Tools of the Trade
IT services in San Francisco have their rewarding collateral benefits. Since Mark had provided them for years, he had exceptional skill. He could generally trace things back to their original points. He looked for, and found, evidence of a web scrub eliminating evidence of Drake Bannon’s death. With further acumen, Mark traced the scrub to the offices of none other than Brother Corporation.
Tracking the Lazarus Man
“Oh, Brother,” Mark murmured, realizing if he were an action star, one liners wouldn’t be his thing. After a few clicks, he found an advert for IT services in San Francisco under auspices of Brother Corporation, and from there, sourced corporate offices. “What says I find you here, eh, Drake?”
Leaving his office, Mark said, “Shirley! You in here? Shirley?”
“Oop!” came a response. Mark checked his watch— it was late. Shirley emerged from a closet behind him with her hair in a mess, closing the door gingerly.
“I… see,” Mark said. “Shirley, I won’t be in tomorrow. Forward important calls, screen the rest, and for goodness sake, that intern’s only 22!” He nodded to the closet, making Shirley blush, and then left the office.
He bought supplies for an extended stay and parked a few blocks down the hill from Brother Corporation’s headquarters. Leaving with a backpack, he scaled scaffolding on a building across the street and sat on an available paint bucket, staring at the entrance of Brother Corporation through a hole in the plastic. He hadn’t even gotten though his first energy drink when out came Drake.
The Tech Buzz
“Shenanigans,” Mark said using a different expletive and scrambled to the other end of the rickety platform then down, shadowing Drake as close as he dared.
Drake went half a block up the street then took a left into an alleyway and jogged down the stairs into a club specified by a ubiquity of neon characters shaping anthropomorphized computers and drinks. It was called “The Tech Buzz.”
Mark thought he’d slip in on the sly, but a bouncer blocked the door. “Hold up, home skillet. Prove you’re IT!”
“Uh…” Mark was confused a moment, then said: “I’m with OneClick Solutions Group, and we provide IT services in San Francisco such as:
• Flat Fee Managed IT Services
• Business Continuity Planning
• Consultation
• VoIP
…and much more.”
“Okay, now say it in Binary.”
Mark was flabbergasted: “What?!”
“Just kidding! But you will have to do it in hexadecimal.”
Mark exhaled, “Okay—”
“Naw, man, I’m just playing with you, brah! I ain’t even a bouncer, just heading for a smoke,” and the guy pushed past him.
The Slippery Bannon
Mark ran into the club. It was full of people bumping and grinding and obviously intoxicated. For a moment, he thought it was hopeless. Perhaps Drake had heard him scrambling down the scaffolding and went in this club to lose him. That was a pretty clever move; just go in through the front and leave out the back past the smokers. Then Mark caught sight of Drake’s jacket across the room. He followed him fast, but again lost him, feeling once more hopeless, then— there he was! Walking across the dance floor through a shoe circle. Mark tried to push surreptitiously past the dancers, but one occluded his vision and suddenly, Drake was gone.