Chapter 7
"I just need five minutes!" Sierra yelled as Ron the Rent-A-Cop pushed her out the door.
"No dice, maggot." Ron replied with a cold, deadpan expression. "Now get lost, and if I ever see you skulking around the security office again, you'll be banned from this mall for the rest your life."
"But, my mission-"
"My mission is to keep punks like you in line. Now march!" Ron yelled, shooing Sierra away.
"Crap! Now, what am I going to do?" Sierra sulked as she wandered the mall.
"If only there was some way . . . "
"There she is!"
"Quick, stop her!"
"Grab her!"
"Wha-" was all Sierra could get out before she was tackled to the ground by Jonesy, Wyatt and Jude.
"What are you idiots doing!" Nikki exclaimed as she rushed over with Jen and Caitlin in tow.
"You said you wanted to catch her, right?" Jude asked.
"I wanted to talk to her," said Nikki, "not tackle her to the floor!"
"Whoops! Sorry, our bad," said Jonesy.
"What the hell is going on!" Sierra yelled as she wiggled free.
"We're really sorry about this, Sierra," said Caitlin.
"We just wanted to know more about the person who wrote that story," said Jen.
"Well, what the hell do you think I'm trying to do here!?" Sierra shouted.
"What?" Nikki asked. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think we met by coincidence?" Sierra asked. "I've been trying to track down the author of that story for weeks!"
"But . . . why?" asked Caitlin.
"I have my reasons." Sierra responded. "I was able to track their IP address to this mall, and when I saw you guys, I knew I was on the right track. Whoever the author is, they're posting their stories using the mall's Wi-Fi network, but this mall uses a public Wi-Fi system, so I don't know where in the mall the author is."
"Wait a minute! You've been tracking this person for weeks?" asked Wyatt. "Doesn't that make you some kind of stalker?"
"I am not a stalker!" Sierra shouted. "I'm just a devoted fan who wants to meet her idol."
"Uh, That doesn't make it any less creepy," said Jonesy.
"I don't expect you to appreciate the depths of my fandom." Sierra said, her head held up high. The rest of the gang paused nervously, unsure how to respond.
"So, you have no idea who the author is?" said Nikki, breaking the silence.
"No, but if I could connect directly through an ethernet port, I could search the user history and find out which Wi-Fi router was used to access the FictionPress website. It won't tell me who the author is, but we can narrow our search down to a specific spot in the mall."
"Where's this ethernet port thing located?" Jen asked.
"In the security office." Jonesy responded. "I remember from when I worked as a security guard. You could directly access systems for the entire mall."
"Is it really that easy to hack into the mall's Wi-Fi network?" asked Caitlin.
"Oh yeah! The mall's network is ridiculously unprotected." Jonesy responded. "Seriously, don't do any mobile banking while connected to our servers!"
"I tried to sneak in to the security office, but that Dirty Harry wannabe stopped me," Sierra explained. "If I could just get five minutes alone in there, we'd be one step closer to figuring out who this author is."
"Okay," said Nikki, taking charge. "Here's the plan. Jonesy and Jude, you two need to create a distraction to get Ron's attention. Make it big. Make it loud."
"No problem, bra!" Jude laughed.
"Wyatt and Caitlin, you two are on lookout duty. Let us know the moment Ron starts heading back to his office."
"Okay." said Wyatt.
"You can count on us!" Caitlin smiled.
"Jen and I will go with Sierra. The moment Ron is out of the security office, we sneak in and search the Wi-Fi system. Got it?"
"Got it!" The rest of the gang responded in unison.
"Good! Now, let's get to work!"
. . . . .
Three cherry bombs and one utterly destroyed ladies room later, and Ron was sufficiently distracted. Meanwhile, Jen, Nikki and Sierra slipped into the security office and went to work. Sierra plugged her laptop into one of the servers while Jen and Nikki looked on nervously as the minutes tick away.
"Hurry up!" Nikki yelled. "You said it would only take a couple of minutes!"
"I'm trying!" Sierra whined, "but the website's been accessed at Wi-Fi spots all over the mall. It doesn't make any sense!"
"Well, of course it has!" Jen yelled. "You've been telling everyone in the mall about that stupid story. Of course everyone is looking it up!"
"Guys, hurry up," Wyatt shouted through Jen's cell phone. "Ron's on the move!"
"We're out of time!" Jen panicked.
"Sierra, scroll back to before today," suggested Nikki, "See where that website was accessed the last day the author updated a story."
"Oh, good idea!" Sierra quickly went to work on her laptop. Within a minute she found her the information she needed.
"Okay, I got it, let's go!"
Quickly, the three girls bolted from the security office mere seconds before Ron returned.
. . . . .
The gang met back up at the fountain; tired, but successful.
"That was close," said Caitlin.
"You're telling me!" Jen said exhaustively.
"At least you guys didn't have to crawl through the vents so you wouldn't be seen on the security cameras," Wyatt argued. "I'm pretty sure a rat was gnawing on my shoelaces in there."
"None of that matters!" Nikki interrupted. "The point is we got the information we needed."
"Yeah!" said Sierra. "Whoever the author is, they're using the Wi-Fi at the food court."
"The food court? Of course!" said Caitlin. "You guys are always hanging out at the table by my lemon. Whoever the author is, they must be eavesdropping on our conversations in the food court!"
"Yeah, but we still don't know who the author is!" said Wyatt.
" . . . I do," said Nikki.
"You do!?" Everyone looked in astonishment.
"Yeah, I do."
