Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Cozca's Devils part 11: Second Thoughts

Jackie trudged through the security office, often stopping and watching her back out of a fear that one of her conspirators would catch her. Stop being dumb. This was the plan all along. She justified to herself. She stopped. Took a deep stoic breath. Then she opened the door labelled with the number 177, the office of Security Supervisor Marvin Woodward's. Her other conspirator.

"On lunch," Marvin complained, looking down into his segmented styrofoam takeout box.

"Too bad," Jackie said while locking the door behind her.

The office was cluttered, but differently so from last time. The same chairs and tables were stacked with a whole new set of computer parts in various stages of revivification. Somehow it was all somewhat more organized. Rather than a junk heap, it looked more like a cobbled server room.

"What do you want?" Marvin asked, setting his burger down and wiping his long, square bearded face with a napkin.

"What's the server farm for? Don't you have actual facilities here?" Jackie asked, putting off the real topic of conversation.

Marvin looked over to the wall of stacked old computer towers then back to Jackie. "Mining crypto currency."

"Really?"

"Fuck no. I've been setting up more bots to try and catch the assholes we're investigating. I've had a problem recently where my crawlers and such keep getting attacked and their systems get taken down. Bricks their BIOS. This way it's easier for me to just swap shit in and out to keep the bot swarm alive."

"They've been fighting back?" Jacking asked, sitting herself on Marvin's desk.

"I don't know who the hell it is, but someone has started waging a war on my surveillance - that's an ongoing problem. Not your issue. The more important issue is - What the hell are you doing here? We shouldn't be seen together like this."

"I was already here before."

"Yeah, and then there was a good cover story. The security department has to background check all applicants to the company, and flag them for interviews. A second visit is suspicious. And that's neither here nor there. I already asked you. There better be an important reason for you being here."

"Yeah. There is. I have a report for you. One I didn't trust going through the phones."

"Oh. Well go on then," Marvin urged. He took a big bite of his burger while waiting for her to story.

Jackie took a deep breath. "They're making another move. A big one."

Marvin waited for more details and tried to coax them out with a frantic circular hand gesture. "You're serious? You know this for certain? In advance? Come on. Who is involved? Spill the beans!"

"Shit. Where do I start?" Jackie's mind was a flutter with all the details she knew. And yet she didn't just not know where to start. Or that she wanted to start anywhere. Maybe it was a bad idea to share... "Uhh, it's the people we're tailing already and a few other outsiders."

"Okay. And?"

"Aannd they're planning a heist of sorts. The Secret Advisor, or the heads of the Cozca cult have directed them. They need something."

"Why the hell are you being so vague?" Marvin said leaning forward, glaring.

Jackie huffed. "Because they recruited me."

"Great! You're the mole! Now elaborate."

"Well there is good news and bad news really. It turns out they knew who I was from the very beginning. There was apparently never a moment I had them fooled. The Secret Advisor saw me coming and warned them."

"Fuck." Marvin crossed his arms and let out a long beleaguered sigh. "What the hell! That's some pretty shit news. So shit that I don't think there is good news that can make up for it..." He looked over at his wall of computers. "I guess having the names will stop this next theft anyway."

"I know the plan," Jackie said grimacing.

"Oh. That is better. Assuming they told you the whole thing and aren't planning on offing you once your job is done."

"Valerie told me. She's the one that spilled it all to me. She wanted to get me on board. I was pissed. Left. Then realized I made a mistake. Kelri called me in later and said she'd spill everything she knew if I'd help. Cozca. The Secret Advisor. All of it. Gave me a way to patch things up. None of them are hardened criminals. There's no risk to my life. The worst case scenario is that I'm just being used by them. But I don't think they're that clever without direction from their hacker friend.. The whole plan is pretty cobbled together."

"Great. Now tell me what's going to happen and we can nab them all."

"And that's why I've been vague. I don't think we should stop them."

Marvin glanced down at Jackie's soft stomach. "Oh my god, they got to you. You put on ten pounds and you're one of them now!"

"Really? We're bringing up my weight? Fuck off. That was just to earn their trust before I learned they were playing me like a fiddle."

"It's not irrelevant. They made you sympathize with them. That's why you're hesitating to turn in accomplices to the biggest data thefts in the history of the company! Aren't they supposed to make you hate the bad guys in the military?"

"Maybe if you're a grunt. But working the jobs I did it made a lot more sense to understand the enemy. You can't hate away a remote breach. Shut up though. The reason I'm hesitant is that Kelri seems like she's working against the Secret Advisor asshole, just from a different angle. At least, that's what it seems like to me. She's promised to share more of what she knows. If I tell you what I know, sure you nab a handful of people. But haven't you watched any crime shows or movies? You'd just be grabbing the henchmen, and leaving the mob boss alone. The Secret Advisor is the prize."

"Jackie, Kelri was the source of the last major breach. She's responsible. Culpable. You can't trust her."

"She told me how the Secret Advisor tricked her, and how driven she was to unmask him. Also told me you pulled a gun on her in her house."

Marvin pointed aggressively. "That's out of context. The data theft had just happened. I traced it to them. Thought I had the actual culprit. But they were just a proxy."

"See! We both know this hacker or hackers are tricky. They're always so many steps ahead."

"That doesn't mean Kelri is trustworthy."

"And she doesn't have to be so long as we can verify the info she gives us," Jackie sighed. "Listen. You're not my boss. You've just blackmailed me. And the mission was to be a mole. And here I am. You grab them all now, and we're left with shitall in our hands. I told you I know the plan. And you have to trust me that some of the pieces are useless without the plan being completed. On the inside I can get more information. It's not just about this bust. It's about what happens after. We can't get shut out at this stage. We can't afford it."

Marvin shook his head. "They're just going to lie and lie and lie to you."

"They already were. Should I just leave you to it and hope your rickety mainframe catches them?"

Jackie didn't stay and wait for Marvin's answer. "I'll let you know what I learn."

***