Page 113 of My Secret Snowflake
“You can borrow my girlfriend’s clothes. They should fit.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in an hour,” I tell Raphael.
I stare at Liam. “You have a girlfriend?” I punch him playfully. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“It’s early yet. And introducing her to the three of you is not for the faint of heart.”
“All the more reason to introduce her. She shouldn’t be faint of heart. You’re the best brother ever.”
“I’m also your only brother,” he says.
ThewindowsoftheShooting Stars offices overlook 110thStreet. The H-Mart sign and the green subway globes glow across the street in the dark.
“The ISP seems to have contained it for now,” Pearl says, running her hand through her curly hair. Shooting Stars was in the middle of a denial-of-service attack when I arrived, so they interviewed me about what steps I would take, using the real-life scenarios, relaying them via Pearl, the junior member of the two-person team.
“You want to make sure you continue to monitor your other network assets,” I say. “Sometime hackers use distributed denial of service attacks from multiple hosts to deflect attention from their intended target. Make sure you look out for other anomalies or indicators of compromise.”
“I will,” she says.
She’s very earnest and clearly talented, if swamped, at this under-resourced information security department.
The CEO smiles at me from across the conference room table. I’m never good with guessing age, but I looked up her bio on my way over here. She’s in her early fifties, attractive, and well-dressed in a crisp cream suit.
“It’s lucky you came when you did,” Christy says. “This wasn’t the interview I planned, but you definitely passed the test with flying colors. Thank you for helping us out. I’m glad Raphael recommended you come in.”
She leans forward. “As you can see, we desperately need to hire more people. I guess I was hoping we were flying under the radar and wouldn’t be subject to attacks like the bigger companies, but we’re a good target because we’re so vulnerable. Pearl keeps giving me vulnerability reports.”
“Those aren’t just to scare you. They also help us react faster,” Pearl says.
“I hope you will consider joining us as Deputy CISO,” she says. “The job is yours if you want it. Given that you were just appointed CISO at Dream, maybe you don’t want to be a Deputy CISO.”
A phone beeps, and Christy checks her phone.
“And it looks like I might be able to fill another spot on our executive team,” she says. “I love it when a plan comes together.” She shakes my head. “Anyway, the job is yours. I’ll have HR send you the written terms, and you can decide.”
“Thank you so much,” I say.
“I thought Dream was doing well, but it seems a lot of employees are leaving. We’re certainly getting a lot of inquiries,” she says.
“My understanding is the situation is good again, but there was a concern that L’Etoile was going to close the company down,” I say.
“I presume you’ve met Sebastian Davies in Legal? What do you think of him as a lawyer?”
“Is Sebastian applying for a job?” I ask. My heart does a little flip. He’s also trying to stay together.
“Yes,” she says. “I expected him to apply sooner, after I talked to his father.”
“His father?”
“His father recommended him. I know his father from back when I worked at my last film company, so I thought he might know some good lawyers I could entice over.”
“Sebastian is a smart lawyer.” I give an example of Sebastian’s analysis when we were dealing with an intrusion a month ago. “But we’re also dating, so I’m not impartial either.”
“And you both don’t want to stay at Dream and work together?” she asks.
“The company prohibits our dating,” I say.
She nods. Her phone beeps, and she checks it.
