Deadly Pursuit - Chapter 13
Tyre hadn’t been sure what to expect at the bank. He knew banks had very stringent rules about safe-deposit boxes and he half expected the manager to turn them away. But he was pleasantly surprised when the manager announced that Serena’s name was listed as an authorized user for the box. The manager showed them to the box, waited while Serena entered the code that Charley had sent her, then entered her master code before leaving Serena and Tyre in the room to examine the contents in private.
Serena pulled a thick paper file from the box.. Flipping the file open, it only took a moment to recognize the contents.
“This is the code for the program Charley and I worked on for Professor Garland.”
“Wait a minute, slow down. What program?”
“Like I said earlier, Charley works for Professor Garland at GoldCorp. He was tasked with writing a new security program and he was having some trouble, so he called me and I helped him out.”
“When was this?” Tyre asked.
Serena’s shoulders straightened. “Last year. I helped on my own time and I didn’t use any of West’s resources—”
Tyre held up a hand. “I’m not calling your ethics into question. I just wanted to make sure I had the timeline straight in my head. All this coding and programming stuff isn’t really my thing.”
“Sorry.” Serena hunched over the pages again and pushed her glasses back up the slope of her nose. “Wait.”
“What is it?” Tyre said, going on alert.
“This isn’t right.” She flipped through the printed pages. “This isn’t the code Charley and I wrote. It’s close but this—” She pointed to a line on the paper.
“You’re going to have to translate for me, sweetheart. It all just looks like gibberish to me.”
Serena looked up from the pages on the table and met his gaze. “Charley and I worked on a security program for the bank. A program that helped increase the system’s security. This is the opposite. These lines of code open a secret back door into the bank’s security program.”
Tyre’s brow furrowed. “A secret back door?”
Serena’s heart beat quickly in her chest as the pieces of the puzzle Charley left for her finally came together. “It’s just what it sounds like. It allows anyone who knows where the door is and how to use it to enter into the bank’s computer system without being noticed.”
Serena flipped more pages and everything became crystal clear. She turned away from the file and met Tyre’s gaze. “Tyre, someone has been stealing from accounts at the bank.”