Chapter 43 - Lila
Lila
“Who the fuck is this?” my accuser demanded. “I told you to come alone! It was my one fucking request!”
“Brock, don’t do anything drastic,” I said, imagining the bigger man beating this kid into a pulp and getting arrested for felony assault.
“Relax, Lila,” he said. “Everything’s under control.”
Tonight, telling me to relax actually worked. There was a certainty in Brock’s voice that instantly made me feel like everything was going to be okay.
“This guy’s name is Jerry,” Brock said, sliding into the booth next to my accuser. “And he doesn’t have any hard evidence.”
“Don’t need it!” Jerry gloated. “She already basically admitted to it. Hey man, don’t come any closer. Or I’ll tell the entire department you two are fucking.”
Brock smiled at me. “We know his name is Jerry because Cam’s been looking him up since he came in.”
“Cam’s here?” I asked.
“Sitting in that booth by the bar, barely out of sight. Jace is with him.” Brock raised a hand to wave behind him without looking.
At the edge of my vision, where the wall blocked most of the rest of the bar, Jace raised his large hand in response.
I could see his smile even from across the crowded room.
“Stay the fuck away from me,” Jerry hissed. He was starting to panic.
“I’m sorry I’m here,” I began to explain.
“We’ll laugh about it later,” Brock interrupted. “Right now, let’s talk to Jerry.”
“Don’t you fucking threaten me, man,” Jerry said. He had slid deeper into the booth, and was practically climbing the wall to stay as far from Brock as possible.
“No threat. I’m actually the carrot,” Brock said.
“Carrot?”
“I work here.” Brock gestured to indicate the bar. “And I’m about to give you the deal of a lifetime. You get to drink here for free. Three drink limit per night, but you can come in as often as you want. I’ll arrange it with the other bartenders. Congratulations on your prize.”
“I… I don’t want that,” Jerry replied. “I’ve already given Lila my demands. She agreed to them.”
Brock made a face. “Now, see, that’s the part I don’t like.
You’ve blackmailed this nice woman. It doesn’t take a Criminology professor to know that blackmail is illegal.
Why don’t you pretend like you never did that illegal thing, and accept free drinks at Frankie’s.
I’ll even make it four drinks per night, because I’m such a nice guy. ”
Jerry sat up a little straighter. “No. I don’t care about some dirty bar. I don’t even drink much.”
Brock grimaced at me. “Now, I can ignore a lot of things. But I don’t like you insulting my bar. Fortunately, we have a stick to go with my carrot.”
“Stick? Carrot?” Jerry looked back and forth between us. “I don’t understand what these words mean in this context.”
Brock rolled his eyes. “It’s a metaphor. The carrot is the good thing, and the stick is the bad.” He raised his hand over his head and waved again. “And now you get to meet the stick.”
From across the bar, Jace came sauntering over to our booth. Brock moved to the next booth over, and Jace took his seat blocking Jerry in.
“Hello,” he said simply.
“Fuck you,” Jerry replied defiantly.
Jace gave me a look that said: can you believe this kid?
“My name’s Jace Strickland. Formerly known as Sergeant Major Strickland. I was in the Army. That’s why I’m getting my degree so late. Don’t worry, I don’t have any student loans. The G.I. Bill took care of my tuition. I still have to pay for my own books, though, which kind of sucks.”
“What’s happening?” Jerry asked, looking confused.
“When I was in the Army, I did a lot of things I’m not proud of.” Jace was talking to Jerry, but he stared at me as he spoke. “But hey, when you’re on a military base dealing with suspected insurgents, it’s all good. Right?”
“Are—are—are you threatening me?” Jerry stammered.
“No! Of course not. We’re all just talking here.
” Jace smiled at me, then twisted in the booth so that he was facing the kid.
“Do you know how much force it takes to break a finger bone? The same amount of force it takes to bite through a baby carrot.” He snapped his fingers.
“Snap. Just like that. And don’t get me started on how easily toenails pop off. ”
“This isn’t going to work,” Jerry said, but his hands were trembling on the table. “I already told her what I want, and if I don’t get it, I’m going public with what I know.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” Jace raised his hand over his head and waved. “Maybe hear what he has to say, first.”
“Who?”
Compared to the large physical presence of Jace and Brock, Cam looked downright harmless by comparison as he walked over to our booth with his laptop under one arm.
I smiled up at him, and he smiled back.
“What are you?” Jerry asked. “Another carrot, or another stick?”
“Neither. I’m a nuclear bomb.” Cam ran a hand through his messy hair, then opened his laptop on the table. “Be careful, or I might detonate right here.”
“Fuck you,” Jerry said, though his voice was shaky.
“Fuck you more. Your phone has bluetooth enabled, by the way.”
“What the fuck does that matter?”
Cam smiled. “There’s a known vulnerability with the bluetooth handshake protocol on new iPhone models.
When someone tries to Airdrop a PDF file, the phone automatically loads a preview of the file.
Which means any code that I’ve hidden inside the file gets launched by your phone, even before you accept the Airdrop. Isn’t that fun?”
Jerry looked at his phone, then quickly began typing.
“Don’t bother putting it in airplane mode,” Cam warned. “I’ve had full access to it since you walked through the door fifteen minutes ago. Everything you’ve done on your phone is now mine. All emails, app traffic, browser history…”
Cam, you beautiful little hacker.
“I don’t believe you!” Jerry said.
“Really? Even if I mentioned… horse porn?”
Jerry’s eyes went wide.
“Ring a bell?” Cam asked.
“Horse porn?” Jace asked.
“Trust me: you don’t want to know,” Cam whispered. “Right, Jerry?”
“It… it… it was an accident,” Jerry stammered. “Someone put it on my phone as a prank. This doesn’t mean anything.”
“Are you sure about that?” Cam asked, voice dripping with acid.
“I have everything you’ve looked at for the past three months.
And your email history. Not just that Yahoo account you made, but your real ones.
I haven’t even started looking yet, but it’s downloading a copy to my private server.
Wow, these emails go back nine years. I bet there’s some embarrassing stuff in here.
It looks like you were sending fan emails to Harry Styles back then? ”
I could see the look in Jerry’s eyes. He was terrified.
“Like I said: I’m the nuclear bomb,” Cam said, closing his laptop. “Who knows what I might find between now and tomorrow morning?”
“What do you want?” Jerry asked.
“Seems pretty obvious to me,” Jace jumped back in. “Forget everything you think you know about Professor Carrington here.”
Jerry glanced at me, then said, “Okay.”
“If we so much as hear a rumor about her, Cam here will find all the most embarrassing things from your phone history and plaster them all over campus. He’s the guy who texted the school about Joshua Davenport.”
Jerry’s eyes widened. “That was you?”
“I’m a vigilante,” Cam said. “Some people are comparing me to Batman.”
“Nobody’s comparing you to Batman,” Jace said.
“Sure they are!”
“Boys…” I said.
“Right. Our demands.” Jace smiled at Jerry. “And here’s the best part. You still get the carrot, too. Free drinks here at Frankie’s until you graduate. Doesn’t that sound like an amazing deal?”
“I… I…” Jerry glanced at me.
“Apologize,” I found myself saying.
“What?”
“And I want you to apologize,” I insisted. “Right now.”
“I’m…” Jerry gulped. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Be specific.”
“I’m sorry… for blackmailing you.”
“Blackmailing me with false information,” I added.
“Right. I’m sorry for blackmailing you with false information, Professor Carrington.”
Jace got up and gestured. “Congratulations on making the best decision for the rest of your academic career. Now get the fuck out of here.”
Jerry stared at him like it was a trap, then abruptly scrambled out of the booth.
“Oh, I’m wiping your phone,” Cam said with a smile. “And the laptop you have connected to the school Wi-Fi right now. Have fun reinstalling Windows!”
Jerry threw his hood up to cover his head, then disappeared out into the night.
Jace turned his attention on me and narrowed his eyes. “Hi, Lila. What are you doing here?”