Jack's wrists ached and his skin was getting raw. He'd been alternating between pacing and sitting for several hours, waiting for Henry to arrive. He was getting thirsty and was just about to start yelling when the door opened and three people entered.
The first was Henry, the second was a man in a suit holding a briefcase, and the third was the older agent from before.
"Why is my client still handcuffed?" demanded the man with the briefcase. "He is a skinny teenager, so why are you treating him like a hardened criminal?"
So, that's the lawyer Henry found for me, thought Jack. He wasn't even offended by the "skinny teenager" comment.
The older agent looked at Jack apologetically, then walked over while saying, "Here, let's get those off you. Your writs must be sore."
"Yes. Very," said Jack emphatically.
As the older agent retreated towards the door, Jack said sternly, "I am not conferring with my counsel in this room."
The man with the briefcase smiled encouragingly at Jack and said, "Ah, you beat me to it." Then turned to the older agent and said, "As my client has stated, we will not confer in this room. You are required, by law, to provide an unmonitored location for our consultation."
"Ah, we can turn on off the recording equipment," suggested the older agent.
"Ha," barked Jack.
"Not acceptable," stated his new lawyer.
"Fine," grumbled the older agent. He turned and walked out the door, saying, "This way, please."
The man with the briefcase held out his hand to Jack and said, "It is truly a pleasure to meet to Jack. My name is Wendel Dushane. I specialize in handling cases like the one you and your friend Miss Kavanagh find yourself in. I look forward to working for you."
Jack shook the man's hand, while saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Let's finish our introduction once the FIS have provided us with a suitable location."
When they followed the older agent, Jack noticed that there were two more agents standing just outside the interrogation room and they followed behind them as they followed the older agent.
As they walked, Jack said, "By the way, is there any chance I can get some water? I haven't had anything since breakfast."
"Seriously?" asked Wendel. Then louder, "Is this what the FIS has come to, agent Franks?"
The older agent, Franks, said, "I'll see what I can do."
"Humph," grumbled Wendel, then said to Jack. "Standard interrogation tactics. It's shameful that they would try such on an innocent young man like as yourself."
Agent Franks led them to a small conference room. It had a glass wall bordering the hallway, but no exterior windows, and a table with four chairs inside. The table was plain and surrounded by four well-worn office chairs.
As they entered, Agent Franks said, "I'll see about getting Mr. Waldron a bottle of water."
"And food," added Wendel. "My client hasn't eaten since breakfast."
"Right, and food," grumbled Agent Franks. Then looking at Jack, "You don't have any food allergies, do you?"
"No," replied Jack.
After Agent Franks left, Wendel walked over and closed the blinds, blocking the view of the conference room from the hallway, while saying, "Don't want any lip readers getting a peek."
Then once they all sat, Wendel pulled out a thin sheaf of stapled paper and handed it to Jack while saying, "Henry's already informed me of your preference for formal engagement letters."
As Jack read, Wendel placed a pen on the table next to Jack. The engagement letter was similar to the one he had signed with Henry, placing no limits on what kind of assistance Mr. Dushane would provide.
After signing, Wendel asked, "So, what can you tell me? And remember, keeping anything back will only hurt my ability to help you."
"There's not much I can tell you," replied Jack. Then he shared a brief recounting of his history with Madison, her recent arrival at his front door, his suspicions about why she left her aunt and uncles, her bug bounty payout, and then finished with the questions that agent Jackson had asked him.
Then he concluded, "I don't believe that Madison engaged in any malicious activity. She said she only hacks companies with a published bug bounty program and makes sure to stay within the limits of the rules set for that company's bug bounty program. So, at worst, she made a mistake and exceeded some limit."
"I see, interesting," said Wendel. "Did she say if she submitted a bug report to Cascade Marketing?"
"No, she never told me the names of specific companies she was hacking, but she did say she had several other rewards pending. So it's possible Cascade Marketing is one of them."
Wendel nodded. "There are two other possibilities besides the one you mentioned. One is that someone else hacked Cascade Marketing, and they incorrectly attributed the hack to Madison. The other possibility is that they don't want to pay her the reward, and instead chose to fake evidence of hacking, thinking that she'll take a plea bargain instead of trying to fight it in court."
Jack had not considered either of those possibilities. And the second one was dark.
"Do companies actually do that?" he asked.
"Yes, I believe it's happened a few times."
"Damn."
Jack turned to Henry. "What about Madison? Did you find a lawyer for her as well?"
"Not yet. Mr. Dushane suggested he talk to you first to get the full picture before recommending a course of action."
"And?" asked Jack, looking at Mr. Dushane.
"Given what you've told me, I'm confident that my law firm can provide a vigorous legal defense for yourself and Miss Kavanagh." He turned and looked at Henry. "Am I to understand that the same entity paying for Mr. Waldron's defense will also be paying for Miss Kavanagh's defense?"
Both Henry and Jack replied at the same time, "Yes."
Wendel gave them both a look of curiosity, then schooled his expression and said, "Understood. I will contact my office and ask Denise to represent Miss Kavanagh. Denise has experience dealing with cases such as this, and is also experienced at guiding people through their first encounter with the legal system. I believe her presence will be appreciated by Miss Kavanagh."
"Alright, sounds good. Are you going to call now?"
"Yes. If that's alright with you?"
Jack nodded.
Wendel stood and pulled out a smartphone. He walked to a corner of the conference room, placing the phone to his ear. The conference room door opened and agent Franks entered holding a bottle of water and muffin. He placed the muffin on top of a paper towel and set the water bottle beside it. Then he turned and left, not saying a word.
Jack grabbed the bottle, opened it, and drank thirstily. His thirst temporarily quenched, he realized he was hungry and grabbed the muffin and took a big bite out of it. While he ate, Wendel finished his call and returned to sit across from Jack.
Between bites, Jack asked, "Do you think you'll be able to get me out of here tonight?" He really didn't want to spend the night in jail. He'd heard stories and had no desire to learn if any of them were true.
"Yes, I think that's possible. By now, they will have confiscated all your electronic devices, which is all they really wanted, anyway."
"Fuck!" blurted Jack. His hardware tokens. They were the only way he could access his online bank accounts. Granted, they would be worthless to the FIS because they didn't have the PINs, but it still meant Jack would have to go to the bank and retrieve the spares.
Wendel gave Jack a stern look.
Jack looked at Henry.
Henry nodded at Jack.
Jack turned back to Wendel and said, "I won the Redball lottery recently. I secured my online bank access using hardware tokens. The FIS probably confiscated them."
Wendel's eyebrows lifted slightly. "This wouldn't happen to be the most recent one point five billion credit jackpot, would it? He asked."
"Yes," replied Jack.
"I see," said Wendel. "I advise you to disclose this to the FIS when we talk to them. They will want to know what the hardware tokens are for and will want to know the source of any recent transfers to your personal bank account. Telling them will save you a lot of hassle."
"I don't want the public knowing I'm the winner. Is telling the FIS going to jeopardize that?"
"It shouldn't. When we talk to them, I'll be sure to remind them that it is against the law to disclose personal information about a suspect to anyone not directly involved with the case."
Jack sighed. He hoped Wendel was right. He wanted a normal college life. Not because he thought college was the only place where he could learn what he wanted, but because it was probably the only place where he could find friends and make connections. And he would need the credibility an official degree would provide.
Thinking about Madison, Jack asked, "What about Madison? Do you think they'll release her?"
"Given what you told me, that seems likely."
Wendel asked Jack a few more questions, then opened the conference room door and told agent Franks that they were ready to answer questions, if they still had any. Agent Franks led them back to the interrogation room where they found five chairs, three on one side of the table and two on the other. Jack, Henry, and Wendel sat on the side facing the one-way mirror and agent Jackson and agent Franks sat on the other side.
"So, ready to confess?" asked agent Jackson.