“Chauvinist pig,” she said, using my words from a few days before.
“We went to lunch, and we flirted so hard.”
“Mmmm, do tell.”
“I feel like I’m not even in control of my own emotions when I’m around him,” I said. “It’s like he has a grip on my heart and is pulsing it harder and harder each time we meet.”
“That’s grossly graphic.”
“I know, but it’s true. I’ve spent the last few years terrified to have any sort of real relationship, but here I am feeling all sorts of love with a guy I barely know.”
“A rich guy you barely know,” she said with a smile. “Let’s be honest here, Del, he’s an awesome catch. He’s nice, handsome, smart, and rich. I don’t think even you could find a reason to push this guy out of your life.”
“Who knows? I seem to have a knack for ruining good things.”
When the consultant came back to my desk, I was forced to get back to work and couldn’t keep talking with Mattie. I felt bad that the consultant had to bother with our issues; it obviously wasn’t what his job normally was, but Robert had a way of convincing people to do things for him. His level of bossiness was off the charts, even around people who didn’t work at the company.
“How are you two doing with this problem? You know I expect this to be figured out soon,” Robert said as he hovered over the two of us.
“Sir, we are on top of it and should have it secured shortly,” the consultant answered.
“Yep, we got this,” I added.
Robert didn’t stay long enough to hear my answer and quickly went back to his office. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was a chauvinist pig or just a jerk to everyone. I was starting to think that acting like a jerk was just part of his character.
“If you’d like to show me the server where the financial data is kept on, I think there’s a link that needs to be secured so we can verify there isn’t a hacker. The financial data seems to be the main information they go after, so let’s make sure that is secure and we can move on from there to look for their trail.”
“Of course,” I said as it hit me. “We have some very high profile clients with a lot of money. We definitely can’t have hackers getting access to their personal information.”
“See this,” the consultant said as he pulled a string of code out and pasted it to the clipboard. “What’s this look like to you?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to compare it to the original code. What do you think it is?”
“It looks like a worm. I’ll let you do some research, and then I’ll come back tomorrow to see if we can fix it. Let me make a quick copy of this code and I’ll look it up at home tonight, too.”
The consultant put a flash drive in and quickly copied the information we were looking at. I hated to admit it, but I was a little relieved he had found the error so quickly. It certainly did look like some erroneous coding and that was the first sign of a hack in our accounts.
The consultant didn’t seem like the typical computer guy, and although I tried not to notice, I couldn’t help it. He was muscular and fit – not really the norm for computer nerds. But then again, I wasn’t the norm for a computer nerd, either.
My heartrate was sky high as I spent much of the rest of the evening going through code and trying to see if there were any other signs. If that code was fake, there had to be more, or at least some other sign that I could use to find the hacker. It was also entirely possible there wasn’t a hacker at all and the code was a vital part of the system.
The longer I stared at the screen, the more I started to question my ability as a computer professional. I had been working with the coding on our website for several weeks and had not been able to find the error. But within one afternoon, the consultant found erroneous coding in our financial system. It really bummed me out that I hadn’t found it first.
It was close to midnight when I finally climbed in my car to go home. I checked my phone before getting on the road and just in time to see a text come through from Brandon.
Brandon: How’s your night? Are you curled up in bed thinking about me?
Delilah: Still at work. Getting on the road shortly, though.
Brandon: That’s probably my fault for dragging lunch out so long. Sorry?
Delilah: No worries. We actually have a big a mess going on here. Certainly not your fault. I had fun at lunch.
Brandon: Me, too. I’ll let you get to driving. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven.
Delilah: Deal. See you then. I’ll text you my address.
Brandon: Goodnight. Try not to have too many dreams about me.