Script Kiddies

Chapter 16

"We're two hundred bucks short," Hector said.

They looked over the bills on the worn coffee table and Haley tried to figure out where their money had gone.

"Can you ask your boss for an advance?"

"I just finished working off the one I asked for last month," Hector said. "We'll never dig ourselves out if we keep this up."

Haley bit her lip.

"Maybe if you do this time, then I can try to find something."

"You're about to pop. Even if someone was going to hire you, who'd watch Jacob?"

"I could do something at night, so you could watch him."

"I need to sleep at some point too," he said.

He put a hand on her shoulder and waited until she met his eyes.

"I've only got one way to make this kind of cash this fast," he said.

Haley eyed him suspiciously.

What?"

"You remember Jeez3y? From our old study group?"

Haley frowned for a moment.

"The guy who was selling the tests?"

"We still keep in touch," Hector said. "He said he knows a guy who's paying top dollar for credit card numbers. Jeez3y heard about what we did with Bippy Burger and wanted to know if we could do it again but get the cards from their sales instead of change the menus."

Haley blinked at him several times before she found the words.

"You want to steal people's credit cards?"

"It won't hurt them," Hector said quickly. "If anything happens, the card companies just refund the money. If anything, they get a free burger."

"That's not, no," Haley said shaking her head. "How could you even suggest that?"

"Because I've got a wife and soon-to-be son that I don't want to get kicked out of their home," he said. "We hit this once, we get enough money to last a few months so I can get a real job without having to work twenty hours a day, and we're back on track."

"You really think you can walk away after one hit?"

Hector nodded vigorously.

"Absolutely," he said. Then his voice softened. "Hale, I don't want to do this anymore than you do. But if my options are do this, or watch our family get destroyed before we even have a chance to start? It's no choice."

Haley shook her head and looked out the window.

"What if we get caught?"

"We didn't last time," Hector said. "And with the two of us, we make it in and out fast, we wipe the logs, and sell the cards. Simple."

"Simple isn't the same as easy."

"No, but that's why I've got my Bonnie," Hector said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "We need this. If you know of another way to get two hundred bucks in a day, I'm all ears."

Haley slowly nodded.

"We'll be fine," Hector said. Then he kissed the top of her head. "I'll get our computers."

Bonnie tried to breathe normally as she looked at the row of brick restaurants, lights blinking green and red along the walls and windows. The sky was still a deep, unnatural blue. There was no wind, so the blue and gold awnings all hung identically as far as she could see.