SUNDAY, 3:40 A.M., AUGUST 4, 2001
Ashley stood in front of the Jive Records door, sliding her keycard into the lock.
Since her cat suit had a tear in it and she had left it in New York, she had opted for black leather pants, a black turtleneck, and heels.
She had waited all day for this moment, when she would complete the job, make a butt load of money, maybe have sex with Josh again, and leave triumphantly.
If everything went perfectly.
The doors opened silently and she stepped in. She turned back to the door. The only people who could get in were people who worked here. In case someone should decide to come here while she was ‘working,’ she should make it so they couldn’t get in.
She took out her pocketknife and wedged in between the doors. That would jam it.
There were security cameras around the room everywhere. She took out the cell phone look-a-like gadget and interrupted all of their satellite connections.
Satisfied, she continued to the elevators at the end of the lobby. There were two of them, and, to Ashley’s surprise, one of them was moving to the fourth floor!
Who else is here? she thought. She had to find out.
Ashley saw a door that said ‘Stairs’ and opened it. Making her way through the dim light, she stopped at the fourth floor.
She got there right there when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. No one got out.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she went up some more stairs to the tenth floor, office level. She entered Johnny’s office, shut the door, and went over to the computer.
She snapped open her briefcase, connected her laptop to the master computer, and set to work.
Meanwhile, another figure was making their way to Johnny’s office. They slowly opened the door and peeked in to see Ashley typing away.
Ashley had waited impatiently and now the computer was about to go into the stocks and bonds, she could download them, and she would be out of there.
As soon as the Password screen popped up, she typed in ‘money’ and waited.
‘Invalid Password’ flashed across the screen.
Her mouth dropped open. How that had happened?
Josh had believed her story, hadn’t he? He had given her the correct password, hadn’t he? He wouldn’t lie to her... would he?
It didn’t matter. She couldn’t worry about him right now. She had to find out the real password.
Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth, and someone whispered into her ear, “I’ve got you now.”