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“Never trust a computer nerd who doesn’t have their own domain.”
~ Michael Horowitz
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Turned out the next best thing was the lead architect for the building project. Mike possessed the skills and knowledge to remote hack the architect’s computer, pass the firewall and deluxe security software, but Bear couldn’t ask that of his younger brother. It was one thing for Mike to supply Bear with materials so Bear could go off and break the law, it was another thing entirely to ask his ’lil bro to do it for him.
Apparently, there were still some lines Bear refused to cross.
So annoying.
Luckily, Mike wasn’t the only Crawford with computer skills. Bear only needed to connect or hack into the same Wi-Fi connection as the architect and from there, infiltrate her records from within. Security software drove people to have a false sense of protection. In reality, their own actions left them vulnerable to anyone with the know-how and motivation.
Bear settled down at a small circular pedestal table and took out his laptop. He was fortunate to grab one of the last available seats with his back and computer facing the wall. He preferred not to break the law in front of witnesses wherever and whenever possible. Despite the “casual” atmosphere of cafés, these coffee and tea drinkers alike tended to be nosy—all in the name of “people watching.”
An image of his twin’s outrage at his judgemental thought made him smile. Ha!
Bear took a swig of his steaming hot latté and winced. His teeth ached. He’d have to wait for the drink to cool down a little.
Anne Cho sat down at the table across the aisle from him. Her gaze briefly met his and she flashed him a polite smile. Dressed for business in a pantsuit and flats, she’d styled her black hair into some sort of stylish knot. Juni, his youngest sister, would know what it was called, but Bear didn’t care. Whatever the name, it suited her and left her face unencumbered. Her skin glowed and her eyes scanned the laptop’s screen, while her hands flew across the keyboard.
His computer dinged. He turned off the sound and smiled. Ms. Cho connected to the café’s Wi-Fi. Perfect.
The architect’s phone buzzed, and she answered it without taking her gaze off the screen.
Bear’s smile grew as he worked his way into her system. He took another swig of coffee. This would be a cakewalk.
“Yes, I saw it,” Ms. Cho hissed into her phone. The warm and appreciative tone she’d used to order coffee had disappeared.
Bear paused and listened.
“Your idea of promoting women in construction is a picture of heels for the boardroom and boots for the jobsite with a lame slogan saying we can have it all.”
She paused.
“I don’t care if there was a designer purse and a hard helmet.”
Bear winced for the person on the other end of the phone call. He’d stalked Ms. Cho’s social media. She didn’t hesitate to speak her mind.
Currently, she paused to listen to the person’s response.
“How tone-deaf are you?” she asked.
Bear chuckled into his latté, only to flinch when Ms. Cho looked up and snapped her angry gaze on him.
He saluted her with his coffee cup and tried not to outright laugh when she called him a douche under her breath.
He needed to focus on getting this job done while the architect sat at a long table, sipping her latté, and ripping into her co-worker. With a few clicks and taps of the keyboard, Bear accessed her personal and confidential documents. Ms. Cho should’ve known better than to connect to public Wi-Fi, but she also probably didn’t expect someone to follow her for days waiting for the opportunity.
After five minutes of perusing the architect’s files, Bear knew she was as organized as she was capable. Best news ever. Thieves loved obsessive compulsive, type-A targets. They made it easy to find things. Everything was logically labelled and ordered.
Since Bear already had the plot ID for the compound, he found the plans and downloaded them to his computer in minutes. He’d feel bad stealing from an innocent architect whose only crime was completing a job, but none of this would blow back to her.
He disconnected from the Wi-Fi and leaned back in his seat. Now he could finish his coffee and be one with the people watchers.
Ms. Cho hung up her call and glared at her phone before going back to work. Her gaze scanned the screen with hyper-focus again. Nothing about her posture or expression indicated she realized the breach in her computer security.
Bear finished his latté and packed up. So far, this job was going smoother than he expected. The building plan glitch was solved without too much delay or complications. Now, he needed to work on a plan to get through the compound undetected.
Bear rubbed his neck to smooth down the prickling sensation. He’d pulled off a lot of jobs without complications. Why did this one feel different? Why did this one send his gut into churning summersaults?
Bear scowled and left the café. Only time would give him the answers to those questions.