Wipeout: Wipeout Book 1

by Richards, ES

  Stumbling into his bathroom he opened the cabinet above the sink and reached for a packet of Tylenol, knocking two of them back as he cupped water in his hands from the faucet. He then splashed his face a couple of times, trying to make his eyes appear less red and his skin less blotchy. It was hardly a proper shower, but it would have to do. Something told Samuel that he needed to get to Trident as quickly as possible and if people were still in there from when the collapse had happened; him not having showered wouldn’t be headline news.

  The shirt that his mother had found him in Freeport was a slightly uncomfortable fit, so he shrugged it off and put on a fresh one, taking a moment of solace in how the soft, clean fabric felt against his skin. He still had his pants and shoes on and so, grabbing his keys and cell from where he’d left them in the kitchen and a packet of potato chips, he darted out of his apartment and started thundering down the stairs and out of the building.

  Stepping out into the city in the middle of the night felt weird, just like it had done at the Trident building when he failed to get inside. New York was different now in more ways than one and Samuel didn’t like that. In the distance he could hear alarms and sirens blaring, ringing out into the night sky with no one to answer their calls. Footsteps occasionally echoed off the walls of buildings, or the distant sound of an engine driving by. New York was normally just as alive through the night as it was during the day, but for once the city seemed to be sleeping, its residents shut away as they – like Samuel had – tried to figure out their next move.

  The walk to Trident wasn’t particularly long. On days where the weather was tolerable – and if he had time in the morning – Samuel always chose to walk into work. The subway saved him about ten minutes, so that was always an option when it was raining, but there was no chance Samuel would dare risk that now. For this time of night, he had never felt more confident about walking through the city on his own.

  The usual worries he would’ve had were replaced with new ones. With each step he took closer to Trident, more questions amassed in Samuel’s head. Why was he being called into the building and who it was that had given the order? The male voice on the other end of the line wasn’t one that he could place and for a split second Samuel wondered whether this could be a trap of some kind. After everything he had already witnessed, nothing seemed too far-fetched for him and he feared he could be making a mistake.

  His need to find out what was happening at Trident overpowered that worry easily though. The one consuming question of what had happened to their bank plaguing Samuel’s every waking moment. He had to know the truth; he owed that to himself, to his family and to everyone else he’d interacted with since the crash. So, he kept putting one foot in front of the other, getting closer and closer to the Trident building until he was right outside the staff entrance once again. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed redial.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Samuel spoke into his cell phone, hearing the same male voice as before. “It’s Samuel. I’m outside, at the staff entrance.”

  “Right,” the man replied. “I’ll send someone down for you.”

  Once again, the line cut off before Samuel could reply, leaving him with no choice but to stand and wait beside the staff entrance, hoping that whoever came down and let him into the building was a friendly face. As he waited, Samuel tried to figure out what he was hoping to hear. He’d still not really had the time to sit down by himself and consider what was going to happen next. It felt like a lifetime since he’d seen his parents, or spoken to his sister, Jessie. He could hardly even remember what he’d told her or what advice he’d given. The country was barely sixteen hours into this disaster and already so much had changed, Samuel was afraid of what more was to come if he was allowed into Trident only to receive more bad news. The staff entrance banged open in front of him.

  “Westchester?”

  “Err, yes?”

  “Come in then. Hurry up.”

  Samuel paused and looked at the man who had opened the door for him. It wasn’t someone that he recognized at all, nor was it someone he would have associated with the Trident Banking Corporation. Naturally he paused and looked at the man uneasily, unsure whether he wanted to follow him inside, a sudden feeling of distrust telling him to walk away.

  “Come on pal, I haven’t got all day. We don’t have time for this. You coming or what?”

  Freezing, Samuel realized instantly that this was one of those moments that people talked about having in their lives. It was a moment where if he made one decision, his life could end up going in an entirely different direction. It was crunch time and he only had a few seconds to decide.

  “Forget this,” the man huffed, turning from Samuel and letting the door start to fall in on him, shutting the entrance off. He had to make a decision now or it was going to be too late. Lurching forward, Samuel grabbed the door just before it slammed closed and locked him out again, wincing as it continued to close just with his fingers in between it and the frame.

  “Wait!” He shouted out to the unnamed man, yanking the door open and walking into the building after him. “I’m coming.”

  “About time,” the man rolled his eyes. “Come on then. The elevators aren’t working.”

  The long climb to the nineteenth floor – where Samuel assumed they were heading – was carried out in silence. On several occasions, Samuel opened his mouth to ask the stranger a question but each time he changed his mind and decided against it. He racked his brain trying to remember if the man worked in the building and if he’d ever seen him before, but there wasn’t even the slightest bit of recognition there. Trident was such a big company he could’ve passed by this man every day for a year and not registered his face in his memory. For some reason it had been different with R Hauser, but for this stranger, Samuel was drawing a blank.

  One thing he did get correct though was where they were heading. When the two of them finally reached the nineteenth floor Samuel was out of breath and struggling to keep up. The first man had set quite a pace and not once looked back to see whether Samuel was keeping up or not, not seeming concerned by his presence at all.

  “After you,” he stepped to one side and held the door open for Samuel, surprising him with his politeness until that same frightened thought popped into his head and Samuel found himself wondering once more whether this was a trap of some description. The man didn’t budge though, raising his eyebrows and indicating for Samuel to walk through onto the floor. Swallowing, Samuel forced himself forward again. He had worked at Trident all his life; there should be nothing there for him to be afraid of.

  As soon as he was inside, a sense of relief washed over Samuel so powerfully he almost felt his knees go weak. The man who had collected him from downstairs dashed off and left Samuel by the door, heading off to continue with whatever other tasks he had. He hadn’t been rude or suspicious; he was just working hard and committed to getting each job done. The nineteenth floor of Trident was in full operation; people walked around at a brisk pace, the buzz of conversation in the air just like any other day at the office. It was incredible but also confusing.

  “How is this all here,” Samuel mumbled to himself, glancing around the floor and trying to catch sight of someone he recognized. Unlike the other floors below, the nineteenth – and twentieth above it – were built as open plan, used for senior staff members, human resources, administration and the like. Samuel didn’t spend a lot of time up here in his usual activities, but couldn’t deny he’d always preferred the layout.

  “Caitlin!” Suddenly seeing a woman who normally worked alongside Samuel in marketing, he dashed toward her and caught her attention. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

  “Oh my days, Sam! Boy am I glad to see you. Where have you been?”

  “What do you mean? I had no idea all of this was happening up here. Is Rodney around? Or Camilla?”

  Caitlin shook her head. Things had been non-stop on the ni
neteenth floor ever since the broadcast that went out by The Dorchester Group, the company jumping into action and deciding that even if they were going to go down, they needed to go down on their own terms. The revelation involving Claire Manning had been an intrinsic moment too, but looking at Samuel, Caitlin knew immediately that wasn’t something she should be sharing with him straight away.

  “Let me go and find Graham or Jasper, they’re sort of spearheading this movement now. Wait here.”

  The sun was just starting to rise on the horizon, illuminating the city outside of the windows that wrapped around the nineteenth floor. Samuel didn’t dare look down, even the thought of the drop causing his vertigo to turn him slightly dizzy, but he thought about how different the city would be today compared to yesterday. So much had changed and as the sun rose higher in the sky, it would only make those changes more apparent. The people of New York might have rested through the night, but today was a new day and Samuel was certain they would be searching for answers again.

  “Samuel, finally!” Spinning around with a smile on his face at the sound of yet another familiar voice, Samuel watched as Graham Potter approached him, his hand outstretched. “Just the man we need. How are you?”

  “Graham, hey,” Samuel shook his friend’s hand, having known Graham for a number of years by now. “I’m good. Confused though. What is going on? All I’ve seen is what’s been broadcast on the news.”

  “Oh man,” Graham shook his head. “I hope you don’t believe all that rubbish. Come on pal, come with me. I’ll give you the full debrief. Then we’ve got a special task we urgently need your help with. It’s due to go out on the six o’clock morning news.”

  “What?” Samuel started to ask, but Graham shook his head and beckoned him to follow, leading Samuel into one of the meeting rooms that surrounded the floor.

  “Right, I’m not going to mince my words here,” Graham began, the opening that allowed Samuel to sigh with satisfaction. “Let’s cut to the chase: Trident is ruined, Sam. This wasn’t ransomware as the statement originally said. We’ve been hacked and all the money is gone. Claire Manning has topped herself over it, she’s been found dead in her office upstairs.”

  Graham paused for a moment, letting what he’d said sink in but not stopping long enough for Samuel to respond just yet. “We’ve all heard about the other crashes this country has suffered but they are like a blip on the map compared to this. We’ve already spoken to the President and there’s zero chance of a bail out. The economy is ruined, Trident is ruined, and we need you to help us figure out a way to tell everyone that.”

  Samuel exhaled slowly, trying to process everything that Graham had just told him. Claire Manning was dead. Trident was bankrupt. The country was… ruined? It didn’t make sense in his head as Samuel tried to piece everything together, all the while the ending of Graham’s speech lingering in the air. They wanted him to tell everyone? That didn’t make any sense. Confused and caught incredibly off guard, Samuel looked at his friend, trying to figure out how to respond.

  “It’s all gone?”

  “Every last penny,” Graham nodded. “Damn impressive job apparently. Jasper and Olivier have looked over it inside and out and they can’t figure out how it happened. They’re working with the cyber experts now, trying to track down the culprits, but between you and me,” Graham lowered his voice, “I doubt they’ll ever find them. This has got to be the most calculated, highest bounty hack to ever happen! We have literally lost hundreds of billions of dollars. I honestly don’t know how we’re going to get through this one. I don’t think it’s possible.”

  “I don’t understand,” Samuel shook his head, realizing how much he sounded like everyone else after the initial shock of the money disappearing. “How could this happen? How can everything just be gone?”

  “You got me, pal,” Graham shrugged. “But that’s not our puzzle. It doesn’t matter how or why – there are other teams tasked with that – what matters to us is what the public knows and we have a broadcast scheduled for 6 a.m. to tell them the truth. That is where you come in.”

  “What do you want me to do about it?” Samuel gasped, a hand going to the collar of his shirt and tugging on it as the room seemed to heat up several degrees. “Why me?”

  “You’re the Marketing Director, pal,” Graham grinned. “It’s your job to make this place look good; to spin stories and keep us in the public favor. Are you up to the challenge?”

  Samuel shook his head in awe. “That’s ridiculous. There’s nothing we can say to stay in the public favor now. What do you really think we can offer them? An apology?”

  “Perhaps. If that’s all we’ve got. I’ll leave that for you to decide.”

  “No way, Graham,” Samuel stood up to leave. “I didn’t ask for this job.”

  “None of us asked for any of this, Sam,” Graham chuckled. “But we owe this to the people at least, wouldn’t you agree? The truth has to go out to them in some manner. You have a chance to be a part of that now; to make a statement. Don’t you want that?”

  Samuel paused, still completely stunned by what had just transpired between him and his colleague. Graham was more senior than Samuel was, but until this last conversation, Samuel had always seen them as equals. Now he was confused. He couldn’t tell whether this was a direct order or an offer – either way it didn’t seem like he had a choice. Graham was right. The public needed to be informed and Samuel had been so determined to get back into the office, now that he was there again, he couldn’t just walk away. This was the biggest disaster to ever hit the United States and it was up to him to report the truth. The big question now was, just how was he going to do that?

  Chapter 15

  “Use whatever resource you need,” Graham offered, trying to sweeten the blow he had just delivered to Samuel. “I can get Caitlin in here if you’d like? Or any of the other guys, there are quite a few people from administration who might have some insight into the best way to break this to the public.”

  “Do you want me to give the statement? Who’s running this place now that Claire…” Samuel trailed off, unable to finish his sentence after what Graham had just told him about Claire Manning. Among everything else, the CEO of Trident Banking Corporation killing herself had somehow passed by like insignificant news.

  “Don’t worry about that just yet,” Graham replied, shaking his head. “We haven’t got many people left up here since the route out became clear, but we’ll figure something out. You just concentrate on deciding what we need to say, okay? I’ll deal with the rest.”

  “Okay,” Samuel nodded, grateful at least that it wasn’t going to be him in front of the camera. Claire Manning had always been quite a public face of Trident, so whoever replaced her would have to make a big impact. He wondered whether Graham would do it – hence him being so involved at this stage. Samuel wasn’t even sure who else was left inside the building, their resources considerably less than they usually would be. But none of that should matter to him, just like Graham said.

  This was his job: he agreed that the public needed to know the truth and if he could be instrumental in getting the right message to them, he was more than up for it. If working in marketing had taught him one thing, it was how important the delivery of a campaign was. People could be shown the same message twice and react in entirely different ways based on how it was shown to them. With this being the biggest piece of news the majority of people would ever receive, Samuel knew he had the opportunity to either make it seem like the end of the world, or to give the public hope that there was a way past this. It would require a lot of research in a very short amount of time, but he felt confident it was possible. Looking up at Graham, he finally gave his answer.

  “Okay,” he repeated. “Get me Caitlin and a couple others. How long do we have?”

  Graham smiled, knowing he had made the right decision in waiting for Samuel to arrive. But they had to act fast now; precious time had been burned in the interim. “One hou
r.”

  “It’ll have to be enough,” Samuel pursed his lips. “Stranger things have happened.”

  With a nod, Graham finally left Samuel to his work, heading back out onto the floor to try and find some people to assist him. As the door closed behind him, Samuel cracked his neck from side to side and started thinking about how he was going to tackle this problem. Grabbing a pen and paper he started to scribble down the facts he was aware of: Trident was finished, the bank had no money and no way of getting it back.

  The more worrying element was how that was going to ripple out not only through New York City, but across the country and around the world. Trident was a multi-national enterprise, they had banks in almost all the major capital cities of the world, in four of the seven continents. This wasn’t just going to cause chaos on his doorstep, across the world there would be no money to maintain even the simplest human necessities like food and running water. Things wouldn’t all just collapse at once, the demise would surely be gradual, but piece by piece people’s lives as they had become accustomed to them would start to fall apart and change dramatically.

  “Hello again, Sam,” Caitlin’s voice rang out behind him, Samuel turning to see the woman and two others walking into the meeting room to join him. “I hear we’ve got quite a job on our hands.”

  Samuel was pleased to have Caitlin’s can-do attitude alongside him. “You could say that. How would you go about breaking the news to everyone that the country is broke and life as we know it is going to end?”

  Caitlin and the others looked at Samuel in astonishment for a few second, before he ushered them further into the room and filled them in with more information.

  ***

  Meanwhile, out on the floor, Austin Taylor watched on, confused about what was happening in front of his very eyes. He had been inside Trident throughout the entire disaster, barely moving from his desk from the moment the funds disappeared until now. He was still working tirelessly to protect the company; despite how little other people seemed to care about it.