29th January 2019“While I was away,” Charlie trailed off and tried to swallow but her throat suddenly didn’t seem to have any moisture in it. Taking a short sip from the gss of water Noah quickly waved at her she started again “Uh, while I was away nothing weird happened to the computers did it?”
“Weird? Weird how, Charlie? Like, did they explode? No. Did anyone spill coffee in them? No. I don’t touch anything but sheduling, because I’m fond of my brake operating fingers, Charlie my fucking sweet, and while you aren’t normally scary, you’re kind of terrifying when it comes to the computers.”
Charlie fixed her with a stony look. “No, I mean, you’ve not had to restore it from the backups, nothing out of the ordinary over the weekend, or in the st...uh, since that delivery?”
Noah, clearly restraining herself, decimed “No.” before quietly muttering under her breath, “Wouldn’t fucking dare. Don’t even fucking know how.”
If it were possible, Charlie would have paled further. “Noah, do you happen to have a computer here...and some kind of network connection?”
Noah looked at Charlie and offered a smile “Why, Charlie. What do you think this is, some backwoods cabin?” She reached down under the sofa and lifted up a small ptop. Stretching back behind the sofa she flicked a switch and handed Charlie the ptop saying, “You’ll have to give the wifi a minute. I don’t leave it switched on. Best not to broadcast your existence.” She paused watching Charlie’s fingers fidget-spinning her phone. “You want a coffee? I suspect that this is going to take a while.”
While she was up and waiting for the kettle to boil, Noah fed the stove. She watched the sparks and glowing embers flying up the chimney and paused before she turned back to Charlie, “This is really serious, isn’t it? It’s not just Jess, or even Jess and you. It’s anyone they think might know whatever it is they’re after. We better work out what in hell it is they want and either give it to them, or prove we don’t have it and don’t know what it is.” She stared into the distance for a few long seconds and then to no one in particur announced, “Shit! I should ring Michael.”
Noah marched across the small room to her jacket, but was stopped by Charlie’s hunted “Wait.”
Noah paused mid-reach and turned to look towards her friend.
“Before you ring him, let me check if this is a coincidence. I don’t know exactly what Jess’s been doing, but I think she’s seriously pissed someone scary. And… I think, at the moment, until we know that they’re not monitoring our mobiles, we should maybe, err, take the batteries out. And this wifi? Where’s your internet connection actually from?”
“Charlie! You’re babbling!” She waited for Charlie to pull her eyes from the screen and look up. “Take a breath hon. I think that’s probably a good thought,” Noah quickly crified, “Not the babbling, obviously. The checking. See what’s up, and then we’ll step up to total paranoia if we need to.”
“We’re way out of my depth here. A decade ago, this would have been a walk in the park for me, but I’m way rusty.”
Noah turned back to the stove to answer the call of the kettle’s whistle, while Charlie’s fingers cttered across the ptop. Two coffees and a gas-canister for the mp ter Charlie finally emerged from the hole into which she’d gone. “Well, cock.” She announced definitively. “This was someone else with way more knowledge than me,” Charlie decred, “Not fine-fingered enough though, there was a...well, look, it doesn’t matter. There was a tweak I made that meant that if anyone changed anything reted to our delivery management stuff, well, let’s just say they did. Someone did. So, err, unless you reinstalled everything and set it all back up, then, um, someone... someone we didn’t invite’s been in.” Charlie took some slow, shaky breaths. “They’re good though. I mean, the only thing missing, so far as I can tell, other than my canary, is an evening delivery two weeks ago. It’s been deleted from the calendar. And the backups.” She lent back and ran her fingers through her hair, and was distressed to find that it still had evidence of her earlier encounters in the sofa there. “God fucking damnit.” She stood and stuck her head under the tap, quickly rinsing it out as best she could before she stood up again.
“So, err, good news is, the office is fine to run tomorrow,” she fshed a weak smile at Noah, “The bad news is I think I’m deeply in the shit. Possibly we’re both deeply in the shit.” Charlie stared at her feet, dripping and taking slow breaths.
Noah stood, grabbing another towel and throwing it at Charlie’s dripping hair. “Hon, I think it’s time to get some rest. Do you think it’s safe for me to let Michael know that I’ll not be back this evening? And that he should definitely not mention the cabin or come out here?”
Charlie stretched, “I know I said about the office, but I’m a bit – well, I’m thinking they may well put two and two together and realise since you’re a business partner and friend, and if you don’t go back, then, they might think you know what I know. Or what they think I know,” Charlie paused, trying to organise her thoughts. “I don’t want to put you and Michael in any more danger, so perhaps you should head home and tell him in person?”
“Now Charlie,” Noah sounded annoyed, “That’s the third fucking time you’ve tried to get me out of this problem, and st time you did it you called me trapped in a fucking sofa with a pile of sick, a big dog and two not terribly friendly fucking people. I know you’re all about whatever fucking big-past-life secret it is you have. But this ain’t that. You’ve got a big fucking problem here, and not one you can solve by yourself. Also, I hate to break it to you petal, but you’re my fucking friend and I’m not fucking off and leaving you to die.” She stood still, staring at Charlie for several long seconds. “Oh, and also, I don’t want someone killing you in my cabin. It’s taken years to get it looking this good and getting blood stains out of hemp hammocks would be a fucking nightmare,” she smiled gently, letting Charlie know she was at least partially off the hook.
“I’m going to text Michael and say that I’m out at Jim’s for one of his te-night seshes and that I might not be back tonight. Oh, and I’ll let him know about the cabin.” Charlie started to say something but was cut off by Noah’s continued expnation “Yes, without letting on to anyone else that we might be in a bit of trouble, and without letting on that the cabin exists. That’s actually fairly easy.” She id a gentle hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “Now, young dy,” she broke out the posh voice, “Why don’t you get into that comfortable hammock over there and try and get some sleep?”
Charlie’s protestations of ‘stuff she needed to do’ were met with a wall of ‘that’s not happening right now’ from Noah, and Charlie slunk off and attempted not to fall off the hammock.
“Jesus, Charlie!” Noah ughed, this time honestly, “It’s not that difficult!” Charlie eventually settled down, although she maintained a look like she might suddenly either be consumed or thrown vigorously to the floor. Noah, having texted Michael with the carefully crafted message, banked the fire and slipped into her own hammock.
