Page 78 of Kane

‘Anyway, enough, let’s get to work,’ Cage said. ‘You do your magic on the computers. I’ll look around for any incriminating evidence. He may even have printed the photos or emails. If he has, don’t worry bro. I’ll find them.’

‘Thank you, Cage,’ Kane said. ‘I appreciate this. More than you could know.’

‘I hear you,’ Cage said. ‘Now let’s get to work.’

The pair of them began.

As Cage moved around the apartment with speed and precision, Kane began attempting to get inside Lyle’s main computer.

Okay, fuck. This might be harder than I thought.

Stay cool. Stay calm.

The odds aren’t in my favor. But that doesn’t mean I can’t win…

Slowly but surely, Kane began to make progress. It turned out that Lyle wasn’t just arrogant about leaving his spare key lying around. Unfortunately for him, he was a little bit complacent about his home security.

While Lyle’s online defenses may well have been superb, it turned out that he hadn’t protected his computer from physical hacking quite so well.

This was a mistake.

One that Kane was more than ready to seize upon.

‘Okay, quick update,’ Cage said. ‘As suspected, this sleazeball did print the photos and emails. I’ve got them. There are no more copies here. I can vouch for that.’

‘Great. Actually no… that’sfucking brilliant,’ Kane said, still deep in concentration as he began accessing the files and folders pertaining to Cassie. ‘This jerk won’t know what’s hit him. And by the way, it seems like Lyle has been trolling Cassie for a hotminute. I’m seeing accounts all over social media. All different usernames. All of them focused on making shitty comments and causing trouble for Cassie. Other comic creators too.’

‘Jesus, this is not good,’ Cage said. ‘It looks like we’re doing the world a favor.’

‘Big time,’ Kane replied, his brain whirring as he set about doing what he needed to do.

Then, just as it was looking like everything was going to be plain sailing all the way home, Cage received a message.

It was from Katie…

KATIE: Daddy! The bad man is coming back. I don’t think Leon can stall him any longer. He’s just entered the building!!!!

This wasn’t great news at all.

As well as Kane was doing, he still needed more time. There was no way of knowing exactly how much either, which put them in a perilous position.

‘No pressure, but we’re now in a seriously time sensitive situation,’ Cage said. ‘We could be talking less than two minutes here.’

Kane nodded and began tapping at the keys furiously.

He whipped a memory stick out from his pocket and inserted it into the computer.

‘Just give me one more minute,’ Kane said. ‘On more fucking minute is all I need to shut this jackass down for good.’

But time ran out.

Lyle burst into the apartment.

He was huffing and puffing, struggling to breath.

But here he was.

And he looked seriously angry.