Fatal Transaction (Thriller & Suspense, Cyber Crime) by W. Richard Lawrence Read Free Book Online

for me.” Not a request but a command. Sara walked over to his cash register.
    “I have work to do. You can get them yourself.” Jasper rinsed the rag in a pan of water.
    Sara spun around and headed for the door. “I’m out of here. You can take it up with Levy.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “Home. I’ll let Levy know you refuse to work with us.”
    “Hey, I have my own work to do.”
    “And I’m not going to go running around in the back, looking for boxes. It’s probably full of rats and other animals, waiting to be cooked up for your customers.”
    “I don’t—” Jasper threw the rag into the pan of soapy water. “Fine, I’ll get them for you.”
    As he exited the room, Sara mumbled rather loudly, “Must have hit upon the truth.”
    “You’re a pain in the—” She couldn’t hear the rest.
    She felt some satisfaction as she looked over Jasper’s setup. One redeeming point to this job was her treatment of him. She delighted in humiliating him.
    As Jasper brought out the boxes, Sara cleared off a space on which to set up the new computer and card reader. “And bring that washcloth over here. This place is filthy. Don’t you ever clean this area?” It wasn’t that dirty, and it didn’t really bother her, it just gave her another opportunity to make Jasper’s life intolerable.
    “My customers don’t see this, so it doesn’t need to be that clean,” Jasper said as he set the final box down. Small beads of sweat formed on his temple.
    “So, now you think you have customers. As in more than one?” Sara grabbed a steak knife off a nearby table and started cutting open the boxes.
    “Hey. What are you doing?”
    “My job.” She held the knife toward him. “You got a problem with the way I do it?”
    “Just don’t put it back on the table.” He gave a huff and walked off without getting her the washcloth. He went back to work, leaving Sara alone.
    After opening the last box, she carefully replaced the knife where she found it.
    Setting up the equipment, Sara thought about her treatment of Jasper. His situation wasn’t all that different from hers. Levy had found a way to sink his fangs into Jasper, and he would suck out every last drop. But one difference remained between Sara and Jasper. Jasper had gone into this with his eyes open.
    ***
    “You about done? My dinner customers will be coming in soon.” His pacing between the kitchen and the dining area was getting on Sara’s nerves.
    “What customers? Who’d eat here if they didn’t have to?” Without looking up from her work, Sara could see Jasper out of the corner of her eye. He stopped his pacing and placed his hands on his hips, staring at her.
    “If it wasn’t for Mr. Levy, I’d throw you out into the street where you belong.”
    “Yeah, well, you can’t. So stay out of my way until I get this done.”
    Jasper didn’t move; he remained hovering several feet away, waiting. After a couple of minutes, Sara gave him a command. “Come here.”
    He hesitated a few seconds before moving closer to her. “What?”
    Seeing his expression, Sara knew she’d pushed him about as far as she could today. “This is important. Only use this white card reader for the cards with this symbol on them.” Sara held up her credit card. “I’ve also taped a printout of the symbol right here.”
    Jasper looked around on the counter. “Where’s my other card reader?”
    “What do you need it for?” The question slipped out before she could stop it.
    “You said to only use your reader for these special cards. I’ll need to use my old reader for real customers.”
    Reaching behind the cash register, Sara pulled out the other reader. “I didn’t think you ever used it, but just in case, it’s right here.” She set it next to the register.
    “Is that it?” Jasper crossed his massive arms.
    “No, there’s more. At the close of business, you need to run the end-of-day procedure on this computer, just like you do for your standard