Code Monkey

by Mechele Armstrong

  She should have asked him for the evidence against Baxter and seen it with her own eyes. But Bob wouldn’t lie…would he? What reason would he have to make this up and send her on a mission to catch Baxter? Bob had been with the company since it had started. She couldn’t see him doing anything to endanger its viability. Selling secrets hurt them every time the other company beat them to a release.

  Did Bob’s superiors really know? Had he told them or had he kept it a secret like he’d told her in the beginning? What was the truth or had she misinterpreted him in the beginning. She thought back over his words. No, she couldn’t have.

  Maybe Bob was out in this for himself and once she gave him the evidence she collected, he’d move up in the company himself, forgetting her and leaving her behind. That bore watching.

  Just like Baxter.

  * * * *

  Baxter blew out a breath as he looked at the screen. He’d become more and more sure someone was trying to get into his system and nose around. The only reason someone would want to do that was to steal stuff from him. If they were doing that, they might be stealing from the company.

  He’d been doing all kinds of checks and was still checking his hardware for a keylogger, which would record every keystroke typed into a computer.

  He scratched his ear. How many of the others who did what he did, didn’t have their settings that high or do all the things he did? How many would have noticed that someone was breaking in? Hell, a few of his ilk didn’t even have their computers password protected.

  He was paranoid and he reset the system password once a week to a random generated sequence of numbers and letters. Yes, having a photographic memory came in handy sometimes. Most times actually.

  Who could be breaking in?

  A thief. Possibly a big thief.

  If Baxter were to find out who and offer proof to the company moguls, he might possibly stop their competition from one-upping them.

  He clicked keys on his keyboard.

  Why hadn’t he noticed all this a few days ago?

  Because Anna Marie had approached him about her computer. He’d been lax and thinking about being with her more than he was about his work.

  He sighed.

  Anna Marie.

  Last night had been going so well. Until the kiss. She’d run from him faster than an enemy tank out of ammunition in a video game.

  She’d felt so damn good. He’d had dreams about her all damn night.

  He’d never understood being off balance about a woman. He sure did now. He saw why Mal was messed up by Inara in Firefly. Why Han Solo was so affected by Leia in Star Wars. Why Joel had gotten into Sam so damn fast.

  Had he blown himself out of the water with Anna Marie?

  He hadn’t heard from her and she’d dashed away from him after the kiss as fast as those gorgeous legs would carry her.

  She’d said she was coming to game night tonight with Sam and Joel. Baxter wasn’t sure that was a good idea anyway.

  But it would give him time to spend with Anna Marie.

  He glanced at his computer.

  Maybe he should go find Anna Marie and find out if she was still coming tonight. He could do this investigation later.

  He clicked out of his folder labeled, “highball,” which contained his current project so that no one could copy or edit it.

  He rounded the corner by Anna Marie’s desk and tried to come over casually like he approached her desk every day. Actually, he did approach her desk every day.

  She was on the phone but saw him and shot him a big smile.

  Yeah, he melted. To the floor. His cock tightened even more. That smile was directed at him. He almost couldn’t believe it.

  Maybe he hadn’t screwed up as bad as he’d thought last night.

  He sauntered to her desk and waited for her to get off the phone. “Hi.” He looked down into those beautiful features. If only he could paint, he’d love to immortalize her in a painting. Maybe his buddy, Gayton, would do something for him. Her scent reached his nostrils and he took in a long drag. She was better than any cigar or cigarette.

  “Hi.” Her smile grew as those lovely eyes regarded him seriously. “Whatcha up to?” She folded her hands in front of her.

  “Eh, nothing too vital. Just playing the monkey again.” He cleared his throat. “Did you still want to come over tonight? For gaming.”

  Her nod was quick and emphatic. “Oh yes. I want to come over and play games with you guys. You and your friends. I know I’ll suck…but…”

  “You’ll be fine. We’ll teach you the ropes.” Baxter felt heat licking all over his body. The beauty was coming over to game with him. Hallelujah, and pass the joystick. He’d never thought he’d find a woman, much less one willing to game with him.

  “Oh. I’m sure.” She blew out a breath. “So how much work do you do at home?” Her face was still bright and shining.

  “Uh. Some.” She asked a lot of questions about his work. He’d begun to notice a definite pattern.

  “Taking work home this weekend? Or do you leave all your files on your computer here?”

  “Eh, probably taking work home and yeah, I take files home occasionally. Why do you want to know?” He tried not to get lost in her eyes as he waited for the answer.

  She shrugged beautiful shoulders. “I wondered how much time we’d have to spend together this weekend.”

  Have mercy. “I don’t have to take any work home.” He’d spend his whole weekend letting her distract him if she wanted to.

  “Oh. Oh, no, don’t let me distract you from your work. In fact, I’d love to watch you work.” The phone rang and she pointed to it, “Speaking of work…I’ll see you tonight?”

  “Yeah. Yeah.” He waved as she answered the phone.

  She mouthed, “Send me your address,” and smiled at his nod.

  He took the long way back to his cubicle, lost in thoughts of Anna Marie and this weekend. He still couldn’t believe it.

  His distraction lasted long after the smell of her had left his nostrils. He was halfheartedly plugging away at trying to find who was attempting to invade his computer instead of work when his neighbor’s head popped into his cubicle.

  “Hey Bax.” Rodney shifted his feet and pulled up his pants. “How’s it hanging?” He cackled as though he’d made a good joke.

  Baxter willed him to leave. His head was full of Anna Marie and he wanted to go back to his daydreams. “Good.”

  “Did ya hear about the receptionist and Bob?” Rodney leaned back against his cubicle wall but not too heavily.

  “No, what about them?” Gossip was always flying about someone. Baxter might have heard it but he paid little attention to office rumors.

  “Bob’s secretary said she’d been in there twice alone with Bob and Bob had her hold calls while they were together. Receptionist has no reason to go in there. Secretary’s theory is that she’s knocking boots with dear old boring Bob. Probably trying to get a promotion from the desk.”

  Rodney never knew names. He had a rather annoying habit of not using names in his commentaries except for higher ups. Another reason Baxter hardly ever paid attention to his gossip. Half the time, he couldn’t tell who Rodney was talking about. “I don’t think boring Bob has that in him.” Who’d want to sleep with Bob anyway? Even for a promotion.

  “Secretary said receptionist was in there a while. And receptionist looks like a loose woman if you know what she means.” Rodney let out a hearty laugh. “She’s got bazookas that would take a man’s eye out. I’m telling you, I wouldn’t mind having some of that. Least Bob has taste. Bet he has her on the desk and she’ll never get the ink stain out.”

  Baxter rolled his eyes at the innuendo. “Look, I’ve got some work to do…I’d like to look over your computer if you have time later too. I think I’ve been catching someone trying to hack in. Have you noticed anything?”

  Rodney moved toward the doorway, nodding all while. “Sure. But I haven’t noticed anything unusual.
”

  Baxter welcomed the quiet. Bob and the receptionist. Who would have thought? Suddenly his fingers paused. Receptionist? Big bazookas? He shot from his seat and didn’t stop while rounding either doorway. “Rodney, who is the receptionist? The one you said that Bob is…”

  “Banging? Oh, she’s some flake at the front desk. You spend a lot of time there. I think her name is Amy Maghee?”

  “You mean Anna Marie?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  Anna Marie and Bob? Baxter’s lip curled up as he thought about what Rodney had said. Couldn’t be. That was just unthinkable.

  “You know, she came by here the other day. Looking for you.” Rodney’s smile was sleazy. “She was close to your computer. Bet she was going to look up porno.”

  Unlikely on the porno.

  Anna Marie and Bob? Really? “Bob’s secretary said she’d been to see him? Twice?” There had to be a rational explanation, other than sex.

  “Yep. Said she was in there a while. Went in there today and said she had to see Bob immediately on some matter only he knew about. Who knew banging someone was a secret project?” He laughed with gusto.

  There was no rational explanation. Bob wasn’t directly over the receptionists, though he could be considered their boss. There was another person directly under Bob and over Anna Marie. Why would she be going to see Bob?

  “You didn’t have…designs on this one did you, Bax?” Rodney settled back in his chair and it made a squeak.

  “What?”

  “You wanted to bump uglies with Miss Phone Jockey?”

  “No.” Yes, yes he had.

  “Women like that, they don’t give us time of day. Unless they need something. Like a computer fix. Or a promotion.” Rodney shrugged. “You know the score by now as well as I do.”

  She had wanted a computer fix but why keep at him. Why go on a date with him? Or want to come over tonight?

  “You wanted to look at something on my computer?” Rodney moved his chair to the side. “Why don’t you go ahead and take a look?”

  As the alternative was obsessing over this all afternoon, he took up Rodney on the offer. Maybe he could find out who was stealing secrets and that would get his mind off the antics of someone he thought he was getting to know.

  Chapter Six

  “Let’s take it off!” Rodney looked panicked as though Baxter had just told him that he was going to be executed.

  Baxter held onto his shoulder. “Uh-uh.”

  “What do you mean uh-uh!? That’s a keylogger. It’s taking down everything I type.” Rodney was almost yelling.

  Baxter shushed him and looked out in the hallway. No one was there. He whispered when he got back to Rodney’s side. “No. Leave it in and keep your voice down.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Rodney at least lowered his voice. “Why would I keep my voice down? Why would I leave it there? This was probably put there by the person who is selling secrets to the competition!” His voice grew louder toward the end.

  “That’s exactly why we’re going to leave it there.” Baxter kept his hold on Rodney just in case he went wild and tried to get the device from the back of his computer before Baxter explained to him why they needed to leave it there.

  “Huh?” Now Rodney looked puzzled as though he was completely lost by Baxter’s logic. “What?’

  Baxter took a deep breath. Idiot. No one said a code monkey had to be a genius. “Whoever did this is probably the person stealing secrets. If we take it off, we have no way of knowing who did it. Which leaves them still out there to steal more secrets.”

  Rodney nodded as though it was finally coming clear to him. “True. But how are we going to catch them? They can sneak in here after hours, take off the keylogger, and go about their merry way.”

  “Unless we catch them.” Baxter wagged a finger. “I knew someone was up to no good.” This just proved it. But who could be stealing secrets from the company? Only one way to find out. He pulled out his cell phone. A smart phone actually, with internet and email capability. “I have a friend in security.” He dialed. “Hey Joel? Yeah, you at the office? Good. I’m in Rodney Crater’s office…right next to mine. Could you come up? Great.”

  Joel was up in three minutes flat. He didn’t even look winded. Baxter didn’t call him often at the office. “What’s up, Bax? Hey Rodney.”

  Rodney nodded at him.

  Baxter motioned Joel to the back of Rodney’s computer. He motioned toward the device.

  Joel looked at Baxter and then toward the computer with wires snaking from it in all direction. “Uh huh.”

  Baxter pointed toward the white device plugged into a particular port. “It’s a keylogger. It…”

  Joel whistled. “I’ve never seen one. Are you sure?”

  Yes, Joel knew what the thing was and he didn’t even work with computers. Baxter had had to explain it to Rodney. “Yeah. I’ve seen them and looked up the latest technology when secrets stared disappearing. I wanted to be able to recognize one.” Yes, he was a paranoid SOB and now it had paid off. “It’s one alright.”

  “But you don’t know who put it there.” Joel didn’t finger it but crept his head in close to get a closer look.

  “Exactly. We need to find out. The person who did this will have to come back and get it to see the keystrokes that they keylogger recorded from this computer. We can’t be there twenty-four-seven and not only that, the person who did this will not come by with anyone here.”

  Joel nodded and stroked his chin with one hand. “Good point. So what do you propose?”

  Baxter grinned. “I was hoping you’d ask. What I’m thinking is a camera.”

  Rodney looked back and forth between them both. “A camera?”

  Baxter nodded furiously. “A spy camera. One we can set up that’s disguised. We can record when we aren’t here and see who comes to visit your office. Unless the company already has surveillance cameras…”

  Joel shook his head. “Not in offices or cubicles.” He rubbed his chin again. “We could hide it anywhere. Just have to make sure it’s pointed at the back of the computer and the desk to get a good view.”

  “Is that legal?” Rodney blinked at them both. “Recording people who come into my office?”

  “To catch a thief? Sure as shit it is.” Baxter folded his arms across his chest. “This person is scooping our company and succeeding at putting us out of business. It might be unethical…” He might not enjoy what he did but it had paid the bills for a long time. He didn’t want them to be put out of business in this manner. “…but what they are doing is unethical and illegal.”

  Joel glanced at the doorway and lowered his voice. “My supervisor would be onboard with this. He wants to catch the person doing this. He’s ranted a few times. I don’t even have to tell him to know.”

  Rodney still looked dubious. “Shouldn’t we report this? I mean to Bob? He’s our supervisor…”

  “No.”

  “No.”

  Joel and Baxter answered at the same time. Joel went on. “We don’t know who’s been selling secrets. We can’t tell anyone because we might tell the person who did this.”

  “It can’t be Bob.” Rodney guffawed. “Boring Bob? I mean really? And I don’t want to get in more trouble.” Rodney was often in trouble.

  “You won’t.” Baxter moved closer to the back of the computer. “Even if it’s not Bob…” And Baxter was eliminating no one as a suspect. “…it could be someone that Bob tells. We have to keep this between us. Tell no one.”

  Joel nodded. “No one. Not even our supervisors. Not anyone who works here. Even if they are in…not so sensitive positions.” He gave Baxter a pointed look.

  Anna Marie. Joel meant Anna Marie. Obviously he hadn’t heard the latest gossip. Of course that didn’t explain why Anna Marie would be coming to the game night tonight or anything else. Why would she dabble with Baxter when she had Bob to dangle around? No way this could be her…Baxter hated the thought even went
through his brain but it did. She didn’t have enough knowledge to do this, did she? “Point taken.”

  Rodney looked back and forth between them yet again. He was becoming a bobble head. He seemed to realize they’d communicated without verbally saying anything. “What?”

  “Nothing.” Joel moved toward the exit. “I’m going to secure a camera. You two figure out where we can stash it. Don’t leave this offi—”

  Baxter finished it for him. “Don’t leave the office alone. Right.” He waved Joel on. “Go. I’ll figure out where we can put it.” He wouldn’t trust Rodney to.

  “You know that babe receptionist…Ana Margaret…”

  “Anna Marie.”

  “Yeah. The one fucking Bob. She’s been over here a lot lately. Maybe she had something to do with this.”

  Baxter frowned as he did some rearranging, looking for a camera spot. “I don’t think so.” Even though he’d thought about it himself.

  “She was in your office. By herself. Did you check your computer?”

  “Yeah. Often. Nothing there.” But he’d made a big deal in staff meetings about security. Everyone knew he was on the lookout and considering how paranoid he was about security, it was no wonder no one had tried to keylogger his computer. He’d check it again after this just to be sure. His opinion on computer security was that no one could be too paranoid.

  “Still it’s odd she was coming to the geek section of town. Especially when she had the boss eating from her honey-pot.”

  Baxter rolled his eyes at the crude term for pussy, but Rodney did have a point. It wasn’t something he could figure out. Maybe she’d needed his computer services and needed Bob for his hiring services and decided to use both of them? Only she’d acted like she wanted to date him.

  He paused in his looking as he kept trying to figure out her motivation. Maybe there wasn’t any. But why would she be going into Bob’s office and staying? He frowned. He didn’t like the feelings in the pit of his stomach. He had no right to be jealous but he was, honey-pot or no honey-pot.

  Eureka. That was it.

  He could try and fool the person trying to hack him with a honey-pot. It would be a section on his computer that would look like vital information but wouldn’t contain anything of interest. Maybe then he could figure who was trying to hack him before they could get out of his computer.