Page 9 of Come Find Me Tonight

Easy.

But her neighbors likely have camera devices too. It wouldn’t be hard to do a targeted jammer for her street. No one would think twice if their internet cut out for a few minutes. Only she would.

Fuck, I have to go to bed.

My mouse clicks as I save her address and close my tabs. Criminal masterminding will have to wait until tomorrow night.

The workday is mundane. The same routine, same workout, same coding… I’m buzzing during the day but still accomplish a good amount of work that I feel good about logging out by the time five p.m. rolls around. And thanks to same-day shipping, I have a cheap router delivered at my doorstep by the time I log out. I cut into the cardboard box and hold up my solution to any of her neighbors having Wi-Fi cameras.

Unfortunately, it’s a Rook posting day, so I’ll have to put my phone on Do Not Disturb to focus this evening. I check half an hour after my post is live to see if Appa’s burner has liked it.

As predicted, she has. Maybe Rook is part of her nightly routine. I hope she sits there, squirming and refreshing her screen while she patiently waits for a new video. I’m trained to check her profile all day long for story updates, new posts, new reels, and she’s not nearly as scheduled as Rook is. After all these years, she should be trained to expect a new Rook video at five, three nights a week. And while she’s watching Rook tonight, I’m planning on how to bring him to her like she wants.

Sitting at my desk with a salad and my nightly glass of wine, I get back to working on my grand plan. I test the interface of my smart electrical panel and cut the power. No warnings come through, just darkness and silence from appliances losing power. The Wi-Fi’s down. Cameras offline. I start a timer on my phone to see how long it takes until the system overrides and turns the power on. Appa’s panel would have a similar override that I could rely on.

Shit, new problem—how do I get into her house?

I grip the skinny stem of my wineglass between my fingertips. I’ve accounted for turning her house pitch black and canceling out her smart devices, but I can’t just break in and cause property damage. At this moment, I wish she had a dog. A reason for her to leave the back door unlocked or, even better, open. But dogs can be dangerous, and I’ve never seen her post about one.

Then it clicks. She has a smart lock because of course she does. I pull up her house again on the street view of a maps website and zoom into her front door. I have a smart lock, but it’s the wrong brand. Useless for testing. Looks like I’ll be making a trip to the hardware store this weekend and upgrading mine to match hers.

Thank you, Rook, for the extra income.

There’s no need to waste this evening, though. I can work on my firmware to turn this innocent router into a makeshift jammer.

If I can get this to work, here’s my grand plan:

Step One: Hack her front door lock, so the door is open for me when the power cuts the Wi-Fi. It’s possible she could have a secondary security lock on that I won’t be able to bypass from the outside. If that’s the case when I get to her door, mission aborted. I’d have to find another way to her.

It occurs to me this would all be unnecessary if I bumped into her somewhere in LA instead. But she wouldn’t remember me now. She’s seen the posts about my roommate’s death. I can’t show my face. She wants Rook and the fantasy he promises in every video. I shake my head and turn back to the plan.

Step Two: Jam her street’s internet, essentially confusing their devices like smart cameras, just for five minutes. I can mod the router to run off a simple power bank in my car.

Step Three: Hack Appa’s power panel and kill the electricity. Definitely no Wi-Fi at that point. Cameras suddenly blind to any threats.

Step Four: Find her. Make my presence known. Get the fuck out cleanly.

Note to self—put the metal barbells in my nipples.

Step Five: Post a Rook video as my ‘get out of jail free’ card.

This has gotten creepy. Even I can’t believe I’m planning a break-in for an old crush. I take the last sip of my daily fix of red wine.

I’m not waiting any longer.

I know you’re going to be scared, Appa, and Father knows I’ll need to repent my sins.

But you’ll walk away safer—with me by your side, and security that works.

Chapter Five

Appa

Just as I’m headed to bed in a silk slip, the lights click off, and the hum of the air conditioner outside halts. The sudden darkness loosens my grip on my metal tumbler of water, making it slip from my fingers and cause a soft thud on the floor. I can’t see it in the dark since the curtains are closed, so I kneel on the floor and reach around where I stood. My fingertips land on the cool metal surface, and I grab the handle. I set it on the dresser that sits against the wall across from my bed, and it makes a loud clink on the hard surface. The house is eerily quiet as the ceiling fan slows to a stop, but something in the air shifts, raising goosebumps on my arms.

I cross the room to peek through the curtain and view my neighbor’s house. Their lights are on, so it must be my smart panel glitching. I just shrug and plan to call Dad tomorrow to tell him that it might need to be looked at. They warned us that these smart panels can have issues, but Dad was in the middle of his smart device fixation when I bought the house. Well, I should find a candle in case the power takes a while to kick on, but the smart panel should reset itself within a few minutes, I think.

I’m about to turn from the window when two unyielding arms wrap around me, pressing me into the firm body of an intruder. I open my mouth to scream, but a gloved hand covers my mouth, muffling the sound. I purse my lips together and can hear my heartbeat drum in my ears.