A Bit of Mischief by Keith Dobson

Prompt: a hint of mischief

“This won’t take long.  Just let me get the password to my friend, and we should have the result soon.”  Jackie was pretty sure this could be done, and no one would ever be the wiser.  She flipped some hair from her face where it had fallen, tapped a few keys, and sat back.  “Now we wait.”  She looked over at me with a wry smile.

We didn’t wait long. About five minutes after her entry, there was a “ping”.  She leaned in, played with her laptop a few more times, and leaned away again.  “I’ll be damned.  We have the whole 

file.  OK, now I’m a bit scared.”  She asked for the USB I had brought and downloaded the massive file.

“I am deleting this from my computer, right now.  Even the browser history.”  She clicked a few more buttons and then shut down her computer.  She looked at me, but her face said something I could not quite decipher.

“What? What’s wrong?” I was used to being in charge, and to work with others who also were sure of themselves, if not downright zealous.  Evangelical even, in some cases.

“We probably just broke a lot of laws.  I hope this is good for you.”

“Not to worry.  I am taking this right now to where it can be used.” I waved the USB, then realized I likely looked a bit foolish, so I tucked it in my shirt pocket along with the slip of paper I had put there before.

The truth is I didn’t know exactly what I had, but when I later gave it to Jerry, he absolutely beamed. “This is huge!  Let’s open it.”  He stuck the memory stick into his computer, wiggled his mouse around, made a few clicks, and found the file.  When he clicked on it a security screen popped up, asking for a password.

“Oh, yeah.  I forgot to give that to you.  Keep this safe.”  Apparently, the Alberta Elections office tried to protect this information, but my friend had shared it with me, and so I gave Jerry the slip of paper.

​Jerry entered the code and the file opened.  Name after name, address after address spilled onto the screen.  He looked at me and with the widest grin I had ever seen on him said “Now for a bit of mischief.”