Countermeasure (Countermeasure Series)

by Cecilia Aubrey

  When her mind tried to analyze the situation, she shut it down and refused to think too hard. Her blood warmed and a tingling in her clit caused her hips to move restlessly against him. It had been way too long since she’d last had intimate contact with anyone. Vowing to never have a deep relationship, she had allowed work to rule her life. Now, her body betrayed her, made her crave the physical contact she had avoided for so long.

  In search of relief, Cassandra maneuvered her hips so that Nathan became cradled between her legs. She then reached between them to wrap her hand around his erection.

  “Damn it, Cass, hold on,” Nathan breathed harshly. He shifted, reaching for the drawer of the nightstand and the foil packets stashed inside. With shaky fingers he ripped one open and made quick work slipping the condom over his cock. He slid her thong down her hips then gripped his cock and positioned it at her slit, rubbing the tip of his head along it.

  “Jesus. So many nights I have dreamed of this, Cass,” he gasped before he drove his cock hard and deep inside her, gripping her hips as he plunged into her again.

  Cassandra could feel him stretching her, and it pained her slightly because she wasn’t completely ready for him. With a grunt, Nathan’s body stiffened and trembled before pumping out of control. “God, Cass, I’ve wanted this for so long.”

  Cassandra was numb. She had no matching words to give him. It didn’t take him long to reach his release, leaving her unfulfilled. She shifted in discomfort and Nathan collapsed to the bed beside her. Unaffected, he rolled onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes. After a few moments, he squeezed her hand and he left to use the bathroom.

  Cassandra stared at the ceiling, disappointment and remorse filled her for giving in. It saddened her that even though initially her body craved the physical contact, her heart had never once become engaged.

  The bed dipped slightly when Nathan returned, but no words of love or pillow talk were exchanged. Eventually, the sound of shallow breathing broke into her awareness: Nathan was fast asleep. Rolling to her side, Cassandra pulled the covers over her and tried to escape into sleep, but her mind took over again.

  She knew that a relationship with Nathan would please Robert. She had also hoped this encounter would break the barrier around her heart so that she could look on Nathan as more than a friend, killing two birds with one stone. But it hadn’t. Years of reinforcing her heart against love while witnessing her father’s mourning may have proven just too strong.

  Chapter Four

  Jaded

  Allison Davis peeked out of her office, carefully checking the hall for late-nighters like herself. Not many scientists stayed around this late unless they were supervising some major trials on products closest to mass production, so it was not likely she would run into anyone. With the coast clear, she quietly slipped from her office and quickly walked to the main server room where the computers housing the trial data were located.

  She had methodically plotted her steps. Securing a username and password had been critical to the success of her plan. It had taken a little longer than she expected, since not many employees had full access to the Bristol project and the files she needed to copy. She knew persistence and patience would eventually pay off. That applied to the whole of her current goal.

  Steve Baylor had no idea she had seen and memorized his username and password when he had logged in that day to show her the data results they had received for one of the projects they were working on together. The ends justified the means, she convinced herself as she had looked over his shoulder. Steve was usually fairly cautious with the security of his credentials; she had been extremely lucky to find him frazzled and exhausted by sleepless nights with his newborn son.

  Her conscience pricked a little, but she was positive that Steve, who was now away on a much-needed vacation, would eventually be cleared of the breach, since he could prove he was out of town without access to their systems.

  As for her, she would be long gone before they discovered she had accessed the servers. Allison had no doubts they would. EXClinic had not skimped on their high-tech security and surveillance. She knew she had just one chance to get her hands on what she needed. She would have to be quick and skip town as fast as she could.

  Anybody who looked at her only saw the somber and reliable Allison Davis; they never saw the passionate person that she was underneath the white lab smock. And she was passionate. She had a deep-seated passion for human rights and was involved in many humanitarian projects. That was how she had found out about the promise of the drug being developed by Bristol Pharmaceuticals. She had been deeply disappointed to learn how the company planned to market the drug throughout the world.

  When she was first approached regarding the assignment, she had initially refused the offer. It had sounded like a capitalist trick, one company stealing from another to make more money. However, when the recruiter had disclosed the benefits of the formula and Bristol’s plans for it—to market it solely as a cosmetic drug—her anger had swelled, thinking of the many people who would be deprived of the fruits of such important research, which had the potential to cure their life-threatening illnesses. It was in that moment that she understood this was her chance to make things right, and so she’d changed her mind.

  That recollection still made her blood boil. Nobody had the right to withhold the information on what a drug could provide to those who were suffering. She was determined to make sure everyone in the world who needed it would have access to it.

  Her pulse raced as she crept to the sealed door and typed the username and passcode needed to access the room. She heard a low beep at the same time the light on the keyboard beside the door changed from red to green. Immediately after the light changed, a whizzing noise let her know the door was fully unlocked.

  There was no doubt in her mind that there would be some kind of investigation. The longer it took for them to find her trail, the better. She wouldn’t have a big head start, but leaving as little trace of her presence as possible would buy her a day or two.

  She was fairly certain Bristol would not involve the police. That would bring unwanted attention. They would be more concerned with the impact a leak to the media would have on their stock options. Instead, they would quite possibly hire private investigators who would keep their mouths shut and quietly track her down, or at least try.

  Allison had carefully planned her getaway. She was confident that they would not be able to find her until she was safely in a country with no extradition agreement with the United States. God, it felt good to finally make a difference in a big way. She could remember how thrilled she was to enter the pharmaceutical research field. When she had started working with EXClinic, she had been excited. Helping to ensure that trials ran smoothly for companies that—she had thought—were looking to cure the ills of the world.

  After years of working in the field, she learned the hard truth. Pharmaceutical companies didn’t care about those who were sick or in pain or praying for a miracle. Those companies were only interested in their bottom line. It all came down to money. She had become jaded.

  It made her sick at heart to know that those poor people who fell into the category of Orphan Diseases would potentially never see a cure. They didn’t have the numbers to persuade the companies into spending millions of dollars on research and development.

  Allison was snapped back to the present by the soft sound of the unlocking door. Before turning, she quickly pulled her sleeve down over her hand and wiped the keyboard clean, just like she had seen on TV. She had stepped into the shoes of Mata Hari, and that brought a smile to her face.

  So what if she was committing a crime? What if it was industrial espionage? The fact of the matter was, if she was successful, people who really needed the drug would have access to it for a fraction of what Bristol planned on charging for its new miracle cosmetic drug. In her mind, she was Robin Hood.

  Allison slipped inside the heavily refrigerated room and closed the door behi
nd her. The coldness of the room sent chills up her spine and goose bumps along her arms. Rubbing her arms to keep warm, she spotted the mainframes stacked side by side and the main computer terminal. She moved quickly to the computer, looking up to spot where the cameras were. To her surprise, she didn’t find any. With a frown she sat and unclasped the barrette holding her hair back. Retrieving the flash drive embedded in it, she inserted it into the USB port and pulled the keyboard closer so she could initiate the series of commands that would call up the files she wanted.

  The recruiter had been direct and specific regarding what she needed to turn over to him in Italy. He wanted, and was expecting, the whole thing—the specific compounds of the drug’s formula and all documentation associated with its current trials. She opened the file and confirmed that the day’s results were already in before she copied all the existing data from the folders into the flash drive. It was a lot of data. They would have to screen through it themselves, she thought while she waited for the files to transfer.

  Once she had done her part, she intended to move to Vietnam where she had already found a perfect job with a humanitarian foundation. She would be supervising inoculations and health care for the underprivileged there. Maybe one day she would be handing them the miracle drug she secretly helped to mass produce. That thought drove her to succeed.

  She finished the copy process, set everything as it was when she got there, cleaned all surfaces she had touched, and left the room—all added precautions to be sure she kept the lead she was counting on for her escape.

  She walked back to her office at an accelerated pace and grabbed the box she had stored with personal items she was not willing to leave behind. Small tokens of good memories she had brought to work and had pinned on her cork board, a couple of books, and a picture of her taken with her parents and her sister’s family. After turning the lights off, she took a long last look at the darkened room and walked away.

  Chapter Five

  The Breach

  A loud ringing jerked Cassandra awake. Realizing the sound belonged to her cell, she scrambled for her purse. Finding it by the chair beside Nathan’s bed, she pulled the cell out, saw the clock displaying 4:47 a.m., and answered the call. Before she could say anything, Matt’s panicked voice flowed out of the speaker.

  “Cass! Thank God I caught you!”

  “Matt? What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately wide awake and already searching for her clothes.

  Finding her top, she quickly pulled it on and held the cell back to her ear in time to hear Matt yell, “Code Red, Cass! It’s bad! EXClinic was breached. Data. Formula. All copied!”

  “Shit!” Cassandra said a little too loudly, waking Nathan, who lazily raised himself up on an elbow and watched her with a frown.

  “Who is it?” Nathan whispered.

  She lifted a finger to stall his questions as she wiggled into her skirt, holding the cell between her ear and shoulder. “Matt, you said you didn’t find anything on the continuous scan! Damn it! Where are my shoes?”

  Cassandra searched the floor and found one sticking out from under the bed and the other close by. While she slipped them on, Matt explained, “We were focusing on an external infiltration, and we had that covered, but the breach came from inside, Cass! The files were accessed by an unauthorized party at 12:20 a.m.” The anxiety in Matt’s tone clearly indicated the situation was critical.

  “What do you mean ‘unauthorized party’? We made sure only authorized personnel had access to the files.” Cassandra was stumped. The list of authorized employees wasn’t long. They had been screened and had cleared all background checks. What had she missed?

  “You need to see it with your own eyes. Get your ass over here!” His voice was frantic and gave her a visual of his face white as a sheet.

  “No shit, Matt. I’m on my way. If you haven’t called Jessie, do so now and tell her to get her ass moving.”

  Cassandra hung up and reached for her bag as a dressed Nathan joined her. She looked at him as she shoved her cell in her purse. “I have to go. The Bristol project I told you I was working on…it was infiltrated.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Nathan stated firmly.

  Time was slipping away, so she didn’t bother to argue. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  Cassandra’s voice was pure business as she stepped out into the hall and moved briskly to the bank of elevators. All the events of the past few hours pushed from her mind in light of the issues growing before her. First and foremost was her father’s disappointment when she informed him of the breach.

  Dreading the confrontation, Cassandra decided to get it out of the way now. She pulled her cell back out of her purse, scrolled to Robert’s number, and called him at home. Nathan reached her as the elevator doors opened. She merely glanced at him and saw him wince on hearing the words: “Sir, we have a situation.”

  ****

  Cassandra knew she was driving a bit recklessly, but her nerves were getting the better of her and she was anxious to find out what exactly had happened. Once again she had let her father down. Not only her father, but the reputation of the company he’d worked so hard to build. As she drove past the building where James Security Agency was located, she appreciated why her father had picked it for their headquarters.

  In the hub of the financial district, the building was secure, adding a layer of protection around the equipment and files holding client information and their customer-care center. The company had started as a small gig specializing in personal security, but over the years her father had branched out, offering not only security detail but also data security assurance, office security, and surveillance systems as part of his services.

  In addition to Matt and Jessica, a skeleton night crew would be on duty in the control room, monitoring the surveillance systems. Their proximity to the many businesses they monitored in the area gave them the ability to respond quickly to any security alarm.

  She pulled around to the alley behind the building, swiped her keycard across the security panel for the garage, and pulled in as soon as the door cleared the car. One perk of being Robert’s daughter was her twenty-four-hour clearance to his company’s building. Nathan followed Cassandra who, using her keycard once again, gained them access to the elevator. Cassandra was silent on the way up. She paced in the car and ran through the steps they would need to take to mitigate the disaster. Damn it! I thought we had everything covered.

  When they finally reached the fifth floor, Robert’s last words echoed in her head: Fix it, Cassandra. God, how she had felt like a little girl again having to tell him she’d screwed up. Fix it is what she intended to do, regardless of what it took.

  She breathed in deeply to center herself as they reached the computer room. When they walked in, frustration hung heavily in the air like a thick sticky fog. The servers on the racks against the far wall were blinking amber, red, and green, reminding her of Christmas lights gone wild. Matt sat in front of a series of flat-screen monitors, rolling from screen to screen with a crease on his brow and chewing on his lower lip.

  His disheveled shoulder-length hair had escaped out of the leather tie he used to keep it from his face. Where he appeared frantic, Jessica, on the other hand, was as calm as a smooth lake. In typical form, she had buckled down and shut out the world by shoving in her earbuds and cranking up the techno music. It was so loud Cassandra could clearly hear it from where she and Nathan stood a few feet away.

  Swiveling his chair, Matt let out a startled yelp as he made eye contact with Cassandra, “Shit, Cass! Next time yell or something. Damn it! Didn’t see you there.” He raised his eyebrow when he noticed Nathan standing behind her.

  “Matt, this is Nathan, an old friend from my CIA days.” When Cassandra turned to face Nathan, she noticed his narrowed eyes at the mention of her chosen words to introduce him. “Nate, meet our Boy Wonder.”

  Nathan chuckled as he approached Matt to shake his extended hand. “Boy Wonder?”

  A
grin cracked across Matt’s face. “Yeah, man. I’m the real deal.”

  Cassandra guffawed and rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He suffers from Big Head Syndrome.”

  Her grin slowly faded when the reality of what had occurred came crashing down. Walking over to Jessica she tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Jessica quickly pulled her earbuds free and gripped Cassandra’s hand. “Glad you’re finally here. Guess you won’t need a wakeup call today, huh?”

  A small smile crept up the corner of Cassandra’s mouth. “I guess not.”

  Jessica looked over at Nathan. “Hey, Nate. Nice to see you again.”

  Grinning, Nathan lifted his chin toward Jessica from where he leaned against one of the desks. “Jessie, always a pleasure.”

  Cassandra took a seat next to Jessica. “Okay, Matt. Bring me up to speed. What the hell happened?”

  “You’ll be scratching your head like me over this one, Cass. I got an automated page from the server. Set it up myself so that if there was even the slightest deviation or anomaly I would be notified. Anyway, I logged into the system from home to check it and saw that the server had been accessed. Up until now, all file activity had taken place during the day, so I decided to come in to take a closer look. I thought maybe the team in charge of the project might be working late. I wasn’t sure, but my gut told me something was really wrong. Once I got here, I found out no one with clearance to the files was working last night. Also, the credentials used to gain access to the server room had not been logged as coming in or out of the building.”

  Almost out of breath, Matt continued, “By the time I reviewed the contents of the key-logger I’d installed on the server, I realized the entire Morrígan project had been copied.”