I feel validated that I haven’t lost my touch at reading people. I wait for him to say more, but when he doesn’t, I mute my phone and slip it into my bag. People have a bad habit of interrupting. Rochelle especially. And I don’t want to be interrupted.

I watch as Alex readies his equipment. He’s a different person in front of technology. Efficient, quick, dexterous. I can imagine him sitting in front of his screens for hours, the world moving past all around him as he’s zoned in on his work.

“Oh,” Alex says. He looks up from his screen. “Pull up a stool from over there”—he nods toward the kitchenette area. “I imagine you’re interested to see how this is done.”

I am, of course. I work mostly with software; hacking, websites, social media. Hardware is a different capability—one I just might have to get better acquainted with.

I set the stool beside his chair and anchor my boot heels on the lower bar. “How long will this take?”

He links a USB cable to a port in a crude device with cables that looks like a bare-naked computer board. “It’s a prototype that I designed myself,” he says, as if reading my mind. “I don’t like the idea of purchasing this type of hardware from someone.” He adjusts his glasses.

“Like a hacker who could use it to steal your information,” I interject.

“Precisely.” Alex presses a couple of keys on his keyboard and a Dos-simulated page pops up on the screen. “I run everything off the Command Prompt.”

He issues a series of commands, and within seconds, the card reader/writer is fast at work cloning Ericson’s phone onto a chip.

“I’m really impressed.” I watch him insert the chip into a phone. “And I say that rarely.”

He smiles. “Not sure what I’m going to do with the device,” he admits. “I don’t like the idea of selling it to hackers, but not sure who else would be interested in the application.”

Curious. “Then why did you code it to begin with?”

He pauses to look over at me. “There was a question of whether or not it could be done, and I had to answer it.”

He says this like it’s the most obvious thing. I suppose to a scientist, who deals in theories and solutions, maybe it is. Still, there had to be some forethought. It’s possible this is where we differ. I’m just not a believer in action without motive.

Once he has the cloned device ready, we spend a few minutes searching Ericson’s texts. We uncover deleted messages between Ericson and Brewster, and the most recent thread discusses an upcoming underground fighting event.

Tomorrow night.

My head is already fast at work devising a plan—but it’s Alex who speaks up.