by Suzy Shearer
Chapter Nineteen
“Jess. Glad I caught you.” Aiden’s voice sounded strained.
“Aiden! I didn’t expect to hear from you until tonight. You sound upset.”
“Something’s happened. Look someone’s trying to blackmail the company. They’ve hacked into the secure computers and downloaded sensitive information.”
“What? When?”
Aiden went on to explain that he had just received an e-mail demanding millions. The e-mail had a picture attached showing someone’s hand holding part of the plans of a new engine the company was working on designing.
Convinced that his computers were now secure he had assumed the only ones who could hack in was someone in Jessica’s office.
“I’m sorry, Jess, but how can anyone else get in? Your company put all the bells and whistles in. You told me no one should be able to break in without a hell of a lot of work.”
“I understand that, Aiden, but I can assure you no one here has hacked you.”
“I hope you’re right. This…person wants millions. Jess, please, are you sure none of your staff had hacked in?”
“My staff? My staff are honest, not one of them would ever betray the company like that. I resent that you immediately assume it’s one of us!”
“I’m not blaming you, Jess, but no staff member is beyond suspicion.”
“I’m sorry, Aiden, but if that’s the way you’re thinking, it’s totally wrong. The hacker is not from here.”
Jessica was getting angry. That Aiden would accuse one of her staff of hacking into his company and then demand he pay millions was ridiculous. She could understand his anger and frustration, but he wasn’t even considering any other answer. It was someone from her company as far as he was concerned.
“Jessica, you need to check your staff!”
“My god, Aiden! Listen to yourself. You’ve made up your mind that the leak was from here. You are way off ball!”
“No, Jess, you’re blind to the fact that one of your staff members may be an illegal hacker and a blackmailer!”
“That does it! I don’t want to talk to you! Go!”
Jessica could feel tears welling up. She couldn’t believe he would be like this. The worst part was she was miles away. This damn conference was on for another three days. She had a scheduled lecture to give in the morning.
“Stop being childish, Jess.”
“Childish? You’ve just accused my company of industrial espionage and you expect me to just accept it? I won’t, because you wrong and I’ll damn well prove it! Good-bye.” She went to hang up, but she could hear Aiden take a breath to say something. “Oh, and if that’s what you believe, then I think we need to reconsider our engagement.”
With that, she hung up.
A few seconds later, the phone rang again but she cut it off. She quickly dialled Carl’s number and told him what had happened.
“Jess, you don’t believe it was one of us?”
“Of course not, but we need to find out who it is. This could ruin us.”
“Okay, I’ll get on it. What do we know?”
“Apparently, Aiden received an e-mail with a picture of someone holding up part of the plans for a new engine. They threatened to sell it to the highest bidder if he doesn’t pay five million by five o’clock tomorrow. You need to log onto my computer. Aiden has sent a copy of the e-mail and the picture to me. I can’t get away from here until at least tomorrow afternoon.” She thought for a minute. “Maybe I should cancel and come back.”
“That’s okay, Jess. I’ll handle it. I’ll get everyone on it straight away. Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”
“Oh, I hope so, Carl. This…oh Carl, this is awful.”
“Hush, Jess, I promise it will all be fine. You know we have the best team in the business. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks. Leave messages on my phone. I have to go now but as soon as the lecture finishes tomorrow I’ll get a flight back.”
“Hopefully we’ve figured it out before then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Jessica hung up her phone, she was worried. It was bad enough that Aiden would think it was her staff, but if word got around, her whole business could crash.
Damn, Aiden! Surely he could trust her?
The threatened tears fell. She looked down at the engagement ring on her finger. Please, she prayed please let this be okay.
She glanced at her watch. She would have to go inside, the next lecture was due to start and she was on the question and answer panel. She went into a bathroom and washed her face. Somehow she’d have to get through this. Her phone kept buzzing. It was Aiden, trying to get her to answer. She switched it to silent and stuck it in her pocket.
How she made it through the rest of the afternoon was beyond her, but somehow she did. Finally at six, the panel was dismissed and she almost ran to her room. Looking at her phone, the first things she saw were dozens of text messages from Aiden. Amongst them were a few from Carl. There were also fifteen voicemail messages from Aiden and two from Carl. She listened to Carl’s.
The first one was telling her he had the e-mail and they were studying it.
Then next was from half an hour ago.
“Found! You won’t believe who it was. Ring me when you can.”
She quickly dialled his number.
“Carl?”
“Jess. You got my message.”
He laughed. Jessica thought if he could laugh, then maybe it was good news.
“Yes, what’s happened?”
“It was one of Aiden’s employees.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“When we looked at the e-mail, Wilson said he was sure the picture of the plans was actually a screenshot. All you saw was part of an engineering plan and a thumb holding it. When he blew it up, you could see a slight reflection in places and down the bottom was the top part of a number. Turns out the guy had called the plans up on his computer. Put his hand over the top as if he was holding it and taken a picture then kind of cropped it. The part of the number was the computer ID. Remember how we made Aiden put them on each computer?”
“But why? I don’t understand. Aiden pays his employees way above the award wages, they have great benefits.”
“The guy was pissed off because someone else got appointed above him. They’d both gone for the same position, but he’d been there a lot longer than the other person and it was a female. He decided he’d get a bonus by blackmailing Aiden.”
“Have you told him?”
“Been there most of the afternoon. Once we figured it out, I went there and showed him our evidence. Got him to lock down the security section and call the cops. The dumb guy was working away, said he thought if he didn’t turn up, it would look suspicious.”
“So he admitted it?”
“Yeah, sang like a canary. Once we showed him the evidence, he wouldn’t shut up.”
“Oh, Carl. How can I ever thank you?”
“Hey, it was Wilson.”
“I don’t care who it was, you’re all wonderful! When I get back we all going to dinner, and I’m going to buy Wilson all the doughnuts he can eat for the rest of the month.”
“Jess, Aiden said he couldn’t contact you. He’s panicking, said you called off the engagement.”
“Carl, I was so angry with him. How could he just assume it was us?”
“Come on, Jess, give the guy a break.”
“A break!”
“Yes, imagine how you’d react if someone tried to blackmail you after hacking into your computers. Remember we told him they were virtually unhackable.”
“I guess so. But to blame us?”
“When I saw him, he had changed his mind. Told me he just panicked and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Said he tried to ring and apologise a minute after you hung up but you wouldn’t answer your phone.”
“Well, I’m still angry.”
“Ring him, Jess.”
“I’ll ring him later. H
e can sweat!”
Carl laughed and they said good-bye and hung up. Jessica glanced at the time. Almost twenty-five past six. She’d be late if she didn’t get a move on.
But Jessica sank onto the bed. She felt such relief. Thank goodness it had been sorted out quickly. She knew she should ring Aiden back, as they had both jumped and reacted wrongly. Her phone vibrated in her hand, she glanced down—more messages from Aiden.
She smiled to herself. He’d increased the phone messages, text messages, and phone calls. She saw there were at least another dozen messages from him as well as a few texts. All had come through in the past ten minutes.
She’d ring him after the formal dinner, too late to do it now, she needed to spend time discussing it all. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and she was sorry. Already she would be late and she wanted to talk everything through with him rather than just a hurried message.
When she got downstairs, if they hadn’t started the dinner, she’d send him a text telling him she would ring him later tonight. Tell him she loved him.
She looked out the window. The storm that had building up all afternoon had finally arrived with a vengeance.
She quickly picked up her bag and pushed her phone into it. She ran a comb through her hair and used the toilet, then left the room. It had gone six-thirty. Waiting at the lift, she thought she felt a tiny shudder.
The doors of the elevator opened and she entered, pushing for the ground floor where the dining room was. She watched as the numbers ticked past. A few seconds and the ground lit up. The elevator stopped and she waited for the doors to open.
Suddenly, the lights flickered.
The elevator tilted.
A loud roar, then the lights went out and she felt the elevator carriage cant to one side as she slid and fell. She could hear screaming and falling masonry.
What was happening?
She went to stand but as she did, the elevator tilted even more as part of the ceiling fell down, hitting her head and pinning her leg. It knocked her unconscious, pinning her tightly to the floor.
* * * *
“I’ve blown it, Gray.”
“How?”
“She hung up on me after telling me we needed to reconsider our engagement.”
He looked at Gray sitting opposite him. He’d gone over to his house once the mess had been sorted. When he went over the phone conversation with Jess, he realised how stupid he’d been, but he just hadn’t been thinking straight. He shook his head.
“She won’t even answer my calls. Carl would have told her what happened. She won’t even text me. What am I going to do without her?”
Gray looked over at the man who was to be his son-in-law. Aiden knew he was delighted that Aiden and his daughter had fallen in love and repeatedly told Aiden so. He and Aiden had built up a good friendship over the years that had first started with mutual respect. Aiden knew that a few times he’d tried to get Jess to meet Aiden but she had dug her heels in.
“Knowing Jessie, she’ll come around. She loves you, Aiden. Maybe she’s just making you sweat.”
“I hope so. I love her so much.”
Aiden looked over at Gray. All at once he noticed that he didn’t look good. He’d been so wrapped up in his sorrow that he hadn’t really looked at his friend.
“Gray! What’s wrong?”
“Don’t feel too good. Been feeling funny all afternoon and now I have this pain.”
“Hell, Gray! Pain? Where?”
Gray ran his hand down his side as he did a look of agony flashed across his face and he groaned.
“God, Aiden, it’s getting worse!”
“Sit there!”
Aiden stood and pulled out his phone. He quickly dialled an ambulance as he did he saw Gray almost curl up into a ball. Aiden was terrified Gray was having a heart attack.
“The pain.” He groaned. “Stop the pain! Feel sick.”
Aiden grabbed an ice-bucket that was on the nearby cabinet and held it under Gray’s head as the man began vomiting. Aiden shouted for Mrs. Alexander.
She came rushing in. She hesitated when she saw Gray, her face blanched as she stumbled against the door.
“Isabella, I’ve called an ambulance. Quick, go out the front and tell my driver, Peter, to direct them in here.”
The woman sped from the room. In the distance, Aiden could hear a siren, getting closer and closer.
“Hang on, old friend. Hang on.”
Another bout of pain wracked Gray’s body. He was alternating vomiting and almost screaming. Aiden heard voices then two paramedics came rushing in, followed by Mrs. Alexander. Aiden quickly told them what had happened.
They took Gray’s temperature and blood pressure as he lay writhing in agony.
“He has a fever. How long have you felt ill?”
“Hours. Bad pain,” Gray whispered. They set him onto a stretcher and wheeled him out to the ambulance. Aiden followed.
“I’m coming, this is my father-in-law.”
Aiden called to Peter to follow with the car.
Gray grabbed his arm. “Tell Isabella, tell her… damn!”
Gray writhed again as another surge of pain hit him.
Aiden went to Mrs. Alexander. She was on the verge of tears, standing close to the ambulance. He took her hand.
“Isabella, I’ll ring you, I promise. You know how much he loves you. He’s going to be all right.”
She searched his face. “Just bring him home to me, bring him home soon.”
“I will.” He promised as he climbed into the front seat of the ambulance. They sped off, sirens blaring through the streets. Aiden was terribly worried that Gray was having a heart attack and Jessica wouldn’t know. He kept trying to ring her, but she must have had her phone off or else she was ignoring his calls. Regardless, he would keep trying, leaving messages for her.
They got to the emergency department, and Aiden glanced at his watch. It was after six thirty and he followed the stretcher as Gray was wheeled inside. Within a minute ,he was surrounded by medical staff as the paramedics handed over their notes.
The next ten minutes were a blur as staff poked and prodded Gray. They call for a portable ultrasound and then two doctors studied the results. One came over to Aiden.
“They said you’re his son?”
“Yes, son-in-law.” Aiden had no intention of telling them that he and Jess weren’t yet married. He needed to know what was happening with his friend. “Is he going to be all right?”
“Yes. He has a kidney stone. It’s moving down the urinary tract. We’ve put him on some anti-inflammatory drugs and pain killers. Also given him something to stop his vomiting.”
“But he’ll be okay, won’t he?”
“Certainly. We’ll monitor him to make sure it passes through. Now that he’s had some pain relief, it won’t be as bad.”
“Thank you so much. I thought he was having a heart attack. Can I speak with him?”
“Of course.”
Aiden moved over to Gray. He was looking frail and the ravages of the attack had left his face drawn and haggard. Gray held out his hand. Aiden squeezed it.
“Thanks.”
He whispered. Aiden shook his head.
“Bloody scared me, old man!”
“Scared myself.”
They grinned at each other. Another doctor came over and fussed over the medications.
“Right, sir. Things should start improving. We’ll keep a close eye on you. It could take anything up to forty-eight hours for the stone to pass, but I have a feeling that now it’s moving, it won’t take long. In the morning we’ll have a renal specialist talk to you.”
“Thanks. So this should all be okay?” He grunted through his pain.
“Yes, you’ll be fine.”
Gray looked at Aiden.
“Will you ring Isabella? She’ll be so worried. Maybe this will make her change her mind and marry me.”
“About time.” Aiden laughed.
T
he poker club knew all about Mrs. Alexander and liked her immensely. Gray had confided in Aiden a few years back that he proposed to Isabella on a regular basis, but she kept refusing him, saying she wasn’t good enough.
“Have you got through to Jessie yet?”
“No. I thought she was just ignoring my calls. I’ve left text and phone messages for her.” He looked down at the message on his screen. “But now it’s strange. For the past ten minutes or so it says there’s no service in the area. That’s really weird.”
The doctor looked over and casually spoke. “As long as she isn’t in Brownsville.”
“What?” Aiden grabbed him. “What do you mean?”
The doctor looked frightened, Aiden had his fists bunched in the man’s white coat.
“The tornado,” he stammered. He looked from Aiden to Gray. “You didn’t hear? There’s been a tornado in Brownsville. Just after six thirty. Details are sketchy because the mobile towers are gone. Came out of the blue, there was no warning to the residents. They don’t normally have tornadoes.”
Aiden dropped his hands. He looked at Gray, sure his face mirrored his.
“Find her, Aiden. Find my little girl!”
“I will.” He pulled out his phone and called Peter to meet him out the front.
“Damn, my ’copter’s being serviced.”
“Take my jet Aiden, it will get you there quicker than your Cessna and I’ll get Bob to pilot it for you so you won’t have to worry about anything.”
“Thanks, Gray, good idea.”
Gray gestured for Aiden’s phone. He quickly dialled a number.
“Rob? Gray. You need to get the jet ready and flight plans logged yesterday. My daughter’s in Brownsville. Aiden’s going to find her for me.”
He handed the phone back. Aiden nodded and shoved it into his pocket.
He took Gray’s hand again. “I’ll find her Gray. I promise.”
Gray’s eyes filled with tears. “Find her and bring her back to me Aiden. I can’t lose her again.”
“I will.”
With that, he turned on his heel and raced from the building.
Chapter Twenty
Aiden tried unsuccessfully to get through to Jessica’s number. With each failure, his fears rose higher and higher. The jet had been easily cleared for takeoff and they would be landing in about twenty more minutes. He’d rang a friend in the next town and arranged for him to meet them at the airport. It was about eight or ten minutes’ drive from the airport to the city. Sal promised would drive Aiden into Brownsville.
