No Test for the Wicked: A Lexi Carmichael Mystery, Book Five (9 page)

Chapter Twelve

I met Wally in front of the computer lab after the last bell rang. He stood in the hallway, looking around uncertainly. His face lit up when he saw me.

“Hey, Lara. You made it.”

“Of course. Did you think I’d bail?”

He pushed his glasses up on his nose. “It’s happened before. Come on and I’ll introduce you to the Nerd Herd.”

We walked into Mr. Jouret’s classroom. He was nowhere to be seen. I counted eleven kids. Four of them appeared to be working on a circuit board. Piper and Brandon were sitting together in front of a monitor doing something. Several other kids had linked their laptops and were talking about a PHP programming language. I looked around, wondering if the leader of the WOMBATs was in this very room and how many kids were involved in the group.

Wally led me over to Piper and Brandon. They glanced up.

“Hey, Lara, Wally. Pull up a couple of chairs.” Brandon grinned. “Want to see what we’re working on?”

I peered over his shoulder. “Sure.”

Wally dragged two chairs over and we sat.

I scooted to the edge of the chair. “You’re in the school’s system?”

Piper clicked around. “Sort of. It’s Chalkboard, the school’s e-learning management system. Mr. Jouret wants us to get more familiar with it so we can write a tutorial for the student body.”

“Sounds...interesting.”

Brandon laughed. “Not. You don’t have to fake interest in something so mundane, Lara. Come on, Piper. Enough of the boring crap. Let’s show her where the real fun is.”

Piper hesitated. “Brandon...”

He paused his fingers over the keyboard. “Anyone who can show up Mr. Jouret like she did is prime in my book. I say she’s in.”

Piper glanced and Wally who shrugged.

“Oh, for God’s sake, come on.” Brandon stole the mouse from her and started clicking. He angled the monitor toward us and laughed.

I looked at the screen. “A desktop?”

“It’s our fearless leader’s, Mr. Jouret’s. He has no idea how easy it is to remotely access his computer.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Wally hissed. “He could walk in here any minute.”

“Which makes it all the more exciting.” Brandon typed faster. “We could shock some sense into his prissy, South African ass. What’s wrong with you guys? I thought you all liked a little cyber deviance.”

I looked up. “Mr. Jouret is from South Africa?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know? He transferred from some swanky university there and never ceases to remind us that he took a step down to teach the likes of us.”

South African. That was why I hadn’t recognized the accent—a mixture of British English, Dutch and Australian English.

Brandon hopped around Mr. Jouret’s desktop, clicking on random folders. “Hey, guess what? We’re having another pop quiz on Friday. Want an advance copy of the semester exam? It’s yours...for a price. Ha! The world at my fingertips.”

As he was clicking around, I noticed something strange. “Wait, Brandon. Stop for a minute. Go back.”

He glanced over his shoulder as he clicked. “What?”

“Just go back. There’s something...there. Stop.”

Brandon stopped and we all leaned forward to look at the screen.

Wally whistled. “What is that?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s odd.”

Piper tapped the monitor. “What kind of weird encryption is on that file?”

I frowned. “I have no idea. It looks a bit like KeyPass, but it’s not. I haven’t seen it before.”

I was just about to ask Brandon to click on it for a closer look, when Wally leaned over and blanked out the screen. Mr. Jouret strolled into the classroom.

“So, how are things going, kids?” He saw me and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, the new student, Lara Carson. You’ve taken an interest in the Computer Club?”

I shrugged. “Sure, why not? I like computers.”

He dismissed me and turned to Piper. “What are you working on, Miss O’Neill?”

She lifted her chin. “Ah, Chalkboard. We’re figuring out the best way to write the tutorial, just like you asked us to, Mr. Jouret.”

“Good. I expect it by the end of the quarter.”

“Of course. We should be done with it by then.”

Mr. Jouret walked over to his desk and sat down. Brandon turned on the screen and quickly got out of his desktop.

Wally gave an audible sigh. “Too close for comfort.”

Brandon just grinned. “YOLO.”

You only live once. Sure, a good mantra if you
weren’t
going back to high school for the second time.

Wally, Brandon and Piper returned to Chalkboard and started maneuvering around the system. I was bored, so I looked around the room. A movement at one of the empty computer terminals caught my eye. I stood, stretched and nonchalantly walked over to check it out.

The cursor on the screen was moving around, clicking on system administrator functions. I frowned. The school’s system wasn’t supposed to be connected to anything. Any remote access had to be done by permission and would be logged in. It could have been Ron, but I wanted to check it out just in case.

I walked over to Wally. “I’m going to use the bathroom. Be back in a few.”

He nodded. I went out into the hallway and then headed up to the third floor. I took a surreptitious glance both ways to make sure the hall was empty, and then used my badge to access Computer Central. I slipped inside, but the room was empty.

I sat down at Ron’s terminal and logged in. I checked the system logs and noted that no remote access had been approved or noted. Definitely odd. If Ron was in the system, he’d be logged in remotely. From what I could tell right now, he wasn’t. In fact, no one, other than myself, was logged in to the system admin’s account. So who had been looking around and why hadn’t they left a trace? I’d seen it. Someone had come into the system, done something and gone.

So, who? It wasn’t Wally, Brandon or Piper. I’d been watching them for the past hour or so. It could have been another student, but somehow I didn’t get that vibe. From what I’d seen, someone had been tweaking the system functions. I didn’t like that one little bit.

I wanted to do a more thorough search, but I didn’t have time. Instead, I ran a quick virus scan and did one more search through the remote system logs.

Nada
.

I stood. I needed time to think. I left Computer Central and headed back to Mr. Jouret’s classroom. Wally was waiting impatiently.

“What took you so long? We’re just wrapping up things.”

“Sorry. Ah, it must have been the cafeteria food.”

“I thought you might have skipped. I figured you were probably bored. We usually do more interesting things.”

“It wasn’t boring at all. Thanks for inviting me, Wally. I’m definitely coming back.”

“Great. I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Okay. If you want to.”

We said goodbye to Piper and Brandon and headed toward the parking lot. As we went out the front door, Wally put a hand on my arm.

“Wait. Lara, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

He shifted nervously on one foot. “Will you go to the Christmas Ball with me? It’s next Friday.”

My eyes widened. It was the first time I’d been asked to a high school dance, and I wasn’t even really in high school. Such is the life of a geek girl. Except now I had to turn Wally down in a way that wouldn’t damage him, and there wasn’t time to Google how to do that.

Crap.

Okay, I’d have to make this up as I went along. I could do this. I’d just break it into easy steps.

Step One: Attempt To Be Tactful.

I took a deep breath. “Me? A dance with you? Oh, God, no.”

Wait, that wasn’t what I’d meant. Try again, this time with tact.

“I mean, not
God
, no. Just a regular, polite
no
. No, no, no. I can’t go to the dance with you. But thanks for asking. Really.”

I winced at the expression on his face. I’d have to hurry to Step Two: Say Something Positive.

“Look, Wally, you are a great kid...guy. Really nice and obviously intelligent. Those are terrific traits. Seriously. Any girl would be lucky to go out with you.”

“You
are
any girl.”

“Any girl
except
me.”

“Just say yes, Lara. It’s easy to do. Open your mouth and out pops the word
yes.
”

“I can’t, Wally. Besides, you don’t want to ask me to a dance. I can’t even dance. In fact, I hate dancing.”

He brightened. “Awesome. Me, too. We can just drink punch, eat the cookies and stand in the corner talking about multi-factor authentication.”

Jeez. It actually sounded like fun. Why couldn’t someone have asked me out like this when I was
really
in high school?

Okay, on to Step Three: Lie Madly Through the Teeth.

“Well, I wasn’t going to tell you, but I can’t go to the dance with you because...because...I’m a lesbian.”

He blinked. I’d surprised him. Thank God. Maybe now he’d leave me alone.

I started walking again. Wally caught up with me. “Hey, Lara, that’s not a problem. Can I go to the dance with you and your girlfriend? I’d be like the hypothetical fly on the wall. Not a bother at all.”

“
Wally!
”

“Okay. Fine. It’s cool with me. I’m all for tolerance and equal rights. I just want you to know I’m here for you and your girlfriend anytime you need me.”

Chapter Thirteen

By the time I got home, I was exhausted. No kidding, high school was mentally draining even the second time around. I slipped on sweatpants and a T-shirt and tucked my hair into the ball cap even though there was no one there to see me. It was just hard walking by a mirror and not being freaked out by my blonde reflection. I heard my cell make a noise, so I dug in my purse and pulled it out. I had a text from an unknown number.

Slash. He rarely called me from the same phone. He changed phones like I changed underwear. Guess it was all part of the national security gig.

Am in the middle of something and won’t be able to come by tonight. Miss you.

Slash.

I thought for a moment, typed back
ok
and then sent it
.
I probably should have said more, but I didn’t know what was appropriate. I could have said I wasn’t exactly expecting him so it was no problem, but what if I was
supposed
to expect him now that we were dating? Jeez. I had no mental capacity to deal with this tonight.

Sighing, I set down my phone and went in the kitchen. Although Slash had bought all kinds of wonderful groceries, I wasn’t sure what to do with them. So instead, I grabbed some crackers, the jar of peanut butter and a banana. I made myself a plate and took it into the bedroom where my laptop was set up. I needed a break from school, so I did a cursory glance at all the gaming websites, but saw neither Xavier nor Elvis were active.

I slid my banana through a glob of peanut butter and chewed it while I checked my progress on Hollow Realm. Not good. I didn’t feel like facing a group of frenetic ogres by myself, so I retrieved my phone and called Elvis.

“Hey, Lexi.”

“Hey, Elvis. You and Xavier busy?”

“Xavier’s not here. He’s already in Greece. I’m just hanging by myself.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Basia told me Xavier was heading out. When did he leave?”

“Last night. He’s going to get the place ready for Basia.”

“Cool. It sounds like it’s going to be a prime vacation. Basia told me she’s excited to spend time with him. How about you? Are you looking forward to Greece?”

“I guess it will be okay.” His voice sounded kind of funny.

I continued. “Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to play Hollow Realm online, but if you’re all by yourself, would you be up for a visitor, some pizza and Quake?”

“You want to come here? To my house? By yourself?”

“Of course I want to come there. I
always
come there. Elvis, is everything okay?”

“Uh, sure. If you want to come over, you can. It’s your decision.”

I frowned. What was wrong with him?

“Okay. Then it’s my
decision
to swing by and pick up the pizza. You get the laptops ready.”

“Fine. Okay. If that’s what you want to do, consider it done. I’ve got beer, too.”

He was acting really strange. “Excellent.”

It took me half an hour to pick up the pizza from Avanti’s and drive over to his house. The pizza smelled fantastic and I had to restrain myself from having a bite in the car at the stoplight.

I rang the bell and Elvis opened the door. He was dressed in a blue flannel shirt and jeans. His feet were bare. He smiled when he saw me, his blue eyes lighting up.

“Anchovies. I thought I smelled something good.”

“The usual, of course.”

“Of course. You’re sure this is what you want to do, right?”

“Elvis, is everything okay?”

He twisted his flannel shirt between his fingers. “Fine. Everything is fine. Come in, if you want.”

I stepped through the door and he took the pizza.

“I’m really glad you came, Lexi. I’m ready to game when you are.”

“You know I’m
always
ready to game. But I’m also starving. Let’s eat first.”

“As you wish.” He gave me a funny little smile and I laughed.

“
The Princess Bride
, right? I love that movie.”

“The best lines ever.”

“Agreed. Ever.”

Elvis fetched some paper plates and napkins and then brought us a couple of open beers.

I opened the box and piled the pizza on the plates. Elvis took a bite and sighed. “Damn. This is the most delicious pizza in the universe.”

“Is that a scientific certainty?”

“Indisputably.”

We both laughed and licked our fingers. After three pieces each, we started to clean up.

“So, how’s high school?” Elvis asked, taking my empty beer bottle.

“About the same.”

“Is Operation Undercover High School Student working out?”

“So far, so good. Which reminds me, have you ever seen an encryption program that kind of looks like KeyPass, but isn’t?”

“I’d need a better visual.”

“Okay, let me show you.”

I sat down at one of his terminals and called up the school system. I had all the passwords and information in my head, so I was in within two minutes. It took me another minute or so to pull up Mr. Jouret’s desktop and find the unusual file.

“I didn’t have any time for more than a cursory glance when I was at the school, but it raised a red flag with me. What do you think?”

I vacated the chair so Elvis could sit down.

He sat and studied the file. “Never seen anything like this. It’s definitely strange.”

“My exact sentiments.”

“Shall we?”

He was asking for permission to hack in to the file. I hesitated. Hacking in to the file of a teacher was outside the boundaries of what I’d been hired to do on this job, not to mention illegal without permission from the school.

“No. Can’t. Damn.”

“Understood. Doesn’t mean we can’t check out the encryption software though.”

I brightened. “True.”

Elvis began cross-referencing it with his considerable database. In about six minutes he got a hit.

I leaned over and rested my chin on his shoulder while we stared at the information scrolling across the screen. “What is it?”

“Bad stuff. Looks like it’s a tailored software used almost exclusively by a group called the Veiled Knights.”

“The who?”

“Veiled Knights. An international group of cyber mercenaries.”

“Really? Jeez, what kind of name is Veiled Knights? Someone should be shot for a lack of imagination. What do we know about these cyber mercenaries, other than their presumed willingness to sell their services to the highest bidder?”

Elvis pulled up the file and started reading. “There isn’t much. The suspected leader is a guy named Johannes Broodryk.”

“What’s his deal?”

“Well, Broodryk and his group have ties to just about every illegal operation in the world. Drugs, guns, human trafficking, industrial espionage and cyberwarfare. It’s all a game for them, but apparently a lucrative one.”

“Where are they located?”

“They’re phantoms, of course, but Broodryk is originally from South Africa.”

I blinked. “South Africa? Wait. My computer teacher, Mr. Jouret...this is his desktop. He’s from South Africa, too.”

Elvis met my gaze. “That’s a significant coincidence.”

“Agreed. But what in the world would a high school computer teacher be doing with a file from the Veiled Knights?”

“That’s a good question, isn’t it?”

“Sure is. Looks like I need to do a lot more research on Mr. Jouret and the Veiled Knights.”

“Want to get started?”

I put my hand on his arm. “I appreciate your help, Elvis. Always. But not tonight. I seriously need some downtime to clear my head. High school is not for the faint of heart, even the second time around. I came over for some pizza and gaming. School and work can wait until tomorrow. Let’s just game.”

He studied me. “You look really tired, Lexi.”

“Don’t get too hopeful. I’m not too tired to beat you at Quake.”

He bumped his shoulder against mine. “Now you’re on.”

After several hours of playing, I had relaxed considerably and we were at a happy stalemate. I stretched and got a piece of cold pizza.

Elvis sipped a beer, leaned back in his chair and studied me. “Good game, as usual. I can’t figure out how you keep finding ways past me. We’ve played so many times I should be able to anticipate your moves by now.”

“That’s my strategy. Do the unexpected, except when you expect that.”

“Well, that helps.”

We laughed and then Elvis lifted his feet and placed them on the desk, cradling the beer in his lap. “So, I hear you’re, um, dating Slash.”

“Oh. You heard about that?” I grabbed another beer from the fridge and popped the top. “Let me guess. Basia told Xavier.”

“Exactly. Why didn’t you say something?”

I looked at him in surprise. “You’re interested in my love life?”

His cheeks reddened. “Ah—”

I sighed. “I know. You’re right. It’s just way too weird.”

“What’s weird?”

“It’s weird that someone like Slash would want to date someone like me. It’s pretty out there.”

“I don’t think it’s out there. He’s had his eye on you for some time.”

“Really? You knew?”

“Everyone knew...except you.”

I thought about that. “Why didn’t you say something to me?”

He paused and looked down. “I don’t know. I just didn’t.”

“Well, you should have. I’m not good at figuring those things out on my own. How could you tell he was interested?” I guess it didn’t really matter now, but I was still curious.

“It was the way he acted around you—kind of territorial.” He shrugged.

“That’s
so
not indicative of sexual interest. This is Slash we’re talking about. He’s territorial with everyone.”

“He was different with you.”

“Different is not an established scientific criteria, Elvis.”

“Okay, maybe I was guessing a bit.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “But I had a feeling. Maybe it’s a guy thing. I’m not disagreeing that attraction is a hard thing to define, especially by observation only. I just had a feeling. In the end, I can’t say I’m surprised you’re dating him. Guys like Slash typically tend to get what they’re after.”

There was something in his tone... “You almost make it sound as if I had no say in the matter.”

He lifted the beer to his lips. “Did you?”

“Of course I did. Do you think I went into this relationship against my will?”

The color in his cheeks deepened. “No, of course not. I’m just saying that it would be hard to resist a full package like that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know...rich, suave, handsome, intelligent and able conversationalist. You know, the full package.”

I took another bite of pizza and sat in a swivel chair across from him. “Well, he’s the first guy to ever express a genuine interest in dating me. I mean, other than Finn, but that’s a complicated situation. Anyway, I’ll admit it’s an odd pairing, but I have no other experience with which to make a comparison. Slash is my first boyfriend
ever
. I’m still in the initial stages of data collection.”

“Yeah, well, let me know how it goes.”

“Of course, I will. Other than Basia, who else would I tell?”

I set the pizza aside, glanced at my watch. “Crappola. It’s already one-thirty. Man, it’s going to be a tough morning and I have to go to school.”

“That sucks. I’m sleeping in. Bonus perk of setting my own hours.”

“Show-off.”

“Not too proud to admit it. Thanks for coming over, Lexi. I’m really glad you came.”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

“I...I don’t know.”

I studied him for a moment. “Okay, well, thanks for a fun evening, Elvis.”

I gave him a fist bump and drove home. I was bone tired by the time I opened the door to my apartment. Once inside, I stopped. My alarm had been turned off.

Then the light in the hallway clicked on, nearly blinding me. Slash stood there, leaning against my wall, his arms crossed and an angry expression on his face.

“Where have you been?”