Page 60 of Left of the Slash
I turn to her in all seriousness. “Do you trust me?”
I watch Olivia swallow hard as her breath quivers in her throat. Then she says in nearly a whisper, “More and more every day.”
I nod. “Good. Then make sure they don't leave.”
Without another word, I spin around and begin speed-walking down the hall, ignoring the loud complaints from Joel and Richard. I fly past the receptionist, gazing at the homescreen on her desktop before stepping onto the elevator and riding it down. Once the elevator hits the bottom, I quickly walk out to my car and grab the laptop from my passenger seat. I thought I wouldn't need it, but they pushed me to it.
By the time I make it back to the conference room, everyone is standing and gesturing with their hands as the conversation heats up like the thermostat has been tampered with. Joel and Richard are sick and tired of our shit. They think they've made their choice and they're just about ready to have security escort us out, but if they were going to leave, they should've done it already. Now it’s too late. I'm back, and I'm pissed.
“Sit down, please,” I command as I take my seat and open my laptop. “All of you sit down. If you stick with your decision after I show you this, you can have us thrown out and have me arrested, but until then … sit down.”
The room goes quiet, and I half-expect Richard to call security anyway from how hard he's staring at me, but he doesn't. Everyone slowly retakes their seats and waits in silence for me to begin.
Perfect.
My eyes find Richard Saul. “You spoke eloquently about Palo Alto Networksnothaving security breaches like the ones Obsidian faced over the last quarter, but I can't help but wonder if you lied on purpose or if you really didn't know.”
Richard scoffs. “Didn't knowwhat?”
“That Palo Alto Networks had a security breach last year,” I reply. “One that cost them nearly a third of their clientele after it was discovered that five terabytes of personally identifiable information was stolen.”
Richard scoffs again, but it’s weak and he knows it. “Well, that PII breach didn't affect anyone working here, or any of the clients banking with East-World.”
I nod my head as my laptop comes on and I start to click the keys. “Not this time, you're right about that, Richard. But ifthatbreach didn't bother you, why do ours? Especially when you're well aware of the fact that our breaches were carried out by someone working at Obsidian, someone with direct access to the information and systems we use. We were never hacked by an outside threat, but Palo Alto was. How come that doesn't bother you?”
Joel and Richard look at each other, and they don't even know how dumb they look. It doesn't matter, though. I’m just getting started.
“Why are you willing to risk your data, and the data of your clients, just to maintain a business relationship with a company you can't even trust? If you switch to Obsidian, we may not be the best of friends who go golfing together like you do with the Palo Alto CEO, but at least you won't have to worry about a data breach that could result in numerous lawsuits and millions in payouts.”
“WecantrustPalo Alto,” Joel snips angrily.
“Can you? Is that a fact?” I ask, still typing on my computer.
“Yes, we can,” Joel barks. “And maybe if you weren't on your laptop in the middle of this meeting, you could see that.”
“Oh, this laptop isn't for me,” I say confidently. “It’s for you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Richard asks.
“Quinn,” Olivia calls to me. Her tone is blistering hot, but I don't take my eyes off my laptop.
Everyone in the room waits on pins and needles while I click a few keys to bring up a screen on my laptop, and run a background scan on computers within a one-block radius. In about five seconds, I can see whose work computer has updated antivirus and whose doesn’t. Luckily for me, the receptionist who brought us into this meeting hasn’t updated hers, and I use her system to bypass Palo Alto’s firewall and get into East-World Bank’s employee files. After a few more keystrokes, I have exactly what I want, all thanks to the receptionist who doesn't even know her profile has been hacked.
“Mr. Saul, could you do me a favor?” I ask as I turn the laptop around and slide it over to him so he can see the screen. “Go ahead and put in your username and password.”
“Excuse me, how did you get to this screen?” Richard asks. “This is our bank staff login page.”
“Right,” I reply dryly. “Go ahead and login.”
Richard starts pressing keys on the laptop, but nothing happens. I watch with a growing smile as his frustration peaks every time he pressesenter, and he slowly realizes that he’s locked out.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Richard asks.
“I locked you out of your account,” I reply with a smile.
“Excuse me?” Richard says again, this time with wide eyes and a voice as high as the receptionists.
“Quinn, stop,” Olivia growls, trying to whisper angrily, but I ignore.
