"Harpers & Hill and Trend Magazine have entered you into their top-ten global men edition."
"Since when am I so popular with them?"
"Since they recently polled their readers on who is the most successful CEO they'd like to marry. It seems you may actually have a shot at winning; at least that's what it says in the memo they sent."
"Ah ha! Progress in matrimony, no less."
"Something like that, but we both know how terrifying the concept of marriage must be for you, but nonetheless, we've more media to go. Earlier this week I tried to get as much done as I could because I won't be able to log on to the system for the rest of the week."
"Who said I'm disagreeable to marriage?"
"Well, I just figured after your first one with Nina..."
"Elizabeth, if you want to know how I feel about something, just ask me. With you, I can be honest."
Now that the topic of marriage had been touched upon, Elizabeth felt hopeful about the future of her relationship with Jared. Although she'd kept her concerns private, she'd promised herself this would be the day she'd received an answer. Pleased with the result, Elizabeth moved on to her other concerns for the day.
"Have you followed Sterling's memo?"
"Yep. Done."
"Well, I still have mine to do and only an hour left. So, if you don't have anything further to add, please excuse me,” Elizabeth said and rose from her seat.
"Of course. See you for dinner, tonight."
Elizabeth smiled to herself. Jared had promised to cook dinner, no doubt trying to impress her with his culinary talent and later on with his other skills. He'd even gone to the trouble of giving Mandalay two nights off in a row so they'd be completely alone.
"I'm sure I'll be starving by then."
"So will I. Hurry along and I'll see you then,” Jared said. He lightly patted her rear while he held the door as she exited his office.
Back at her office and pressed for time, Elizabeth turned on her computer. While she watched the start-up program go through the usual series of checklists, something strange caught her eye.
On the screen there was a flashing windowpane, a small box containing instructions for her to go directly to her email inbox for an important message. Since this had never happened before, Elizabeth was curious and clicked on the link inside the pane. Suddenly, she was redirected to her mailbox, the important message listed at the top without a return address. When Elizabeth double clicked on it, she found it odd that it was left blank inside. In addition, she noticed that her inbox had also accumulated over two hundred messages in nearly two days since she'd last cleared them. Since it was too much of a chore to open them individually or see where they were from, in the end Elizabeth opted to delete them all, figuring the majority were probably advertisements, since only a few colleagues had her email address.
Next, she moved on to the tedious process of backing up her system and program files and then copying them onto a flash drive so her work would be stored safely. As she ran through the steps of this procedure Elizabeth noticed how the computer's processing speed slowed considerably. What should have taken fifteen minutes at best was turning into a fifty minute downloading exercise in boredom. But, she knew she had no choice but to stay put and complete the task. Two hours later, she began to panic. Something wasn't right. Only three quarters of the program files were downloaded; if she canceled now she'd lose those files.
Moments later, some strange sounds in the distance interrupted her thoughts. At first the siren was eerie sounding and misplaced. Elizabeth assumed it was probably some event taking place outside the building or perhaps around the neighborhood. The searing sound penetrated the wall so easily; she could imagine several fire engines sweeping past the building. What occurred next was something she couldn't imagine ever happening to her in a million years.
The incident happened quickly. Several uniformed security officers burst into her office, flashed their badges and pointed their weapons at her, pinning her at her desk.
"Put your hands up, now!” A burly officer shouted while the others surrounded her.
Elizabeth was stunned, her heart racing a mile a minute as she quickly got up from her seat. Unable to defend herself, she stood there frozen, mute and dumbfounded.
The men wasted no time searching her and seizing evidence: confiscating her computer, purse and valise. Before she knew it, her hands were handcuffed behind her back and an officer was tugging her along into the hallway. Since most employees had already gone for the day, luckily no one saw her as they lead her to the elevator.
Once the door closed, Elizabeth finally located her vocal cords. “Where are you taking me?"
"Where do you think?” The captain of the squad replied, smirking while he pressed the button for the lobby.
"There's got to be a mistake. I haven't done anything.” Elizabeth cried.
"Hacking into a company's site and then breaching an entire corporate network system qualifies as something. You'd better believe the system was rigged. The minute someone tampers with it we get the tip-off,” the captain replied. Leaning in closer to a fellow officer, he whispered, “This one's got a sense of humor."
"Wait! I need to make a call."
"There will be plenty of time for that down at headquarters. Now, move it!"
Fearful of what might happen if she resisted, Elizabeth did as she was told as they led her through the lobby and out the front doors.
[Back to Table of Contents]
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The phone rang several times before Jared was able to answer it. His hands were full with a heavy roasting pan. He placed it back in the oven and adjusted the temperature so that the succulent London broil he'd been basting wouldn't dry out before time Elizabeth arrived. He couldn't imagine what had caused her to be late.
"What's taking you so long?"
"Jared."
It's was Sterling. He sounded upset and anxious.
"The entire network's been breached. The police notified me a few minutes ago."
"How bad is it?".
"Some of the recent product development data is missing; the stuff we haven't released, yet. I have a few techs trying to salvage what they can, but it doesn't look good."
"Shit!"
"That means that next quarter we won't have anything new on the market. How can I explain to the development team that all their hard work just went up in smoke?"
"Do the police have any clues?"
"They're holding the main suspect for questioning."
"Who is it?"
"Someone you know..."
As the pause grew longer, Jared's mind raced through a list of acquaintances and colleagues; relationships that sometimes had bordered on jealousy. Envious people he'd been able to identify in the past; those who would be happy to see Bentley Industries suffer a major setback or fail. But no one specific came to mind.
"Closer to home,” Sterling hinted.
When the answer popped into his head, Jared knew he needed to leave his suite as soon as possible. “Where is she?"
"She's being detained by the authorities."
During the ride over to the police station, Jared had that sinking feeling that had plagued him since he'd learned of the breach. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't avoid thinking of the worst case scenario. Even if she was completely innocent, Elizabeth's involvement would leave his judgment; his insistence on hiring her, under heavy scrutiny by Nina and the other board members. Jared held no illusions that when his ex-wife learned of the incident, she would use it as an excuse to terminate Elizabeth and then gather support for him to resign, thus gaining control of the remaining shares. Nina would viciously go on the attack.
Although, Sterling had given his word he'd remain silent on the matter until a corporate meeting had been called, realistically Jared knew the futility of that happening. Once Nina's interrogation process had begun, she'd never stop until Sterling relinquished the information she needed.
/> As part of his defense, it was vital to uncover the culprit. As the limousine pulled up alongside the curb and Jared stepped out of the vehicle, his heart raced and beads of perspiration formed along his brow. Oh, God, he prayed that the hacker behind the security breach wasn't Elizabeth. But then, again, how could he be sure?
Elizabeth was frightened when she glimpsed him through the bars of the holding cell. Her eyes couldn't hold his curious gaze. She turned her back towards him in shame as the guard opened the door, stepped inside and methodically un-cuffed her hands.
Jared's gaze was drawn to them; they were shaking. As the guard led her out of the cell and down the pathway, he followed behind, protective and determined to get her out of this morbid place.
The process of releasing her wasn't too complicated. Her bail was paid and Jared saw to it that the charges against her were dropped. A company disclosure was signed and dated by the corrections department, stating that the incident wouldn't be leaked to the media. Within half an hour the matter had been neatly handled, with no loose ends left for the press to grasp. During the ride back to the Remington, Jared and Elizabeth remained silent. Elizabeth carefully avoided eye contact him while Jared seemed unusually reserved, hesitant to begin the dialogue that was sure to raise emotions. No, it was better if he held back until they were sequestered back at his suite. Once safely inside the confines of his elegant suite, Jared poured them both a drink before settling on the couch beside her.
"I realize this day must have been horrendous for you, but you're safe now,” Jared said, tenderly taking her hand and delicately kissing her wrist.
"I was so frightened. You have no idea,” Elizabeth said. She was weary but somewhat relieved that the tension between them was beginning to subside. It felt awkward to be so polarized.
Jared chuckled. “You're right. I don't know. I've been slaving over a hot stove, instead. Of course, dinner had to be postponed."
Elizabeth laughed heartily as her eyes met his; the warmth of those onyx pools caressed her soul, forcing her to drop her defenses. How could she fear the tenderness so plainly evident in a gaze that asked nothing more than to be loved by him?
"I'm sorry about tonight,” she said."
"Never mind dinner. I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
"I was going through the steps to back up my computer when I noticed a flashing message kept popping up on the screen. When I clicked on it, there was no return address. Plus, I noticed I'd accumulated over two hundred messages in two days, so I deleted everything. Then, my computer began slowing down as I went through each procedure to copy my system and program files."
"So whoever broke into the network knew the system was going to be down for maintenance. Did you relay that information to anyone outside the company?"
Elizabeth took a few moments to recollect. “I did mention something about it to a former colleague over lunch."
"She works at Tri-Star."
"But, she wouldn't have anything to do with that."
"Wanna bet?"
"Why do you say that? Besides, you sit on their board"
"We've had trouble with them before."
"I had no idea!"
Now, she felt like a fool, the facilitator of crime committed and the culprit that made the scheme possible. Her innocence and ignorance had put Bentley Industries in jeopardy, their products in danger of being copied.
Anticipating her reaction, Jared tried to calm her fears.
"Look, I know none of this is your fault. But I think you should know what we're up against."
"What do you mean?"
"Once Nina gets hold of the news she is going to want to fire you. Then, she is going to launch another smear campaign and press the board try to get me to resign control of the remaining shares. That's why we have to expose those responsible for the breach before she finds out.
"Of course I'll do whatever I can do to help."
"Tri-Star's next board meeting is next week. By then, I'm sure my brother will have spilled the beans to Nina."
"He'd betray you?"
"Not willingly. But Nina can be very persuasive and unfortunately I know him, he'd cave in to her wishes."
"I can't believe Madeline would be involved with something like this. I've known her since college."
"That may be true, but don't you think it's strange how you were suddenly fired for having an excellent idea? I sit on their board and I can tell you the recommendation came from acquisitions; not the analyst division as you suspected. The meeting's agenda was all stated prior. It was all arranged ahead of time."
"You're kidding."
"No., Sterling had mentioned her name before when another breach occurred about six months ago. Last time they got away with it. I'm not about to let that happen again."
Early the next morning Elizabeth was groggy as she strode down the hallway to her own suite to dress for work. She and Jared had stayed up half the night , planning their next move. Jared had stressed the importance of moving quickly. Elizabeth was planning on doing some research on Madeline and Tri-Star Investments that morning. But as she inserted the key to the front door, her senses automatically went on high alert. In the deadening silence she could feel something was amiss. Slowly, as the door opened, her suspicions were confirmed. Her suite had been broken into, vandalized.
Vases and delicate figurines placed in the foyer were strewn from their shelves, broken pieces splayed on the carpet, along with several books. A few steps later she was standing amidst chaos; furniture and furnishings overturned and pillows with their stuffing removed. Obviously, the burglars where looking for something. Elizabeth braced herself for her worst fear.
The bedroom was torn apart, drawers emptied of clothes, sheets and linen and comforters removed from the bed. As she approached the walk-in closet, her sense of dread deepened. Lifting the top of jewelry box, Elizabeth gasped as the ugly truth came to light. Her prized heirloom was missing, stolen by someone who knew she wouldn't come home, someone who knew she'd been incarcerated.
What had at first seemed odd and inconceivable was slowly becoming a valid fact: She and Jared were under attack and needed to catch the culprit. Elizabeth was determined not to waste any more time. She gathered her courage, quickly dressed and hurried on to work, leaving the break-in unreported to the authorities, therefore undetected by the media. Besides, it was far more important she proceed with the plan Jared had discussed.
The product development department was an incessant buzz that morning. The highly specialized workers were unable to do their jobs, furious that their previous work was in jeopardy. Meanwhile, a team of experts busily collected data, following the network intrusions to many potential sources of origin, a code that for the moment couldn't be properly deciphered. The entire scenario was one massive conglomeration of frustration and angst as tempers flared from the necessary intrusion.
From the moment he stepped onto the floor, Sterling was bombarded with questions by irate employees who were upset over the security breach. Some of the associates had put in over six months of work on various projects and they weren't too thrilled with the prospect of starting from scratch or watching another company steal their ideas. As Sterling sat in his office, listening to employees ranting a raving about the incident and disappearance of their prized projects,, he couldn't blame them for their outbursts. However, after two hours of constant complaints, his stress levels were teetering on the brink of an outburst; his own. Why should the burden of explaining the company's position fall entirely on him? Sterling picked up the receiver and started dialing before the next round of squawkers could come busting through his door.
Ten minutes later, Jared casually strode into Sterling's office. There were two employees grilling Sterling about compensation for their work for the day.
"Rest assured we value the integrity of your work. Of course you'll be fully compensated for your efforts,” Sterling said.
"What about today? I mean we can't even access the pr
ograms we need to function. Everything has to be manually done,” an anxious employee asked.
"I understand your concern and I commend you on your effort. However, it makes no difference. You will be compensated, regardless. Bentley Industries stands behind their employees."
That news seemed to calm the raging storm.
When they were gone, Sterling closed the door to his office.
"You should've seen this place earlier. The entire department was poised to walk out. If I was in their position, I wouldn't blame them. Do you know how vulnerable this makes me appear to the associates?"
"Look, I know it's upsetting. But, we're doing the best we can. Has any evidence surfaced?"
"Perhaps those questions should be directed to your mistress."
"She's innocent, Sterling and you know it. She doesn't know anything about the breach. She was victim of circumstances"
"Naturally."
"What is it that you have against her?” Jared challenged
"It's her connection with her former colleague at Tri-Star. Can't you see that's it's not a coincidence? She's been spying for them all along. You're not thinking logically."
"I'm surprised at you, Sterling. That's a big assumption to go on, not based on fact."
"Well, the fact is she's on her way to being fired when Nina gets hold of the news."
"Don't count of it. Sterling. Just make sure you're on the right side of the truth, this time."
The warning was clear. It brought back memories of a time when both brothers were strategically pitted against each other, manipulated by Nina to achieve the outcome she'd desired. By the time they'd realized what had happened and who was responsible; the damage to their relationship had been done. It took a year before they spoke to each other again. Nina saw to it.
"I hope another ‘woman’ doesn't come between us, Jared. I am your brother, y'know."
As soon as Elizabeth arrived at work she had three things on her mind: to find out if there was some connection between the breach and Tri-Star; to get Madeline's schedule for the month and get a listing of Tri-Star's latest acquisitions. Since her computer had been confiscated, Jared had arranged for her to use one of his computers in a vacant office. Secluded, no one would be privy to her on-line activities and she could focus on each task. Even Jared's administrative assistant would be aware of her agenda.
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