The Mysteries of Max: Books 31-33 by Nic Saint (chrome ebook reader txt) 📗

goofing around, and we just happened to discover that some hacker was trying to break into your company’s computer system, see? And guess what? We stopped the attack!”

Chase suppressed a grin, as Alec cut a tired glance in his mom’s direction. “You are the hacker?”

“Me! A hacker! As if! No, Scarlett’s nephew likes to think he’s something of a computer nerd, and last night he just happened to be showing off all the things he can do with a computer—you’d be amazed by the stuff that’s possible these days.”

“I’ll bet,” Chase muttered.

“And so we got to talking about these recent ransomware attacks, see?”

“What recent ransomware attacks?” asked Alec. “I don’t know anything about any recent ransomware attacks.”

Vesta ignored him. “So he told us to pick a target—any target—and he’d demonstrate how it’s done.”

“You did what?!”

“And since we’d been shopping at Mr. Kramer’s very nice emporium yesterday afternoon, I said, just for a lark, why don’t you try to hack into the Kitchen King? And you know what? He did!”

“And it was then that he discovered that some other hacker was actually busy carrying out just such a ransomware attack!” said Scarlett.

“Can you imagine?” said Vesta.

“Oh, but I can,” said Chase, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“And so he asked us what he should do, and of course we told him to stop the attack, if he could, and that’s what he did.” Vesta now stood beaming at Fred Kramer. “And so what do you say to that, Fred? We actually saved your company!”

“Then how come I got a message this morning when I booted up my computer that unless I pay one million dollars in bitcoin my systems would remain on lockdown?” asked a still irate-looking Fred Kramer, his turtle neck now a nasty color purple.

“My nephew explained all that,” said Scarlett. “He said it might take a while before everything is cleared up. He managed to stop the attack, but certain remnants of the virus will still be on your system. Your IT department should be able to deal with that.”

“Well, they did,” Fred admitted reluctantly. “I just got a call from my IT guy and he said it looks like things are clearing up.”

“Well, now you know who to thank for that,” said Vesta, patting the big man on the back.

“I still don’t get why the name Tex Poole popped up,” said Fred mulishly.

“Because we were working on Tex’s wi-fi when it happened,” Vesta explained.

“Yeah, my nephew doesn’t like to use his own wi-fi when he demonstrates that kind of stuff,” Scarlett added.

“Now I wonder why that is?” Chase said with a grin.

“Look, maybe we can discuss all this over dinner,” said Vesta now. “What do you say, Fred? Dinner at our place tonight? We’ll thresh this whole thing out, and then we can talk turkey.”

“Turkey?”

“The kitchen remodel! What better way to celebrate this new and beautiful friendship that has just sprung up between us than to sit down for a nice dinner and talk kitchens!”

“Mh…” said Mr. Kramer, and glanced at that nasty scratch on his car again.

“We saved you a million dollars, Fred!” Vesta exclaimed, patting the man on the broad back again. He didn’t seem to enjoy the process, though when she mentioned the million dollars she’d saved him, his initial frostiness seemed to melt away to some extent.

“Myes,” he finally conceded. “It certainly looks that way.” He frowned before him for a moment, then finally said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to you about that dinner, Mrs…”

“Muffin. Vesta Muffin. And this is Scarlett Canyon. You can write our names large in the annals of Kramer Kitchen Kreation. If it hadn’t been for us, you might have gone belly-up today, Fred—remember that,” she added with an admonishing wag of the finger.

Still unconvinced, Fred got into his car, then took off. And as they stood staring after the Kitchen King’s departure, Alec said with an exaggerated sigh, “Ma, what am I going to do with you, huh?”

“Thank me, for one thing. I just got us all free kitchen remodels, sonny boy.” She pointed from Chase to Alec to Scarlett. “You get a new kitchen, and you get a new kitchen, and you get a new kitchen.” She smiled. “Not bad for one night’s hacking, huh?”

“Oh, God, help me,” Alec muttered, the ungrateful cad.

Chapter 17

Odelia had missed all the fun: by the time she arrived at the precinct, her grandmother and Scarlett had left, and so had the Kitchen King. But as she sat in her husband’s office, and he related the incident, she couldn’t help but smile at her grandmother’s shenanigans.

“I think she just wanted to find a way to bring the price down on that kitchen remodel,” said Chase, “and so she tried to break into the company computer to change the quote and discovered someone else was also trying to hack into Kramer’s outfit. So she saw an opportunity and took it.”

“It all sounds typical Gran,” Odelia had to admit. “But also very illegal, right?”

“Not unless you get caught,” said Chase, “and clearly she managed to talk her way out of it. Though judging from Fred Kramer’s response, I very much doubt whether a free kitchen will be in the cards.”

“Gran did save the man a million dollars in bitcoin.”

“Yeah, she did. Talk about a lucky coincidence. Now what did you want to ask?”

“If you’ve got any news on that bum in the woods case?”

“The bum in the woods case. Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“I guess so,” she said with a smile.

“Well, I just had a meeting with your uncle, which I’m sure your cats will be able to tell you all about, as they were up to their usual spying tricks, and the conclusion is that we know exactly nothing. The guy is a complete John Doe.”

“But who killed him? And who buried him out there?”

“As far as I can tell, the only viable suspect we have so far is your Karl Bunyon.”

“He’s not