Page 77 of Insidious Threats

Petra shook her head. “I’m so lost.”

Connelly turned to her, “The important thing to know is a man named Landon Lewis created the AI that Mjölnir is built on and he regretted selling it. He wanted me to destroy it for him, so that’s what I’m trying to do.”

“And Leith Delone is smack in the middle of it.”

“Leith Delone? He owns Pinpoint Partners?” Petra gasped.

“Yes,” Sasha said.

“Wait, how didyoufind Pinpoint Partners?” Connelly asked.

“Landon’s call log. He spoke to someone there a few hours before he died. Apparently, he wanted to talk them out of moving forward and struck out. And after that call, he called a number here in Sun Valley, which Maisy traced to another tech company called—”

“Emerging Tech Solutions or ETS,” Petra interjected. “That’s where I work.”

“So you already knew all this?” Sasha asked Connelly. “That’s why you’re here?”

“Nope. I’m here because August said he knew a hacker who could help me destroy Mjölnir.” He gave Petra a long look. “But I’m finding the notion that the very same red hat hacker who can take Mjölnir down is working on optimizing it a bit more of a coincidence than I’m willing to swallow.”

“You have it all wrong. I do work for ETS. And I am a red hat.”

“A what now?” Sasha asked.

“A red hat hacker. She’s a hacktivist who chooses her hacking targets based on political or ideological reasons. Right?” Connelly sought Petra’s confirmation.

“More or less.”

“But you work for ETS?” Sasha said. “How do you reconcile those two positions?”

Petra gave her an unamused look. “Well, under late-stage capitalism, a girl’s gotta eat. And working for a corporate entity gives me a good cover to do what I do without being suspected.”

“So it is a coincidence?”

“Yeah. Well, we’re pretty much the best at what we do. And I didn’t work on Mjölnir. My friend, Gar did. And I’m a talented hacker but he’s a kick-ass debugger. Like the best. And Pinpoint Partners wanted the best, so they came to Gar.” She shrugged like it should all make sense.

Sasha and Connelly exchanged a look.

“You have to admit it’s pretty coincidental, though,” Sasha told her.

“You mean like it’s pretty coincidental that two parents abandoned their children and flew separately across the country overnight without telling each other only to end up at the same coffee shop at the same time?”

Petra had a point.

“That’s fair.”

“Did Gar ever mention a Landon Lewis? He called your office about the program. Would he have spoken to Gar?”

“No. If he called the main number and asked about Mjölnir, he probably would’ve been transferred to Antonia, our supervisor. And she wouldn’t have told some random guy on the phone anything. She’s a stickler for proper procedure.” She rolled her eyes.

Connelly was focused on something else. “You said Gar worked on Mjölnir, past tense. The project’s over?”

She nodded. “He uploaded it to the FTP yesterday.”

“What’s an FTP?” Connelly wanted to know.

Sasha was eager to answer. “Oh, I know this one. It’s a file transfer protocol server you can use to securely upload files to a network. We use them sometimes to exchange files with a client when there’s a big document review or production in discovery.”

“That’s right. Gar uploaded the debugged program to the FTP yesterday morning. Then he left his ID on his desk and took off.”