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    50 hours until the party.


    ''Step one—the ess point,'' Tristan thought, opening the club''s website. ''This won''t be easy… What software are they even using to track their guest list?''


    It had to be something easily essible for all employees checking and editing it. There were a dozen of possible applications that a quick search brought up for Tristan, and until he knew which one was used by the Urban Mirage Club, he won''t even know what to hack.


    There were a lot of methods of getting this information, but most of them required time Tristancked.


    ''Alright, let''s start with a quick social check.''


    For the next two hours, Tristan went through the social pages rted to the Urban Mirage Club, finding names and ces of its employees and looking at their pages.


    If not for his observation skill, he''d take ten times as much time to do the same amount of work. As it was, he only needed a nce or two at a page to find all the key details.


    Many people working there were clueless about how much information they were giving to cyber-criminals like Tristan, with seemingly innocuous posts.


    Eventually, Tristan found what he needed.


    It was a photo of the Urban Mirage Club''s office, with several people working onputers in separate cubicles, posted as a recruitment promotion. What caught Tristan''s attention was a part of aputer screen that was identally caught in the picture.


    Although the image was small, Tristan saw enough topare it to the most popr office management programs.


    In ten minutes, he got his answer and chuckled.


    ''So they are using the TeamFlow office app? Oh, this is lucky! This means they are using TeamFlow''s cloud storage for at least a part of their data. And here I feared it would all be only in the club''s localwork…''


    ***


    42 hours until the party.


    "Tris? Tris, can I enter?"


    Tristan jolted at the voice and a knock on his door that apanied it.


    He was so immersed in his work that he lost track of time and notifications about his increased hacking skill.


    TeamFlow app had advanced security, but Tristan was sure that he was on the brink of finding a doorway past it until Nelson distracted him!


    "No!" Tristan snapped back, trying to gather his scattered thoughts. "I''m busy, dammit!"


    In the hotel''s hallway, Nelson recoiled in shock. This was the first time Tristan snapped at him like that, though Nelson had already seen some of Tristan''s anger before.


    So, he quickly recovered.


    "Busy with what? You didn''t leave your room for half the day! Did you even eat, actually?"


    Huffing, Tristan folded hisptop and went to open his door. Nel immediately tried to push past him inside, but Tristan stopped him with a hand on his chest.


    "Just leave me be for now, alright? I know what I''m doing, and I don''t need you to be concerned."


    As he said this, Tristan felt a sucking sensation in his stomach, and realized that he didn''t eat, in fact. The realization, and the genuine concern in Nel''s eyes, softened his anger.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean to snap. Yeah, I really should eat something before I bite off your head!"


    Nel beamed.


    "Great! Let''s go to the hotel''s restaurant. And then you will tell me what WERE you actually doing."


    Tristan clicked his tongue and walked past Nel into the hallway.


    "I was writing song lyrics," Tristan lied effortlessly. "There''s something I really felt like putting down on paper. But I can''t do it without fuel in my stomach, you are right."


    "Oh, new lyrics? Will you show me?"


    "Maybeter. I''m unsure about them yet. They might go to another song entirely, not to thepetition."


    "Aww, damn."


    Tristan sighed, feeling trapped in his own lies. Now he will actually have toe up with something. Eventually. Nel already saw what Tristan had for hispetition performance, since Tristan used him as a stand-in for the audience.


    He guessed he''d have topose more songs in the future, anyway.


    ***


    32 hours until the party.


    The assassin sat on a sidewalk near an apartment building, where Tristan Hayes was renting an apartment under his name. His grimy clothing made him look like just another hobo, one of the thousands living in Los Angeles.


    The assassin had been waiting for a while now. But this time, his information was definitely correct. Eventually, Hayes would appear. Careful assassination was all about patience.


    But why did Hayes rent an apartment if he didn''t appear here for thest few days?


    ***


    28 hours until the party.


    "Kevin, do you really need to ask me how to deal with this? If these people are so stupid and bold, they don''t want to pay in full for our merchandise, then take the payment from their corpses! No, they aren''t such big fishes. Remember who we are now. We are the top sharks of the city. Or lions, as Mr.


    von would say. Yes. Yes. No, Tomas knows better than you how to break people''s knees. Mm. I expect you to be able to deal with the rest yourself."


    Tristan ended the call and sighed.


    First the distraction of food (and friendship), now criminal business. And it''s not like he could push it all forter.


    Kevin and Tomas mostly did fine, but the keyword was "mostly". But this was thest issue for tonight, Tristan hoped, as he resumed his hacking.


    ***


    24 hours until the party.


    Tristan pressed the enter key and waited with bated breath for the page to load.


    After all the time and hurdles and distractions and unexpected problems, he found an exploit in TeamFlow''swork and used it to steal the login and password for Urban Mirage ount right from the TeamFlow''s password database.


    Now he was within an arm''s reach away from—


    [A confirmation code was sent to your phone number. Please, enter it to login.]


    Tristan swore under his breath.


    ''I only have a day left until the party! What can I do faster—hack the two-factor authentication or steal a phone from someone with admin ess?''