Spend the Weekend in a New World!

6/12/2025

Forge turned and looked toward the sign, then focused on Blair. “Nothing more than a couple enjoying their day.”

Blair nodded. “Pay in cash.”

Forge wandered to the coffee shop and stood in line. Every time Blair glanced in his direction, he could tell Forge was keeping an eye on him. A few minutes later Forge returned and set a large cup of steaming hot liquid in front of Blair. He settled in the chair beside Blair and sipped from his own steaming cup, which smelled of espresso and chocolate.

“I have to do a few things on my phone first,” Blair said softly.

Leaning back in his chair, Forge rested his ankle on his other knee and pulled out his own phone. After a minute he grinned and said, “Sweet. I can get all sorts of live sports feeds on this.”

Blair glanced up and smiled. “I like to give special gifts too.”

“I knew I loved you for more than your pretty face.”

People walked by them, but no one lingered or appeared to pay a bit of attention to either man. Blair sipped his coffee while he worked. “Okay, now for all the details,” Blair said.

Forge stood up. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere we won’t be easily overheard.” Forge waited for Blair to tuck his phone away before he motioned to the hotel’s front door. They took their coffees and walked casually onto the street. “There’s a shopping center about a half mile from here. We can try that.”

Walking in silence, Blair knew from the way Forge glanced in store windows and pointed out various landmarks or other things of interest that they weren’t being followed. Blair realized Forge was so adept at knowing his surroundings such tactics had become second nature.

The shopping center was an open-air type. They wandered among shops and restaurants to a miniature park with benches and a fountain. Blair sat on one of the benches, close to the cascading water. “Declan, can you hear me?”

“Only in my earbud,” Declan said.

“Where’s our target?” Forge asked and sat beside Blair.

“Mr. Wrong and Mr. Very Wrong are sitting at the bar beside the lobby, but they aren’t paying any attention to each other,” Lucas said.

Blair pulled his phone out and turned it so Forge could see it too. “I’ve planted devices to track everything that goes through the hotel’s unsecure public and private secure Wi-Fi. Right before we left the hotel, I sent an email out with a Trojan embedded in it, which will also help me track any device connecting with the Wi-Fi.”

Forge took Blair’s phone. “That’s this list of names and numbers?”

“Yes.” Blair nodded.

“Aren’t such activities illegal?” Sayyna asked. She and the others were able to join in the conversation despite being back at the hotel.

“I think you need some sort of warrant for that,” Maisy added. Forge smiled, glanced down, and scratched his nose a few times.

Blair sighed. “Uh-huh.”

“How can you be sure such an email will work?” Declan asked.

“Some fool will open it,” Lucas said.

“What if they don’t go through the Wi-Fi?” Forge asked.

“In order to screw with the hotel Wi-Fi, or any Wi-Fi system, the simple fact is they’ll have to connect with it at some point. Unless they simply kill the power or the Wi-Fi source,” Blair said. “My program will also pair up different users on the system.”

“So maybe we can pinpoint Mr. Black,” Dane said.

“Right. Except the problem is, we’re in the middle of a group of people who are more apt to have devices with additional security than the average person. Presumably, they won’t be using the hotel Wi-Fi, free or otherwise, and if they do, they’ll have measures installed like a VPN.” Blair pointed to the phone’s screen. “I can see them but getting into the devices will be trickier. We also have a list of which devices contact others. However, we don’t know what name either of our perps go by, other than Black.”

“But by process of elimination, we’ll be able to narrow them down?” Forge asked.

Blair nodded. “With the help of my program, which will sort them and alert us to any consistent pairs within a minute or two. We’ll also get notification of unauthorized, malicious attempts to infiltrate the Wi-Fi and tamper with it. The users on the free system, or those without extra layers of security on their devices, will be weeded out pretty quickly since with those I’ll be able to see what they’re doing virtually. So will my program. It won’t be them anyway.”

“That’s brilliant,” Palle said.

Blair grinned. “Thank you.”

“Can’t you simply get close enough to clone the phones?” Dane asked.

“I could, and in some cases that might work. However, I’m going on the presumption our perps’ phones have signal-blocking pouches or cases similar to ours. Those accessories aren’t tech unique to the Vampire Guard. You could order it online, and it’s not very expensive.”

Forge handed Blair back his phone and switched his earbud off. Blair frowned. It had been drummed into him for security’s sake to always leave it on during an investigation. Forge reached to Blair’s ear and turned his off as well. He twisted on the bench to face Blair. “Are you sure you’re up for this? Either way I’m with you.”