When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,49
and leaned back. “I want to know if it’s hackable.”
Diana was quiet a moment before she asked, “Why should I help you?”
Nita sighed softly. “I’m trying to take down the DUL with the information I get there—why wouldn’t you want to help me? You’ve spent years haunted by the fear that ghouls will go up one day, that you’ll suddenly be on a kill list when you’ve never hurt anyone. It’s in your best interest to get rid of that list, the same way it is mine.”
“I know.” Diana’s voice was hard. “I know that very well.”
Nita’s voice was firm. “If it’s money you want, I just got a nice payment from a corrupt Brazilian diplomat. Easily enough to pay college tuition for you.”
With plenty left over to pay for my own tuition. Nita wouldn’t have made the offer if her own future wasn’t secure. She would go to college, but with Almeida’s funds. She could afford to be magnanimous and send Diana as well.
Diana hesitated, then whispered, “I don’t want money. I mean, I do. But more than anything, I want a promise that no matter what happens, you won’t ever try and hurt Adair again.”
Ah. So that’s what this was about.
“I’ve no interest in hurting him. Unless he does something that puts me in direct danger, you’ve no reason to worry for him.”
Diana let out a little sigh of relief. “Okay. All right. Good.”
“So, will you help?”
Diana hesitated, then asked softly, “You really think you can take down the Dangerous Unnaturals List?”
“I’m damn well going to try.”
Diana hesitated another moment, before whispering, “All right. What do you need me to do?”
“CCTV. I don’t want the cameras picking me up. Can you hack them?”
“Well, every system is hackable. CCTV is especially vulnerable, actually—did you know most of them have software and security that’s over a decade outdated? And lots just feed directly into the internet. Sometimes Adair has me search for CCTV from gas stations that feeds into the internet and then I hack it and I can read credit cards, and he steals the numbers.”
“That explains a lot.” Nita had been wondering how he paid for things when he clearly took most of his payment in information. Toronto wasn’t cheap. “Does that mean Tácunan Law’s CCTV is feeding onto the internet?”
“In all likelihood. But if they’ve got half a brain, it’ll be locked up tight.” The click of computer keys echoed in the background. “I’ll poke around and see what I can do. Normally, for a company like Tácunan Law, I’d say hacking anything is impossible. But CCTV is a weird special case. It might be possible.”
“What do I need to do?” Nita asked.
Diana considered. “Nothing right now. I’ll contact you if I need anything from you.”
Nita agreed and hung up, uncomfortable at leaving something completely up to another person, passing off that little piece of control. But she needed to accept that she couldn’t do everything herself.
She adjusted her mental list of things to do. If she could get all this working, then she would just need to find a way to deal with the guards, if there were any. Or other potential witnesses in the building.
Kovit came down shortly after. He glowed with health, his hair as shiny as a shampoo commercial, and his skin looked so soft and smooth she wanted to reach out and touch it.
“All done?” she asked.
“Mmm.” He nodded, his eyes sleepy and contented. “All done.”
“Good.” Nita rose and tucked the laptop under her arm. “We’ve got a couple of errands to run on our way back.”
Nita used Google Maps to find Tácunan Law. It was only a fifteen-minute walk from the hotel, so they set off along Puerto Madero, the sun high and hot above them. The sunlight made the water glint too brightly to look at, and the boats bobbed up and down in the port, mostly sailboats and yacht-looking things in this part. People Rollerbladed by, and a pair of street performers did an impromptu tango show beside the water.
When they came to Tácunan Law, Nita found it was exactly like all the other buildings around it, tall and glass, a monstrosity of steel and chrome.
Kovit looked at it skeptically. “The whole thing is a law firm? Or just one floor?”
Nita frowned. “Good question. It does seem a little overkill to own an entire building.”
She stared up at it, pretending to be another awestruck tourist bumbling around. What she really wanted was a look at the area around it.