'We need to use this opportunity,' said Gabe, pacing at the end of the table, his hands clasped behind his back. The newer members of the team were listening attentively, watching the path as if worried that they might miss something. A quick glance around the rest of the table told Sophia that the rest of the core group were only half paying attention. He'd already given them a quick brief, already given them things to be thinking about. The meeting was for show. 'The job goes as planned, we just have less security to act against.' There was no hiding the bitterness behind Gabe's voice. There was no power play possible here, it was just a simple act of getting the job done. 'And then Phia can make the sale.'
Sophia straightened to attention at the sound of her name. Her thoughts had strayed to the conversation with Winn. It felt odd to know that she was sitting there, firmly in the criminal underworld that was her home, her safe place, but that there was the possibility of helping Winn. Compromise. She'd made a promise to herself that she'd at least give it a go.
'You mean our buyer's not been hit by this Diamond-thingy?' she asked, her attention straying towards Mitch. The man was tapping away at a keyboard in the corner of the room. His brow was furrowed in concentration.
'If they have,' he noted, not even taking his attention away from the screen, 'they're not letting it get in the way of this. Or they used a pseudonym.' They were running with the second idea, a throwaway comment from one of the newbies had made them think about it. The man had a reputation, but no one could prove it, and he'd done everything to keep it from his wife – who was the one that had all the money to let him lead his life flirting with the criminal side of National City.
'Maybe they're smarter than we're giving them credit for,' noted Luca, his voice a little too chirpy. Attention slipped to him, but he didn't falter. The scabs and fading bruises from his run in with Gold Tooth appeared to have given him an extra boost of confidence. He was now somewhere in the middle of the group, not quite one of the newbies but also nowhere near the core group. Beside him, Sophia noticed that Robbo was frowning as he rolled a cigarette.
'It doesn't matter either way,' said Gabe simply, drawing the room back to him with little trouble. 'That's just information that we might be able to use later. Today, we don't want anything to make this deal to turn sour.' He shot a look at Sophia. He'd been all for a little blackmail, but she'd reminded him that it would've done no more than show their complete hand.
He dismissed everyone with a wave of the hand. The newbies scrambled up, eager to get into the training room, to prove that they weren't going to let the boss down. They had half an hour before their window of opportunity opened. Even with the hack the plan still needed to be in place, it still needed to be perfect. That, Sophia had argued for, with Kalie playing devil's advocate.
Sophia stretched, shifted to pat Robbo gently on the shoulder, and headed over to Mitch. His back was hunched, he was mumbling a few things to himself, scolding himself for missing things.
'Whoever's done this,' he said when she reached him, barely looking away from the screen, his voice ringing with a kind of awe, 'they know their stuff. This software...' He paused, let out a soft whistle. 'If we can get a hold of this, we could get around things no trouble.'
Sophia raised an eyebrow at him, leant her shoulder against the wall. Her attention skittered across the screen. None of it made sense to her. The flickering information was something that she couldn't get her head around. Technology and her really didn't get along, no matter how many times Mitch had tried to help her with it.
'But where would the fun be in that?' she questioned.
He shrugged. 'There wouldn't be any,' he admitted, 'but it gives me ideas of what we could try.' He looked up at her properly, and it was only then that she spotted the look of uncertainty behind his eyes. 'But the signature's weird. I've – I've never seen anything like it.'
YOU ARE READING
Sidekicks and Criminals
أدب الهواةWinn Schott had never been very lucky in love. His first girlfriend had dumped him to go out with someone taller; a later girlfriend only wanted to hear horror stories about his father, and currently he was battling with a blooming crush on his best...
