Page 38 of Synnr's Ride

Her first goal was the safe. She didn't know how long she had, and she couldn't give an innocent reason for snooping.

She ducked into the closet that held the safe and closed the door behind her, flipping on the overhead light before crouching down in front of it and pulling out the lock cracker she'd retrieved from the storage room.

It wasn't foolproof. Some locks were designed to counteract crackers like this, but those safes were top of the line, incredibly expensive and only released in the last few years. Kark's safe felt old, and even had a few flecks of rust on top of it, like something had spilled and started to degrade the metal.

The lock clicked and Hanna smiled.

Inside there were stacks of credits that probably came from patrons. Hanna took a picture of the money, but didn't waste time trying to count it.

Next to the case was a leatherbound notebook. It was a few centimeters thick, and the paper was thin. Hanna snapped photos of the pages as quickly as she could, feeling the seconds tick down with every turn of the page. It looked like a logbook, possibly accounts for the bar. Neither the money nor an account book were suspicious things to find in the safe.

The next small notebook she found was written in code.

Jackpot.

Hanna was more careful while taking pictures of these pages, making sure none came out blurry. She'd use the computer at home to try and crack the code algorithmically.

She was about to close the safe when she spotted a small piece of paper sticking out from under the pile of credits. Hanna pulled it out and looked at it with pursed lips.

More code.

She took a picture of the paper and put it back, and then closed the safe back up, sliding her cracker into her pocket.

Hanna stood and took a few deep breaths. She checked the time and saw she'd only spent ten minutes with the safe. Long enough to be noticed, and yet she could have spent an hour and still not done enough.

She hesitated before opening the door. If someone spotted her coming out of the closet, she was toast. But hesitation wouldn't do her any good.

Hanna pressed her ear up against the door to try and listen for other people. She didn't hear anyone. She opened the door and carefully slid out, letting out a breath when she saw the hallway was empty.

One obstacle down.

She looked at Kark's office door and hesitated again. How long did it take to do inventory? Would Zilly come looking for her?

Hanna peeked into the bar. Zilly was chatting with a regular as she cleaned glasses. The place still wasn't busy and the guys were still gone.

This was her chance.

Hanna eased back down the hallway and tested Kark's door. Locked. She'd been prepared for that. She eased two thin pieces of metal out of her pocket and inserted them into the lock. After a moment, she heard a click and was in.

Kark's office was neater this time, no papers scattered on the desk, and the whole place looked like it had been dusted.

Hanna stepped around the small couch beside the door to get to the filing cabinet. These drawers weren't locked, but there was so much paper that Hanna didn't have a hope of making copies of it all.

She scanned the labels. Vendor. Vendor. Bike shop. Vendor. Sex shop. Vendor. Not all business related, but nothing that stood out given Kark's proclivities.

Still, she opened a few of the files and peeked inside, just in case he was hiding anything in plain sight.

The minutes were ticking by fast, and every time she heard a sound come from the bar, Hanna nearly jumped out of her skin.

The other drawers of the cabinet were half-empty, and still nothing stood out. It wasn't shocking. If she were going to hide treasonous documents, they wouldn't be in an unlocked filing cabinet.

Though, if she were doing this, there wouldn't be any documents at her place of business. She was already wary with how much paper she and Jori were keeping at their house. True, paper couldn't be hacked, but it also couldn't be encrypted.

She went to the desk and tried the drawers. Only one was locked, and that was her target. It took longer to pick the lock than it had for the door, which suggested something nicer than a standard desk lock, but Hanna still made short work of it.

The drawer was empty.

Huh?

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