Page 60 of Faded Gray Lines

“Can you blame me?” I hissed. “After everything I told you about—”

“Leighton, family needs to be together in times of crisis,” she interrupted, conveniently changing the subject.

As more people realized their mayor ate shitty tacos just like the rest of humanity, they grew interested in our conversation. Using it as a springboard for her gubernatorial platform, she raised her voice even more to ensure everyone heard her.

“Families should band together, especially now that the threat of the Carrera Cartel is so strong. You remember how they killed your poor father and devastated this family.”

Leaning down, I slapped my palm against the table. “Don’t talk about Daddy like a campaign statistic.”

“I’m not,” she said, batting her green eyes. “I’m merely using my late husband’s tragic death as a reminder of their widespread evil. Working on a cartel task force ended up taking his life. I fight against them for my children and the people of Houston because they’re all I have left.”

“Don’t forget about your husband.” I smirked.

“Well, yes, obviously him too.”

When the table behind them started clapping, I’d had enough.

I ran back into the kitchen, my lungs burning and my heart slamming so hard against my chest, I was sure it would burst. I tried to steady myself against the freezer door, but my hand slipped, and my knees buckled.

“Whoa!” Amanda grabbed hold of my arm. “Are you okay?”

All I could do was shake my head. There were no words to tell her how an already hopeless situation had just morphed into a walking nightmare.

Twenty-One

Mateo

Thankfully,the good professor called me around eight o’clock to tell me he’d found something. Driving toward Rice University, the upheaval I’d felt all day melted into relief—and not just because I would finally get some answers. I’d spent the afternoon checking up on stash houses for no reason other than I needed to stay busy. Otherwise, I would’ve driven straight to Caliente and shoved Leighton’s phone and the invitation in her face. Rage simmered so close to the surface that one wrong word would’ve set me off. Neither one of us needed another public scene like last night, so anything I could do to keep my mind off her was welcomed.

Even sitting in a darkened alley beside Professor Bright and his bad attitude.

“Tell me something good, Bright,” I ordered, my mood tanking as he unfolded the flap on his man bag and pulled out his computer.

“Well, I’m not sure how good it is, but I managed to decrypt one file on the drive.” He opened his laptop and inserted the flash drive while typing a series of letters and numbers. “And might I add, this wasn’t easy. Most cryptographic algorithms would be impossible to break in twenty years, much less twelve hours. Triple DES, RSA, Blowfish, Twofish, AES—they’re just too good these days.”

“Is that fucking English?”

“I’m saying that the guy who did this must have learned it off a YouTube tutorial because he encrypted the file with the original DES algorithm.” He was so satisfied with whatever the hell he just said that an arrogant smirk planted on his face, making me want to punch it off. I suppose he caught my scowl because he cleared his throat. “This program was created in the seventies. No one uses it anymore because it has fifty-six-bit keys easily accessible by brute-force attack.”

“Listen to me, Bright. I. Don’t. Care.” I punched out every word with a growl. “Just show me what’s on the drive.”

“Fine.” Returning his attention to the screen, he tapped a few keys and shrugged, obviously irritated I didn’t give two shits about his techno jargon. “I’m just saying you might want to have this guy take a few courses. Anyone with half a brain can decrypt this stuff with enough spare time. In fact, I offer a course that teaches the fundamentals of coding. I can give you some literature if—”

“He can’t use his brain,” I interrupted.

“Well, we don’t discriminate at Rice. I’m sure with the right environment, he can overcome any test anxiety—”

“No, I mean he can’t use his brain because it’s spread all over his kitchen floor. Now what’s on the fucking flash drive?”

Bright paled, typing faster than I’d ever seen. “Like I said, I’ve decrypted this one, but there’s another one that’ll take a little more time. It shouldn’t take more than a day or two.”

“Just show me.” I sighed. I’d had about enough of this guy for one day.

“So, I’m just going to turn it...you can see for...it’s just that...here.” Blowing out a nervous breath, he turned the laptop toward me, and I immediately saw for myself what had turned a college professor into a complete moron.

He maximized the window, which was reason enough to shoot him right there. However, it was the sound effects that made me want to empty my gun in the side of his head.

“Is this video real?”