The Remote Seduction (2 page)

They share a look off of Sully's
comment.
 
Richard mocks it,
 
"Bureaucracy would most likely tip
our hat?"
 
Walter chuckles.

On the park bench…

Sully looks seriously at Katrina.
 
“We want an outsider who can go in,
hack the system, discover the source of the discrepancies and get out. I'm
figuring this is the perfect time seeing that the company is having a pizza
party birthday party for one of the executives in the conference room on the
second floor.”

“The VP offices are on the fourth floor,
correct?” Katrina asks.

“Yes.”

“I'm thinking Robert Vesco would be a
good VP to start with,” Katrina shares.

“You've done your homework,” Sully is
impressed.

“That's why you're paying me the big
bucks. You do have the big bucks with you,” Katrina inquires.

Sully opens up his suit jacket revealing
an envelope of cash in his breast pocket.
 
He looks at a street vendor as he answers Katrina.
 
“And I'll treat you to a hotdog.”

Katrina stands up. “I'll see you in
twenty minutes.
 
Half hour tops.”
 

Katrina heads for the corporate
building.
 
Sully watches her as he
converses with Richard and Walter via his American flag pin and the tiny
microphone plug in his ear. “Care to wager?”
 
He asks.

In the FSSU command center…

Richard and Walter watch Katrina walk to
the building via the spy cam footage on their computer monitor.

Walter, incredulous, shakes his
head.
 
“Twenty minutes?
 
To access Hamilton Dynamics’ computer
network, which features one of the most layered and intricate security systems
in the country, and discover the embezzler?
 
There's no way she'll be able to accomplish that.”

Richard looks more hopeful.
 
“If she can, we may have found our Holy
Grail hacker.”

*****

In the Hamilton Dynamics corporate
building…

Katrina gets out of the elevator on the
fourth floor.
 
She looks around the
room of cubicles and glass windowed VP offices.
 
Not a soul in sight.

Katrina walks down the hallway looking at
the names on the office doors.
 
She
stops when she sees the name Robert Vesco. She enters the office.

Katrina takes a seat at the desk.
 
She clicks on the computer and types
away, easily accessing the password into the private files.
 
She removes a small handheld hightetch
computer from her shoulder bag and links it to Vesco’s computer.
 
She moves fluidly between her handheld
and the Vesco computer, her fingers dancing across both keyboards discovering
and confirming the desired information.
 
She’s quick, thorough and confident.

Images of spreadsheets, correspondences,
pictures, text messages and official documents whiz across the screen.
 
She stops only momentarily to chuckle
at something she sees.
 
Katrina
finishes her assignment and clicks out of the secured network leaving no trace
of her activities behind.
 
She puts
away her handheld and leaves the office.

Moments later…

Katrina saunters from the corporate
building carrying two slices of pizza.

Sully sees her and looks at his
watch.
 
He speaks to Richard and
Walter via his lapel pin.
 
“Eighteen minutes.”

In the FSSU command center…

Walter and Richard look at the monitor
watching Katrina walk towards Sully.

Walter's smug look indicates he thinks
Katrina failed.
 
“I bet she
couldn't hack it.
 
Pun intended.”

Richard's not listening, he's grinning,
Cheshire cat grinning, hoping that Katrina could be the hacker he's been
searching for.

In the park on the bench…

Katrina joins Sully taking a seat next to
him.
 
She offers him one of the
slices.
 
“Pizza?”

He takes the slice. “You crashed their
lunch party!?”

“Yeah. Sadly no anchovies,” she takes a
bite from her slice.

Sully gives her a bit of attitude.
 
“I hope you got more than pizza.”

Katrina leisurely finishes her bite
keeping Sully waiting for a reply.
 
“Robert Vesco is not the embezzler.
 
Judith Banner is the embezzler.
 
My guess is it's payback for the illicit affair she had with
her boss that went south just a week before she started stealing from the
till.
 
The relationship is detailed
in the countless private sexts she sent him with the hope of rekindling the
affair. She was passed over for a promotion that was given to Robert Vesco so
she, quite cleverly, left clues pointing to Vesco as the embezzler.”

Sully is dully impressed.
 
“Great work.”

Katrina hasn’t finished. “That's not all.
The CFO is engaging in a BDSM relationship with intern Nancy.”

Sully’s eyes widen with bemusement.
 
“The CEO's twenty year old daughter?!”

Katrina nods.
 
“Nancy likes black leather, whips and to ride the portly man
like a pony.”

“That's just disturbing,” Sully cringes
at the thought.

“I’ve forwarded all of the juicy details
to your email,” Katrina tells him.

Inside the FSSU command center…

Walter quickly types information into a
computer accessing Sully's email.
 
As he does, images of intern Nancy riding the portly man like a pony pop
up on the surrounding monitors.

Walter smiles.
 
“Giddy-up.”

In the park on the bench…

Sully is about to ask a question, one
that Katrina anticipates.
 
“Not to
worry, I encrypted the email I sent you and covered my cyber tracks. Hamilton
Dynamics won't be the wiser until you want them to be the wiser.”

Sully removes the envelope from his
breast pocket and hands it to Katrina.
 
“I still owe you a hot dog,” he tells her.

Katrina flips through the wad of large
bills in the envelope.
 
“I'm good,
thanks.”

In the FSSU command center…

Richard studies Katrina on the monitor as
he answers her even though she can’t hear or see him.
 
“Yes you are, Ms. Brice.
 
You most definitely are.”

Walter looks at Richard.
 
“You think she's the one?”
 
The glint in Richard's eyes confirms
the affirmative.

*****

Katrina returns to the Chick Lit
Bookstore.
 
She unlocks the door,
flips the Open sign into place and hurries to her computer to check for
messages.
 
Sure enough there's a message
from Paolo.
 
Katrina reads the
message.

Paolo: I found a painting that I thought
you might appreciate.

Katrina clicks on the attachment.
 
She smiles at the image of ‘Literary
Pursuits of a Young Lady.’
  
She clicks into an instant message chat with Paolo.

Francesca:
 
Thank you for the painting.
 
Reminds me of me.

Katrina waits for a moment hoping Paolo
is available to reply.
 
He is.

Paolo: It reminded me of you as
well.
 
How I picture you.
 
Will we be reading together tonight?

Francesca:
 
Chapter four of Wuthering Heights I’m hoping.

Paolo: "See" you at nine.

Katrina clicks out of the cyber
chat.
 
She prints out a color copy
of the image and tacks it up on the announcement board behind the counter.

Later in the afternoon…

Two women, Maya and Dorothy, enter the
bookstore.
 
Between them they’re
carrying three bottles of wine. Maya, in her late twenties, sweet and
effervescent, could easily win the Miss Universe pageant, and Dorothy, early
sixties, is a bohemian Buddhist in the midst of battling cancer.

“Hey, Kat,” Maya calls.

“It's wine and dish time,” Dorothy
chimes.

“I'll grab the glasses,” Katrina grabs
three wine glasses from a shelf at her cashier counter, as if this wine and
dish time were a regular occurrence, and joins Dorothy and Maya at the reading
chairs by the front window.
 

Katrina gives Dorothy a once over.
 
“You're looking good.”

“I'm feeling good.
 
I’m actually looking forward to the
doctor's appointment tomorrow.”
 
Dorothy responds.

“I'll go with you?”
 
Katrina offers.
 
Dorothy nods and smiles, appreciating
Katrina’s offer.

Maya pours the wine. There's a small
diamond engagement ring on her finger.

Katrina looks at Maya.
 
“You're glowing.
 
What's the reason?”

“Tony and I finally picked a date,” Maya
beams.

“When?”
 
Katrina asks with interest.

“June fourteenth,” Maya shares.

“That's nearly a year away,” Katrina
proclaims.

“Plenty of time to relish every moment of
planning the perfect wedding.
 
And
the perfect honeymoon,” Maya giggles.

Maya hands a glass of wine to
Katrina.
 
And one to Dorothy.
 
“I'm counting on you as a bridesmaid,
Dorothy.”

“Can I pick out my own dress?”
 
Dorothy hopes.

“Don't worry, I won't make you wear
taffeta,” Maya reassures her friend.

“Cotton, only cotton,” Dorothy encourages
with a smile.

“I have some happy news myself,” Katrina
shares with her friends.

Maya’s eyes widen. “You've met Paolo and
he looks exactly like Channing Tatum.”

“No.
 
But our cyber chat this morning was quite personal and
emotional,” Katrina blushes.
 

“You have to meet him, Kat,” Maya sighs.

Katrina shakes off the suggestion.
 
“Anonymity was what we agreed to, he
insisted actually, besides, it’s perfect the way it is.”
 
She returns her attention to her good
news.
 
“Anyway, back on topic, I
sold another book,” Katrina lies, her friends having no idea about her side
hacking jobs.
 
She hands an
envelope of cash to Dorothy.
 
“For
your medical bills.”
 
Katrina hands
an envelope of cash to Maya. “For your perfect wedding.”

Maya’s eyes widen. “Kat, you're way too
generous.”

“You don't have to do this you know,”
Dorothy adds.

“I know. I just feel that when I sell a
rare first edition book I want to share the wealth with the people I love,”
Katrina offers.

Maya gives Katrina a hug as Dorothy's
eyes mist; they love their friend and are truly grateful for her generosity.

Maya holds up her glass. “Cheers.”
 
The three women click their wine
glasses.

“We’ve clicked the glasses, that means
it’s time to let your hair down, Kat,” Dorothy points out.

Katrina removes her black-rimmed glasses
and literally lets her hair down.
 
She sits back in her chair, relaxing.

*****

At the same time inside the FSSU command
center…

Richard, Walter and Sully stand near a
wall-sized monitor.
 
Photographs of
Katrina appear on the monitor - photographs that were taken of her when she was
rowing on the river.

Walter shares Katrina intel with Richard
and Sully.
 
“Katrina Brice. Aged
thirty-one.
 
She graduated summa
cum laude from MIT with a double major, computer science and literature.
 
Both parents are deceased. No brothers
or sisters, no husband or boyfriend. Her only lasting relationship apparently
is online with a person named ‘Paolo.’ She's been cyber chatting with him daily
for almost a year.”

“Anything illicit?”
 
Sully asks with a twinkle.

“No. Mostly boring stuff about philosophy
and literature. They read books together and discuss their feelings about the
books,” Walter answers.