Free Color Me Grey: Book One of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles by J.C. Phelps

Time to put
to use my computer knowledge. I had spent more time in front of the
computer in my life than I think I had slept. I hacked the password
in less than thirty seconds.
    Pretty normal files for a business, I
guessed. Accounting programs, that type of thing. I wasn’t finding
anything useful though. I decided to check the e-mail. No new
messages. Damn. Did he even use this computer?
    I got online and hacked into the database for
the closest Naval base. You’d think government computers would be
hard to hack but they aren’t, if you know your way around. I know
this is illegal, but I know how NOT to get caught. I typed in my
dad’s password and voila… ACCESS GRANTED.
    When hacking a government computer it’s handy
to have the highest security pass available and the rightful owner
of my pass was probably still in bed at home. If dad was out of bed
before 8:00 he rarely got onto his computer before 10:00 AM. I was
counting on that right now. If he logged on while I was still
connected there would be a conflict and I would be busted. Then I
would have to sneak around some more to find out his new password.
Not to mention I could go to jail. I didn’t know if my dad could
get me out of that kind of trouble. I might even get him into some
trouble of his own and I really didn’t want to do that. I typed
Rick Malone in the search box and waited for the computer to search
its files.
    It seemed to be taking longer than it should.
I was still waiting when it dawned on me the military would know
him better by Petty Officer 1 st Class Rick Malone. I
punched in PO1 Rick Malone. It took a matter of seconds for me to
get a nice picture of PO1 Rick Malone aka Mr. Richard White, aka
Whip. Navy Seals, Covert Ops. Discharged with honors, blah, blah,
blah. Get to the good stuff. I skimmed down the page to where his
current address was listed: 1324 Plaza Dr., Suite 73. Shit.
    The door to the front office opened. I
immediately logged out and started to play solitaire on the
computer. I had done this before and the solitaire bit worked like
a charm. The trick is to have the game open on the computers
desktop before you really get down to business. That way when you
close whatever you are messing with, the solitaire game is right
there for you to start playing. Not a bad idea to play for a second
before you begin too, that way there are moves made on the game and
it looks like you have been playing a while and not doing anything
else.
    It was Gabriella. She walked into Mr. White’s
office and said, “Oh. It’s you. Ms. Stanton right?”
    “ Yeah, hi,” I said while I quit the
game and turned off the computer like it was mine. Don’t act guilty
and people won’t think you are guilty. I hope.
    “ I figured someone would be here
because I was called to work and don’t normally come in on Mondays.
I’m glad it’s you,” she said with a happy smile.
    “ Mr. Blue brought me in this morning
and told me to fill out these forms.” I pointed at the papers on
the desk.
    “ You have them done?” she
asked.
    “ Yeah. I’ve been waiting for someone to
come back and get me,” I said.
    “ You’re quick with the paperwork,
that’s for sure,” She said as she walked toward the desk to pick it
all up.
    “ Come on out here and I’ll call someone
to come get you.” She was walking back to her desk and I was right
behind her.
    “ They normally wouldn’t be back until
around 9:00, but then again, it normally takes a candidate until
10:00 to complete this stuff.” Gabriella set everything on her
desk, motioned me to the chair on the other side and picked up the
phone.
    “ I’m going to call Mr. Black,” she said
holding the receiver up. She got a sly look on her face and said,
“I LOVE his voice, so I call him whenever I get the chance. I’ll
put him on speakerphone so you can hear, but you have to be quiet.
Okay?” Her voice got quiet with the last two sentences, like Mr.
Black might hear her.
    I smiled and nodded that I