They're Listening

Liam nudged her with his elbow. “Cass, wake up.” It seemed it was their nightly routine anymore.

Cass groaned as she picked her head up off her desk. “I'm just resting my eyes,” though her groggy voice gave her away.

“Boring assignment again?” Liam asked as he plunked down a chocolate doughnut and a coffee in front of her.

She grabbed them and shoved the baked confection into her mouth. “They're not even home, Li. Why do I always get these assignments when people aren't home?”

“People take their phones with them. Being at home doesn't matter anymore, you know that.”

She sipped her coffee and closed her eyes as the caffeine hit her bloodstream. “Yes, but I always get the people who leave home and then leave their phones at home. Who even does that?”

Her coworker smiled as he bit into his own doughnut. “You. Me. Everyone that works here.”

Cass rolled her eyes. “Yes. Duh. We work here. We know how this all works. And those that can't leave their phones have old flip phones. But these people,” she gestured to her screen, “don't work here. They have no idea. So why are they all leaving their phones laying around? It's 'dangerous',” she put air quotes on the last word.

Liam sighed and put his feet up on the chair next to her and shrugged. “Maybe they're elderly?”

Cass sighed again. “Maybe. Still boring as fuck.” But just as she said it, some voices came into her earpiece. “Yes!”

“Oh, they're back?”

She nodded as she pulled her headset onto her head and started popping the words she heard into her computer system. Finally, she thought. She'd been sitting with radio silence for at least a couple hours, with the past four before that with only muffled sounds. She figured someone must have dropped their phone in the couch cushions or put it in a drawer somewhere. But now the voices were clear and she was hearing all about the movie they had just went to see.

Joker, she mouthed to Liam. First of all, the title of the movie. Then the main character. Then the supporting characters. Then she cross referenced different questions people were asking online about the movie or the stars, and put those in, too. Most of the time people talked about stupid things, so it was literally only one thing at a time she'd enter into the program, but movies were full of all sorts of stuff she could use. It was like hitting her job's jackpot.

Liam always watched her work, as his seat was two seats away from hers. He never seemed to get bored like Cass did, but then again, Cass was complex and full of energy, where Liam was content to just be. He didn't enjoy the job as much as she did, but at the same time, he also didn't hate it as much as she did when there was too much downtime. Cass loved the snooping aspect of it all. Just not the boring parts.

“The next time they open their phone, they're gonna be bombarded with Joker material,” she giggled.

Liam sighed and put his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair. “And the next time they'll ask the same questions they always do.”

“Yup,” she grinned and started speaking in a old man masculine voice. “These confangled contraptions are listening to our every move, Martha! Those wiretap memes are actually right!”

He looked wistfully at his screen. “But, also as usual, they will put their phone back down and forget all about it until the next time we plug some info in there for them. Doesn't this bother you, Cass? That we're doing something that's not so on the up and up?”

She sipped her coffee and smiled. “Like what do you even mean? We're not doing anything illegal. And most people realize their phones are listening to them, but they love them so much that they don't care. Today, with the way the world works, they can't live without them, so what are you and I supposed to do about it?”

He shrugged again. “I dunno, tell the world?”

“Oh shush. What will that even do? A) nobody would believe us and B) we'd get fined up the ass. We signed confidentiality agreements. We can't do that even if we wanted to.”

Liam looked down at his feet and mumbled.

“What was that?”

He quickly sat and shot over to her and yanked her chair close to him and moved close to her ear. “I am not stupid enough to say things in a place where we eavesdrop on people, but what if I told you my name isn't even Liam and the name I gave this company doesn't even exist? What if I told you I was an investigative reporter who's prepared to blow this entire thing wide open?”

The feeling of his hot breath in her ear gave her goosebumps. Sure, she had a crush on him, but not really. Not one she wanted to act on in real life. At least not yet. She reached her arms out and shoved his chair away. “I'd say you're fucking with me because you know I'm bored.”

For a moment, she thought she saw something flicker across Liam's eyes. Something that looked akin to regret. But it was only for a moment, because in the next moment, a huge grin took over his entire face. “You know me too well, Cassidy Hollis. I'm just trying to keep you from falling asleep and getting fired. Again.”

Yep. He was fucking with her. Thank goodness. “I wasn't fired last time. I was...let go for a day. But then they said if I didn't sleep on the job anymore I could come back. So technically I just got an unpaid day off,” she winked.

More voices came through her earpiece, so she threw her headset back on. Her job was wonderful. Liam was a perfect coworker, as he kept her in line. Eventually, she'll ask him out. But for now, he's exactly what she needs in her life, someone to keep her company in the dull moments.

“Be right back,” he whispered to her as he trotted off to the bathroom.

Liam checked all the stalls, even though he knew that he and Cass were alone on the night shift, and opened up his phone. He clicked the center arrows until he got to the contact screen. He scrolled to a number labeled “Jack” and clicked OK and hit the send button on his phone. It rang once and a man's voice picked up.

“So, did you get her?”

Liam's let out a sigh. “Nope, just as I thought. She loves it here. She enjoys her work too much. She doesn't see it as illegal.”

“She will be collateral damage, you know this, right?”

He traced his finger on the bolt around the swinging door to the stall, his mind drifting to the idea of a now abandoned future. “I know.”

“If you're prepared for that, I will run the story in tomorrow's edition. And Liam?”

“Yes?”

“You didn't lose anything. If she loves what she does, you two were not meant for each other. She's not who you wanted her to be.”

He was right. Cass was nothing like him. And if she were anyone else, he'd almost hate her. “I know. And yes, run the story. I am completely done here.”

“Okay man. Hey, don't forget I'm proud of you. One year in that place and you've gathered enough evidence to bring the entire operation to its knees. Good work, Li.”

This brought a smile to his face. His boss was right. He spent an entire year working in a place just to expose it's juicy innards. It was good work. And it will go down in history as the biggest story of pf the year. He peered out the door to take a peek at Cass who was happily typing away and laughing like a wild hyena, loving every minute of invading someone else's privacy. It turned his stomach to watch her be so gleeful about it all. “Thanks, Jack. Let's do this.”

“Okay man, get back here and we'll get to work.”

He flipped his phone shut, slipped out of the bathroom as quiet as he could, crept down the hall to grab his jacket, and walked out the front door into the night. His job there was done. Yes, he would come to regret not warning Cass of what was going to happen next, even though she was part of the problem. But it was small in comparison to what was coming to the large corporations who developed smartphones. Once the news broke, he was sure that every single person in the world would chuck theirs in the garbage. Or maybe they wouldn't. People were forgiving. Too forgiving of those who fed their addictions. So maybe nothing would happen at all. But Liam would at least be able to sleep at night knowing he was doing the right thing.

And now it was time to go see a man about a news story.