Donni Imani was watching over Cassy’s shoulder as she finished the last bit of coding in her anti-virus program, which she had decided to call My Fair Lady after what Donni had told her many times was his all-time favorite musical.
“There,” Cassy said half to herself, but Donni heard her.
“Done?” he asked her.
She nodded.
“Now take it to the brass,” he said.
She looked at him, then glanced over where Masters and O’Connell were in deep conversation across the room. “They’re not going to like it,” she said, visions of Murphy Tweed running through her head.
“Who cares? You’re going to save the firm. You’ll at least get a raise.”
Norman Applebaum came over, took one look at Cassy’s screen, and lit up in a goofy smile. “You finally solved it, without my help. Outstanding.”
“I’d rather be outstanding than standing out,” Donni said with obvious dislike.
Norman was socially challenged, like a lot of the postadolescent geeks in the business. But Cassy felt a little sorry for him, a feeling that was mixed with awe. The kid was a genius.
“We have a cure, I think,” she said.
“Then what are you waiting for?” Norman asked. “Put it into the system. That’s what we’re being paid for.”
“I need a go-ahead,” Cassy said.
“From Masters? With the way he feels about you, good luck.”
“What do you mean?” Cassy asked, but she knew exactly what he meant. Masters had hired her, but in the past few months his attitude had changed.
She glanced over again to where he and O’Connell were standing. Butch Hardy had joined them, and it gave her a chill. Ever since Dammerman had told the chief of security to keep an eye on her, that’s exactly what he had done. Every time she looked over her shoulder he was there.
“This morning when Dammerman’s goon broke up the foosball game Theodore and I were playing—you know, to clear our heads—Masters didn’t say a word.”
“What’s your point?” Cassy asked.
“He shoulda stuck up for us, but he didn’t. So I reversed his phone; maybe I could catch him saying something stupid and give it out to everyone. But it’s way better than that, and I have it recorded.”
“The suspense is killing me,” Donni said sarcastically.
“It’s just like the movies. I’m the spy, and I bugged him.”
“Okay,” Cassy said. “Tell us.”
“Only if you go out with me tonight.”
Cassy was floored. She was seven or eight years older; he had a schoolboy crush on her.
“Be careful, lover boy,” Donni said, smirking. “She has a boyfriend. And this guy is a Special Ops super-commando, Rambo-killer dude named Ben. The first time they met he stared down a motorcycle gang trying to hassle her. He was just like the Grim Reaper in person, and they bugged out, no questions asked. Capisce?”
“Never mind,” Norman said, and he turned to go, but Cassy put out a hand to stop him.
“Let me listen to what you recorded,” she said. “Please?”
Norman brushed off her hand and walked away.
“Prima donna asshole,” Donni said. “Now either put your program into the system or walk it over to Masters. With O’Connell standing there you’re bound to make points.”
“Come with me, I could use the backup.”
“Not on your life,” Donni said. “Didn’t you know that my favorite color is yellow?”
“Mine isn’t,” Cassy said, and she turned and started to where Masters and O’Connell were still talking. But Hardy had moved off to the left to where he had a clear line of sight to her workstation, and she felt a little shiver of fear.
Word was that when he worked as a cop for the NYPD, he’d killed a man who had supposedly accused him of being on the take with a couple of mob bosses. It was a wonder to her why BP would hire a man like that if the rumors were true.
Theodore Brightman caught up with her, and she pulled up short. “Norman’s pretty hacked.”
“Why?”
“You hurt his feelings. He was just trying to warn you that Masters has been shadowing you all day.”
“How could he know something like that?”
“He told you. He bugged Masters’s phone.”
An uneasy tickle traveled up Cassy’s spine. “Tell him I’m sorry,” she said, and she went the rest of the way.
Masters and O’Connell broke off their conversation. Neither of them looked happy to see her.
“I’ve figured out how to neutralize the worm from our system,” Cassy said.
“Good for you,” Masters said, but he didn’t sound sincere. “Send it to me, and I’ll beta test it myself before we go any further.”
“I think that we should do it right now. This thing could go critical at any minute.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Masters said.
“Well, at least let me be part of the test. It’s my program.”
O’Connell offered a weak smile. “Francis is right. It’s better if upper management takes over from here. But we want to thank you for being on the ball. This is not going to be another Murphy Tweed, I promise.”
“If this worm kicks in, it would crash trading not only for us, but for every trading desk on the planet. Including the NYSE.”
“If your program pans out, which knowing your abilities I’m sure it will, we’ll input it after the closing bell. If we did it now, it could have some unintended consequences.”
“Believe me, this thing I found is super-toxic, and I saw what something like this can do to a firm. It destroyed Murphy Tweed in less than a year.”
“And we appreciate that you want to make sure nothing like that happens to us,” O’Connell said.
“As I told you, I’ll take care of it,” Masters said. “Now get back to your station and send me the goddamn program.”
Cassy wanted to tell him to go screw himself, but she held her temper in check and turned back to O’Connell, whom she’d thought of as her mentor from the beginning. “With all due respect, Julia, I should be in on the beta test.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Masters said, his voice rising.
Cassy had her fill. “You’re shadowing me, Francis,” she said sharply. “Why?”
“You cloaked your station to block our access. That’s against company policy, and you damn well know it.”
“I isolated my station because I didn’t want whoever is behind the worm to watch what I was doing to defeat it.”
“You should have come to me before you started screwing around,” Masters said. “That’s what I’m here for, to help my people do their jobs.”
O’Connell was saying nothing, and Cassy didn’t understand.
“All right, I’ll give it to you. But I’ll put it on a flash drive, instead of sending it through the network, in case anyone else is shadowing me.”
“Good,” Masters said.
“I’ll personally handle the beta test,” O’Connell said. “And both of you can get back to work.”
It wasn’t what Cassy wanted, but it was better than she expected. “It’ll take a little time to get it onto a flash drive.”
“Just send it up to my office when you’re ready,” O’Connell said. “And believe me, Cassy, I appreciate what you’ve done and continue to do for the firm. You’ll get full credit.”
“If it works,” Masters said.
“It will,” O’Connell said. She patted Cassy on the shoulder and left.
“Well, get to it,” Masters said.
Back at her workstation Cassy was fuming, trying to get her temper in check.
“That didn’t go so good,” Donni said without looking away from his screens.
For just a moment she wanted to bark at him, but then she had to laugh. “I don’t think Francis likes me, but at least Julia listened.”
“So what’s the upshot?”
“They want me to put the program on a flash drive and send it upstairs.”
“I think I hear a but in there,” Donni said.
“Listen, I’m going to need your help.”
“Okay,” Donni said after a hesitation. “With what, exactly? Just remember that my favorite color is still yellow.”
“I’m going to make two flash drives. One with some junk on it that will take time to decipher. And the other with the real anti-virus program we cooked up.”
“No need to guess which one you’re going to send to O’Connell,” Donni said. “But what about the real one?”
She glanced over her shoulder in time to see one of Hardy’s security people, this one a tall, beefy woman who looked like another ex-cop, join him.
Cassy took out her phone and scrolled through the contacts list, finding the number of a friend of her parents that they gave to her when she first moved to New York. She’s someone you can trust, they’d told her. She’d never used the number, and she didn’t even know if it was still active, but she hoped it was.
“We’re going to have lunch together, and you’re going to carry the real flash drive out the door.”
“No way I’m putting my ass in a sling.”
“I need your help, Donni. They’re bound to search me when I try to leave. That’s why Butch called in the woman next to him.”
“They might search me.”
Cassy couldn’t help but smile. “I seriously doubt it. It’s me they’re after.”
Donni nodded. “I’m going to regret this, but maybe Ben will let me be his best man at your wedding.”
Cassy laughed, though her insides were roiling. “I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Deal,” Donni said.