More Pleasures by MS Parker Read Free Book Online

come to my office?”
    While I waited, I studied the code more carefully. I knew Ned's work. I'd been seeing it almost from day one. Every programmer had their own unique style, though to a lay-person, there'd seem to be no difference. Whoever had done this hadn't been subtle. Aside from being one of my best programmers, Ned was smart. If he'd really written this code, he would've made it much harder for me to find.
    “Rylan,” Ned said as he stepped off of the elevator. “Is something wrong?”
    “Have a seat.” I gestured to one of the chairs on the other side of my desk. “I have a couple questions I need you to answer, but I can't tell you why.”
    Ned looked confused, but not guilty, which I took to be a positive sign. “All right.”
    “Where were you last Tuesday night?” I went with the first time I'd seen his name more than average.
    I watched Ned access his mental calendar, then look back at me with certainty on his face. “I was here for a while. I stayed late that night.” His forehead wrinkled in concentration. “I was having a problem with my log-ins. Truman and I stayed until about six-thirty. Then I went to a talent show at my niece's high school.”
    “Did Truman leave with you?”
    “No.” He shook his head. “I was in a hurry. The show started at seven and I didn't want to be late. He said he'd finish up for me.”
    “And Thursday night?”
    His eyes stared at the wall in thought, then zoned in and returned to mine. “Home,” he said. “I left work on time, went straight home and stayed there.”
    I knew he was divorced and didn't have any kids, so I doubted anyone had seen him. Knowing Ned, he'd probably spent the night reading.
    “Is everything all right?” His concern was evident in his voice, but it seemed totally focused on me and not on himself. Either Ned had vastly improved his acting skills or he had nothing to do with my little programming problem. I was inclined to believe the latter.
    “Nothing you need to worry about,” I said with a smile. “Go ahead back to your work.”
    He nodded. I could tell he was still confused about what was going on, but he didn't press matters. Yet another reason why I genuinely liked Ned. I waited until he left and turned back to the program on my screen.
    I was glad I'd decided to check things completely this time. On a lot of programs over the last year, I'd trusted my employees and just given things a once over. That was how the stupid obscene easter egg had gotten into that game. With a security system I planned to sell to the Justice Department, however, I'd felt it necessary to go over every line myself before running a trial.
    I'd been prepared to install the system on my own server to see how it worked and to use as an example to the Justice Department. If a company wasn't willing to use its own products, something was wrong. It was a good thing I hadn't done that first.
    I scowled at the code someone had put into my program. A backdoor. And I wasn't naïve enough to think this was some innocent little prank to allow someone to mess around with the sprinkler system or something silly like that. No, this was the kind of backdoor people wrote to allow unfettered access to a company's systems. It would've been bad enough to allow someone access to Archer Enterprises. I didn't even want to think what would've happened if I'd sold the program to the government without catching the problem. Records wiped or altered. Cases thrown out. Criminals going free.
    Ned, I knew, was innocent, but I had a suspect now. I'd originally thought Truman had simply missed Ned's messed up log-ins, but now the picture was growing clear.
    Ned had said he'd had trouble with his log-ins and that Truman had helped him with its recovery. While Truman might've had access to certain information about the other employees, no one had access to all the log-in information except me. Truman could reset things, but he couldn't steal the encrypted information. If he'd done