by Raven Scott
“Maybe we’re thinking about this too big,” stated Lance.
“How so?” Evan asked.
The ex-Ranger stepped closer to the computer screen.
“Once we saw the setup in Chicago with Pratt, we assumed big-budget backing. Which logically led to us thinking major players, right? Then we learned more about the Cicada design and the impact to automotive engineering far beyond the racing industry. So, again we expanded the pool of industries and companies who could be responsible,” Lance summarized. “If we limit the scope to North America, there’s the big three car manufacturers, assuming we don’t include Tesla. Then the top five or six gas companies.”
He counted them off with his fingers.
“But that all assumes that someone found out the full capabilities of Cotts’s design. We have no proof that happened,” continued Lance. “Maybe this whole thing is just your everyday, run-of-the-mill small company competition.”
The other three men thought for a moment in silence.
“It’s a good point, Lance,” Lucas finally agreed. “So, let’s review the facts that we know. One: Magnus Motorsports is registered for the Vancouver race in June, like they have been for the last three years. Their three investors think they will launch a new hybrid engine and none know it’s actually electric-powered. Two: Someone knew Adam North was working with Cotts, and they also would know that he’s a physicist with a specialization in battery technology. Three: Timothy Pratt got access to North’s computer at the university, then used his access to the Magnus file-sharing server to plant a Trojan horse. Four: Pratt was payrolled, then killed in Chicago when he failed to get access to the Magnus network. Five: Thirty-six hours later, the Cicada engine is cleverly destroyed by arson inside the Magnus auto shop.
“Have I missed anything in the sequence of events?” he finished, looking at each of the other men.
“No, that about covers it,” replied Evan.
“Yup, that’s it. Until we can identify the two men who set the fire today,” Lance added. “We got nothing on the goons that attacked us in Chicago.”
“And the copy of Pratt’s computer didn’t provide any clues about how much these guys know of North’s battery technology or the Cicada design,” Lucas confirmed. “We only know for sure that they want information from the Magnus network and to destroy the prototype. There are no facts to tell us who or why. So, to Lance’s point, this could all be personal, or another small racing company trying to knock out the competition.”
“We know a couple more things,” Sam inserted. “They didn’t do it all for shits and giggles. Someone had invested a bit of time and money into this endeavor. So they have access to funds, and contacts in the U.S. and Canada to get things done without getting their own hands dirty.”
The four men were silent in contemplation for a few moments.
“Okay, let’s outline our go-forward plan,” Lucas finally stated. “Until we know more and can determine who we’re dealing with and what their ultimate objective is, we need to take every precaution. While we could assume that whoever is behind this whole thing has accomplished their goal today by destroying the engine, my instincts tell me that’s not the case.”
“It’s not all destroyed.”
The comment came from a silky feminine voice. Lucas and Lance turned to Alex who was now standing next to the bed, dressed in loose blue jeans and a black T-shirt with sneakers. With her arms wrapped around her waist, she looked young and vulnerable.
“Alex, please join us,” Lucas told her, then waited until she was in visual range to do introductions. “Alexandria Cotts, meet Evan DaCosta and Samuel Mackenzie, the other managing partners in Fortis.”
She gave them both a casual hand wave and a tight smile.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Cotts,” Evan replied with a nod. “Did we hear you correctly? Your engine wasn’t destroyed by the fire?”
“Not all of it,” she stated, looking between the two men. “Everything that was still in the car is probably irreparable. But I had removed the rechargeable batteries on Friday.”
“The ones Adam North customized for you?” Lucas clarified.
Alex nodded.
“I was creating test models on the computer for a new part I picked up on Thursday, so I took it out. It’s now locked in my office.”
“Lance, call Michael to confirm there has been no attempt to access any other part of the Magnus building, particularly Alex’s office,” Lucas instructed.
Lance walked to the other side of the room while dialing out on his cell phone.
“I already told Marco, but no one else would know that,” Alex explained. “So, I think I can rebuild my motor and the full drivetrain. The battery is the only thing that is irreplaceable.”
“Passante still plans to launch in June?” Evan questioned. “Is that feasible?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. But I have to try,” she stated with determination.
“All right then,” said Sam with a sparkle of what looked like admiration in his eyes.
Lance returned as he hung up his call.
“Michael and Ned have done a full reconnaissance,” he confirmed. “No other signs of intrusion.”
Lucas folded his arms across his chest and widened his stance as he spoke to his partners.
“If that is the objective, to allow Alex to rebuild the asset, then we’ll have to implement Omega protocol for the next six weeks.”
“Agreed,” stated Sam, and the other two men nodded in accord.
“What does that mean?” Alex asked.
Lucas hesitated, knowing she wasn’t going to like it.
“I’ll explain when we meet with Marco,” he told her briefly.
Alex looked as though she was about to protest, but he turned away to discourage more questions.
“Lance, is the Magnus building secure yet?” he asked instead.
“The fire department is packing up now, so we’ll have complete containment in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, let Michael and Ned know we’ll be there at four o’clock to meet with Mr. Passante,” instructed Lucas. “Sam, Evan, send me the best options for an extraction and a safe site based on all the variables. We’ll work out the other logistics tonight.”
He disconnected the video call then turned to face Alex. She looked even more worried than before.
“What are you planning?” she asked right away.
“We’re only looking at options right now. Our recommendations will depend on our meeting with Marco, and what he decides to do. Then, my job is to provide the required asset protection,” explained Lucas. “Why don’t you finish packing your things? We’ll be leaving here in five minutes.”
Alex sighed deeply, but walked away to do as he instructed. While he continued to pack up the laptop and his other things with efficient practice, Lucas struggled to contain his displeasure at the new developments at Magnus. Two men had simply walked onto their client site and successfully implemented a plan to destroy the motor prototype. Which means he had underestimated the protective support required. That was unacceptable and could not happen again. He knew all too well that there were more than machines and schematics as stake. There were people. There was Alex.
Lucas took a deep breath and put a firm halt to the direction of his thoughts. That moment between them earlier was an unexplainable act of madness, and best forgotten. It certainly could not happen again.
“Do you really think we need the Omega protocol,” Lance asked, interrupting Lucas’s thoughts.
“We don’t know anything about the threat, except that it keeps escalating,” replied Lucas in a low voice. “If Cotts is going to rebuild her motor, the only way to assure protection is to completely contain the environment and tighten the restrictions on all information and access.”
“Makes sense,” Lance replied. “But I don’t know how you’re going to convince Cotts of that.”
“If that’s the plan, then she won’t have a choice.”
They left the room shortly after, with Alex sandwiched between the two men as they walked through the hotel and out to the car parked on the street. They drove with Lance in their rented truck around the block to Magnus with no sign of any threats, then parked at the back entrance. All signs of the fire department were now gone, and Ned was outside waiting for them.
“The marshal left a few minutes ago, but he provided his contact information for follow-up,” Ned stated as they all walked quickly into the building. “He found a tiny puncture in the brake fluid line of the car, just as we suspected. Raymond’s got a hit on one of the perpetrators. He’s sending us the file, and we think we’ve tracked their car to the west end of the city.”
“Good,” Lucas stated. “I want a plan confirmed by tonight, so we need all the answers we can get.”
Marco Passante was standing in his office, talking on his cell phone while pacing back and forth in front of his desk. He looked up at the group gathered in the hallway.
“I’m on with our insurance broker,” he muttered, then went back to pacing.
“Alex, why don’t you wait in your office while my team gets set up for the debriefing,” Lucas suggested while the Fortis men entered the meeting room they had set up as a control center.
“No,” she stated, following them all in and taking a stubborn stance next to the table. “I want to know what’s going on.”
Lucas stopped in front of her with a look that should make grown men back down, but Alex just lifted her chin higher and boldly glared back.
“Lucas, I have Raymond’s report,” Michael stated from a seat in front of one of the computers.
“Put it up on the other monitor,” Lucas instructed with a final hard stare at Alex before he turned to stand with the other men.
Several pictures tiled onto the screen in front of him. The first was a still shot from the surveillance footage before the fire, showing two men talking to one of the mechanics. The next was a second, closer image of the guy who created a distraction while his partner had sabotaged the Mitsubishi race car. Several other pictures showed the same man in social media postings.
“This is Oleg Petrov, thirty-eight years old, and a Toronto resident,” Michael stated based on the report provided. “He works as a supervisor for a company called Bold Management that owns a few properties around the city. No criminal record in Canada or the U.S.”
“What do we know about this Bold Management?” Lucas asked. “Does it have any ties to the automotive or racing industry?”
“None that we can find. But their properties are leased to a couple of bars and a restaurant, so Petrov may be freelancing for someone in his network.”
“Raymond said he located the car the two had used earlier,” Ned stated. “Did he send anything?”
“Yeah,” Michael confirmed as he pulled up more pictures. “Based on the timing of the surveillance video, I managed to get an image of the front fender of the car we think they were driving. It’s a black, four-door sedan.”
“It’s a Ford Fusion; 2010 or 2011,” Alex stated easily.
Michael showed another clearer picture of a black car at a traffic light with two men in the front seats, time-stamped at 2:55 in the afternoon, about five minutes after they would had left the auto shop.
“Here they are headed toward the westbound entrance to the highway. This view provides a clear picture of the license plate. Then we located the same car parked about fifteen miles away, behind one of the Bold properties; a bar called Red Inferno.” The last image was a still picture from some sort of digital surveillance, with a time stamp of only twenty minutes earlier. “Raymond is watching the area and will let us know if there is any additional activity.”
“We need to get eyes on this Petrov character,” noted Lucas. “No doubt, he’s going to communicate with whomever hired him, and if we’re lucky, it will be in person. And let’s identify the second perpetrator. Whoever came up with the plan and put together the incendiary may have knowledge of cars, and we need to know the connection.”
Marco Passante walked into the room at that point, looking harassed and disheveled. Lucas turned to their client, prepared for the difficult conversation to follow.
CHAPTER 14
Alex knew that she wasn’t going to like the plan Lucas Johnson recommended for how to safely rebuild the Cicada engine, but she couldn’t have imagined what came next.
Once Marco joined the meeting, Lucas took a few minutes to get him up to speed on everything the Fortis team had uncovered since the fire.
“We’ll move in to set up surveillance on Petrov after this meeting in order to uncover who hired him and his partner to destroy the engine,” concluded Lucas. “The best way to protect your assets is to understand the threat, about which we’ve had very little information to this point.”
Marco ran his hand through his hair creating an even more unruly mess.
“Okay,” he replied with a sigh. “The police called earlier. They’ll be here in the morning to take a full report. What should I tell them?”
“Just the facts for now. We need some room to do a more covert investigation. If the police go after Petrov, he and whoever hired him will just get spooked. Then we’ll lose our best opportunity to get more information.”
“Okay,” Marco agreed.
“Now, Alex has told us about the battery North had provided,” Lucas continued in an even tone. “Will you be rebuilding the engine with the intent to launch it in Vancouver for the June race?”
Marco looked at Alex, as though still struggling with the decision. She could tell that he was torn by the desire to successfully achieve their goal, and the concern of the clear danger they were in.
“Yes,” Alex stated clearly, stepping forward. “We have to try.”
“Alex, I don’t know if it is a good idea,” Marco replied facing her. “Maybe we should wait, let things die down a little. We can always do the Sea-to-Sky race with one of our other engines.”
“No, Markie,” she insisted. “We’ve worked too hard on this to just let them stop us. You know something like this is all about timing. If we don’t do it now, we could easily lose the advantage of being first to market.”
“They just set fire to the shop, Alex. Someone wants to shut us down, and they’re not shy about it. What do you think they’ll do if we continue working on it? We don’t know how far they are willing to go. Someone could get hurt. It’s not worth it,” argued Marco with his hands buried in his pockets and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
“They don’t have to know,” countered Alex. “Whoever did this thinks they’ve shut us down because the Cicada engine was in there. So I’ll rebuild it on my own. No one will know about it until we’re launching at the race. Then it will be too late.”
“I don’t know—”
“You know I’m going to do it anyway,” she stated with her hand planted on her hips. “I am not walking away from two years of work just because of a bully. So there’s no point in arguing about it.”
Marco’s shoulder lowered even more, as he recognized her inability to budge once she’d set her mind on something.
“Okay, fine. But you have to promise to do whatever Lucas and his team decide is necessary to keep you safe,” her boss stipulated. “Promise, Alex.”
Though Alex hated being forced to compromise, she was smart enough to see that it was in her best interest.
“I promise,” she replied with a cheeky grin.
Marco let out a deep sigh then turned back to the four men who had been waiting patiently through their debate.
“We’re going to rebuild the Cicada, still aiming for the June launch,” he finally confirmed.
Alex watched as Lucas nodded then stepped forward while the other three Fortis agents seemed to line up behind him.
“Based on the escalating attacks over the last week and our lack of information about the motive behind them, we need to secure Alex and the assets in a safe, impenetrable environment,�
� Lucas stated, stoically.
“What does that mean?” Marco asked, while Alex was thinking about the conversation back at the hotel and the protocol Lucas had referenced.
“We’ll put Alex in a safe location unknown to anyone but my team, where she can rebuild the motor.”
“What?” Alex demanded, certain she had heard wrong. “Where?”
Lucas looked back at her with his brows raised.
“It only works if no one knows where you’re going, including you,” he replied in a tone that was a little more condescending than she would have liked.
“Okay,” Marco replied.
“Markie! No!” she shot back. “I’m not going to be locked away for six weeks. That’s crazy!”
“Alex, you just agreed to whatever security plan Fortis recommended. This is it,” Marco reminded her. “And it makes sense. Right now, if they want to destroy the Cicada, they’ll be going after you. All the information is in your head just as much as the specs stored on our computer network. So there is no debate here. Either they take you somewhere safe, or I’m shutting down the whole thing.”
Alex looked into the eyes of her boss and friend, and read his resolve loud and clear. He was not going to back down. So either she would have to hide away for weeks or give up on her dream. As much as Alex hated to admit it, it was an easy decision.
“Fine,” she eventually muttered.
“All right, boys, we’re implementing Omega protocol,” Lucas stated, turning back to his team. “Michael and Lance, you’ll stay here to provide ongoing security and continue any local investigation. Ned and I will go with the assets.”
Michael continued working on the computer while the other two men took out their cell phones and started working through information.
“Lex, we’ll need a list of everything you need to rebuild your engine,” Lucas continued as he turned back to her and Marco. “Start with the most immediate. We can continue to get supplies shipped to us as you need them.”
“What about the stuff here? Should I be packing them up?” she asked, her heart racing at the size of the task. “And should I check out the car to see if there is anything salvageable?”