A Private Meeting

“Really? Of all places, this is where you choose to meet?”

“Damn! Can you believe these seats? I can’t see what’s happening,” the small woman complained. She leaned left and right in an attempt to see around the crowd of large men in the next row. Her pink-tipped blonde hair fell across her pale beige face and green eyes as she did, and she ignored it.

“It’s a game of sportsball or something. Some kind of sports are happening. That’s not why we’re here.” The woman next to her wore large sunglasses that hid her eyes, a wide-brimmed hat with her nondescript brown hair tucked into it, and a look of annoyance on her gold-tinged, light brown face.

“I don’t care what we’re here for, we’re at a baseball game, we should at least be able to see it.”

The stands erupted, the men in front of them jumping to their feet, yelling and spilling beer.

“Someone made a touchdown or whatever. Now get serious. It’s bad enough you didn’t even try to disguise your appearance.”

“Maisy, come on—”

“No names!”

“I’ll use names if I want to. Nobody is paying any attention to us at all.” She stuck out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Maisy, I’m Allison.”

Maisy grabbed the offered hand hard. “Knock it off. Are you trying to get caught?”

Allison tapped on the shoulder of the man directly in front of her. When he turned, she said, “Hey, I’m Allison and I’m going to murder my husband tonight. My friend Maisy here is going to help me.”

He looked at her through a haze of drunkenness. “Does that mean you’re available?”

“Not until tomorrow, honey.”

“Woo!” He raised his sloshing cup of beer in salute before draining it and turning back to his friends and shouting, “She’s dumping her old man tonight!” The entire row gave her smiles and raised cups before turning back to the game.

“See?”

“Fine. Do you have it?”

Allison reached into her pocket and pulled out a thumb drive. “Everything you need is right here.”

Maisy took the drive and put it in her bra. “And where—”

“Plug that into any of the computers except the ones at reception. Those are on a different network.”

Maisy pursed her lips. “That may be difficult.”

“What about the printers? You have access to those?”

“Yeah. But—”

“But nothing. All this needs is something connected to the network, and printers are notorious for their weak security.”

“How long do I wait?”

“Ideally, until you get a text on your phone that says, ‘I’m here, where are you?’ Could be ten minutes, might be as long as an hour. If you can’t wait around for it, try to stick it somewhere it won’t be seen right away.”

“What’s your endgame here?” Maisy asked. “What are you getting out of this?”

Allison held out her hand. “Paid. That’s what I’m getting. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Maisy pulled a pre-paid credit card out of her purse and handed it to her. “But you’ll have access to their entire network. What are you going to do with it?”

“Get paid some more.” Allison scanned the chip in the card with her phone and verified the amount on the card, then stuffed it in her pocket. “They stole my patent; they owe me.”

“I still don’t see how, though. Not how they owe you, but how you expect to make money off this.”

“Is it considered insider trading if I short their stock and then tank their company from the inside?” She winked. “Of course, if I find what I think I will, just turning that over to the Trade Commission will be enough to tank them.”

“You think Berlitz will see jail?”

“Nah. He’s richer than God. Guys like him don’t go to jail, unfortunately.” Allison turned in the set to face Maisy. “Now it’s my turn to ask. What are you getting out of this?”

“That smug bastard got a judge to force me to sell the condo I grew up in, then bulldozed the entire complex and the park next to it to build high-rise condos no one in this city can afford.”

“So it’s personal for you, too, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“But you still took a job there.”

Maisy sighed. “I know. I guess I thought that if I was inside the company I might find a way to take him down.”

“Well, you did.”

“I wasn’t expecting to break the law to do it, though.”

Allison put a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to, you know. You could throw that drive away and walk away.”

“Maybe,” she said, “but I don’t think I actually can.”

“We always have…,” Allison stopped herself. “I was going to say we always have a choice, but Berlitz’s lawyers didn’t give you a choice about whether to sell, so that statement is demonstrably false.”

There was a commotion in the row in front of them as the beer vendor came by and sold a new cup to everyone in the group. Given how drunk they already were, Maisy thought it was a bad idea.

When the vendor stepped up to their row, Allison called out to him, “Two here!” She handed the vendor a twenty and waved off the change. She handed one of the cups to Maisy and said, “Drink up!”

Maisy held the cold beer in the flimsy, plastic cup, and took a tentative sip. It was watery and tasted like someone had scared carbonated water with a beer at some point, but the cold felt good. “I don’t normally drink beer. Especially not this kind.”

“It’s six-dollar piss-water, but at least it’s cold.” Allison tapped her cup against Maisy’s and took a deep swig.

Maisy took a few more sips, until the beer began leaving a bitter after-taste. “When should I do it?”

“Next time you’re on shift.” Allison looked into Maisy’s eyes. “I don’t think I need to tell you this, but don’t quit right after. In fact, it’s better if you wait for them to lay you off.”

“Right, so they don’t connect me with the hack.”

Allison raised her cup. “Here’s to your fortune.”

The man in front of her turned around, saw her raised cup and asked, “We toasting you being a free woman? Cheers!”

Allison smiled, tapped the man’s cup with her own, and watched his friends pull his attention back to game just in time for all of them to groan. “See? Best place for a private meeting.”