by Robin Mahle
“Right, I remember. Can it wait till next week? Sorry for the short notice. I just don’t think I can swing it today. But you should go. I’m sure the other guys will be heading out to the links today anyway. Don’t miss out on playing hooky on my account.”
“Sure, yeah. Okay, man.” Owen seemed to stare directly through Jay’s eyes. “The deal can wait. We can reschedule for next week.”
“I appreciate that.” Jay smacked the doorframe. “Better get back to it, then. Have a great weekend and thanks again for the invite.”
He was back in his office, working on a thing that hadn’t been urgent at all, but he needed to have something going to keep up appearances. It was only a matter of time before Owen and their other colleagues left for the day and then Jay would get to the truth of the matter.
Only minutes later, Owen passed by his office, briefcase in hand. Jay looked away from his computer. “Take care, man. See you Monday.” A smile and a wave accompanied the empty salutation.
Owen nodded and continued down the hall.
Jay waited another thirty minutes, confirming the other sales people had made their way out for the day before taking a final glance into the hallway. All seemed quiet.
It would be foolish for Jay to consider any activity from his office. This was something that would have to be done anonymously and not from an IP address associated with his employer. If someone was going to go through the trouble of looking into his background, then turnabout was fair play.
He stepped inside Owen’s office for a quick look-around, not really knowing what he was looking for, and nothing stood out. Jay thought Owen was a friend and perhaps he was. Maybe Jay hadn’t given him the benefit of the doubt. What advantage would Owen have by stating any personal facts about Jay or his family? Still, the man had pulled the rug out from beneath him with regard to Nova Investments. They were a huge retail corporation with malls in nearly every major city in the US.
“Jay? What are you doing in here?”
He swung around at the voice that belonged to his manager. “Scott, hey. I was just looking for Owen actually.”
“He left with a few of the guys for the day. Headed to the golf course, I gather. I’m surprised you didn’t join them.” Scott always wore a smile on his face, irrespective of whether or not he was happy. In fact, the bigger the smile, the more trouble in which one might find himself.
“My plate’s pretty full, so I figured I’d do my best to wrap things up before the weekend.” Jay began to walk out of Owen’s office. “Got any big plans with the family?” He placed his hand on Scott’s shoulder and escorted him back into the hall with a cool, unflappable mien.
♦♦♦
Jay found himself standing in the hall of a run-down apartment building on the other side of town. He knocked on the door and waited with hackles raised by the sounds of a heated argument coming from another apartment at the end of the passageway. He’d traveled well outside his usual environment and began to grow wary of his surroundings. But this was where his buddy said he would meet him. Maybe Jay had become too much of a wuss for his own good. The sheltered surroundings he’d enjoyed these past few years left him attenuated to the realities of this world.
An old friend from college was whom he waited for now. Times had changed since his hacking days and while he tried to stay up to date with the latest technology, he knew he was still out of step, even in his line of work. Luckily, his buddy hadn’t “sold out,” as he’d so eloquently stated to Jay when he took the job at Argus, and still maintained his premier status in the world of hackers.
The door opened and, much to Jay’s surprise, his old friend, Aaron Hunter, stood before him, looking less like an anarchist and more like a businessman. “Aaron. Wow. Did you have an interview today?”
“Everybody’s got to earn a living, Jay. Come on in. It’s good to see you. What’s it been? A year, year and a half?” He stepped aside while Jay entered the small apartment that reeked of fast food. “I got a consulting gig for a small company that needs help setting up their systems.”
“That’s great, man. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. Have a seat.” Aaron motioned to the couch. “Sorry about the mess. Maid doesn’t come until tomorrow.” He winked an eye.
“No problem. Thanks for agreeing to meet. I’m sure my call caught you out of the blue a little bit.”
“Yeah, well, you sounded kind of desperate. What’s the deal?” He took a seat. “Lacy all right?”
“Oh yeah. It’s nothing like that. I just need some help looking into something.”
An inquisitive grin masked Aaron’s face. “Sounds interesting.”
“I don’t know how interesting yet, but I’ve been out of the loop for a while and I was hoping you could help me with getting in to the back door of Nova Investments.”
“Aren’t they the mall guys? Why they got you concerned?”
“It’s one guy in particular, but if I’m going to go in, I might as well go all in and see what they’re about. They’re a new client of ours.”
“Really? And you want to hack one of your own clients?”
“They aren’t really my client. One of my coworkers signed them up recently, but I’ve met with them before and I don’t know, I guess I just don’t get that warm, fuzzy feeling about them, you know?”
“Sure. I’ll help you out.” Aaron stood and walked toward a small desk on which his laptop rested. He opened the lid and booted it up.
Jay soon followed and stood next to him. “You plan on accessing it through TOR?”
“I’m impressed,” Aaron began. “And a little surprised you’re still at least somewhat up to speed on these things.”
“I do work in cyber security.”
“Right; security.” He chuckled. “The Onion Router isn’t something you’d use on a daily basis, but, yeah, that’s the best way for me to go in unseen. It will route me through servers all over the world and go through several random relay nodes, so it can be slow as shit, but it’ll keep me anonymous. Then I can see what kind of systems they’ve got.”
Jay checked the time. “How long you think this’ll take?”
“Don’t know. You in some kind of rush?”
“Just wanted to get back home before the missus arrived.”
Aaron continued typing commands in to his laptop, swerving and dodging usual internet protocols until reaching his final destination; Nova Investments’ email server. “What’s the guy’s name?”
“Tom Neville,” Jay began. “His email address is tneville at novainc dot com.”
Aaron typed in a few more commands and, in a flash, a screen with several emails appeared on his laptop. “I’m in. What are we looking for here?”
“Anything relating to me, specifically, or Argus Solutions in general.” Jay widened his stance and folded his arms, waiting for evidence of Tom Neville’s deceit. Once he could prove they ran an illegal background check on Lacy, or him, for that matter, he would take it up with his manager. And if it meant Owen was aware, he could lose his commission and probably his job.
Aaron ran a search to include the criteria and several emails were highlighted. Jay leaned in to get a better look. With his index finger, he pointed to one. “Can you open that up?”
A single click was all it took to reveal what Jay had already suspected. Except that there was something more. “What the hell?” He looked to Aaron. “Am I reading that right?”
Aaron looked over his shoulder at Jay. “I think you got a situation here, man.”
4
Exhaust from his idling car drifted forward to the driver’s side and caught Jay’s eye. He glanced at the white, steamy cloud as it floated by, pondering what he’d just seen at Aaron’s place. He looked to the passenger seat where his carrier bag rested. Inside was a flash drive that contained the damaging evidence. Aaron copied the emails onto the drive for him to use as he saw fit. Problem was, Jay didn’t know what was fit for
him to do.
His phone was propped up inside one of the cup holders in the center console. Jay wanted to call Lacy, but he knew she was busy with work. Not only that, he couldn’t be sure what to say to her in any case. He needed to think about this.
The information would be scandalous and would cost Argus Solutions dearly, meaning it would also cost Jay and his family dearly. The company would lose most, if not all of its clients and Jay would definitely lose his job, even if he had not been the one responsible. He would still have to account for how he received the information.
Tom Neville was running background checks on everyone at Argus. That alone wasn’t the cause for Jay’s distress. It was that Neville had inside help from Argus. Help that not only allowed them to conduct such reprehensible invasions of privacy against the staff, but also Nova’s competitors, including the Dalian corporation, his own client. And now Jay had a choice to make. One that would require in-depth consideration for all the lives that would be affected by his disclosure.
He pulled the gearshift into drive and headed onto the highway. He needed time to think; time to be alone and consider his course of action. A sign ahead grew larger as Jay drew nearer. Twenty minutes from home, he knew this sign and had passed it almost every single day. Fairfax Fashion Square. The largest mall in the county and it happened to be owned by Nova Investments.
The idea that he needed to go there burrowed in his mind. Perhaps an answer would come to him if he stood inside their flagship mall, or maybe it was just that he needed more time before bringing the situation to Lacy’s attention. The exit ramp approached and he veered right. The massive retail mall sat on over 150 acres of prime Virginia real estate. It was a relic of a business model struggling to survive in the digital age. Perhaps gaining insight into the plans of their competitors was the reason Neville and Ballard took it upon themselves to commit what amounted to corporate espionage in Jay’s mind.
The main entrance was just ahead and Jay pulled into the nearest parking spot. He stared at the backlit sign, beautifully crafted in iron and masonry, elegant in its enormity. What could he do? A deep breath and his eyelids fell shut for a moment. He would clear his head from thoughts of losing his job and taking down a company to which he owed so much. His status, his money; all of it was owed to Argus Solutions.
Jay stepped out of his car into the temperate early evening air and squinted at the fading sun. He still had some time before Lacy would be home and he would buy her something nice. Something that might soften the blow when the time came. And who knew if he would have the money to buy her anything nice again.
He pressed the remote to lock his Mercedes. As he watched the headlights flash, signaling that it was now secure, he realized just how much debt they were in. It hadn’t occurred to him before because the money flowed into their bank account with increasing speed, but how easily that could all change if the spigot was turned off.
Jay arrived inside the great marbled entrance that showcased a sophisticated space full of high-end retailers, the likes that could be found along Rodeo Drive. He hoisted his carrier bag higher on his shoulder as it began to slip from his suit jacket and walked toward the jewelers. He would get Lacy something nice.
“Good evening, sir. May I help you?” A slender, attractive young woman with billowing curls of jet-black hair stood poised behind the glass counter.
“Yes, thanks. I was looking for a pair of diamond earrings for my wife.”
“Of course, right over here.”
Jay followed alongside the woman and noticed her blouse puckered a little at her breasts, revealing a tantalizing black bra beneath. He quickly averted his eyes to avoid detection.
“I have a pair of lovely two-carat each, round cut earrings with exquisite clarity right here.” And she went right for the jugular.
Jay looked at the large diamond earrings and noted there was no price tag and remembered the saying that if one had to ask, then one couldn’t afford. Still, what did it matter right now? Everything was about to change and if he wanted to get Lacy these much too expensive earrings, what difference could it make? She deserved something beautiful and he knew that lately they’d begun to drift apart. Both so busy with work; neither trying particularly hard to make a course-correction. “I’ll take them.” A smile appeared as he withdrew a credit card from his wallet.
“So these are for your wife?”
Coquettish to say the least, and it was a feature she could easily produce.
“Yes.”
“Anniversary gift?”
“No. Just a nice surprise, I hope.” Jay signed the receipt and collected the bag with the box that cradled the eight-thousand-dollar earrings.
“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled, sir. Have a lovely evening.”
Jay tilted his head in acknowledgement and began to leave the store. With his carrier bag still on his shoulder, he unzipped the side flap and tucked the bag inside. He stopped and turned to his left. A Starbucks was just ahead and he needed a good strong coffee right now.
Making his way further inside the mall, Jay noticed how busy it was, then recalled that it was a Friday night and a clear evening. That might account for the heavy foot traffic that he was now forced to navigate for a coffee he considered might not be worth the effort.
It was in that moment Jay began to hear raised voices in the distance. People looked past him and turned their shoulders because they’d heard it too. He raised to his tiptoes for a better view and could see nothing except more people. Some were beginning to run toward him. Jay’s pulse climbed quickly and his head grew light when he began to decipher the words coming from those who were running.
“Bomb! There’s a bomb! Run!” A man whose face was white and glistened with panic rushed past Jay.
Terror began to erupt around him. People screamed and ran, dropping their bags. Some grabbed their children’s hands, some froze in place. Jay was one of those people. His feet wouldn’t move, though he tried with all his strength. Run, Jay. You have to run. The voice in his head demanded he run, but Jay noticed a boy. He was alone and crying. No one was stopping to help and God only knew where his parents were.
He had to get the boy, except the boy was deeper inside the chaos; closer to this bomb they shouted about. But Jay couldn’t let him die. The boy looked to be the same age as his own son. The bag slipped from his shoulder and fell to the ground, and Jay ran to the crying child. People began to trample and kick the bag.
No matter now, he had to save this child and crucial seconds were passing and there was no time to worry about material things. He reached the boy and swept him up into his arms. “I’ve got you. It’s okay.” Jay turned to run again when the sound of the explosion pierced his ears. The heat and energy from the blast propelled them several feet, smashing them into the wall of the elevator. They fell to the ground.
His body felt like it was on fire, but he didn’t see any flames. The boy was still beneath his arm. Jay didn’t know if he was alive. He wasn’t sure he was even alive except that the sounds around him still filled his head. The screams. Smoke lingered in the air above him, thick and black. Jay was fading fast and as he looked down he realized his injuries might prove too much. Blood pooled all around them, but he couldn’t be sure if it was from him or the boy. Perhaps it was both. His vision darkened and his eyes closed.
♦♦♦
Lacy held Jay’s hand as he lay on the gurney, still unconscious. The doctors and nurses pushed the gurney along the corridor until they reached the operating room.
“Ma’am, you’ll need to stay here. I’ll have one of the nurses give you an update as soon as we know something.”
She stared at Jay’s battered and burned face and had only just arrived as they began to prepare him for surgery. They thought they’d stopped the bleeding but his abdomen swelled and turned purple. They had to open him up now.
“Ma’am! I need you to step aside, please,” the doctor said.
; Lacy released his hand and Jay’s fingers slipped through hers. They disappeared behind the doors while she stood helpless until startled by hands that grabbed her shoulders.
“Why don’t you come with me, ma’am? I’ll show you to the waiting room.” A petite nurse with a compassionate face led Lacy to the waiting room. She was not alone. The hospital was overtaken by casualties from the explosion.
The faces around her revealed the devastation. Swollen eyes, stained cheeks, shocked expressions. And they were all waiting to hear of their loved ones, just as she was. Lacy lowered herself onto the chair and turned her head up to the television. The dark skies made it difficult to see the full breadth of damage, but fires still burned and red and blue lights flashed at the scene. News reporters were broadcasting live while the anchors tried to find words to convey the destruction.
“We don’t know how long it will take the firefighters to put out the blaze,” one reporter on scene began. “And as you can see behind me, they’ve set up a triage for the injured. Marc, back to you at the studio.”
She turned away from the television. It was surreal and she had to remind herself that it was really happening and it wasn’t just a nightmare. Lacy worked with the probability of a terrorist attack on a daily basis, though the officials hadn’t uttered those words yet, but it never occurred to her that it could happen here, just down the road a few miles from her home.
When the news first broke, only minutes after the explosion, Lacy had just arrived home. An alert sounded on her phone and she immediately dialed Jay’s line, but he didn’t answer. Nor did he answer his office line and she became worried. He had no reason to be at the mall and she tried to remember that. But when she called again, still with no answer, she began to fear the worst. The app on her phone would tell her his last known location and so she tried it. The little blue blip on the map showed he had been at the mall.