THE BRAVO BOYS - SNAKE EATER [book three]

Chapter TEN

Shelby Quinn

I wander around the desks that are piled high with various chips and drives, watching as The Hacker's deft fingers sweep across the backlit keyboard. Logan enters the password to his sophisticated setup and soon several screens flicker to life, booting up to display various kinds of operating software, none of which make any sense to me.

The jargon that flickers across the glass may as well be an alien language for all I know..

"What does this one do?" I lean curiously over one of his open laptops that appears to be running financial figures and he jumps to his feet with an inpatient scowl carved into his dark brow..

"Don't touch that!" Logan barks and I take a swift step back, holding up my hands in feigned surrender, muttering under my breath..

"I wasn't going to touch it, Jeeze!" I roll my eyes at the overprotective way he strides across the room to check on his computer, as if it were some precious newborn baby whose life I'd threatened at knifepoint..

"It's mining." He types in a few quick details and the screen flickers to a pleasant image of seaside scenery, disguising whatever he had been doing.. "You break it, you bought it, Barbie. Might wanna keep your hands to yourself.. Unless you feel like digging a ditch deeper into my debt."

"Pfft, oh please. I don't owe you a damn thing, Lone Star.. We have a deal, remember?" I wrinkle my nose in objection and he chuckles quietly before returning his attention to the main screen, leaving me hovering awkwardly at the opposite end of the office..

"You're such a pain in my ass, Beauty Queen, how could I possibly forget?"

"Whatever.." I grumble, glancing between his laptop and him. "What do you mean mining, anyway?"

"Crypto currency." Logan replies as if the terminology means anything to me other than the obvious..

"Mining for money? What is that, like digging through the sofa cushions of the internet looking for loose change?"

“Sure.. That's one way to put it.." A half smirk tightens one side of his mouth..

"Why?" I question out of genuine curiosity.. "What do you need it for?"

"I use it for virtual trade." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now, do you want to sit here discussing the finer points of blockchain, or do you want to know about my progress breaking into Blackstar's system?"

"No, show me your progress.." I hurry over to stand beside him, looking over his shoulder as he pulls up some kind of diagnostic panel.

"So– Gabriel's been updated since the last time I accessed the clearance information stored on their servers, the open ports have all been patched.. That shit is locked down, airtight, so now I gotta find a new way in." He makes a surprisingly patient attempt to explain his process to my ignorant ears, but the words are lost on me..

"I literally have no idea what any of that means." I admit and he smiles knowingly.

"Gabriel is Blackstar's privacy protection software, it's made by Sabre Security, and they recently added fixes to the errors in their backend script that allowed me to access the holes in their firewall. So now I need to find another vulnerability to exploit since they updated their system to lock me out.. It's gonna take me some time.."

"Oh.. So.. You're looking for, like, a back door or something?" I simplify, feeling stupid for my below basic understanding..

"That's exactly what were looking for." He nods inclusively towards the screen where a black and white interface ticks and scans.. "See I wrote this forced entry script and it attaches itself to all their external data logs, looking for a way in." For once he doesn't patronise me as if I were incapable of comprehending, but his expression turns to one of doubt. "Wait– Am I boring you with all this?"