My brother actually laughed at dinner and said, ‘I sold that useless laptop of yours for five hundred bucks. Finally got rid of your junk.’ My cousins cheered him on. Then he added, almost proudly, ‘Already handed it off to the buyer.’ I got up, stepped outside, and called my supervisor. By the time I made the report, the FBI cyber team was already tracking the device…

”

The room went still.

“What did you say?”

“That I didn’t know.”

I searched his face for any sign of lying and found mostly fear. Not noble fear. Self-protective fear. But real.

“He asked if you worked from home often,” Derek said. “If you lived alone. Stuff like that. I thought he was just making conversation.”

No, I thought. Men like that don’t make conversation.continue reading …