Page 22 of Forty, Flirty & Framed

"Noted."

I'm about to dig deeper into the code when my office door bangs open, revealing Alana laden with what appears to be a small forest of flowers and several paper bags emitting the distinct aroma of fresh pastries.

"Morning hashtag delivery!"she announces, dropping everything onto the conference table with way too much enthusiasm."We've got three dozen roses from the Scottish-American Heritage Society, scones from that bakery on Fourth that's renamed their blueberry special 'Abernathy's Eyes,' and?—"

"Please stop," I interrupt.

"—a collection of poems from the street performers who've set up outside our building," she continues undeterred, producing a stack of handwritten pages."They're taking turns reciting odes to, and I'm quoting directly, 'the Caledonian Adonis of Corporate America.'"

Karina releases a cough that suspiciously sounds like a giggle.

"There are street performers now?"I ask, dread mounting.

"Just four," Alana replies."A guitarist, a violinist, a guy with bagpipes—he's quite good, actually—and a spoken word artist who's doing some sort of interpretive dance while reciting sonnets about your jawline."

I pinch the bridge of my nose."Security hasn't removed them?"

"They tried.The performers claimed First Amendment protection and threatened to livestream being 'silenced by the corporate machine.'PR advised against creating another viral moment."

"Smart call," Karina agrees.

I stare at her."You're enjoying this."

"I'm a marketing professional.This is literally unprecedented engagement."She has the decency to look somewhat apologetic."Also, it's objectively hilarious."

Alana begins backing toward the door."I'll just leave these here.Also, Mr.MacTavish called again.Said he's reconsidering the valuation metrics in light of...recent developments."

"Did he sound smug?"I ask.

"Like a cat in a dairy shop,” she confirms, then disappears.

I turn back to Karina."We need to move faster.If Duncan's behind this?—"

"We need proof.”She nods.“Something concrete connecting him to the posts."

I stand, pacing across the office."The code signature is distinctive, but not conclusive.We need to trace it back to the source."

"Tracking IP addresses?"

"Won't work if they used proper anonymizing techniques.And based on this code..."I gesture at the screen."They definitely did."

"What about linguistic analysis?Professional writers have distinct patterns."

"Good thinking.But we'll need more sophisticated tools than what we have here."

Her eyes light up."I know someone who might help.My sister Viktoria works in cybersecurity.She specializes in digital fingerprinting."

"Can we trust her?"

"With my life.She's the best in the business, and she hates men who abuse power."She winces slightly."No offense."

"Plenty taken, but I'll survive."I check my watch."Can she meet today?"

"Let me call her."

While Karina makes the call, I turn back to the computer, diving deeper into the code.

Minutes pass in concentrated silence until a sudden burst of bagpipe music from the street below shatters my focus.