Chaos

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter 23 

Communication Shed.

Kade's commanding voice tinkled out of the room to where I was waiting. The hubbub of the communication shed faulted for a moment and then picked its pace up once more. Everyone was filtering in and out of the cubicles, either to help another shifter or to demand some answers. Coffee cups littered the kitchen area, trashcans were stacked to dangerous heights with them.

One of the best things about Logan 'grounding' me, I had a full two hours in the com shed. So for the past two weeks I did nothing but sit back and watch my three prey: Jerome, Ryan and Cole.

I quickly deduced in the hours I had spent in the com shed that, even though, Jerome was a bully, he was no spy. The first time Kade walked into the com shed with me, Cole shouted out 'who is the pretty little thing' and Jerome rolled his eyes. Kade introduced me and informed everyone I was on strict lockdown. Which meant no fun.

Everyone nodded their heads and went back to work. Kade went into his office and I followed. He had me sitting on the bench just outside his office. It was almost time for lunch when Kade called Cole into his office for a meeting. Cole strolled by and into Kade's office with an attitude. Apparently, Kade hasn't been happy with Cole's work.

So I was sitting on the bench when my stomach growled loudly. I clutched my stomach and tried to ignore the beginning pangs of hunger. I had rested my head on the wall behind me and closed my eyes when I heard the rustle of a paper bag. I cracked one eye open and slightly tilted my head in the direction of the noise. Jerome was sitting in his cubicle with a huge turkey melt sandwich. As if Jerome knew his food was being eyed, he picked his head up and scanned the room. His eyes landed on me.

He raised his eyebrow and his turkey melt. Then he quickly checked Kade's office. When he was assured no one was going to come out soon, he patted the chair next to him while he tore his sandwich in half. One not to question an offer, I scrambled over to him and snatched the sandwich away. I sat down next to him and took a bite. The sandwich was delicious.

Jerome didn't say anything for the first day, he just let me sit next to him as I ate his food. Jerome click-clacked away at the computer. I silently watched him as he checked and rechecked the security of the firewall. In between checking the firewall's security, Jerome designed better security fail-safes and programs. He was constantly running the program he called 'his baby.'

Kade walked out of the office and saw that I was sitting quietly next to Jerome and eating. I didn't say anything, just walked back into the office. Jerome and I fell into a pattern, he started packing two turkey melts and I would bring him a coffee in the morning. Kade would lead me to Jerome's office and drop me off. Jerome would pretend not to notice, until Kade walked away.

As soon as Kade was out of hearing, Jerome would begin to explain the pros and cons of his security program. After sitting next to Jerome and watching him program, I was able to cross him off the suspect list. Every hacker had a signature, no matter how hard they try to stay anonymous. They wanted the world to know that it was their work, and no one else's. Jerome's signature was just like his personality, he didn't waste time in creating back doors and hide-and-seek patterns. Jerome just bullied his way in, allowing nothing to stop him.

Kade's door flinging open produced a very unhappy looking Cole. He stalked out of the com shed, slamming the door. Everyone flinched. I stood up and walked over to Kade. He was sitting at his desk with his hands holding his head.

"Is everything okay?" I asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah," Kade glanced at the clock. "Okay give me a few minutes to wrap everything up and then I will take you to Sunny for your kitchen duties." Kade began to gather the papers in front of him into a large pile. He shuffled them and I caught the words "unidentified access" with Cole's name and a question mark next to it. Kade gave up on trying to organize the papers and threw them on of his desk.