A Drone over New York
Chapter 27

“Go on up,” said the security guy after Max gave over the name and locker number. It was a simple discussion. To that guy, Max was just another customer coming to collect his things in the boring dead of night. The guy had tried to be chatty, but Max was having none of it tonight.

He caught the freight lift to the top floor. He walked along the row of identical blue lockers. The hall was annoyingly well light and gave nothing a chance to hide in this uniform place. For the first time since leaving Rachael’s, he was glad he had come alone.

He counted the yellow numbers on the blue door. Locker 515 was his. Max fidgeted with the lock before it finally fell open. He opened the door to reveal the almost bare space that contained only a single, skinny envelope. An envelope that contained a $7.5-million pen drive.

Max picked the small package up and turned it upside down. The small drive fell out into his open hand.

A nervousness came over him, and so he plugged it into Rachael’s tablet, which he’d brought along. For some reason he really wanted to make sure it was still all there.

The footage started to play and Max breathed a sigh of relief. It was still there.

He closed the locker and held the padlock in his hand. This place had saved him. If it weren’t for this locker, the drive would be in the hands of his muggers. Now he didn’t need it. Now it was time to collect his pay and get out.

Max rode the elevator down to the ground floor. He would have to watch his back on the way home. Be extra careful. It was not going to be a fun experience.

The doors slid open and he stepped back out into the bright reception area.

“Finished already?” asked the guy.

“Yeah, it was just something quick.”

“Is there anything else I can do for you tonight?” asked the guy. The guy still wanted to be chatty, and normally Max wouldn’t be in the mood. But there was something about a $7.5-million payday that made him feel a slight ping of guilt. He was about to become a millionaire. For some reason Max thought millionaires should be nice people. He had spent most of his career bringing them down, and it was always easy to replace people they were mean to.

This guy was going to be the start of a new leaf.

Be nice, Max told himself.

“Yeah, I’ve finished with the locker,” he said. “I know I’ve paid for the month, but just thought I would let you know.”

“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll put a note on the file but I’ll keep it free, just in case.” The guy smiled.

Kindness breeds kindness, Max thought.

“Hey, is there anywhere around here I can buy a USB stick?” Max said suddenly. It was out of the blue, but he thought it might be a good idea to make a full backup copy away from Rachael, just in case.

“I’ve got a few here for sale, actually. Get requests for them now and then. How big you need?” said the guy.

The right stick was $25 and Max quickly set up the copy on the tablet. The status bar said ten minutes. It was better to do it here where he could see anything out of place. He was copying everything this time. Full backup in case he needed it. This was not going to be the first double-cross of his day.

The guy was still chatty, talking about how nice the summer was. He was probably bored. It wasn’t until he mentioned Tyell that Max really tuned in.

“Tyell, you know?” the guy said, registering Max’s interest. “You think all of that is real? The stuff they are saying?”

“No, I’ve been stuck with my head buried in work.” He had been out of the loop for two days. Who knew what Martha was stirring up? Now was the time to replace out.

“The whole sex tape stuff. She’s denying it, but everyone is saying it’s real.”

Max had a laugh, but the guy leaned in.

“They’re saying weird stuff too. Saying she was with a tranny. I think it’s all crap, personally.”

The way the guy talked, Max realized he must be somewhat conservative. Not comfortable with the whole LGBT thing yet. Max almost couldn’t contain a small smile.

“Trust me, it’s real,” said Max, trying to act calm.

“What makes you say that?”

Max couldn’t help himself. “I’ve got a friend who is close to it. He is working the story for one of the media companies. Trust me, he has seen the tape. It’s real.” He gave the man a wink.

The guy looked stunned. He didn’t know what to say. As if by perfect timing, the files finished coping over and Max could leave.

But Max just couldn’t help stirring the pot a little more. Give Martha the best chance.

“Just check out CelebrityNews.com today,” Max said. “I’ve heard that they have the original.”

The guy’s eyes went wide open. Max knew this was perfect. It was giving Martha what she wanted. This would probably be all over the internet in around fifteen minutes. Within an hour it would be viral. People would be calling them up asking for copies.

Max put the new pen drive in his coin pouch, and the original down the front of his underpants. He needed to be that careful. He decided not to tell Rachael about the backup he made, just in case. The original was his security in case things went wrong. Advertisers would be paying big money just to be on the same page.

The subway ride was a long and nervous journey with the various creatures of the night. There were more partygoers now. He changed cars a few times, just to see if anyone was following. He even got off at one station, only to get back on just before the doors closed.

Eventually he arrived back in Brooklyn and climbed the steps up to the small apartment. The lights were out, but Rachael had given him a key in case she fell asleep.

He opened the door and turned on the hall light.

“Rachael?” he called out gently. There was no response.

He walked into the kitchen, calling out her name again but stopping when he noticed the small, handwritten note on the kitchen counter.

Been called into work, was all it said. Her office must be getting nervous with the footage not being uploaded by now.

Luckily Max knew a way to solve that issue. He sat on his favorite stool at the kitchen bench and started the upload from her tablet.

A few clicks later, and it started. Max smiled. He should have bought some beers while he was out.

Then it stopped. The download had failed. He tried another three times.

It had to be the tablet.

He dug through her stuff in the bedroom. The room stunk badly from earlier, but he managed to found her old personal laptop. The password was unchanged and it even had a few of Max’s old programs on it.

He typed in the server’s address again and plugged in the USB.

Again it failed.

Max’s heart started racing. This was the last thing he needed right now.

He checked the internet connection. It was working fine. He checked the status of the server he was meant to upload to. It was working fine.

He tried uploading the file again. It didn’t work.

He thought about his own dark cloud server. It was dangerous putting the file there. The virus that Enexup had embedded on the drive must be doing something.

But he needed to get it done—$7.5 million depended on it.

After trying a few other options, he finally conceded and loaded his dark server onto the tablet. Once the file was uploaded, he could tell them where to get it. He knew from Rachael that it was better to offer a solution than an excuse.

His heart jumped into his mouth when it didn’t work. Only a poor, partial copy of the footage copied over. The full file was large and Rachael’s connection was slow, but it should have worked. He looked through it and knew that it was never going to satisfy Martha. The only conclusion was that there must be something on the drive that prevented it all being copied online.

He only had one option left. He opened his dark email and sent Rachael a message.

Rachael

Issues with server. Files not being accepted. Can you send alternative?

Themanwhoknewtoomuch

He pressed Send and sat back. It would be a nervous wait. He needed something to eat.

He raided the bottom right-hand cupboard again. He couldn’t replace anything.

He flicked over to his regular email. It was full of emails from Callie. She was worried about him. He mindlessly flicked through them, thinking how he was going to let her go. She was a nice girl. One email from her caught his eye.

Hey Max,

I swung by your apartment after work today. Kate said you were sick, but you weren’t home. A policeman stopped me and asked if I knew you. I told him I was your girlfriend, so he told me they were looking for you. I had to tell Michael about it. He grilled me for ten minutes and almost kicked me off the story! Martha is going crazy over this. Ted got beaten up this morning.

Not trying to be a stalker or anything, but I’m getting little worried over here. Max, what’s going on? You ok?

Cal

Max felt guilty as hell reading it. It sounded as if it was getting bad at the office. Max knew it was only going to get worse too. All because of him.

He pushed it from his mind—$7.5 million depended on it.

After reading through the other emails, he logged into his work account. All hell was flying. From what he could piece together, there were a few people who had been caught up tangling with fans. And it would get worse too.

Giving the footage over to Martha was going to get them all hurt.

A few emails from Martha came while he was reading. Must be up because of the buy.

He flicked over to the CelebrityNews website.

It didn’t come up.

He tried again. And again nothing showed.

He tried from the tablet. It failed again. Site must be down. That was why Martha was up. She hated the site being down.

Then it hit him. They were under cyberattack. Someone was hacking the system. Whoever it was, they were that good.

His personal email pinged. It was Kate’s personal email.

Max, we are getting hacked. The thing you said you were on, could it be related? The tech guys are going crazy. I need you to come in. I hate to do this to you, but Martha will have your and my head if you’re not here within the hour.

Come in the back door.

Kate.

p.s. send Callie a message if you can.

There was no way Max was going into the office today. At 12:10 today, he was going to be on a flight to Bangkok.

Max heart jumped when he heard a key in the front door.

“Rachael?” he called out.

“Hey, Max,” called the deep voice that Max had forgotten about.

“Hey, Thom,” replied Max from the kitchen. He was trying to work out why on earth he had come this early in the morning.

A sudden panic hit Max in the stomach. They hadn’t cleaned up the bedroom from last night.