Page 42 of Guarding Truth
Blake nodded. “I’m gathering personnel files per the police’s request and heading to the station to give yet another statement. After that, I’m leaving, taking my wife and kids, and going to my in-laws’ out of state. We may have to shut our doors, Caleb.”
“It’s not over yet, Blake. The FBI is involved. They won’t get away with?—”
“They threatened my family.” Blake set the box on the tile floor. “Rushmore sent me pictures of my kids playing on the playground. They gave me an ultimatum to step down as the CEO, or they’ll go after my family.” He showed Caleb the email on his phone with the photos. “I might just do it. No job is worth the lives of my wife and children.”
“Did you send this to Agent McGregor?” Juliette asked.
Blake gave a humorless laugh. “He has all the information. But I’m not waiting around for Rushmore to strike again. They’ve blown up our office, kidnapped our employee, and robbed our client. I’m no coward, but I will protect my family.”
Caleb related all too well. “Ivy and I are going off grid. Someplace with no internet or phones. We’ve got to figure out how these hackers are one step ahead of us. But I’m not ready to surrender yet.”
“Well, stay safe, and we’ll keep in touch. Maybe we can salvage what’s left of the company once these criminals are behind bars.”
Blake picked up the box and left the building.
“Let’s hope he’s not taking evidence with him,” Juliette whispered after Blake was out of earshot.
“You think Blake is working with Rushmore and made up that story about his family?”
“At this point, I’m suspecting everyone. I can ask Matt. He’ll tell us if Blake is making a statement today.” She texted while they walked through the lobby.
They headed for the stairs, but a security guard stopped them. Even with permission from the police for them to be there, the security guard insisted that Juliette not bring in her service weapon. She huffed and muttered under her breath the whole way back to the car to lock up her gun.
They reentered the building and were waved through. The elevators weren’t working since the building didn’t have electricity, so they hiked up six flights of stairs.
Once they hit his floor, the stairwell opened into a generic office building hallway, complete with stark white walls and flat gray carpet. The acrid smell of smoke grew stronger with each step they took toward his office suite. Remnants of water-damaged furniture and office equipment had been pulled into his reception area.
“This place is a mess,” Juliette muttered. Once they passed the reception area, the open floor plan showed the true damage.
He stifled a gasp and pointed. “That’s my office. Or what’s left of it.” His charred door had fallen off the hinges from the blast, and water from the sprinklers had streaked soot across the once white walls. Wind whistled from a hole leading outside.
“If I’d been here…”
She put a hand on his arm. “Don’t. You weren’t here. We need to keep moving forward.”
Caleb stood in the middle of the open floor plan and stared at the ruined remains of his dream. The visual reminder that he was the intended target. The smell of burnt wood hung in the air, and every inch of cubical space was covered with a fine layer of ash.
A generator hummed, providing power to a few portable lamps the recovery crew must have installed. Leave it to Juliette to come prepared with a flashlight.
“We’re not going to find much in your office,” Juliette said. “If the fire didn’t destroy everything, the water damage from the firefighters would take care of the rest.”
Caleb walked around the cubicles, shaking his head. “These hackers went to a lot of trouble to get to me. But I still suspect it’s someone that works here. God, just leave me one decent clue as to who is behind all of”—he waved his hands around his devastated office space—“this.”
Juliette walked around while Caleb sank into a chair at one of the less-damaged cubicles and stared at a half-melted monitor. Usually the whole office was lit up with screens and chatter. Today, everything was still. Until voices made him jump. He stood and noted Juliette grasping for her missing sidearm, but it was just two building engineers surveying the structural damage.
They’d eventually reopen the building, and the fire would be a distant memory. Companies would get back to work and move on as if nothing had happened.
But could Caleb move on? He and Ivy might wind up in hiding indefinitely. Blake may have to run the company without him—assuming the hackers didn’t run the company into the ground with their relentless attacks or force Blake to resign. Everything he’d worked for had come crashing down around him in the span of three days.
Caleb stood. “Let me just check the server room. It should be up and running with a generator so that our offsite employees can keep working. For now.”
Juliette placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re not going to let these hackers win. They can’t destroy your company. It’s just not right.”
It might not be right, but if the bad guys figured out how to release the ransomware, he’d have a line of clients out the door, calling it quits.
They headed to an office tucked into the corner of an interior wall behind the reception area. Caleb used his keys to unlock the door to the server room. The tight rectangular closet had shelves lining three of the four walls. Fans buzzed, keeping the machines from overheating. A box of laptops sat on one of the shelves. “Agent McGregor’s team didn’t take these.”
He moved to the interior of the room to inspect the laptops, Juliette right behind him.