White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(63)
“I don’t know about any problem.”
“So you’re not Mr.”—she looked down at her clipboard, thankful he wasn’t wearing a name tag—“Brady?”
Upon hearing the name of his boss, the guard seemed to relax. “No. He must have forgotten to mention that he called.”
“No problem. It’ll only take a minute. It sounds like the hinge might be broken. I can have a replacement sent right away if necessary.”
He shoved a badge through the narrow opening at the bottom of the shack’s window. “You’ll need this to access the dumpster area.” He pointed to another shack fifty yards away, situated next to a tall chain-link fence with a closed gate. “Bring it back to me when you’re done.”
“Thank you.” She had to force herself to answer him cheerfully because there was something about him she didn’t like. Probably because he looked at her as if he didn’t quite believe her.
Kate got back into the Range Rover. “Can you pull around back?”
“Sure.” Rob started the car, and when they reached the guard shack, Kate gave him her temporary badge so he could hand it over. The guard took a cursory look at it, came out of the shack, and unlocked the gate, waving them through and closing it behind them.
“What are you doing here?” Rob asked, scanning the area. He was used to dropping her off at the front door and watching her walk safely inside. This was the first time one of Kate’s assignments would be conducted outdoors, and it clearly made him uncomfortable.
“See those dumpsters? I’m checking them to make sure the company is disposing of their sensitive documents correctly.” Rob knew Ian’s company provided security auditing, but neither she nor Ian had provided many details regarding the methods they used for collecting the data. “It’s okay, really. I shouldn’t need more than fifteen minutes or so.”
Kate headed for the dumpsters toward the back of the lot where she was less likely to be observed. She’d transferred the contents of her purse into a cross-body bag and was glad she’d worn jeans and tennis shoes because she had to climb up the side of the dumpster and lower herself into it.
Everything in it should have been cross-shredded, yet it all appeared completely intact. She found a pile of company directories, their covers dusty and torn. They’d likely been cleaned out of wherever they’d been kept since the company transitioned to storing the information online. Interspersed with the directories were org charts dated eighteen months ago. The information wasn’t particularly earth-shattering, but a hacker would now have enough ammunition to impersonate lots of different employees in order to plan and carry out other, more damaging social engineering exploits. She tucked the org chart and one of the directories into her bag so she’d have proof to show the client.
“What are you doing?” a voice asked.
Kate looked up and her heart skipped a beat when she realized it was the guard who’d issued her the badge. She pulled the org chart and the rolled-up directory from her bag. “I noticed someone had put these in the dumpster when I was examining the hinge. I thought I’d grab them so I could show Mr. Brady. He probably wouldn’t want them to be recycled without shredding them first.”
Kate started to climb out of the dumpster, but it was a lot harder to climb out of than it was to climb into. The man reached down, and she had no choice but to take his hand and let him help her out. When her feet were firmly back on the ground, he didn’t let go and she pulled her hand from his grasp.
“There’s nothing wrong with the hinge on this dumpster.”
“I probably checked the wrong one.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the hinges on any of these dumpsters.”
Though she hated getting caught, it didn’t make sense to try to talk her way out of it. She’d already convinced him to issue her a badge by pretending to have Mr. Brady’s permission, and the org chart and directories were another infraction Ian could include in his report. The guard was getting way too worked up, and she didn’t like the way he was looking at her. It would be in her best interest to come clean.
“Listen, I’m actually here because I’m doing a security audit. I have a letter that states my right to be on the premises. It’s signed by your CIO.” She withdrew it from her bag and handed it to him, but he crumpled it up and slipped it into his pocket without reading it. Then he took off her hat, and her hair tumbled out from under it. He eyed her appraisingly, and the expression on his face raised the hair on the back of her neck. She started to walk away, but he took two steps to the right and blocked her path.
“Get out of my way.”
“Why so quick to leave? Maybe we can work something out.”
She reached into her bag for her pepper spray, taking a step back and holding it up where he could see it. “Do not even think about it.”
He chuckled as if she was no threat to him at all. “Bet you’re too scared to use it.”
Kate flicked off the safety. “Trust me, I’m not.”
“You think that’s gonna do anything?”
Her heart galloped in her chest. “I’m sure it will.”
He advanced and she took another step backward. There were three dumpsters standing behind him and the open area where Rob had parked the car. She was lighter and hopefully faster than the guard, but to escape she would have to get around him. If he cut her off again, she risked being tackled to the ground where her chances of being seen by someone were very low. He looked quickly over each shoulder and rose on his toes slightly as if preparing to pounce. She raised her arm and pointed the pepper spray at him. If he charged her, she would spray him, and as soon as she’d disabled him, she would run.