Schooled, p.13
Schooled, page 13
Dean stayed behind after Jessie left. “Were you able to—”
“Hey. You’re Theodore, aren’t you?” Someone came up to us. He was shorter and smaller than Dean and me and wore a Batman comic T-shirt along with blue jeans. I couldn’t imagine why he broke away from his team to talk to us. “You go to MIT, right? You were part of the early admission panel last fall.”
Wow. I hadn’t considered I’d see people from that here.
“Theo’s got fans,” Dean said. At least he could focus on something besides the file for a moment.
“Yeah I was,” I said to the stranger.
“Way cool. I’m Gavin, by the way.” He grabbed my hand and shook it quickly. “I got accepted to take some classes this summer. I’m surprised to see you here. I would’ve thought this was way easy for you.”
I shrugged. “There’s some tricky stuff here. That one that looks like a dozen people did different things is challenging.”
“Yeah, man. We’ve had three people on that most of the day.”
“What have you worked on?” If he was accepted into summer classes, he might have some insights.
“They’ve had me stuck with a crazy one. Wait, did you design that one that’s crazy hard? This competition’s like the three bears. Two modules that are too soft, one module that’s hard as a rock, and three that are just right.”
I chuckled. His analogy was on the mark. “I’ve been on the rock most of the day too. It’s ridiculous.”
“You can’t crack it either?”
“I’ve taken a cautious approach. I don’t want to trip anything with the wrong move.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been careful too. I’m trying to find out who made it to say congratulations because I suspect no one will hack it. So far no luck, though. But, it’s cool to meet you. What are you working on these days?”
“I’m doing research on information warfare using computer viruses and cryptology.”
“Scary stuff.”
“Very. In the fall I’ll be part of a team Dr. Shorofsky’s put together to do a year-long research project. That’s why I’m already looking at the topic. I don’t want him to regret picking me.”
“I saw his discussion too. He’s incredible. I think I only understood half of what he said. I can’t wait to start. Will you be taking classes in the summer?”
“Pictures are in your phone, Winger. Digging deeper, we’ve found that Douglas Benjamin’s father works with a Russian-based research firm that has often been suspected of espionage. We’ve got no proof he’s involved, but it’s a lead. Benjamin’s picture is the first on your phone. We’re pulling pictures of the father and checking hotels to see if he’s in the area.”
“I haven’t decided on classes yet. I’ll prep for fall, but I may take the summer off.”
“Maybe we could hang out sometime? I’d love to hear more about your work.”
“Sure. You can look me up in the student directory.”
“Sweet. Okay, I’m gonna see if I can find the school that dropped this piece of code on us.”
“It’s not that table.” I pointed to where McKinley’s team sat. “That’s my team.”
“Great. More people eliminated. Catch you guys later.” He was full of enthusiasm and stepped immediately over to another group of students.
“Do you have a lot of groupies?” Dean asked.
“Not that I know of.” I scanned the room.
Dean’s phone rang and it startled him. He remained unhinged, even though he was trying to be calm. His expression clouded over when he read the screen.
“I need to take this.” He walked away, heading out of the room.
I pulled out my phone and brought up a listening program and tried to look into Dean’s phone.
“Damn it,” I said softly.
I’d run into his phone’s security, and I didn’t have the time, or the best tools, to deal with that. He wasn’t gone long, and he looked shaken when he returned.
“That was Violet Knight.” He spoke softly, so much so that I had to lean in. “She’s in the hospital because some guys beat her up. She told….” He shuddered. “She told them about me to make them stop. She wanted to warn me.”
“Shit. Do they know you’ve seen the code?”
“Maybe I should get out of here.”
“No.” I gripped his arm. I couldn’t let him run off. He’d be too vulnerable.
“Let me go, Theo,” he said, sounding on the edge of panic as his voice wavered. I suspected he’d make a scene if I didn’t act fast.
“Look, you’re safer here,” I spoke softly, trying to calm him. “They’ve gone this far to get you to do this thing here. There’s no reason to think they’ll do something extreme if you can’t crack the code. But if you walk out, they could grab you and…. You don’t want to end up like Violet.”
His gaze bore into me. I had no idea which way I really wanted him to go. If he walked, TOS would keep an eye on him. But if he left, we’d lose the best chance we’ve had yet to end this.
We stared at each other. I worked to project some level of tranquility by loosening my grip a bit and not looking flustered. His eyes were a mix of fear and determination.
Finally Dean dropped his shoulders and looked to the floor. I released my grip. “This doesn’t seem like the best idea.”
“You’re doing okay, Winger.” Dad picked the right moment to give encouragement. “He is safer here where we’ve got more people around than he can see.”
I caught sight of Gavin. While he talked to another group of students, he subtly pointed to the person next to him. It looked like he mouthed the words “it’s him.”
Gavin did it. At least he thought he did. I hadn’t had a chance to look at the pictures to see what Douglas looked like.
“Looks like Gavin may have found the guy who submitted Six. Let’s go see if we can find out anything useful.”
“Why would we want to do that?”
“The more information we’ve got, the better chance we’ll make the right decisions.”
He sighed but didn’t move to follow me.
“You can come with me, stay here, or hang with the team. It’s up to you.” I finished the food on my plate and tossed the garbage in the can. I left Dean alone. After a couple of steps, I turned to see what he’d decided.
Dean shook his head and went to sit with the team. That made things easier.
“Winger here.” The more I did the quiet talking, the easier it got. “Is someone in the break room that can tell me if I’m joining a group with Douglas Benjamin? I haven’t seen the pictures yet.”
“Hey, Theo.” Gavin sounded excited. “I found the team. They’re responsible for that crazy thing we’re working on.”
“It’s really all Dougie.” As a goth guy spoke, a boy I could only describe as a beanpole, decked out in jeans, white T-shirt, and well-worn denim jacket, shrugged. He looked young, younger than a freshman.
“Swordmaster here. I’m in the room as one of the food servers. You probably guessed by the name, but he matches the photo of Douglas Benjamin.”
“You got skills, man,” I said.
“Yeah, we’re lucky to have him,” Goth Guy said.
“You did it on your own?” Time to get on with the prying and see what I could get away with.
“Yeah. We each built a module and then voted on which to submit.” He didn’t sound like someone who’d built a winning entry. I’d expect at least a little cocky attitude.
“You gotta admit,” Goth Guy piped up, “Dougie’s is beyond anything else here.”
“It rocks, man.” Gavin went into fanboy mode. “I’d love to hear how you designed it. I’ve never seen such well layered encryption.”
“I’m not talking to the opposition.” Dougie crossed his arms over his chest and gave Gavin and me a look that dared us to ask another question.
“What about after?” Gavin asked.
“Yeah, I’d love to understand the techniques you used.” I piled on in hopes of getting some answers.
“Yeah, maybe. You probably wouldn’t get it, though.”
Two adults approached from behind Dougie.
“Swordmaster here. The taller of the two approaching is Laurence DeMayo, the school’s computer-science teacher. The woman is unidentified.”
Interesting. Mr. DeMayo I’d seen earlier with the other teachers. I didn’t recall the woman, and I think I would’ve remembered her stern, imposing demeanor if I’d seen it before.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Mr. DeMayo said. “You all should get back to work. There’s only fourteen hours left and we’ve only cracked half the modules so far.”
Sounds of disappointment came from the team, especially Goth Guy. Douglas, however, looked ready to go. They said goodbyes and departed. The stranger scanned the room as she left, and Dougie stayed closer to her than his teammates. There was something weird about those two. I hoped someone would follow to see if they did anything before returning to their room. I couldn’t ask since Gavin stood by me, and I didn’t know where Swordmaster was to even shoot her a glance.
“I hope he talks tomorrow,” Gavin said. “I doubt my team will open that file, so I really want to know how he built it.”
“Well, I’m going to get back to it.” I gave a nod to Gavin.
“Later! It was cool to meet you.”
I made my way over to the team. “I’ll see you in the room.”
“I’ll go with you,” Dean said, standing.
“I’m addicted to the wings,” Jessie said between bites. “I’ll catch up.” Several others at the table indicated the same.
So much for seeing Dad and John. At least if Dean was with me, he wouldn’t be running off.
“Was that him?”
“Yeah. His team is enamored, so I guess he’s got skill. On the other hand, I know they’re actually behind us since their teacher said they still had three modules to go. If they think he created that module, I wonder if they’re confused about why he hasn’t been able to hack the others?”
“Maybe he’s like me?”
I made a face at him. “If you’re hiding, you don’t pass off something like Six as your own.”
“True.” We got back to the room and found Chet chatting with another guy. We stayed in the back of the room, dropping off our stuff on the back table. “What do we do now?”
“Go back to work on Four. We’ll deal with Six later.”
“You know we’re going to end up with everyone looking at it. Jessie thinks she’s close to figuring out Four.”
“I’m not surprised. And it’s fine when it happens. If we start to work on Six, I don’t imagine they’ll get far, and you and I will even give misdirection if we have to.”
Dean nodded. He still looked nervous, but at least he was calm. I was confident with TOS around, they’d figure out what to do to bring this to an end before we had to do any work with Six.
Twenty-Five
Just after two in the morning, I told the team I needed to stretch my legs. Up in 204, I saw Dad and John. Somehow neither looked very tired. They were working on identifying the woman that Douglas Benjamin stayed so close to. There were no leads yet, which was peculiar because it was easy to dig up something on most people.
Lorenzo and I hatched a plan. At eight, we’d work together on Six to see if anyone would surface. They had to be monitoring, and if we could draw them out, that might work to our advantage.
As I went downstairs, Eddie buzzed my phone.
It was a sweet message: Here’s an “I love you” before going to sleep.
And I happen to be on break! Up for a phone call?
Neither of us liked to text if we could talk instead. I imagined him on his back, in bed, glasses still on so he could read.
Of course.
Quickly I brought up the comms app on the phone so I could stop transmitting.
“Winger here. Muting transmission for a few minutes.” I tapped to complete the action.
“Understood,” came Dad’s reply.
I dialed Eddie and walked outside. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey,” he said in his sleepy voice.
“Hey. You sound exhausted.”
“Yeah. Shouldn’t have gone to the movies, but with you out of town, some of the single guys on the team insisted I join them.”
“That’s cool you went. Get some team bonding in.”
“I’d rather be with you.”
“Same here. Things are pretty good. We’re tied for the lead and we’ve got a handle on all the entries except for one that’s a bitch that I’m not sure anyone will crack.”
“Are you going to handle it for them?”
“I’ll help, yeah.”
“So are you locked up in a room most of the time?”
“Mostly.” The crisp night air felt good. I sat on one of the benches and folded my legs under me. The position felt great as it stretched my quads. “Met some people from some of the other teams earlier during a break. They’re cool.”
“I know it’s Sunday, school night and all, but you wanna hang when you get back? Maybe I can throw my parents out for a while?”
I couldn’t help the dopey smile on my face. Eddie was sweet, and he’d developed a wicked sexy streak too. Our first time naked was so tentative. We understood the basics but didn’t quite know how we fit together and what we liked. These days we knew exactly what to do with each other.
“I’d love that. Perfect end to the weekend.” He let out a contented sigh. “Oh, don’t do that. You’re gonna make me sleepy and want to curl up next to you.”
“Plenty of room for you to slide right in.”
“Now you’re just being mean.” I imagined myself doing exactly what he suggested.
“Mean is if I did this.” Sounds of him adjusting the phone filled my ear, but I couldn’t tell what he was doing. When my phone pinged with a text I had a suspicion.
“Hang on,” I said before he could say anything else. I opened the text. “Oooh, look at you.” He must’ve propped the phone on his nightstand somehow. The picture showed him lying on his side with the covers open as if he were inviting me to join him. The sleepy eyes behind his glasses and one eyebrow raised were so cute. His smile warmed my heart. Then there was his swimmer’s body—only covered by light blue boxers—that took my breath away.
“Glad you like it.”
“I do. I think that needs to be my wallpaper, or maybe a calendar,” I said, referencing the Christmas present he’d gotten from Mitch a few weeks ago.
He hummed an appreciative noise. “Don’t you go showing that to anyone else.”
“Why not? They’ll be jealous at how hot my boyfriend is.”
He chuckled. “Show me you.”
“I’m not nearly as interesting.” I held the phone out and flipped to the camera so I could take a selfie. I had nothing to prop the camera on so I held my arm out, made a kiss face, and snapped.
“Awww. I think you look more tired than I do. You gonna make it?”
“Yeah. There’s plenty of Dr Pepper here.”
“I know you’re set, then.” Eddie yawned, and I had no choice but to do the same. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I should let you go so you can sleep.”
“Yeah, I don’t wanna be the guy who falls asleep on his man. Good luck finishing. Let me know as soon as you win.”
“You say that like it’s a for sure thing.”
“Please. I’m sure it is.” I laughed softly at the sass in his voice. “Love you, Theo.”
“Love you too, Eddie. Good night.”
“Night.”
He disconnected and I navigated back to his picture. Probably the cutest selfie he’d ever taken. Everything, from the smile to that raised eyebrow, said come snuggle with me.
Back on the comms app, I reactivated my transmission and told the team listening that I was back. I stayed on the bench, deep in thought on Six, for about a half hour before I rejoined the team.
Twenty-Six
Shortly after five thirty, the team unlocked Four, which took longer than expected, making it even more satisfying. Five modules were completed and only Six loomed in front of us. As we exited our room, we were greeted by the best news possible—we were the first school to unlock five entries. A couple of schools had four, but we were alone in first place. There were still hours to go so it looked good for us, but there was the unknown of how our entry was standing up to hacking by the other teams.
In the break room, we all got egg sandwiches and coffee. The team deferred to me to lay out how we’d work on Six.
We got back to our room about seven in good spirits, even Dean, as the competition’s final seven hours began. I gathered everyone around the whiteboard along one side of the room, and I wrote out the high-level concepts around which Six was built.
We did this like we had in the classroom. We projected code on the whiteboard at the front of the room. I drew diagrams and talked strategy while the team listened and asked questions. Even Chet paid attention, changing seats so he could see the code and what I wrote.
“Look at what’s happening here.” I pointed at the screen. “If you—”
A scream ripped through the air. Muffled shouts followed. It was close. Perhaps near the break room.
“What was that?” Alice asked as we all looked toward the door.
“Winger, Ranger here. Three entered the lobby fast. The woman leading them is the one who escorted Douglas Benjamin out of the break room. A teacher was shoved forcibly into a wall. I’m intercepting.”
Chet headed toward the door.
“Winger, I’m also pursuing. They—” Swordmaster began. “We’ve got weapons drawn. One of the men is—”
I flinched as a gunshot rang in my ear and echoed in the hallway. Swordmaster went quiet.
“Stop!” Ranger shouted. “Campus police.”
Two more shots in the hallway. Closer.
What was happening?
“Doctor Possible here. Remember we’ve got students and other civilians. We need to protect them at all costs even if it means we lose the package.”
