A Drone over New York

“You okay?” asked Maria, Max’s upstairs neighbor, as she walked past. She was out of breath from the climb, and the hot weather was doing her no favors.

Max was still sitting on the steps, waiting as the locksmith did his work. The police had come and gone. There was not much they could do.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Max said. Truth was, he was anything but.

Maria gave a hot, bothered look at the locksmith. “They get anything?” she asked Max while catching her breath.

“TV, computer, tablet … the normal sort of stuff.” He left out that it was anything that could carry a digital file. Both laptops were gone, as well as his tablet and phablet. They even grabbed the USB sticks that he had in his desk drawer. Deep down, Max knew they had not found what they were looking for. He was lucky he had that item on him.

“All insured, right?” Maria asked.

Max nodded. His insurance should cover everything that was in there. But this was an all too familiar feeling. Ever since they did that story on Michael Bubber, Max was used to fans getting a little crazy. How they had found him, though, he had no idea.

He counted himself lucky that he’d started the wipe last night on the spare laptop, and no way was anyone breaking into his personal computer. But the laptops were of no real importance. In the coin pocket of his jeans sat what they were really after. The small pen drive had the only copy of the video on it. If they had accidently gotten that, then the footage may as well be a fake. Tyell would bounce back from today. She would probably write a new album, win some awards, and make millions to add to her vast fortune. Max would still be here, living in a small one-bedroom apartment in the West Village. A nobody, going nowhere. Another broken body on Tyell’s road to success.

“You got a place to stay tonight?” Maria asked.

When her place got broken into a year ago, it took her a full week before she would sleep in her apartment again. And at that point her then boyfriend had moved in with her temporarily. It was a shame it didn’t work out. He was a nice guy.

“My girlfriend’s coming over,” Max lied. The people who did this wouldn’t come back anyway. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Callie right now. But he needed to say it to get Maria off his back.

“Is that the tall one who always wears that hat? I can’t remember her name,” Maria said.

“Callie, yeah, that’s her.”

Maria had only met her last week when Max and Callie were trying to get their shopping upstairs. Callie was the kind of person who got along with everybody. Why on earth she was working in their industry, Max would never know.

“Tell her I said hi,” Maria said. “If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll get in touch with the super tomorrow. I really think that lock downstairs needs to get fixed, once and for all.”

Max smiled. Maria had the money to move to a better place, but she claimed she loved the character of the building. Her consulting job also meant she was sometimes away more than she was here. But at the end of the day, she was a good person to have in your building.

Before he could respond, his phone rang, so Maria said her good-bye.

Max looked down and saw Kate’s photo staring back at him. She would probably only just be getting home now.

“Hey, Kate,” he said.

“Hey, Max, you home?”

Something in her voice unsettled Max. He knew that tone well. She was worried. And he had a good feeling he knew why.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

She wasn’t someone to beat around the bush in this type of situation, so he felt prepared for what she was about to say.

“My place has been broken into,” she said, confirming Max’s hunch. “I’m okay, but just doing the normal call-around to see if everyone else is okay.”

“Dammit,” was all Max needed to say to his boss to let her know his place had also been ransacked.

“They take anything?” she asked.

“Just some personal stuff. Insurance should cover it. Nothing important anyway. Don’t worry, nothing work related on anything taken. I had that with me.” They had all been burnt from the Bubber scandal. It was somehow reassuring, though, that Max wasn’t alone. He also knew Kate would chat to Martha. If things got bad, they had a hotel near the office they could all stay at.

“What about you?” he asked.

“Same. Lucky for me I keep most of my jewelry hidden. They just grabbed tech stuff.”

Max thought it might have been the same people. That meant that they didn’t know he was the seller yet! He was just another name on a list of the buyers.

“How’s Brambles?” Max asked.

“He’s fine. He’s no guard dog, that’s for sure,” Kate said, sounding almost relieved to be changing the topic. “Damn thing probably got a pat on the head from whoever it was. Shame you can’t get fingerprints off a dog.”

That made Max laugh a little. It was a cute dog. Max had even thought about getting one himself. Kate would occasionally bring him into the office. Brambles loved all the attention he got there.

“You spoken with anyone else yet?” he asked.

“Just Michael. He got hit as well,” she said. “How on earth were they so quick?”

“I think someone probably tipped them off. We did a lot on the Bubber case, so I think these people just keep our names on file for this kind of thing.”

“That’s a scary thought,” she replied. “Hey, look, do you mind calling Missy? Make sure she is home and alright. Text me if she got hit as well. I need to call Martha. She is going to want to know about this.”

“Sure,” Max said and then ended the call. The familiarity of the situation somehow made him feel calm rather than emotional about what had happened.

Max rang Missy straightaway. She had just arrived home, but had been spared a break-in. Her boyfriend was a freelancer and worked from home, and no one would dare try and take him on. Anyway, Missy was too far down the pecking order to be a target.

He shot a quick text update on Missy to Kate before he called Callie. He knew she was going to get a call from Michael. He wouldn’t tell her that much, trying not to make her worry. He was probably still drunk, though, so might accidently let the cat out of the bag. Even if he didn’t, Callie was smart enough to figure out when something was going on. Michael would try and not to tell her, though. That was policy. It was better that she heard the truth sooner rather than later. This was the advantage of their relationship outside the workplace.

To Max’s surprise Callie answered on the first ring.

“Hey, Max,” she said in a relaxed way. By the sound of her voice, Michael might not have called her, as he either could be too drunk or thought she was too low down to worry about.

“Hey, Cal. How were the rest of the drinks?” Max said, trying to sound casual.

“Good. Probably had one too many, though.” Yeah, she sounded like she had. She was still on a high, sounding a little chirpy. “I’m home now. You want me to come over? We can celebrate tonight if you want.”

There was no way she had been broken into. She was way too happy.

“Nah, I’m good. I just wanted to make sure you got home safe,” he lied. “Michael was getting a little drunk.”

“Mmm, that’s sweet, Max. You were right about Michael wanting to corner me. He noticed I had your number on my phone, but I told him it was when I did my rotation on your team.”

“Nice one. I was worried you might get put on the spot for that. Michael can be pretty persistent sometimes.”

“I know.” She giggled. “Kate managed to save me. She’s awesome. I really like her. I managed to get some one-on-one time with Martha. She’s amazing.” Then her tone changed: “Max, can I ask a question? I just got a call from Michael. It was a little bit of a … well, weird conversation. He didn’t say why he was calling, but he asked me a few odd questions and then it just kind of ended by him trying to make some excuse about making sure I was home and safe. Max, what’s going on?”

Clever girl never missed a thing.

“It’s a security thing,” Max said. He wanted to see how far she would push it.

“Maaax,” she said in the tone that said she wanted to know.

“Nothing’s happened.”

“Come on, Max. You said it yourself. This was a big day for me, and I don’t want to sit at the children’s table anymore,” she said a little forcibly. The alcohol was probably fueling her confidence. “Please.”

“Okay, look, just promise not to freak out, okay?” Max said. “I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate right now, so just to warn you, I can’t be a good boyfriend tonight. But you’re right, you were playing in the big leagues today. And that means taking the good and the bad.”

“Okay,” she said. “What’s going on, Max? Is everyone okay?”

No hiding it now. Max drew a big breath and summed up the courage he needed. “You can’t tell anyone I told you this, but a few of us were broken into today.”

“Oh my God!” she whispered. Definitely not what she was expecting.

“Yeah. It’s just a standard thing. It happens from time to time, especially when a big story comes in.”

A pause and then, “Did you get broken into?” But she probably knew the answer already.

He had led her down this path, and he couldn’t protect her now. “Yeah. They trashed my place. They grabbed my Mac and a few other things.”

“Oh God. Are you okay?” Her voice said she was starting to freak out now.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Locksmith is replacing my lock right now,” he said, trying to sound like it was just another day at the office.

Callie wasn’t having it, though. She said she was worried and then started to panic on his behalf. She immediately offered to come over, but Max said no. She then tried to get him to go to her place, but there was no way he wanted to deal with her roommates tonight. Max just said he needed to get inside and go to sleep.

“This has happened before, Callie. I’m used to it. I would really like to see you tonight, but I need to put work first, and that means I can’t,” he said to try and put an end to the discussion. “It’s best we stay at our own places until Friday,” he added before she could say anything. “On Friday you can stay here, and we can go out and celebrate your big week and your first major story.”

The locksmith started to finish up, giving him the perfect opportunity to say good-bye to Callie.

“Look, I’ve got to talk to the locksmith, so I’ve got to go,” Max said. “Just make sure you lock your door tonight. They won’t come when there’s someone home. But just be careful. If Michael calls, just do whatever he says. You’re on his team, and he has to look after you. Remember, I never told you. Michael will tell you the official story when he sobers up. Just don’t drag me into it.”

“Okay, Max. You be careful too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” he said.

“Oh, Max, one last thing.”

“What?”

“Thanks for today. It meant a lot to me.”

“No problem. Anyway, you were the one who did the work that got you where you are. Let’s celebrate on Friday, okay?”

“Okay. Good night.”

He ended the call and got that bad news from the locksmith. Max tapped his phone against the guy’s contactless reader and shelled out the $400. He knew he would get it back through the insurance company, but it still felt like he was getting ripped off. How they had gotten through all three locks baffled both Max and the locksmith. Whoever it was, they were good.

He dropped the spare set of new keys in the super’s box and retreated inside his apartment.

With the door now locked behind him, Max pulled out his work laptop and turned it on. He pulled out the pen drive and went to insert it, but stopped himself.

Dale’s hacked email played on his mind. Max knew he had to be smart about this. Smarter than he had been last night. The dark emails could always be accessed from his phone, but he needed something with a little bit of processing power, but more importantly it had to be independent from his work stuff.

He closed his laptop and headed downstairs, making sure he double-locked his door behind him. He was only going to be twenty minutes, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

At the nearby technology shop he argued with the guy about the price of a laptop. This time of night, it was always a distressed purchase. That was why the guy upped the prices. The cost of the sale was getting higher than Max first thought. He was going to need to be a bit more careful. Eventually Max got an older model and got it home. It wasn’t what he had hoped for, but it would have to do.

As soon as he closed the door and locked it, he pulled out the pen drive and fired it up. He knew if he didn’t connect it to the wi-fi, it couldn’t infect anything or send out any sort of signal. He was safe as long as it stayed unconnected.

He scrolled through the back code and didn’t see anything malicious. But then again this was probably something beyond his skills. He would probably have to take it to Richard. He’d be able to spot anything out of place. But then again Richard would start asking questions. With the amount of money going to be thrown around on this story, it was better to involve as few people as possible. He trusted Rich, but decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.

After Max finished looking through the code, he couldn’t help himself and watched the video again. It was somehow better viewing today. Richer, more defined, safe in the knowledge that this was going to make him a fortune. He scrolled between the two sets of still images of her. She really was beautiful. The HD camera had caught everything in all its glory. The multiple cameras ensured it was all there. There were even several great shots of the guy, whoever he was.

Max thought he should check his emails to see if the facial-recognition program had finished. He couldn’t wait to find out who it was.

He pulled out his personal phone and scrolled through the dark emails. Instead of looking for the facial-recognition email, he got distracted by the bids. He could make $1 million if he sold it piecemeal. His own company was now willing to pay $2 million, but wanted exclusivity. But this was still early in the process. The price would go up if he could generate more hype around it.

He knew he could push it to $4 million. It would just be a matter of time. And now it was time to send out the additional information to the serious buyers. It was time to jack up the price now that he had their interest.

Four million dollars was going to buy a lot of beach time.