Chapter Seven

Charlie sat for a moment, getting his mental bearings. The first thing was to have a look at the computer, to see what secrets it held. He glanced at the Post-It note with the password. Mrs B had an interesting notion as to what constituted a secure password. Hers consisted of a long string of randomly selected letters, digits and symbols. While this was good in theory, it wasn't practical if the only way to remember the password was by attaching a Post-It to the monitor.

Charlie logged on to the machine and changed the password to one that was more appropriate—CharliesD0main!. Mrs B would probably have a fit when she came back, but that would be Declan's problem.

A search of the computer revealed the standard office software. The office email—which he opened with Mrs B's same complex password—proved to be far more interesting. In one folder, labelled Fan Mail, Charlie was delighted to find a number of romantic propositions—many with photo attachments. It seemed that Mrs B had taken to sending thank-you notes to all of them, even attaching a signed image file of Declan to some of them.

Holy crap—she was trying to set him up!

Next on the list were the IT manuals in the storage cupboard.

When he returned, arms loaded with sealed manuals, he was greeted by the sight of a young boy standing in front of his desk. The child, dressed in a little suit, his black hair neatly combed, stared back at him. He couldn't have been more than ten years old.

"Mr Hunt?" he asked.

"Uh, no. I'm Mr Watts. May I help you?" Charlie replied, slightly confused.

"I have been asked to deliver this to Mr Hunt," the boy said, holding up a small cardboard box.

"Well, Mr Hunt is busy at the moment. I'm Charlie, his assistant. I can take the box for him."

The young boy looked around, appearing to assess the situation and the quality of the business, before saying, "All right."

The boy handed the box to Charlie, then pulled out a piece of paper, which he also passed to him.

"Print your name where it says ‘Print', and sign and date the lines next to it where it says ‘Sign and Date'," the boy instructed, pointing to the appropriate spaces on the delivery slip.

Charlie noted that the header of the paper read "Attwal Accounting Services". Charlie filled out the sheet and handed it back to the tiny courier who, in turn, tore off his carbon copy and left the office, but not before turning and giving Charlie a huge smile as he waved goodbye.

Charlie shook his head in amusement and proceeded to open the package.

* * * *

Declan sat at his desk trying to get his laptop to respond. It was like waiting in line at a checkout as the person in front was paying for their groceries with loose change. It was excruciating. Time was standing still.

His phone chirped, signalling an incoming text. It was from Saanvi Attwal.

The key will be delivered to your office this morning.

That woman is fast, he thought. But what does she mean?

The answer came in the form of a shrill scream from the reception room.

It only took Declan a few seconds to reach Charlie, who was standing, hands clenched to his chest, eyes bugging out from his head. Declan's first reaction was to laugh. He always found it funny when men screamed like little children. But that look of complete terror on Charlie's face…

"Look at me, Charlie!" Declan called out, hoping his voice would distract Charlie from whatever had scared him. It worked. Charlie's head turned so he was staring directly at Declan.

"Charlie…what is it? What happened?" Declan asked.

"The box," Charlie squeaked out, pointing to something on his desk. "It's an…ear?"

"What?" Declan replied, walking towards him. He was close enough now to see into the plain cardboard shipping box. Inside it lay a bloody, severed human ear. Beside it he saw the shipping receipt from Mrs Attwal.

"What has she done?" said Declan, before he realised. "Wait—this can't be right. An ear won't do me any good. I need the finger."

Charlie continued to stare at him in shock.

Declan picked up the box and shook it. From underneath the ear, the distal portion of a human finger rolled out. He picked it up to examine it. Relieved, he said, "Thank God."

Charlie screamed again.

"Charlie, it'll be all right. I can open the computer now that I've got the finger," he said, holding it up for him to see, as rationally as if he were stating that water was wet.

Charlie dropped into his chair.

Declan said, "You'll be all right. Just give me a minute." He returned to his office.

Declan placed the box on his desk, then moved to the wall on the left. He opened a closet door to reveal a large safe which stood as high as his chest. Fiddling with the combination lock, he opened the heavy steel door. Next to his handgun and a few boxes of ammunition sat Attwal's computer.

He took the finger out of the box and ran it over the fingerprint scanner on the laptop. He hoped the finger was fresh enough. If they'd waited too long to get it to him, the fingerprint could have deformed enough that it would be unrecognisable. A second later, the screen came to life and Declan was able to access the computer desktop.

"Does that sort of thing happen a lot around here? Receiving body parts, I mean."

Declan looked towards the door. Charlie stood there, pale and shaking.

"Come here and sit down," Declan said.

Charlie made his way to the chair farthest from the finger but remained standing behind it. Declan pulled a flask out of his desk drawer and poured some amber liquid into a glass.

"Here," he said, giving it to Charlie.

Charlie took a healthy gulp, then coughed up half of it. "Sorry," he wheezed.

"Puppy," Declan said, smiling as he discreetly placed the finger back in the box. "Now, come here," he said, patting the back of his chair. "Sit."

"I am not a dog," Charlie muttered, as he sat in Declan's chair.

"Good boy." Declan put his hand on Charlie's shoulder. He continued, "I need you to do whatever you have to do to disable the fingerprint reader on this machine. I have to be able to boot it up without Mr Attwal's…help."

Charlie worked at the keyboard for a minute before turning to Declan, smiling. "There. That should do it."

"Should, or will?"

"Definitely will."

"You're here for a good reason, Mr Watts."

Declan looked at Charlie and saw that the colour had returned to his face. The shock of the finger incident was starting to wear off.

"I want you to search through the computer and locate the data files," Declan said. "The ones I'm interested in will have the keyword ‘Monarch'. Either in the folder or file name. Maybe in the contents. I'll be right back."

Declan picked up the small cardboard box and went to the kitchenette where he put the finger and ear in the freezer on ice. He doubted they would be of any use to Mr Attwal at this point but, just in case…

He returned to find Charlie hunched over the keyboard, typing wildly away. He stood, watching. Did I ever look that young? Charlie was only eleven years younger than him.

Declan saw Charlie for the first time in his natural environment, where he felt most at ease. His slender fingers sailed across the keys without hesitation. He's kinda cute.

"Declan?"

"What?" Declan was startled to find Charlie staring at him.

"I'm done," he said, his mouth in a lopsided smile as he turned the computer screen towards Declan. "The files were encrypted but whoever did this really didn't know too much about data security. The files are all in a folder labelled ‘Monarch'."

"Excellent. Now copy all of the other data folders over to… Where could you copy them that would be safe?"

"I have a secure cloud server available, if that would help?"

Declan didn't even try to understand him. "Sounds good. Transfer all of the folders to your…"

"Cloud server?"

"To your cloud server, then completely wipe them from the laptop. I want no one to be able to find them. ‘Monarch' should be the only data folder left."

"Got it."

As Charlie worked, Declan texted Mrs Attwal that the laptop was ready for pick up. In a matter of seconds he received a response.

They will be there to pick up the computer soon. Make sure it has only their files on it!

"That woman doesn't believe in wasting time," he said.

He looked up from his phone as Charlie sat back with a satisfied look on his face.

"All done?" Declan asked.

Charlie nodded.

"Now, since you're in computer mode, can you have a look at my laptop? If it runs any slower, I'm going to have to throw it through a wall."