hadn’t been enrolled at the Axis Institute. ‘Com’s sister,’ he said sharply. ‘Can I talk to her?’
Trader shrugged. ‘Maybe,’ he replied. ‘She’s part of our group.’
‘Does she know where Com is?’
‘I wish.’ Trader heaved a regretful sigh. ‘We none of us know where to find Com. If we did, we’d have him on board as well. I gather he’s a bit of a whiz.’
‘Com studied at the Axis Institute.’ Cadel was thinking aloud, more for Sonja’s benefit than for any other reason. He squeezed her crooked fingers. ‘Com would be able to corroborate my story about the Axis Institute. He could talk to Detective Greeniaus!’
‘Ah. Yes. Now here’s the thing, Cadel.’ Trader once again took charge of the conversation. ‘We know you’re being pestered by the police. It’s why we’ve had to approach you in such a roundabout way,’ he said. ‘Judging by all the activity on Hazel’s system, I’m assuming you must have mentioned our encoded message to the authorities?’
‘Yes.’ Cadel’s tone was defensive. So was his body language. He released Sonja’s hand, and folded his arms. ‘Why? Is that a problem?’ he asked, with a sarcastic edge to his voice.
‘Oh, no,’ Trader assured him. ‘We expected you to do something of the sort. In fact we were hoping you would, because we wanted the police to get really nervous about leaving you at the Donkins’ house.’ He assumed a very earnest mien. ‘But from now on, Cadel, we’d prefer it if you stopped shooting your mouth off like that. There’s no point, since we don’t mean you any harm.’
‘Prove it,’ said Cadel. He was growing alarmed at all this talk about covert operations. ‘Who are you exactly? You’re not the police, I can see that – ’
‘Can you? Thank God!’ Trader wiped his brow with comical emphasis. ‘So my shoes can’t be that awful!’
‘I was trying to tell you who we are,’ Judith weighed in. ‘We’re part of a private group of network infiltration specialists. Our job is to investigate GenoME. We have to find out how it’s been breaking the law, and bring it to justice.’
‘Judith is our forensic accountant,’ Trader explained, his white teeth gleaming. ‘She’s in charge of following money trails, and disentangling company structures. We’re hoping that she might uncover a few questionable activities in GenoME’s financial records.’
‘But we can’t do that unless we get into its computer system,’ Judith finished.
Both she and Trader stared at Cadel, Trader with a seductive smile, Judith with a serious expression on her face.
Cadel glanced from one to the other.
‘And that’s where I come in, is it?’ he said flatly. Whereupon Trader gave a brisk nod. His casual pose was slightly undermined by his keen gaze and set jaw.
‘We need your computer skills,’ he confirmed. ‘You’d be working with our Network Infiltration team. And Sonja would be useful in our Forensic Accounting team, because of her mathematical abilities.’
Cadel’s eyes found Sonja’s. She was watching him just as closely as the two adults were. Nothing in her eager attitude suggested that she doubted the truth of Trader’s claim.
But then again, she hadn’t been brought up by Prosper English. She hadn’t been raised to question everything she’d ever heard.
‘GenoME is based in the US,’ Cadel objected, turning back to Trader. ‘I can’t go to the States, and neither can she.’
‘Hell, no!’ Judith exclaimed, as if she could imagine nothing more abhorrent than a trip to the United States. Her tone seemed to amuse her colleague, whose smile widened into a grin.
‘GenoME’s security in America is impenetrable,’ Trader informed Cadel. ‘We haven’t been able to infiltrate the company on any level – not over there. But when we found out that GenoMe was planning to open a new branch in Australia, we saw our chance.’ Trader must have realised that his words had struck a chord with
Trader shrugged. ‘Maybe,’ he replied. ‘She’s part of our group.’
‘Does she know where Com is?’
‘I wish.’ Trader heaved a regretful sigh. ‘We none of us know where to find Com. If we did, we’d have him on board as well. I gather he’s a bit of a whiz.’
‘Com studied at the Axis Institute.’ Cadel was thinking aloud, more for Sonja’s benefit than for any other reason. He squeezed her crooked fingers. ‘Com would be able to corroborate my story about the Axis Institute. He could talk to Detective Greeniaus!’
‘Ah. Yes. Now here’s the thing, Cadel.’ Trader once again took charge of the conversation. ‘We know you’re being pestered by the police. It’s why we’ve had to approach you in such a roundabout way,’ he said. ‘Judging by all the activity on Hazel’s system, I’m assuming you must have mentioned our encoded message to the authorities?’
‘Yes.’ Cadel’s tone was defensive. So was his body language. He released Sonja’s hand, and folded his arms. ‘Why? Is that a problem?’ he asked, with a sarcastic edge to his voice.
‘Oh, no,’ Trader assured him. ‘We expected you to do something of the sort. In fact we were hoping you would, because we wanted the police to get really nervous about leaving you at the Donkins’ house.’ He assumed a very earnest mien. ‘But from now on, Cadel, we’d prefer it if you stopped shooting your mouth off like that. There’s no point, since we don’t mean you any harm.’
‘Prove it,’ said Cadel. He was growing alarmed at all this talk about covert operations. ‘Who are you exactly? You’re not the police, I can see that – ’
‘Can you? Thank God!’ Trader wiped his brow with comical emphasis. ‘So my shoes can’t be that awful!’
‘I was trying to tell you who we are,’ Judith weighed in. ‘We’re part of a private group of network infiltration specialists. Our job is to investigate GenoME. We have to find out how it’s been breaking the law, and bring it to justice.’
‘Judith is our forensic accountant,’ Trader explained, his white teeth gleaming. ‘She’s in charge of following money trails, and disentangling company structures. We’re hoping that she might uncover a few questionable activities in GenoME’s financial records.’
‘But we can’t do that unless we get into its computer system,’ Judith finished.
Both she and Trader stared at Cadel, Trader with a seductive smile, Judith with a serious expression on her face.
Cadel glanced from one to the other.
‘And that’s where I come in, is it?’ he said flatly. Whereupon Trader gave a brisk nod. His casual pose was slightly undermined by his keen gaze and set jaw.
‘We need your computer skills,’ he confirmed. ‘You’d be working with our Network Infiltration team. And Sonja would be useful in our Forensic Accounting team, because of her mathematical abilities.’
Cadel’s eyes found Sonja’s. She was watching him just as closely as the two adults were. Nothing in her eager attitude suggested that she doubted the truth of Trader’s claim.
But then again, she hadn’t been brought up by Prosper English. She hadn’t been raised to question everything she’d ever heard.
‘GenoME is based in the US,’ Cadel objected, turning back to Trader. ‘I can’t go to the States, and neither can she.’
‘Hell, no!’ Judith exclaimed, as if she could imagine nothing more abhorrent than a trip to the United States. Her tone seemed to amuse her colleague, whose smile widened into a grin.
‘GenoME’s security in America is impenetrable,’ Trader informed Cadel. ‘We haven’t been able to infiltrate the company on any level – not over there. But when we found out that GenoMe was planning to open a new branch in Australia, we saw our chance.’ Trader must have realised that his words had struck a chord with
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