“A bonus? Like what?”
“Something useful. That’s all you need to know for now.”
Shay lifted the case under her arm. “I’ll get you your metal.”
“We’ll see.” The poppy let out a cackle and closed its petals.
Chapter Eleven
Shay settled in behind a computer set up on a table in Warehouse Five. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she redirected her traffic behind yet another proxy server layer. Peyton had done well to point her at Tubal-Cain, and she appreciated his efforts, but the reminder of his usefulness also reminded her of something that continued to gnaw at her.
I can’t let him have leverage over me.
There was no fucking way she was going to let anyone get away with having a dead man’s switch that could reveal her existence to the world.
Now that she wasn’t distracted by a tomb raiding job, and with the Gnome not in a hurry, she decided it was time to find out more about Peyton’s little dead man’s switch.
Its process was simple. Peyton had to check in at a server regularly or information about her would be sent out automatically. She suspected he was holding something back and there was more to it.
Just like I underestimated you, Peyton, you underestimated me. I know my way around a computer. I have more skills than I’ve been letting on and I plan to keep it that way. Not necessary to tell the world everything you know how to do.
Shay smiled at the thought.
It might have been easier to examine the computer he used at Warehouse Two, but she doubted she could get away with tampering with the computer without leaving a trail for him to follow. However, he was still working on a network she’d help set up. That gave her some advantage.
She’d been working on probing the dead man’s switch for hours and she was closing in on the key links.
Shay pulled up the window containing network logs from around the date Peyton revealed he’d set up the failsafe. When she first started looking at the logs, she noticed there were no external logs listed after that timeframe. He must have anticipated what she would do, but never bothered to tell her.
Good for you, Peyton. Keep every advantage you have. Trust no one and verify. I’m an ex-killer for hire. I wouldn’t trust me. Shit, I don’t trust me.
Shay might have saved him from a hit, but he continued to impress her by demonstrating more savvy than she expected. That was the main reason she didn’t put a bullet in his head when she found out he’d played her, even though she was sorely tempted.
Okay, I’ve got the general server connections, but there’s something else here. Something else I’m missing. Just need to figure it out. She sat back, letting the information wash over her. I can almost see it.
“Peyton, you smart son of a bitch. How did you even think of this?”
She had made a fundamental assumption that all she needed to do was find the final server in the pathway and spoof the check-in signal, but the more she looked, the more holes she found.
The switch wasn’t so simple. In fact, it was far from it.
Peyton had left out a few details in his overview of the switch. He’d set up real-world connections along his chain to thwart easy redirection of his network paths.
There were regular payments to several different accounts, along with regular third-party access to the server from different locations. She had found his proxies.
Shay didn’t need to know who he was paying off, only the amounts so she could pay more and buy their silence.
“I didn’t know you had it in you, but I’m still going to have to disable all this shit anyway. Sorry, Peyton.”
Shay laced her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head. More than a little money needed to be spread around, and as backup she would have to redirect some of the final legs in the failsafe so she would know if anyone modified it, but soon Peyton wouldn’t have any leverage over her.
Not that she planned to tell him. Never give away information.
Don’t feel bad. You’re smart, Peyton, but even with a dead man’s switch, you’re not paranoid enough.
Her watch beeped, and she glanced down. “Shit. I better get going.”
Shay sipped on her coffee. “That doesn’t sound like hiking, it sounds more like walking up and down stairs.”
Bella laughed. “The stairs are part of the local experience. You’re always saying how you want to see local stuff. It’s urban hiking.” Bella waved as Kara and Janelle stepped into the Silver Lake outpost of Alfred Coffee.
The two other women waved and headed into line to grab some coffee. Shay and Bella joined them.
“We all came ready to take it on in style.” Their outfits helped. Their yoga pants, Lululemon for some, Patagonia for others, highlighted their toned legs.
Most wore single-shaded light tank tops, but Shay’s shirt contained the outline of a glitter skull. An ironic call-out to her true nature.
It was also loose enough to allow her to conceal a knife in the small of her back. Much like the mall, jogging and hiking paths were great places to kill people. Shay knew from experience.
Huh. Where have I not killed someone? Don’t think I’ve ever killed anyone in a church that I can remember. Wonder if that would win me points with Brownstone?
Once Kara and Janelle had their cups of coffee, the quartet pushed out of the coffee shop into the street.
Bella pointed across the street at a rising series of colorful stairs flanked by trees on one side. A single red heart covered several stairs near the bottom and the top. Various colors of paint decorated the stairs in-between.
“Those are the Micheltorena Stairs,” Bella said. “I don’t know if we’re
