by Jeff Adams
“No,” Oliver said as he passed out dishes. I liked the casual, homey vibe. “I haven’t told Marcella or Sofia, but last week, coming back from LA, I’m convinced someone masquerading as a TSA agent tried to take me. I went through security at LAX and got pulled aside as I was getting my bags from the X-ray. The agent asked me to follow. I’m Pre and Global Entry, so I’m about as cleared as it gets but I went along with it. We went through a door and walked along a corridor that went on and on. Two other TSA agents approached and asked where he was taking me. He said he’d gotten lost since it was his first week on the job. They guided him back to an interview room and one of them stayed as I was taken through a weird interview about why I was traveling and what was in my luggage.”
“But they let you go?” Dad encouraged him to continue.
“Yeah. The agent who’d stayed back reviewed my info and told me it was a clear glitch in the system. She apologized and walked me out. She said she’d speak with the other agent to make sure he understood what to look for in the future. I didn’t think any more of it. But after the park incident, it seems like we might be targets.”
Oliver filled his plate, and the rest of us followed suit. No one ate, though.
“Has anything unusual been going on?” Mom picked up with the questions. “Recently fired people with a grudge? Business deals that went sideways?”
Oliver shrugged. “No more than usual. My team’s vetted the people who have left the company—both fired and leaving on their own—from the past six months. No red flags. As for business deals. We turn things down all the time, but none of it seems out of the ordinary. We can rereview if you think it’d reveal anything.”
“Why don’t you let us do it?” Dad asked. “If it’s someone inside your organization, you might get false information back.”
“Won’t you raise more suspicions?”
Mom and Dad looked at each other.
“No.” Dad smiled, and Oliver seemed to relax. “Just tell us the employees and the companies we need to look at and we’ll take it from there. What about your personal security?”
“I’m worried they can’t do the job. There were four of them in the park and… well.”
“We’ll examine security from top to bottom.” Mom looked to Dad. “I’ll take physical security. We’ll use Theo’s expertise to examine your IT network and see if there’re any red flags there.” Her eyes darted to me as she mentioned my name, and I nodded.
Oliver’s brow wrinkled as he tried to reconcile that bit of information. “You’re a security expert?” It was cool he looked at me as he asked and not to my parents. He managed to not sound condescending either, even though he wasn’t sure.
“Yes, sir.” I reached into my back pocket, pulled my wallet, and fished out a business card. These were for show, but I kept a couple on me just in case. “I have a consulting business.” I handed over the card and he studied it. It was plain white with “Theodore Reese—Cyber Security Specialist” in two lines at the center of the card. In the lower corners were an email address and phone number.
“He’s been brilliant with computers for years, and he’s taken courses at MIT for the past two years.” I didn’t get to see Mom be the proud parent very often, so it was nice to see her light up talking about my accomplishments.
“Impressive.”
“Thanks.” We traded nods.
“So, we’ve got an event tonight that I’m honestly a little scared to go to,” he said. “That’s why I hoped you’d come up today to see if you could augment the security detail.”
Oliver went over the arrangements. His wife was getting an award from the Ali Forney Center for her work advocating for homeless youth through the Glenwood Foundation. The evening’s program included a cocktail hour and dinner along with Oliver doing the introduction, he and Sofia performing and then Marcella accepting with a speech. All in all, it should take about three hours. Their security would be at the perimeter of the room but given the event they would keep it low key and not make anyone nervous.
“I’ve made space at our table for you three. It is black tie, so I’ve also arranged for our stylists to come and outfit you since I neglected to mention formal wear.”
“Good call,” Dad said. “Because we don’t have that at home either. Do you by chance have a guest list for the event and the vendors working it? We’ve got time to run checks on them.”
“I can get it.” He pulled out his phone and typed. “What else do you need?”
Mom and Dad looked at each other, and I took the moment to speak up. “I’d like to get the IPs for your servers.” Oliver took a note of that also.
“Do you want to talk to someone in IT?”
“Not necessary. Just the addresses will be enough, so I don’t have to search it out. Since I’m looking for vulnerabilities, the less they know for now the better.”
He smiled and tapped my card on the tabletop. “All right. What are you looking for?”
“Any signs that you’ve had a breach. If someone’s in there, they may have accessed information that they could use to come after your family.”
“You’ll let me know what you find?”
“For sure.” I smiled back.
“Let us get unpacked.” Mom stood and the rest of us followed. “We’ll get our investigations started and develop strategy around tonight as well.”
“Thank you.” Oliver sounded relieved. “I’ll get all the information you asked for to you within the hour. Please take some food. I’m sure you must need something after the trip.”
Christian appeared from the kitchen area. He must’ve been listening to know when we’d wrapped up. “I’ll take you to your rooms to make sure you get settled. After that I’m happy to deliver some food.”
This trip may not be so boring after all.
Chapter Six
HAVING MY own apartment was pretty epic. Too bad this was all about work. As I checked out the space, I considered the many ways Eddie and I could play house here.
I unpacked—at least the high-tech stuff. The clothes could stay in the bag, and I’d just fish out whatever when I needed it. Anyone who came in would think I’d just brought a regular laptop and a tablet, and not super secure TOS devices. They operated on my TOS Wi-Fi hotspot. I also made sure they left a footprint on the household Wi-Fi Christian had given us access to. That ensured nothing would appear abnormal if anyone looked at what was connected. Mom and Dad were no doubt upstairs doing the same for the electronics.
I was about to call Eddie to show him this place when a knock interrupted. Through the glass set in the front door, I saw Christian and some other guy who held clothing bags by hangers.
Might as well get this over with. Give me jeans, T-shirts, or sweatshirts and I’m good. I owned a few dressier outfits, which were mostly to wear on game days because Coach made us wear suits. I had one really good suit too. I got it when Eddie and I went to junior prom last year. I had a feeling I wouldn’t like anything I’d have to wear tonight, though. Luckily, I only had to be in it for a few hours.
“Hey, Christian, come on in.” I opened the door wide to let them enter.
“Theo this is Frederick. He works with Oliver’s favorite clothier. He’s got some suits for you to try for the event.”
While Christian was dressed comfortably, Frederick looked like he’d walked out of GQ. I felt undressed in khaki shorts, polo shirt, and sneakers.
“You gave me a good description,” Frederick said to Christian. “I’ve brought some clothes that will have you looking sharp.”
“Great.” I tried to sound upbeat about it because I needed to fit in tonight.
There were times I felt like I lived in a movie, especially on missions. This was one of those moments. I’d never had clothes brought to me, and I didn’t go to fancy events either. Staying focused on the mission aspect helped keep the anxiety in check.
“I’ll leave you to it.” Christian headed for the door but turned back before he got there.
“Theo, pick wisely. Oliver’s arranged for you to keep what you select as a thank you.”
“Cool. Thanks.” That was nice. I grinned at the idea of having a new prom outfit without having to do any of the shopping.
Christian nodded and zipped out of the apartment leaving me with Frederick.
“Okay. We may have to do some on-the-fly alterations, but I don’t think this will take too long. I brought in three suits, but there’s more in the van if you don’t like them.”
“I’m sure what you’ve got here will be fine.”
Frederick, who didn’t seem much older than me, looked me over. Scrutinized might be a better word for it. The urge to fidget was tough to beat down. “You’ve never done anything like this before?”
I chuckled. “No. I bought a suit last year at Macy’s and my boyfriend made sure it looked okay.”
He nodded. “Try to have a little fun with this then. Pick out what you really like, and I’ll make sure it fits perfectly. Are you still growing?”
I don’t think anyone other than my grandma had ever asked that question. I shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve gotten taller in a while.”
“Good. We’ll leave a touch of room just in case, nothing too obvious. You’ll be able to wear this for quite some time.”
“For all those times I wear a tuxedo?”
Frederick laughed. It didn’t seem like a mean laugh, but it was hard to tell. “I haven’t brought true tuxedos. There are no bow ties or cummerbunds. You could wear this anywhere you’d dress up.”
“Um. Okay.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll see. Get your clothes off and let’s see what looks good on you.”
He turned to the bags he’d laid over the couch and unpacked as I toed off my sneakers and stripped. When he turned back, that analytical gaze returned as I stood in my boxers and socks.
“Can I make a purely professional observation?”
“I guess.” Might as well hear what he had to say.
“You really should wear more fitted shirts. You’re in shape so there’s no reason to be oversized all the time.”
Heat rose in my cheeks and I fought the urge to cover myself. I usually didn’t care who I was naked in front of—although I wasn’t totally naked now. I’d done it enough in locker rooms that it didn’t matter. And Eddie and I complemented each other a lot. I knew I had a decent body, but no one but Eddie commented about how I looked. I should’ve expected he’d notice the polo was larger than it needed to be. Comfort more than anything dictated the clothes I wore.
“Sorry. It’s a hazard of the job to pay so much attention to what a customer wears.” He smiled, and it put me at ease. He handed me pants and then laid out a shirt and jacket on the couch back before looking around the small apartment. “No mirror. I’ll get the one from the van. Go ahead and put these on.”
He dashed out, and I dressed. The pants and jacket were jet black while the shirt was stark white. As Frederick returned, I fiddled with the pants because they were too loose, and no belt was in sight.
“Here, let me get a belt for that.” Frederick set the mirror down against the wall across from me. He went to another bag that he’d already brought in. Even though the suit wasn’t quite the right size, I could tell that it looked good on me. “Here. You’ll be able to see what it looks like without holding your pants up.”
I got the belt on and let my arms fall to my side. I felt a little silly. Frederick stood next to me and looked into the mirror. “It’s not bad for the first try. Do you think you want to go with basic black or do you want a little bit of color?”
I shrugged.
“I brought a few things. Nothing too flashy. Let’s try a few and see what you think. And then we can do any alterations.”
It seemed like he had an endless supply of clothes in the van. Over the next half hour, I tried on various combinations of shirts and suits. We finally settled on charcoal for the suit and a shirt that was the lightest of gray. Frederick also talked me into suspenders. I liked how they looked with the jacket off, so I went with them. What neither of us could decide on was the color of the tie. We finally chose a subtle pop of color with a grayish-blue. I’d never looked this good.
“So, what do you think?” Instead of next to me, this time Frederick stood by the mirror and looked me over.
I studied myself, hands in my pockets, jacket unbuttoned. “I don’t really know what to say.” It was lame, but true. I didn’t usually boast about clothes or how my appearance. “It does look pretty good.”
“You don’t have to be so modest. You’re allowed to compliment yourself.”
“I wish my boyfriend was here to see it. He’d love it.”
“We can snap a couple pictures, so you can show him.”
Going through poses at Frederick’s direction as he snapped pictures for Eddie felt totally silly but fun. He had photography skills, and the pics were some of the best I’d taken.
“Thanks.” I flipped through the pictures a couple of times trying to decide what to send Eddie, and ultimately I sent all five. He might as well have the entire fashion spread since it was unlikely this would ever happen again.
“Okay. I think you’re good to go. I’m going to leave you a few options for the tie and pocket square just in case you want to mix up the colors. These will all look good with your complexion and the suit. On the house.”
“Are you sure? The one is totally fine.”
Frederick gathered up what we didn’t use. “For sure. You were fun to work with, and I could tell you had a hard time making up your mind about the color. No one will notice if I come back with fewer accessories.”
My phone chirped with Eddie’s text tone. “Let’s see what Eddie thought of what we put together.” I opened his text.
Whoa! Look at you. What are you doing down there? You look hot. And I’m jealous I’m not there to see it in person.
“He approves,” I told Frederick.
I replied: Don’t worry. You’ll be able to see it when I get back. I get to keep it, so I’ll do a fashion show for you.
He responded quickly: You need to hurry up and come back, then, because I’m going to end up drooling on these pictures waiting for you.
“Good,” Frederick said. “If he didn’t, I’d worry that he didn’t have good taste.”
He smiled, and I chuckled. “Believe me, he’s got much more style sense than I do. Do you need any help getting everything to the van?”
“You don’t have to do that,” he said as he packed his things. “You’re the client, after all.”
I changed back into my normal clothes because I didn’t want to get the suit messed up. “Actually, I think Oliver’s the client and I’m just a lucky recipient. Let me help you out.”
It only took a few minutes for us to get all the stuff in the van. He didn’t go immediately, however, his coworkers were still working with my parents. I was going to go up with him, but my phone vibrated. It was Lorenzo on a secure line, so I had to take it.
Once in the apartment, I connected the call.
“Winger, Dr. Possible here.” He used the usual greeting.
“Hey, Doc, what can I do for you?”
“I wanted to see if your location was secure enough that I can courier you the new prototype of the lenses. I wanted to get you the latest so you could test.”
Awesome! I’d been eager for these and finally, after a couple of weeks, they were ready. It looked like this would be the last test run.
“I’m secure enough if the courier can put them directly into my hands.” I gave him the address and let him know which door was mine.
“I’ll have them contact you when they’re a few minutes away to make sure you can accept. Use them as much as you can to put them through their paces. Hemingway, Walker, and I will do the same.”
The lenses might help on this pseudo assignment too. We’d be able to get images without being obvious. “I’ll make sure to thoroughly test them.”
“How�
��s New York?” Lorenzo asked, shifting topics. “I was surprised when you said you were going.”
“Fine, I guess. Only been here a few hours so far. Met Defender’s friend and that was cool. We’re staying in a spiffy brownstone in Brooklyn, and I’ve got my own apartment.”
“Your own space. Nice! I remember plenty of trips with my parents where we were all crammed up in a hotel room, so you’ve got it made.” We traded a few family travel stories before we got back around to the package delivery.
“I’ll let you know when I have them and keep you posted on testing.”
“Sounds good. Talk later.” Lorenzo disconnected the call.
I hadn’t expected the contact lenses. We’d designed them to be used in the field for night vision, heat vision, transmitting video, and more. I’d worked on and off over the past six months on the app that paired with the lenses. Perfected, they would revolutionize gathering intel and the environments agents could work in.
I had about five hours before the reception. Now that I was on my own, I could pull up information about tonight’s event space. The more we knew going in, the more we’d be able to plan for the unexpected.
My phone buzzed with a text. It was Mom. She wanted me to come upstairs once I saw the van with the stylists leave. They wanted to get our plan together. Hopefully nothing would happen since this was a charity event, but given the brazen attempt in Central Park, we needed to be on our toes tonight.
Chapter Seven
I’D NEVER been to anything like this. Five hundred people stuffed into a ballroom at a fancy hotel near Union Square. Luckily I didn’t mind crowds because, despite trying to stay on the periphery to watch people, I kept getting drawn into conversations. The event proved to be an excellent test for the contact lenses because I tried to look at everyone, so we could run checks on who was here.
A number of people my age were in attendance—some used the Ali Forney Center’s programs while others were volunteers. I was a little embarrassed at my good fortune as I heard stories from these teenagers. I wasn’t naïve. Sometimes kids were bounced out of their home for coming out. I couldn’t imagine not having a home, not to mention figuring out shelter and food every day. I would definitely donate to this organization and find out if there was something similar in Boston.