Her Perfect Game

Chapter One Charlie Castle stared at the ringing phone, debating whether she should answer, but Layla had been her best friend since high school and she would think something was wrong if Charlie didn’t answer. “Hey, babe, what’s up?” “Hi, Charlie,” two separate voices answered. “Felicity?” “Yep. Layla has us all on the line. Must be something big.” Layla continued, “I had my interview for the summer internship today and you’re not going to believe this.” “And?” Felicity asked. Charlie heard the excitement in her friend’s voice. You’d think it was Felicity’s good news. “And, what?” Charlie added. “We know you got the internship. They love you.” “They offered me a job instead of the internship.” “Holy s**t,” Charlie said. Felicity squealed, and Charlie held the phone away from her head. She couldn’t believe it. A job with the NSA meant that Layla wouldn’t be coming home after graduation, at least not to stay. The National Security Agency was based in Maryland. They’d lost Layla to the internship program for a chunk of every summer since they’d started college. “I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it. You’re both going to be home for spring break, right?” “I never left, remember?” Charlie struggled to keep the jealousy out of her voice. She was truly happy for her friends. If she had taken school more seriously, she probably could’ve kept her scholarship like Layla had. Felicity’s parents could afford to send her anywhere. Felicity interrupted her thoughts. “Well, that was the plan, but don’t you think in light of your excellent news we should celebrate? We should all meet up for a proper spring break. Let’s go somewhere touristy and get drunk and have fun.” Charlie couldn’t believe her ears. “Okay, who are you? Hey, Layla, are you sure you dialed right?” “Yes, she dialed right, smart-a*s. Every year we talk about going somewhere to have fun. This is our last spring break. After this, we’re all out in the real world. We might be scattered all over the country for our jobs. I heard a girl talking about going to South Padre Island in Texas. Let’s go.” Charlie listened to her friends making plans. Layla was going to start driving now. Charlie couldn’t go. Not only could she not afford something like that, but if she went, they would take one look at her and know something was wrong. “What about you, Charlie?” “I have a con planned for next weekend.” She’d used every extra penny she had to pay for the registration. “So come for part of the week,” Layla offered. Charlie tried to figure out what to say. She’d planned on telling her friends in her own time, like after they had graduated. “Charlotte, we hear you breathing. What’s going on?” Layla was persistent. “I think Ethan has something special planned for this week.” She knew her friends had never cared for Ethan. What was one more lie? If she’d told them Ethan had dumped her, they would demand she come to spring break. If she went on the trip, they would find out that she’d dropped out of school. Plus, she needed to go to the convention. The hackfest called to her. The prize money would set her straight for months. It would also be her ticket to Def Con in the summer. Adding the hackfest win to her résumé might even help her get a real job. Anything to get her life moving again. “It won’t be the same without you.” Layla sounded concerned. “I know, but you guys go ahead and have a great time. I expect you to have my share of the fun too. Especially Felicity. Get that girl laid.” “Hey, that girl is listening. What makes you think I need to get laid?” Charlie snickered. Subject changed. “When was the last time you had an o****m with someone other than yourself?” “Some of us have discriminating taste.” “Yeah, and some of us are too shy to speak to anyone with a dick.” “Now, girls…” Layla, always the peacemaker. Felicity continued to talk about booking a room, but Charlie tuned it out. Her brain had already moved on to the finishing touches needed on her costume for the convention, and her fingers itched to log on to the convention site to find the day’s scavenger hunt clue. When her friends said good-bye, she mumbled a response and hung up. Clue first, then costume. Although the cosplay part of the convention was fun and fed her playful side, she needed to ensure she’d be part of the hacking competition. It was invitation only, and in order to score the invite, she needed to complete the scavenger hunt. A new clue was posted daily, supposedly at random times. She, however, created an algorithm to figure out when the clue would post. Any halfway decent computer geek could do the same, so she was sure she didn’t have that much of a leg up. She was just beating the guys who weren’t serious about it anyway. She pulled out her laptop, the secondary one only used for hacking. The computer itself held nothing personal to trace it back to her. Hacking wasn’t something she did to cause trouble, and in truth, except for her first foray into hacking when she was a freshman, everything she did now was just to keep her skills up. She hadn’t considered it a career move until she stumbled on the scavenger hunt. The hackfest was being sponsored by a group of companies from software creators to security experts. If she could prove herself there, maybe a degree wouldn’t be so important. She logged on to the convention website and clicked through to the events page to find the clue. Nothing. She scanned the page twice and then rubbed her eyes. Her algorithm hadn’t been wrong yet. She hit the refresh button and then she saw it: a small numerical thirteen on the lower right corner of the page. It hadn’t been there the first two times she looked. Thirteen? What kind of clue was that? She pulled out her notebook that contained the puzzles she’d already solved. The convention started in five days. The organizers must’ve decided to up the difficulty. Scanning through the other pages of the site, she found each had a number. Now all she had to do was figure out what they meant.