{"id":2684,"date":"2024-06-22T13:50:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2684"},"modified":"2024-06-22T13:50:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T20:50:08","slug":"a-private-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/22\/a-private-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"A Private Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Set your story in the stands at a major sporting event.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally? Of all places, this is where you choose to meet?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDamn! Can you believe these seats? I can\u2019t see what\u2019s happening,\u201d the small woman complained. She leaned left and right in an attempt to see around the crowd of large men in the next row. Her pink-tipped blonde hair fell across her pale beige face and green eyes as she did, and she ignored it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a game of sportsball or something. Some kind of sports are happening. That\u2019s not why we\u2019re here.\u201d The woman next to her wore large sunglasses that hid her eyes, a wide-brimmed hat with her nondescript brown hair tucked into it, and a look of annoyance on her gold-tinged, light brown face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care what we\u2019re here for, we\u2019re at a baseball game, we should at least be able to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stands erupted, the men in front of them jumping to their feet, yelling and spilling beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeone made a touchdown or whatever. Now get serious. It\u2019s bad enough you didn\u2019t even try<\/em> to disguise your appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaisy, come on\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo names!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll use names if I want to. Nobody is paying any attention to us at all.\u201d She stuck out a hand. \u201cNice to meet you, Maisy, I\u2019m Allison.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy grabbed the offered hand hard. \u201cKnock it off. Are you trying to get caught?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison tapped on the shoulder of the man directly in front of her. When he turned, she said, \u201cHey, I\u2019m Allison and I\u2019m going to murder my husband tonight. My friend Maisy here is going to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked at her through a haze of drunkenness. \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re available?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot until tomorrow, honey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWoo!\u201d He raised his sloshing cup of beer in salute before draining it and turning back to his friends and shouting, \u201cShe\u2019s dumping her old man tonight!\u201d The entire row gave her smiles and raised cups before turning back to the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSee?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine. Do you have it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison reached into her pocket and pulled out a thumb drive. \u201cEverything you need is right here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy took the drive and put it in her bra. \u201cAnd where\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlug that into any of the computers except the ones at reception. Those are on a different network.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy pursed her lips. \u201cThat may be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat about the printers? You have access to those?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah. But\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut nothing. All this needs is something connected to the network, and printers are notorious for their weak security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow long do I wait?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdeally, until you get a text on your phone that says, \u2018I\u2019m here, where are you?\u2019 Could be ten minutes, might be as long as an hour. If you can\u2019t wait around for it, try to stick it somewhere it won\u2019t be seen right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your endgame here?\u201d Maisy asked. \u201cWhat are you getting out of this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison held out her hand. \u201cPaid. That\u2019s what I\u2019m getting. Nothing more, nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy pulled a pre-paid credit card out of her purse and handed it to her. \u201cBut you\u2019ll have access to their entire network. What are you going to do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGet paid some more.\u201d Allison scanned the chip in the card with her phone and verified the amount on the card, then stuffed it in her pocket. \u201cThey stole my patent; they owe me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t see how, though. Not how they owe you, but how you expect to make money off this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it considered insider trading if I short their stock and then tank their company from the inside?\u201d She winked. \u201cOf course, if I find what I think I will, just turning that over to the Trade Commission will be enough to tank them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou think Berlitz will see jail?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNah. He\u2019s richer than God. Guys like him don\u2019t go to jail, unfortunately.\u201d Allison turned in the set to face Maisy. \u201cNow it\u2019s my turn to ask. What are you<\/em> getting out of this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat smug bastard got a judge to force me to sell the condo I grew up in, then bulldozed the entire complex and the park next to it to build high-rise condos no one in this city can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s personal for you, too, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut you still took a job there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy sighed. \u201cI know. I guess I thought that if I was inside<\/em> the company I might find a way to take him down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, you did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting to break the law to do it, though.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison put a hand on her shoulder. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to, you know. You could throw that drive away and walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t think I actually can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe always have\u2026,\u201d Allison stopped herself. \u201cI was going to say we always have a choice, but Berlitz\u2019s lawyers didn\u2019t give you a choice about whether to sell, so that statement is demonstrably false.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a commotion in the row in front of them as the beer vendor came by and sold a new cup to everyone in the group. Given how drunk they already were, Maisy thought it was a bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the vendor stepped up to their row, Allison called out to him, \u201cTwo here!\u201d She handed the vendor a twenty and waved off the change. She handed one of the cups to Maisy and said, \u201cDrink up!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy held the cold beer in the flimsy, plastic cup, and took a tentative sip. It was watery and tasted like someone had scared carbonated water with a beer at some point, but the cold felt good. \u201cI don\u2019t normally drink beer. Especially not this kind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s six-dollar piss-water, but at least it\u2019s cold.\u201d Allison tapped her cup against Maisy\u2019s and took a deep swig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maisy took a few more sips, until the beer began leaving a bitter after-taste. \u201cWhen should I do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNext time you\u2019re on shift.\u201d Allison looked into Maisy\u2019s eyes. \u201cI don\u2019t think I need to tell you this, but don\u2019t quit right after<\/em>. In fact, it\u2019s better if you wait for them to lay you off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight, so they don\u2019t connect me with the hack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison raised her cup. \u201cHere\u2019s to your fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man in front of her turned around, saw her raised cup and asked, \u201cWe toasting you being a free woman? Cheers!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison smiled, tapped the man\u2019s cup with her own, and watched his friends pull his attention back to game just in time for all of them to groan. \u201cSee? Best place for a private meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Set your story in the stands at a major sporting event. available at Reedsy \u201cReally? Of all places, this is where you choose to meet?\u201d \u201cDamn! Can you believe these seats? I can\u2019t see …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[234,225,214,210,209],"class_list":["post-2684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-contemporary","tag-crime","tag-drama","tag-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-Hi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2685,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684\/revisions\/2685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}