Cupid's Bow by Amanda Carlson

Author:Amanda Carlson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amanda Carlson, Inc.
Published: 2020-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

“Uh-uh.” The girl shook her head, defying Mina for at least the fifth time. Maybe the sixth? “We’re not sitting down and discussing anything until I check everybody out. Yo, old spooky dude by the door, you’re next.” She waved Norm forward with a swipe of her wrist.

Norm chuckled as he moved past Mina. “You got a hot one here.” Norm’s holo badge didn’t look like Lee’s. Instead, it showed only his face.

The girl scanned it, then leaned toward her screen. “Is this a medical ID?” She tossed a glance over her shoulder. “Are you serious? Why would I need to see your medical ID?”

Norm gestured at the screen. “Check out occupation. It’s right there under the recent procedures. Ignore the age. It’s only a number.”

She read it out loud. “Former federal marshal. Thirty years with the federal government. Ten as a private investigator.” She stood, giving him a perplexed look. “So? That’s what you used to do. What do you do now?”

Norm spread his arms wide. “I do this. I happen to be providing backup. You live in a pretty shitty area, so you should be thankful I’m here.”

“You guys just busted in like a comet blasting a crater-sized hole into a goddamn hilltop, and I’m supposed to be thankful?” She marched up to Lee, undeterred, placing a finger on his chest and poking him once. “How do we know each other? And don’t lie to me. I have about six different devices rolling right now, and four of them detect fluctuations in speech. I’ll know if you’re lying. And I can run your speech patterns against the boards. I can face-rec you. I literally have myriad ways to find out who you are.”

Before Mina could stop him—not that it would do her any good—Lee responded, “I’m Karmaseeker243.”

The girl looked stunned for a second, then gathered herself. “No way. Karmaseeker243 is a federal agent? Mind blown.” She brought her hands up to the sides of her head and extended them outward. “We’ve been on the boards together for years. You’re the one who helped me with that trisplice code! I left my location embedded like a dummy. That was a few years ago, when I was sloppier before I became a Level XIV. Is that how you found me? You stole my code?” Lee started to sputter a denial, but she didn’t give him a chance to respond. “You’ve always been quiet. Always watching. But honestly, you have an excellent hack game. But I never—and I mean never—caught the vibe you were an agent. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal under our hacker oath not to admit something like that.”

Lee shuffled his feet, looking wildly uncomfortable, still sputtering. “I didn’t steal your code. I forgot it was in my computer. I haven’t been on any boards in a while for that reason. The federal agent thing is…a recent development. I haven’t had time…to sort it all out.”

It was more than time for a redirection “What’s your name?” Mina asked. “How about we start there?”

“Harmony Biggins,” she answered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.