Chapter 26
Charlie, the IT expert, said he’d stop by in the afternoon. Brynn shut off the computer, took a shower, and set off to visit her girls, under the watchful eye of Becky.
Petunia and her best friend, Freckles, greeted Brynn as usual. She rubbed Petunia behind the ears and stooped down to pet the dog. “Oh, Petunia, we’ve been hacked.”
The cow’s eyes squinted pleasure as Brynn rubbed her. “Who would do such a thing?”
“She doesn’t appear to be answering,” Becky said.
“Right, but remember Granny Rose always told us you had to keep your cows informed.” Brynn wiped away sweat from her brow.
“It’s a scorcher,” Becky said.
Brynn made her way through her cows and then to Jewel, who was standing all alone and grazing.
“Hello, girl,” she said. The cow’s ears flicked. “How are you?” Brynn theorized if her other cows saw her with Jewel enough, they’d come to accept her. Even though she wasn’t keeping her, she wanted to make her as comfortable as possible.
Jewel stopped eating and looked at Brynn and Becky. She took a step toward them. Brynn moved closer to her and reached out to pet her. The cow’s hair was wiry and thick.
“Your other cows are watching you,” Becky said.
Brynn sidled up closer to the cow and wrapped an arm around her neck. The gesture seemed to calm Jewel, as she laid her head on Brynn’s shoulder.
“Oh my goodness,” Becky said. “She’s so sweet. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Brynn’s heart broke for the sweetness of the cow snuggling up to her. Jewel’s previous owner must have done this very thing. Jewel probably missed her with all of her little cow heart. Brynn started to move away and the cow snuggled even more. She was not ready for Brynn to leave.
“I’m going to have to go sometime, sweetie. But I’ll be back.” She pulled away and held Jewel’s face in her hand, looked her in the eye. “I’ll be back.” The cow blinked and mooed.
“So sweet,” Becky said.
Brynn turned to see a car coming up the driveway. “Looks like our computer guy is here.”
“Finally,” Becky said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m ready for a nap, but I need to deal with this first.” One minute Brynn felt strong, as if she was capable of doing her chores, but the next minute she wanted to fall into bed. It was the concussion, but it was hard to be patient with herself. She had so much to do. She loved her work, tending the cows, making cheese, but it was all physical and she knew she’d have to take it easy if she was to get back to top speed.
* * *
After she got Charlie settled in front of her laptop, Brynn sat down at the kitchen table. Becky brought them both a glass of iced tea.
“Thank you,” Charlie said, and took a sip. “Great tea.”
“Thanks,” Becky said.
His fingers clicked quickly over the keyboard. “What is your password?”
“Petunia123,” Brynn said.
“Okay, let’s see what’s going on.” Click. Click. Click. His long fingers seemed to be made for the keyboard—or maybe the piano.
The message came up again.
“Ah-ha,” he said. “Ransom ware.”
“What can we do about it?”
“Depends on how good this hacker is.” He took another drink of tea. “I’m assuming you don’t want to pay.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Good, the FBI is saying you should never pay.” His fingers clicked away again. “Well, this is good. Your files haven’t been encrypted. I can clean this. But you’re going to need some security measures put in place. I can do that today. If you want. But first, you’re going to need to call your credit card companies. Looks like those files have been stolen.”
Brynn’s heart raced. “Which credit cards?”
“There are two here—one under the name of Buttermilk Creek Farms and the other to Wes Scors. Both have been used within the past twenty-four hours.”
Brynn drew in air. They knew about Wes’s card being stolen, but hers?
“Let me be clear,” he said. “This doesn’t mean your actual card has been taken. Thieves don’t even need to do that anymore. They can set it up to use through their phones.”
“What! You mean like Apple Pay?” Becky asked.
“Yes, something like that.” He refocused on the computer. “I’m going to run this software to clean your computer. It’s going to take a few minutes. In the meantime, I suggest you call your credit card company.”
“One is mine,” Brynn said, standing to get her purse, which was on the kitchen counter. “But the other one belongs to my assistant and the police have been watching the card.”
“The other one?”
“Yeah.” Brynn waved him off. “Long story.” She dug in her purse and found her card. He was right. It hadn’t been stolen. The thief had taken everything off of the computer.
“It’s getting pretty scary. Everything is on the computer these days,” Becky said.
“True, and that’s why I’m so busy. I can’t keep up. Suddenly this virus is ramped in the valley. Someone seems to be targeting people in this community.”
Brynn leaned closer to him. “How can you tell?”
“It’s the same code. The hacker has been using the same code everywhere. It’s almost like his signature. A couple of people have even tried to pay.”
“How did it happen?” Brynn asked.
“It’s hard to say, really. But usually it comes through e-mail. You click on the wrong link and, um, you’ve got a virus. These guys are getting really good at posing as a legit business,” he said.
Brynn’s mind was reeling. Technology was supposed to make your life easier, not make you more vulnerable. Recalling the credit cards, Brynn wondered where Wes was. Surely he was home from jail by now. And if he was home, he’d have finally stopped by here. Where was he? She needed to tell him it didn’t have to be a stolen card. His numbers could have been lifted from the computer.
As soon as Charlie left, she’d call Wes and see what was going on. He needed to be aware of all this—he was the man in charge of the computers.
“You’re not the first local to have this same exact virus. I wonder what’s going on.”
“Is someone trying to get money out of other people the same exact way?” Becky asked.
He nodded. “Yes. I’d say there’s a sophisticated hacker among us. But he or she doesn’t have to be anywhere nearby. Could be in India or China. But since this is so specific . . . I’ve got a few ideas. I’m going to work on this, try to find the root of this virus. But I don’t have much time, running from person to person who already has the darn thing.”
The more Brynn knew about how all records now were online—medical, financial, and so on—the more it made her want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over her head.