Page 20Sticking up

The men were nowhere to be seen when I made it down the stairs. But I could hear them further in the building, giving me a little time to explore and look around. After I exited the emergency stairwell that led back to the roof (would that even be useful?) I found myself in an obvious office environment. And a fairly nice one at that. The corridor itself was all glass and doors leading into offices that were partly visible. Partly, because the glass had a sort of diffuse layer on most of it so that it gave a sense of privacy.

The main lights were all off, but there were some smaller lights build in the ceiling that gave off enough light to see by for a normal person but probably used only a margin of electricity compared to the normal lighting. It smelled mostly of coffee here.

Beyond these closed offices, and around a corner in the corridor, there were a few open desks before it opened up into an fully open plan office. Twelve desks by estimation with four near the windows and eight in the middle. I couldn't just walk in though, the men were there, even though they were out of my sight, and I could hear them talking. The problem was that the low lighting made it a lot harder for me to just sneak as close as I'd like to, so what I'm writing here next is mostly based on sound. I did notice the glow of a computer screen coming from their area though.

One man was standing with his face towards the entrance, the same voice as the one complaining outside. Probably keeping watch. The other was audibly at a computer or something, with his face towards the window or wall.

"Just calm down, this is really easy, they've got no alarms or cameras on this floor. We're completely safe here."

"I've heard you say that before, just hurry up."

Two mouse clicks and a single key-press. Especially the mouse clicks reverberated through the space easily. Such a sharp distinctive sound.
"It's almost done. Don't rush this, the program needs to finish properly."

"How much after this."

"Two manager PCs if the details are all correct. We should be out of here within fifteen minutes."

"Why did you bring me along anyway? All I'm doing here is standing and waiting."

The other guy sighed. "To keep watch. You know, always prepare for the unknown."

"You better give me a good cut then."

"You will, you're getting a lot for just standing around, so shut up and let me finish this."

Another mouse-click and a strange sound of something being pulled from the keyboard and footsteps. I headed back to one of the desks that were probably used by secretaries of sorts and hid beneath them. They passed me by hurriedly and mostly silent, heading towards one of the earlier offices. Of course it was closed.

The guy with the skills knelt down and started working on the lock, but this time it hardly took any time to open it. It made sense though, the inside was only locked for the show of it and to keep fellow employees out. Barely a minute later they were in and started to work. Fortunately for me, the guy on the lookout stepped into the office as well, allowing me to crawl over and look at what they were doing.

Yes, I literally crawled.

The diffuse layer on the glass didn't reach that far down, but the glass did. So, it was through clear glass that I was looking at what they were doing besides not speaking. The working guy sat behind the computer and was waiting for it to turn on. He had something in his hand that looked vaguely like an USB-stick and probably was. Though, I assumed (my knowledge in this area severely lacking) it probably wasn't just a storage device but something more sinister.

As I'm writing this I do realize that I often over-describe or think about thinks in a very literary manner. Tainted by the many books I've read and with a tendency to idolize the stereotypes. To me that guy was a hacker or something along those lines. I knew it wasn't true, as such. Especially not with what he did.

I smiled as I saw the guy take the key between his teeth as he retrieved a paper from his right pocket. He unfolded it and kept glancing at it as he used the keyboard, presumably to log in. The guy on the lookout lacked some professionality as he walked to the window and started gazing at the city while the one behind the computer worked. Of course I wasn't planning on making a noise and if I couldn't hear any-thing or -one else in the building, neither would they.

The guy on watch kept walking around restless. He didn't like not doing something but he probably was tired of complaining to his partner in crime. Maybe they were really partners. Posing as rugged thieves but sneakily in a hidden relationship that...

I had to keep a clear head there. Especially when the guy behind the computer started talking.

"Uh oh."

"I don't like 'uh oh's. What's up?"

"Someone has already installed a backdoor service on this system, with a key-logger and process-logger as well. Not connected that I can tell, but someone else is spying on this system."

"Which means?"

"That we're fucked. I can't install this here without the owner of this spy-ware knowing and it's important for our payment that it is installed."

"Can't you do anything about it?"

"Not really, I'm not that good at computers. I didn't make this stuff. I'm lucky enough to notice this being here as it is but it's logged this log in at this odd time."

"So, we're fucked?"

"That's what I said."

Such language for such fragile ears. I'm surprised Amy didn't start blushing.