All you had to do was nod your head and smile. They were ready to put us on the show next month. He told me that he usually didn’t guarantee placements, but that things were looking good for us. How do you fuck that up? Explain to me exactly how you can fuck up such an easy situation.”
“The guy’s a sleazeball. If you liked him so much, you should go start a company with him. Maybe you can get married in Washington and have babies.”
“I can’t believe you sometimes, David. What are you, a fourth grader?”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too. I’m going to have to fix this like I fix everything else in your life when you fuck it up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Who do you think talked Megan off the cliff when you came up with your loony jellyfish idea? She came to me bawling, telling me about how you spent so much money on the stupidest idea she had ever heard of. Another one of your executive decisions, I imagine. I had to calm her down and persuade her to give you another chance. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe you have had enough chances. Maybe it’s about time you clean up your own mess.”
“Maybe it’s time for you to keep out of other people’s business. Maybe it’s time for you to stop talking to other people’s girlfriends. Maybe it’s time for you to stop butting into other people’s startups.”
“Fine. Maybe it is.”
Chapter 18
“ A re you sure ? Let me see,” said Shawn. He pulled an old cathode ray tube monitor toward him. “You are right! It’s him!”
Shawn had almost forgotten about the tap they had put on the email addresses. He had nearly given up hope, assuming the accounts had been abandoned.
The email was caught on an intermediary SMTP server that lived between Google’s servers and the backbone of the Internet. Without subpoenas, Google had not been cooperating directly with the government. But the geeks in the NSA didn’t need Google’s cooperation to create a tracer tag like Brandon had done.
“Did it trace back to anywhere foreign? Anything in China or Germany?” said Shawn.
“The FBI hasn’t gotten back to me yet about that,” said Brandon.
“I couldn’t care less about the FBI.” Shawn said with a reprimanding tone. “Have you tracked down any foreign leads yet?”
“No. I’ll get on it.” Brandon jumped out the door like a hound on the scent.
“Brandon!” Shawn said. “Pull up the email for me before you go.”
Shawn stood at the desk. Too much excitement and energy to sit down. This was it. His big break. He had been working on this for so long in the dark. Every morning, he would come into work and say out loud: “Today’s the day. Today we're getting our big break.” He read the email and then reread it. Unlike the last email exchange he’d discovered, this one was obviously a bulk email sent as a welcome for some Internet service.
From: David Alexander
To:
Hi,
Thank you for joining the waiting list for Cryptobit, the world’s most secure messaging system. The demand for Cryptobit has been overwhelming, but the average wait time right now is usually just 3-5 days.
-David
http://www.cryptobit.io/
Shawn reached for his phone to text Brandon, but when he pulled up the screen, he saw Brandon had already texted him: I forgot to tell you, already looking into David and Cryptobit. Will give you a debriefing tonight.
Shawn smiled. Attaboy. He texted back: Anyone else know about this yet?
Brandon responded: No.
Shawn responded: Keep it that way.
----
I t had been dark outside for a couple of hours, but inside the building the dim florescent light looked the same as it did during daytime. When Brandon came back to Shawn’s desk with a ream of paper under his arm, he walked with a peacock’s posture of geeky pride. Picking apart the life of David Alexander was easier than he had anticipated. Typical millennial , he thought. Spends countless hours posting his life story on
“The guy’s a sleazeball. If you liked him so much, you should go start a company with him. Maybe you can get married in Washington and have babies.”
“I can’t believe you sometimes, David. What are you, a fourth grader?”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too. I’m going to have to fix this like I fix everything else in your life when you fuck it up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Who do you think talked Megan off the cliff when you came up with your loony jellyfish idea? She came to me bawling, telling me about how you spent so much money on the stupidest idea she had ever heard of. Another one of your executive decisions, I imagine. I had to calm her down and persuade her to give you another chance. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe you have had enough chances. Maybe it’s about time you clean up your own mess.”
“Maybe it’s time for you to keep out of other people’s business. Maybe it’s time for you to stop talking to other people’s girlfriends. Maybe it’s time for you to stop butting into other people’s startups.”
“Fine. Maybe it is.”
Chapter 18
“ A re you sure ? Let me see,” said Shawn. He pulled an old cathode ray tube monitor toward him. “You are right! It’s him!”
Shawn had almost forgotten about the tap they had put on the email addresses. He had nearly given up hope, assuming the accounts had been abandoned.
The email was caught on an intermediary SMTP server that lived between Google’s servers and the backbone of the Internet. Without subpoenas, Google had not been cooperating directly with the government. But the geeks in the NSA didn’t need Google’s cooperation to create a tracer tag like Brandon had done.
“Did it trace back to anywhere foreign? Anything in China or Germany?” said Shawn.
“The FBI hasn’t gotten back to me yet about that,” said Brandon.
“I couldn’t care less about the FBI.” Shawn said with a reprimanding tone. “Have you tracked down any foreign leads yet?”
“No. I’ll get on it.” Brandon jumped out the door like a hound on the scent.
“Brandon!” Shawn said. “Pull up the email for me before you go.”
Shawn stood at the desk. Too much excitement and energy to sit down. This was it. His big break. He had been working on this for so long in the dark. Every morning, he would come into work and say out loud: “Today’s the day. Today we're getting our big break.” He read the email and then reread it. Unlike the last email exchange he’d discovered, this one was obviously a bulk email sent as a welcome for some Internet service.
From: David Alexander
To:
Hi,
Thank you for joining the waiting list for Cryptobit, the world’s most secure messaging system. The demand for Cryptobit has been overwhelming, but the average wait time right now is usually just 3-5 days.
-David
http://www.cryptobit.io/
Shawn reached for his phone to text Brandon, but when he pulled up the screen, he saw Brandon had already texted him: I forgot to tell you, already looking into David and Cryptobit. Will give you a debriefing tonight.
Shawn smiled. Attaboy. He texted back: Anyone else know about this yet?
Brandon responded: No.
Shawn responded: Keep it that way.
----
I t had been dark outside for a couple of hours, but inside the building the dim florescent light looked the same as it did during daytime. When Brandon came back to Shawn’s desk with a ream of paper under his arm, he walked with a peacock’s posture of geeky pride. Picking apart the life of David Alexander was easier than he had anticipated. Typical millennial , he thought. Spends countless hours posting his life story on