Chapter Thirty-One
(Thursday, 5:47pm—Johnny)
Johnny had sent the programmers home a little after five-thirty. It was surprising how much they’d accomplished in just a few hours. But they’d run into a snag with a component they’d thought was finished, and Lyle (who was responsible for it) hadn’t come in today.
Nothing else would work properly until it got fixed, so Johnny had told them to go home—but to expect a late night tomorrow. And all the pizza they could eat, of course. They’d left, grumbling but generally happy, maybe even a little proud of themselves, which Johnny figured meant he’d done his job fairly well.
But anyway, they were gone. And he had his data to leave for Danny, or some graphs that looked like data. And he’d done a fast scan of the building when the last of the programmers hit the door, finding none of the usual suspects still at work.
He stood in front of Danny’s door. His last chance to back out. He tried to give the idea serious consideration, but it was hopeless. He simply had to see what he could find in there, especially after all this buildup and planning.
He was going in. Through the locked door. He curled his lip at it.
He’d tried to tell Danny, Frank and Junior that security had to be incorporated into the design of a building from the beginning to be effective, but they hadn’t listened. Of course, they also hadn’t paid any attention when he’d made similar arguments about the software they were developing. One of the many reasons his team worked long hours but remained behind schedule.
He fished his Costco card out of his wallet and slipped it between the door and its frame. It opened easily. If he hadn’t been able to get past the door, he could have removed tiles from the drop ceiling and gone over the interior walls. Or even through the walls, if he was willing to make a mess.
The doors were on a keycard system, which logged each entry and could theoretically be used to track employee movement. But it only logged access via keycard. A simple piece of plastic rendered the whole “security” system irrelevant.
Anyway, he was in. He flipped on the light and looked around. Danny still had some boxes piled on the floor, left over from when he’d moved in. But Johnny thought anything regarding the new customers would probably be out of the boxes by now. He eyed the fireproof safe beside the desk, but decided to try the desk itself first.
Danny kept it annoyingly neat. Inbox, outbox, a too-expensive computer Danny would never learn to use properly, some “whitepapers” describing software development methods that Johnny noted he’d have to discourage at the first opportunity, and not much else. Stapler, jump drive…jump drive? It was thumb-sized, a convenient way to transfer files between computers. He put it in his pocket. He could look at it later, and drop it someplace reasonable after wiping his prints off.
He grinned. Wiping his prints off. Maybe he was getting a little caught up in all this.
Next, the drawers. Unlocked, maybe because the room itself was locked? Anyway, there were files. Sales figures, contracts with customers (none of which seemed unusual or recent), a policy/procedure folder Johnny had never seen before. Hmm. He peeked inside. It wasn’t what he was after, but if there were some new rules coming down it might be worthwhile to come in here again sometime and have a look. Or he could make copies. Danny had his own copy machine right here in his office.
Closing the drawer on that temptation for the moment, he regarded Danny’s computer. He couldn’t access Danny’s files on the server without his password, but if Danny had stored anything locally on this machine Johnny might be able to get a look. He was entering his own username and password when the office door opened.
“Danny?” Frank Serno stuck his head in the office and did a double-take when he saw Johnny. “What are you doing here?”
Johnny had felt his heart lurch when the door opened. But he was pretty sure he hadn’t shown it. Besides, anybody would be startled. “Oh…hi, Frank. Just installing some software for Danny.” He summoned up a yawn. Damn, he was pretty good at this. Calm. Maybe the NSA should hire him.
Serno came all the way into the office, looking dubiously at the keycard lock on the door as he passed. Johnny finished logging on to the computer and pretended not to notice. “Anything I can do for you, Frank?”
“No. Does Danny know you’re here?” Serno’s voice was more hesitant than Johnny had expected.
“Uh…he needs the client software installed on this box so I can show him third-tier performance metrics for the latest data-layer module within our architectural pattern prototype object. It’s the most recent design, remember?” Techie-babble usually worked with Serno. He had no respect for it, so he rarely listened carefully. It was fun to make the stuff up, too. And every once in a while Johnny accidentally gave himself a good idea.
He hoped this wouldn’t come back to bite him tomorrow, but then that was why he’d prepared for the possibility of discovery. Who knew? Maybe it would work.
Serno nodded as if Johnny had actually said something. “Have you seen him today?”
“Not for a few hours. He left with some guy in a brown suit a little after two-thirty. Probably went from that to his four-thirty appointment at the mall,” Johnny answered absently. He pulled a CD from his pocket and stuck it in the drive.
“The mall?” Serno asked.
Oh hell. Why had he said that? “Um, yeah. He was meeting somebody.”
“Uh huh.” Serno looked at the door again. “I didn’t know you had access to this office.”
Johnny shrugged, not looking up. “Did you need Danny for something?”
“We had a couple of meetings planned. He didn’t show.”
“I guess things came up,” Johnny said casually. Idiot! He wanted to hit himself on the head. How was he going to explain knowing about the meeting at the mall if Danny asked tomorrow? Maybe a lot of people knew about it?
Johnny popped the CD out of the computer. He could search through Danny’s files some other time. If he still had a job tomorrow. “All done,” he announced. He stood up and walked toward the door.
Serno blocked his way. Johnny slowed, surprised by the other man’s troubled expression. “Frank?”
“Oh. Yes, of course.” Serno moved aside. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said unconvincingly.
Johnny watched him sidle away. Serno shrugged carelessly, as if Johnny couldn’t see the tension vibrating off him. “These things happen,” Serno said. “You done for the day?”
“Yep.” Why was Serno even in the office after five o’clock? “Um…working late tonight?”
“Just waiting for Danny,” Serno said. “Guess I’ll see him tomorrow.”
“Sure. ‘Night, Frank.”
Serno nodded and Johnny escaped through the door. He kept moving, leaving the building and walking quickly to his car. A strange sense of impersonal dread fogged the early-evening air.
Serno hadn’t ever been around this late before. Why had he seemed so intense, but tried to appear casual? More importantly, what kind of trouble had Johnny just bought himself?
He started the car and drove away. Whatever was going on with Serno and Danny, maybe it wouldn’t affect him. Maybe it would all blow over by tomorrow, and everything would be back to normal.
He shook his head. Maybe he shouldn’t go breaking into other people’s offices.
***
Shiver on the Sky Page 49