Unsure how long Lo would stay gone, I moved on to what was important. “What’s actually happening?”
Glitch shined a flashlight into the hole, focusing on two cables. One connected to the plate thing that was in there for the control panel. The other hung down with a little plastic piece halfway through and frayed wires at the end.
“That looks like a fire waiting to happen,” I muttered, happy he hadn’t said anything earlier.
Contrary to her insistence she wouldn’t narc, I knew how Lo did her job. I saw it with Piper. I experienced it when she tackled me down and tried to shield my body with hers. If there was a safety risk, she wasn’t keeping silent.
“It’s worse than that,” Glitch said. “Someone jacked this shit.”
“Already told you I didn’t touch it.”
“No, not jacked it up. They tried to jack it. Take over the feed and maybe even the controls.”
I rocked back. “The fuck?”
He flicked the plastic piece, making the wire sway. “That’s what this is.”
“There a way to track where the signal is going?”
“I can already tell you where it’s going. Nowhere. The other end needs to be connected for it to work. Right now, it’s rerouting the feed over and over again to itself. That’s what’s making footage run like you downloaded malware from Napster, LimeWire,andbootleg porno sites with hot MILFs in your area.”
Hollywood scowled at the hole with surprising intensity.
“Not a fan of MILFs?” I asked.
“Huge fan. That’s why I have my own.” His jaw clenched. “But I almost lost her and Maeve thanks to this kind of electronic fuckery.”
I’d heard the CliffsNotes version of what Mac went through, but it was clearly deeper than what I knew.
Especially since Glitch suddenly seemed ready to throw something through a wall, too. He pushed on. “Anyway, that’s why I called you and everyone else in. How many people have access to this room?”
“Everyone who works for me. People in search of the bathroom who take the wrong hall. People looking to hook up. Bands. The list is fuckin’ endless.”
“So you just don’t use the lock I so painstakingly installed?”
“It took you twenty minutes to put in every electronic handle in this place.”
“Painstakingly,” he emphasized. “So fuckin’ use them.”
It was a hassle to come to the rescue every time an employee forgot the entrance code, so I’d eventually turned off the lock function. But he was right.
Judge gestured around. “You also need cameras in here.”
That one prickled at me. I didn’t need my employees thinking I didn’t trust them and was monitoring their every move. I would emphasize that it wasn’t about them, but with everything going on, I couldn’t be lax.
“Good thing I know a guy who knows a guy who can handle that.” I thought for a second before tacking on, “But no sound.”
The last thing I needed was to overhear the shit they said about me when I inevitably pissed them off. I had a good crew, but spending hours together in a stressful environment would get to anyone.
“Is there a way to narrow down the timeline?” I asked.
Glitch shook his head. “No. If I reconnect it, I could possibly track where the signal pinged to. But that’s a big gamble. A risky one, too. For one, we don’t know if they’re still trying to do whatever bullshit this is. It’s possible the wire was never connected properly, so whoever gave up or went a different route. On the flipside, they might have something in place to happen the moment it turns on. In the time it takes me to track them, they could infiltrate everything.”
“So we disconnect everything else before turning just the panel on.”
All four men stared at me like I was a dumbass, but it was Glitch who voiced it. “Have you never watched a single internet safety video? Getting access out gives access in, and if they’re good, they’ll be able to use that even if nothing else is on at the time. The cloud is forever. Nothing can ever truly be deleted, and everything is hackable with enough knowhow and patience. I can turn everything off, but there are still invisible threads to follow and do more damage. You wanna risk it, I’ll do it. But my advice is to be grateful whoever doesn’t have my superior installation skills and lock the door so they don’t have the chance to do better next time.”
I sure as fuck didn’t want to make shit worse. “What do you suggest we do now?”