by Dale Mayer
They beamed. “We certainly will,” Johan said. “Now, we’ll need the password to get into the network, or I guess we can just hack our way in.”
She gasped. “Don’t do that,” she said, turning to leave. “I’ll get IT to come and give you a hand.”
When they looked at her, she froze.
“Isn’t it better if you do it legally, at least initially?” she asked, her voice rising. The two looked at each other, shrugged, then nodded. “Good,” she said. “I’ll go to my desk and give him a call. I’ll have him come down as soon as he can.”
“And then we’ll go over your databases,” Johan said.
“Fine. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And, with that, she turned and left.
*
“Almost looks like she’s running away. What are you thinking?” Johan asked his partner.
Galen laughed. “Definitely running away. Of course she’d have to take her eyes off you first to run very fast.”
Johan snorted. “Seriously? I think she just decided both of us were enough to scare her.”
“Not sure scare is the right word, but she’s definitely afraid she got into something that’s bigger than what she initially thought.”
“Good instincts,” he said. “Particularly after Ice found out through one of her cop friends that they had suspicions of some drugs being moved here. So she added some suspicions of her own. She suspects the cops will tell us to back off on the ketamine investigation.”
“Yeah, but why would they pin it on this place?”
“Because somebody else contacted the cops a few months ago about missing drugs. From this very building.”
“Wow,” Galen said. “You didn’t tell me that part.”
“It just came by email as we walked in.”
“So, what happened to that person?”
“Her name’s Chelsea. I don’t know yet. We’re looking into it,” Johan said in a solemn voice.
“Maybe Joy is on to something then,” Galen said. “I had wondered if Ice had assigned us this project as busywork to keep us around town.”
“I figured we’d check this out, and, if nothing was here, we’d go make ourselves useful helping the others on the African art thefts.”
“I didn’t realize when she said the two cases were close together in town that she really meant side by side. Or back to back is more accurate here.”
“I know,” Johan said, wandering around the small space that was their office for a week or so. “We’ve got this massive research facility down the block, and at the end of the block is the back end of the museum. The front of the museum opens onto one of the main city streets and has a huge cultural district area set before it. But the back end of it sure isn’t very far away from us here.”
“Connection?” Galen mused.
“Well, it’s hard not to see the potential for a connection,” Johan replied. “But that doesn’t mean it’s the one we’re thinking of. It could be anything. And it could be nothing.”
“Well, let’s get to work here and see if we can come up with anything useful.”
Just then came a knock on the door, and a tall skinny kid with wire frame glasses poked his head in. He wore Casual Friday attire, even on Mondays, it seemed. Johan noted his security pass affixed to his T-shirt pocket, yet the outer flap on his pocket protector hid most of his photo and his name. Not good security measures, Johan thought.
“Hey, I’m from IT. I heard I’m supposed to hook you two up.”
“Who did that come from?” Johan was testing the kid, just to be sure.
He laughed. “I got three requests, but all were the same. Edward sent me an email. James just tagged me in the hallway, and Joy called me.”
“Sounds good,” Johan said. “We need access to all the inventory management systems.”
He looked at him in surprise. “Is that all you need?”
“Not necessarily. What did Edward say to give us access to?”
The young man took a deep breath. “He said basically everything.”
“Good enough,” Johan said. “That’s what we need then.”
“Where are your laptops?” They pulled them out, and the IT guy quickly sat them down side by side and set them both up for access to the network. “Now you guys realize an awful lot of very sensitive information is here, correct?”
“Got it,” both men said smoothly.
The IT guy hesitated, and they just looked at him with blank faces. He sighed. “I get that an investigation is going on, but I want to make sure that everything stays secure. That’s my job, and, if things go off the rails, I’m the one who’ll get blamed for it.”
“Good point,” Johan said. “A very good point.”
“So what’s the deal then?”
“No deal,” Johan said. “If we run into any trouble, we’ll give you a shout.”
After that obvious dismissal, the young man hesitated, then nodded and left.
“Did you catch his name?” Galen asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” Johan said, “but, when he entered into the admin system, he used the name Pedro.”
“Good enough,” Galen said. Sitting down, he looked at the inventory management area on the screen and said, “You got any clue how to proceed?”
“Hell no,” Johan said. “But I guess it’s like the way we do our inventory. We go into the room and count.”
“Yeah, but that’s just an excuse for us to play, because our inventory is guns, ammo, grenades, and anything else in the line of toys that we might have stockpiled. Hell, we all want to do inventory back home.”
“I wonder if they do it the same way at Ice’s compound.”
“I wonder,” Galen said. “Because, man, this sucks. Paperwork is a pain in the ass.”
At that, Johan burst out laughing. “Well, we need to get a handle on it. Otherwise we’ll let Ice down. And we can’t do that.”
“Nope,” Galen replied. “It’s a hell of a deal between her and Bullard, isn’t it? I like traveling back and forth and switching out companies for a bit.”
“Don’t we all love that?” he said. “Don’t we all.”
They both fell to searching through the database.
“Johan, doesn’t everything look a little too clean and neat?” Galen asked after a few minutes.
“We haven’t had much time to check it over yet,” he said. “First thing I’m doing though is setting up bugs on these laptops to make sure nobody is tracking our progress through the databases.”
“Yeah, good idea,” Galen said.
“I’ve already worked my way through the internet and into the network, putting little trackers on her boss James. And Joy.”
“Interesting. Why Joy?”
“As the lowest on the totem pole, she’s the easiest to get blamed. She’s a new hire, sitting here, with access to everything. She’s pretty vulnerable.”
“Good point,” he said. “So are you sweet on her?”
“I’m not sweet on anybody,” Johan said.
“Too bad,” Galen said with a laugh. “Because, if you are sweet on her, then you should know that she’s interested.”
“And if I’m not sweet on her?”
“Well, then maybe I’ll get sweet on her,” Galen said.
Johan just stared at him.
Galen looked up, a big smile rippling across his face. “So you are interested?”
“No, I’m not,” Johan said in exasperation. “She put out a cry for help, and we’ve responded. That’s it.”
“So you haven’t noticed that she’s like five feet ten inches, maybe 125 pounds, with curves in all the best places? And that long blond hair? She dresses simply but with that classy attitude, and she’s got legs that never quit. What’s not to like?” Galen asked.
Caught off guard, Johan said, “Absolutely nothing.”
Galen laughed. “See? I figured you hadn’t missed out on seeing the important parts.”
“Doesn’t mean I’ll do anything
about it though,” Johan said begrudgingly.
“If you aren’t, I am,” Galen said. “So let me know, huh?”
Chapter 3
It was almost impossible for Joy to stay focused on her work. Not just because the two men were here—due to her call to Kai—but also because everybody appeared to be looking at her. Or maybe it was her imagination. It didn’t matter because it still felt like eyes were on her all day long. She kept glancing around the room.
Finally one of the other women, Phyllis, called her out. “What is your problem today?” she asked. “You’re so antsy.”
Joy shrugged. “Just a weird feeling of being watched,” she said with a frown. “I’ve never noticed it before today.”
“It’s probably because the board members are here,” Doris said with a laugh. “That always gives me the creeps.”
“I wouldn’t know them myself,” Joy said.
“I think three of them are here today. It’s putting everybody on edge,” Phyllis said from the other side of Joy.
Joy nodded and tried to refocus. She would have to stop turning around and looking everywhere; otherwise she’d call more attention to herself, and that was the last thing she wanted.
As she went through her databases, doing inventory and bringing up lists for the purchaser to be working on, she got a phone call. She looked at her cell phone, an unusual place for her to receive calls when at work, only to see it was from Kai. Instead of answering it, Joy hit Ignore, hoping Kai would get the message.
“Was that your new boyfriend?” Phyllis asked with a laugh.
“No new boyfriend,” she murmured. “The last one was enough.”
“Well, that’s the idea,” Phyllis said. “Your last one is supposed to be enough.”
It took her a moment to get it, and she chuckled. “But that one wasn’t it. Exactly.” She shifted through the stack of paperwork on the side, looking for her next priority.
“If you ever get through all that work,” Doris said, “I have more that you can help me out with too.”
“Good enough,” Joy said. “I’ll let you know when I get to the bottom of this.”
“It’s so great being at the bottom of the totem pole,” Phyllis said. “We get all the crap work.”
Joy didn’t say anything, but it was true. Still it was a job, and she was grateful to have it. She hadn’t been in town for very long, so this was paying the rent, while she looked for something in her field. In the back of her mind she played around with the idea of returning to school. She liked the idea of real estate too, but it was such an up-and-down job as far as income went, so it wasn’t something she could really count on.
Heavy footsteps in the hallway had all three women looking up expectantly, when a large male entered their room. Phyllis primped in front of him. Joy wondered where he found suits big enough for him. And in those flashy colors. Not that he was overweight, just taller and broader than most men. His tie clashed with his suit. His attire could give her a headache in about ten minutes. Hopefully he would be gone soon.
He looked at her idly and then turned to the other two. “I’m looking for Joy.”
Joy swallowed hard. “I’m Joy,” she said.
His gaze locked on hers, and he nodded. “In my office, please.”
Immediately she bounced up and said, “Of course, sir.” She stared at him in shock, then looked at her coworkers, who exchanged worried glances with Joy. And she followed him out. She had no clue who he was.
As he led her to the elevator without saying a word, she did her best to stay neutral and unconcerned at his side. But she had no doubt that this was major. She either had no job at the end of today—or even in the next five minutes—or it had something to do with the two men who were even now downstairs in a room close to hers.
When the elevator doors opened on the penthouse floor, he led her through to a large corner office. Now she realized that this really was a bigwig. He motioned at a chair and told her to sit. She sat.
He walked around, sat down in the big leather chair on the other side of his desk, crossed his hands in front of him and said, “I spoke with Edward.”
She nodded mutely.
He studied her for a moment. “Do you even know who I am?”
Immediately she shook her head.
He cracked a smile. “I guess what I should have done first was introduce myself,” he said. “I’m the one who started this company.”
Her breath let out with a whoosh. “Oh, hi.”
“My name is Barlow,” he said, “and you’re Joy. The latest addition to the company.”
She winced at that because such an odd note was in his voice that she wasn’t quite sure how to react to it.
“And apparently you may prove to be the most disruptive,” he said, but no humor was in his voice.
Her shoulders sagged. “I was just doing my job.”
“And that’s a good thing,” he said. “Yet you appear to have stirred up a hornet’s nest. I’ve had people through my office all day, complaining.”
“About me?”
“Some of it, yes,” he said with a laugh. “Your boss for one.”
“Oh,” she said, sagging in place. “So does that mean I’m fired?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Fired for doing your job? No,” he said. “Obviously you’ve created a disruption that we need to take a closer look at.”
She nodded, but, in her mind, she wondered how James, who she didn’t think was all that higher above her on the totem pole, had come to Barlow’s attention. “I guess he must be really upset with me if he came to you.”
“Well, you would think so, wouldn’t you?” he said, tilting his fingers under his chin. “And I thought it was kind of strange too.”
She stared at him in surprise. “In what way?” she asked cautiously.
“In the same way that I wouldn’t have expected something like that to be brought to my attention.”
“Of course not,” she said. “You have managers below you who take care of things.”
“And I’m not even sure what all is involved,” he said, “or at least I didn’t until I spoke with Edward.”
She just nodded, not sure what she was supposed to say.
“I looked at your résumé and your employee file,” Barlow said.
She took a slow cautious breath. “Oh,” she said. “I hope nothing there upset you.”
“No, not at all,” he said. “You have a long and eclectic history.”
She winced at that. “Originally an ER nurse but burned-out. In the last couple of jobs I was considered a troubleshooter,” she said, “not a troublemaker.”
He burst out laughing at that. “You were a manager for a company not too long ago and sorted out some major problems within the organization. Is that correct?”
She nodded. “But it’s not like I was trained for it. I just fell into the job, found some issues, and brought them up. The company was restructured to fix some of the problems.”
“Do you care to explain?”
She hesitated, then shrugged. “As long as I don’t give away any secrets, we’re fine,” she said with a smile. Then she explained how the process that the company ran had been extremely inefficient, causing several pinch points and problems within the system.
“If what you saw helped the company, then good for you.”
“Then they loaned me to another company,” she said in a quiet voice.
He smiled. “Did you help them too?”
She nodded slowly. “I did.”
“So then, why are you here?”
“Because all of that was in Boston,” she said, “and I decided that the Texas weather might suit me better.”
“Now that’s understandable,” he said. “So you’ve only been here in town a little while?”
“Three months,” she said.
“And this was the only job that you could get?”
“I didn’t have any business contacts locally, and I have rent to pay,” sh
e said. “So I did try to get jobs that were more closely aligned to the work that I used to do, but I don’t exactly have that job title per se, just the experience.”
“No, it’s not like you have process engineer or something as a title, do you?” he said with a questioning glance. “Any training or certifications in that field?”
She shook her head. “No, I think I’m just observant,” she said quietly.
“Well, it’s obviously a good skill to have but a little hard to market.”
“Exactly.” By now she was relaxed enough to be curious as to why he was grilling her, but, at the same time, she didn’t know what the outcome of this was supposed to be. “Am I in trouble?” she asked boldly.
“No, not at all,” Barlow said. “I did want to ask you just what you were doing after I saw your application form,” he said, “because we do have some issues here in the company, as you are already aware. And I was contemplating using some of your skills to help us solve some of them.”
She stared at him in surprise. “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. She’d sounded like a nitwit the entire time.
“And I also took it upon myself to contact a couple of your references.”
She stared at him in shock. “Normally that’s done before somebody’s hired.”
He chuckled, the waves of his silver hair rippled smoothly along his head, but she couldn’t decide if he was too smooth or just somebody who saw an opportunity and wondered how he could take advantage of it.
“You should be happy to know that your references are sorry to have lost you.”
“I’ve had several calls, wanting me back,” she said.
“That’s a huge compliment,” he said in surprise.
She shot him a grin. “I told them they could fly me back and forth if they wanted to keep me, or they could open up satellite offices, but I was not interested in dealing with the Boston weather on a daily basis anymore.”
“Both of which are potential options,” he said.
She nodded. “Yes, there were some discussions about it, but, as of yet, nobody had decided to take me up on it.”
“Well, that is to our advantage then,” he said smoothly. “So let me just think about this. I did want to ask you just what stuff you had dealt with before. I’m glad you told me,” he said, “and glad you’re not upset that I contacted your references.”
