
Oliver studied the attack patterns, his mind automatically parsing the methodology. The techniques were sophisticated, layered with the kind of strategic thinking that took years to develop.
"They know exactly what systems to hit and in what order. Someone's building a complete picture of how we operate."
"It gets worse." Heather highlighted a section of code buried deep in the attack logs. "Look at this."
Oliver leaned closer and his stomach dropped. Embedded in the metadata was a message:Time to come out and play, Ghost. Your new friends are so fragile.
The taunt was nested in a recursive loop that served no functional purpose except concealment. It was a signature technique Oliver had developed during his hacking days. A technique he'd been stupid enough to teach to Kai Moreno, back when he'd thought they were friends instead of predator and prey.
But Kai was locked up. Had to be. He had checked last night. Maybe he should check again.
"They're not just attacking the Chill," Heather said. "They're trying to provoke you specifically. Force you into responding using your old methods."
"Which would be illegal," Oliver said, his jaw tightening. "They want me to break the law to defend the team."
"Who knows how to push your buttons like this?"
Kai.
Oliver moved to her secondary terminal, pulling up a secure browser. "Let me run a search. There are a few possibilities from my past, but I need to verify where they are now."
His search through federal inmate databases was methodical, starting with the name that made his stomach churn. He went deeper, looking for any tampering. When the results loaded, relief flooded through him. Nope. Kai Moreno, federal inmate #47291, was still currently serving time at ADX Florence. Maximum security, communications monitored, no release date scheduled.
Thank God. The thought of having to admit to Heather that he'd been naive enough to trust Kai who'd threatened to hurt people just for his own narcissistic pleasure, made him sick. Some mistakes were too shameful to confess unless absolutely necessary.
"Whoever's doing this studied my old techniques," Oliver said, closing the search window. "And is talented enough to replicate them, but I'm running down who would have that kind of skill."
"Can you help me understand their next likely moves?"
"Yeah. But we need to be smart about this, anticipate their attacks without giving them what they want."
For the next hour, they worked together to understand and counter the breach. Oliver showed Heather patterns she'd never encountered, explaining the psychology behind different hacking methodologies. She built defensive systems that turned their own infrastructure into a trap for the intruders.
"There," Heather said finally, saving their work. "All access points secured. They're locked out."
