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Critiques / Linden Greco, Hacker for Hire - What's your first impression?

I like it! Of course I wish I could read more. But I like her charcter. I like that she is vigilante esk. When you're writing you should show a softer side at some point in the story so people can see she isn't always hard.

Critiques / Linden Greco, Hacker for Hire - What's your first impression?

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Hi Everyone - I'm working on a novel about a computer hacker to lives in Half Moon Bay, California.  Since my character is a hacker and I introduce her breaking the law by hacking into someone's computer, I'm trying to figure out how to make people like her.  I’m interested in your first impression of the protagonist.  Thanks for looking!

***

“So tell me again why we’re doing this?” Travis asked from the back seat of my BMW M3. His face was bathed in a laptop’s glow, giving him an alien-like appearance. We were parked in a dark alley next to a million dollar home located in San Francisco’s swanky Pacific Heights.

I ran my stubby fingernails through espresso brown hair that had been streaked with red for this occasion.  “Because Bertie Fletcher needs to be stopped.  Three years ago, she started out as a receptionist.  She’s now the fourth most powerful person in the company.  If we don’t do something soon, you and I will both be reporting to her.”

“Yeah, but why do we have to catch her in the act with TJ?  If it weren’t for him, we’d still be writing code from the loft in your parents’ beach cottage.  He’s the reason you and I are on track to be millionaires before we hit 25.”

I felt a small tinge of frustration directed toward my partner in crime.  We’d been over this a few times already.  “The money and the success are irrelevant.  It’s the principle of the matter.  Look, I know that in this day and age, CEOs get laid on a regular basis, but I still believe that it’s unethical and immoral.  Besides, Bertie’s ballooning power is getting scary.  Yesterday, Stephanie was fired – dropped cold, for no apparent reason.  Any one of us could be next.  We have to expose them before things spiral further out of control.  It’s for the greater good.

 “Ah, Linden Greco, a.k.a. Robin Hood,” he teased as his fingers pounded against the keyboard.  He was using my method of hacking, hitting the keys as hard as he could to make the information flow forth faster.  I narrowed my eyes and peered at him through the rear view mirror.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s nothing,” he replied, his fingers still flying.  “It’s just that, even at Stanford, you were always sort of a vigilante.”

I sucked in air.  No more Ms. Nice Gal, it was time to push his button.  “I would have been happily oblivious to it all, but you just had to put a tracking device on his cell.”

Travis paused for a moment.  His fingers hovered over the laptop keys.  “What can I say?” he replied huffily.  “I’m an executive at this company. An executive for crying out loud!  When TJ chucked his iPhone at me and told me to fix his email, I thought it’d be funny to put the tracker on.  It was a joke.  I didn’t think you’d start stalking him...”

“I wasn’t stalking him!” I interrupted.  “At least not until your software showed that he was hanging out at Bertie’s way past working hours.  Now how much longer until you crack the security protocol on her wireless?  

“I’m almost in,” Travis replied calmly, “but I gotta know.  Why am I the one doing the hacking?” 

“Because I’m the lookout and I’m driving the getaway car.”

He rolled his eyes.  “I swear, Greco, you watch too many spy movies.”  His long fingers clicked away, firing off commands and wrangling the security algorithm (WEP) on Bertie’s wireless network into submission.  “Okay, I’m in.  Now what do you want me to do?”

“Just turn on her webcam and start recording.  Looks like TJ’s been in there for at least five minutes.  Hopefully we haven’t missed anything good.”

“I see you,” Travis said in a singsong manner.

“Dramatic much?”

“Um.  Not really.  While we’re waiting for something good, I’m going to take a little look around.  You know, see what else the evil Bertie Fletcher has been up to.”

A focused silence settled over the cabin of the car.  “Well this is juicy,” Trav said.  “Looks like Bertie kept a digital equivalent of a little black book.  There are about seven men in the company who received significant pay raises this year – just for doing the nasty with Bertie.”

            I felt my blood pressure tick up a few notches.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

            “I wish I was.  It’s an Excel spreadsheet complete with days and times.”

            “I’m so glad that we’re taking her down.”

Travis fell silent.  I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel and kept my eyes glued to the digital display of TJ’s location.  Suddenly the glowing red dot began to move.

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To attend someof the workshops!

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