âWe busted that joint up!â U.H. crowed. âBroke through the windows and fucked up the lobby. We had to bounce before the cops showed up. Totally killer.â Cat followed behind them, a protest sign over her massive shoulder, stoic like always.Â
Lear hit the lights, the brewery going dusk-dim with a warm glow from the thin windows near the roof. Lear used a remote to flick on the old-school slide projector, and the upper-right corner of a washed-out photo appeared on-screen. He fiddled with the projectorâs lens until the imageâthe new Ek buildingâwas centered and sized correctly.Â
âIn five months, a Godoy for President fundraiser will be held here,â Lear said. With the mechanical snap of the slide changing, the picture swapped to a view of a high-ceilinged lobby, with a mezzanine jutting out like the prow of a boat, âin Valpoâs new favorite skyscraper. Now, through his fine contacts at Kruger Construction, our good friend Dario has acquired the buildingâs blueprints. This mezzanine is a designated event space.â Lear swapped to a slide of the huge balcony overlooking the first floor. âThis fundraiser is studded with every kind of âcrat you can imagine. Mostly, itâs other businesses that would benefit from Godoyâs lax regulations and tax breaks. That means big money moving through, but also, added security. Martina?â
âGodoy already has a professional security force just for him and his campaign,â Martina chimed in. âWe expect that to double for the benefit. Big, burly men at every entrance.â
âWhereâs the money?â Cat asked.
âMost people will be making small-money donations in cash using envelopes on their table. Myself and this⊠rake here-â Martina gestured at Keiko with disdain- âwill be responsible for lifting those, with Lear and Dario there for support.â
âBut our girl here will get us the big prize,â Lear said, and to my horror, he gestured for me to elaborate. Everyone looked at me.
âThe, um⊠the big-money donations will be submitted through DonationWare, a secure digital bank transfer app,â I said. âAll transfer information is run through SEKTI, Ek Inc.âs proprietary Intrusion Detection System and an assigned Ek Inc. security engineer. Considering one of those donors is Julian Ek himself, theyâll put their best guy on it.â
âBut lucky for us, our best is better,â Lear crooned. âDomâll recreate the app, and Ikegawa-san will slap it onto the campaignâs iPad. Instead of sending the money into Godoyâs war chest, itâll go directly into our pockets.â
âWell,â Martina said with a titter, ânot directly.â
âOnce the donations clear,â Lear went on, âIkegawa-san will reinstall the original Donation app on the tablet. The cashâll be long gone, and they wonât be able to tell we did it through the Ek app.âÂ
Next to me, Keiko checked her watch.
âIs there somewhere you need to be?â I whispered at her like a supervisor.
âMight be,â Keiko whispered back, unflappable. She squinted at her wrist like she hadnât heard it right, putting the watch to her ear. âBroken again,â she muttered, flicking her wrist in a way that probably broke it in the first place. She abandoned the watch to her wrist, pulling out one of those clamshell cell phones they had back in the stone age.
âW-where did you get that?â I squeaked, snatching it from her hands before she could answer. âCops can track you with these. Phone records, cell towers, geolocation-â
âThe thing dolphins do?â
âItâs JEE-PEE-ESS, dummy. You wanna know how you ended up in a trunk for the second time in as many hours? Because this thing knows your exact coordinates. If itâs on and itâs on you, the police know every step you take.â
âCare to share with the class?â Lear asked, and the whole crew looked at us. I flushed, adjusting in my seat. Keiko tried to snatch her cell phone back, but I guarded it with both hands.
âThe main support pillars are on the back wall are here, here and here,â Dario explained with a lecturerâs tone, using a laser-pointer to indicate spots on the Ek buildingâs blueprint.
âHold on,â Keiko hissed at me, âI was wondering how you and your crew figured out where weâd gone. Youâre sayinâ that was you?â
Oops. âI⊠When I navigated us to the bus station, I sent our destination to Lear.â
I thought sheâd be pissed that Iâd tricked her. Instead, she smiled at me. âYou sneak!â
â...so we simply evacuate with the rest of the crowd. Plus it gets rid of that damned eyesore. Dom hereâll send a scary-looking virus on the office computers,â Lear added. âThen Martina will suggest a colleague in IT. Ikegawa-san just has to get through the interview. Thatâs phase one for the two of you. âMartina, you work Godoy while Dario and I work out the math.â
âAnd C and me fuck shit up!â U.H. crowed. âSo letâs stop talking about it and do it already!â
As the meeting broke out into smaller groups, I flipped Keikoâs flip-phone open, navigating the ancient, tamagotchi-green user-interface.
âHey! Thatâs private,â Keiko whined, trying to snatch it back again.
âSo long as weâre on a job together, nothingâs private,â I said, scanning through the call log. I copied down the numbers on her past calls, recognizing a Santiago area code. After clearing the call log, I snapped the phone closed. âDonât bring it with you everywhere. . Exchange it for a new one once a month, and take the battery out when youâre not using it. Is it the prepaid kind?â
âYeah.â
âDid you pay in cash?â
âYeah.â
âAlright,â I conceded, handing it back to her. âReady to get started?â
Thanks for reading yâall đ§Ą