Chapter 16 The Hack
THE HACK
ELYXANDRE
“Lucas.”
It was the day after THE KISS. She couldn’t think of it in any other way than in capital letters.
Holy smokes, he was exactly as she’d imagined.
Controlled, yet passionate. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he meant every ounce of pressure in his lips, every stroke of his tongue against hers, every pull on her braid.
For a few moments, she didn’t have to be Elyxandre, the in-charge officer.
Instead, she was Elyxandre, the woman. Someone she hadn’t felt like in a very long time.
Unfortunately, there were more pressing issues to deal with, so she’d have to save the memory for dissection later.
She strode down the office hallway with purpose. Her breath caught when she realized she’d called him by his first name.
“Sorry. Dr. Vaughn.” She caught up to where he’d stopped to turn back to her. Lowering her voice, she said, “We have a situation. Your office. Now.”
Once they were behind his closed door, she dialed the assistant’s extension.
“Juliette, it’s Officer E. Please put the school on a hold protocol.
I’ll update you shortly, but it may be a bit.
Also, call the physical education teachers on their cell phones.
Advise them, if they’re outside, to take students to one of the field houses and stay put until told otherwise, and tell them to keep an eye on their email alerts for any updates. ”
When she disconnected, she broke the news that no SRO ever wanted to give a principal. “There’s been a threat. Online. Someone just posted on the school’s social media page that at 11:03 a.m., there’s going to be a shooting.”
His eyes widened. “How did they get on the social media page? No one is able to post on it except our media director.”
“Hacked it. Doesn’t matter at this moment. Soon, parents are going to be calling, and kids are going to see it and panic. We need to have a plan.”
Lucas looked at his watch. She’d done the exact same thing, trying to figure out how much time they had and possible solutions.
“Just under two hours,” he said under his breath. He looked at her. “What do you want to do?”
“School took down the post, but nothing’s ever truly gone. All it will take is for one person to share it, or to have taken a screenshot and share it.”
His office phone started ringing at that moment. He moved behind his desk and looked at the display. “Shit. It’s Sealy.” He picked up the phone. “Vaughn.”
When the superintendent started speaking, she could just hear him over the line. He sounded agitated, and rightfully so.
“Sir, I’m putting you on speaker. Officer Hookstead just came into my office with the news.”
“I got a call from the media,” Sealy said. “We need to act on this quickly, before it becomes a circus. I’m wondering if we should call off school for the day. Say we have a water main leak or something like that.”
“Sir,” Elyxandre said, “I don’t think that’s advisable. If the media has this already, you can bet it will be on their page any second. News vans are going to show up. Everyone will know that’s a lie. Transparency is your best bet.”
“Could this be a hoax?” Lucas asked.
“Given all the chaos of the week—the vandalism from the raid, the fire alarm, the flooding of the locker room, the damage to the greenhouse? We have to treat it as if it’s the real thing. For the students, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“The publicity,” the superintendent moaned.
Seriously? That’s what he was worried about.
“Sir, if you’re concerned about how this is going to reflect your administration in the media, I would remind you that the public will crucify you if you treat a threat as anything less than credible.
Let the complainers bitch afterwards if we find it’s a hoax. ”
“Should we evacuate the school immediately?” Sealy asked.
“Not a good idea,” she advised.
The superintendent huffed loudly. “You just said we needed to treat this as the real deal, Officer Hookstead.”
“If you want to evacuate, I have no issue with it, but we need to do it smartly.”
Lucas interceded. “I agree with Officer Hookstead, Superintendent. We want to be safe, but we also want to prevent panic.”
“What do you advise?” the superintendent asked. The reluctance in his voice was readily apparent.
“The first and largest concern is the focus of the attack. The post didn’t name anyone in particular, just that there would be a shooting at eleven, which suggests there is no specific victim or group in mind. That makes the situation all that much more difficult.”
“Without that, we have no idea where they’d start,” Lucas concluded.
“Exactly. We don’t know if it’s in regard to a particular grievance, if it’s student-aimed, or adult-aimed. If they’re targeting students, teachers, staff, administration, or if they’re threatening indiscriminately. We’re essentially running blind.”
“Have there been any especially volatile students this week?” Sealy asked.
She shared a look with Lucas.
“The only students who have come across my path this week with any anger have been the students we dealt with regarding the raid on Monday. I saw several of them today as they returned from their out-of-school suspensions, and I didn’t get any sense of rage.
Anger, yes. But nothing that suggested violence. ”
“Ryker was the most upset. His departure from the office on Monday was certainly on the volatile end,” Lucas reminded her.
“My son would never make a threat of any kind, let alone to shoot someone,” Sealy interrupted.
“I didn’t accuse him, Superintendent. I was merely pointing out that he was the most upset student I’ve dealt with this week.”
“Hardly surprising, given the circumstances,” their boss replied petulantly.
“Sir,” she said, “the problem is, we don’t even know if this is a student.
The message gave us no clues as to who we’re dealing with.
It could be a former student, a parent, or even someone not related to the school at all.
Without a stated motivation, we can’t afford to overlook any possibility, and that includes the fact that this could be something as simple as a hoax, with the only intention being to get students an early release from school. We just don’t know.”
“I’m guessing this is why you’ve put us on a hold?” Lucas asked.
“Yes. The second issue is that, since we don’t know who we’re dealing with, we have no clue where they are physically.
What is their plan of attack? Are they already inside the building?
If yes, is there a specific target in mind?
If they are outside the building, how do they plan to enter and where?
If we can prevent everyone from moving around the hallways, we control movements. ”
“What if the person is already in the building? If they’re in a classroom, they now have a set of hostages,” Sealy pointed out.
“Yes, they do. And while that is not a situation we want either, it not only lowers the potential number of victims, but it isolates the shooter.”
“It also tells us who and where they are specifically if they make a move,” Lucas said.
“Exactly. Instant confirmation of the key players and setting. Please don’t mistake me for being callous to anyone in that situation. I’m looking at this strictly from a logic standpoint.”
Sealy cut in. “I still think we should evacuate immediately. The timeline given is just under two hours away. Plenty of time for students to get out of the building, and we take away the shooter’s targets altogether.”
“What if the threat is coming from outside the building? The hold protocol also prevents a mass exodus from the building. We could have another Jonesboro on our hands, where the perpetrator is outside waiting to fire indiscriminately into the crowd. We need a controlled evacuation, one handled by professionals.”
“Also, with students leaving en masse, we have no way to account for everyone,” Lucas pointed out. “It could take hours to relocate students. No. Officer Hookstead is correct.”
“I hate to say it, but you could also end up releasing the shooter out with the students, and then you again have the opportunity for a higher body count because it may be difficult to determine who the threat is coming from.”
They were silent.
She frowned and looked at her watch.
“What is it?” Lucas asked her.
“Why 11:03? Oddly specific.”
“A clue to their plan? The entire student body would be in passing time starting at 11:02, some on their way to lunch. The lunch areas would be at the start of the initial flood of students.”
She nodded, staring absently at the wall.
“But it usually takes three to five minutes for them to hit a crowded state.” Her hands rested on her utility belt, index fingers tapping against the leather.
“At 11:03, most students would still be in the hallways of the school, making their way to their destination. There would be extremely high traffic in the hallways. Certain halls would be easy to box in and cause massive casualties.”
“You thinking there’s more than one person involved in making the threat?”
“No way to know for sure, but the timing is suggestive to me.”
“You’re talking about an ambush,” Sealy clarified.
“It’s a possibility that fits the time named,” she admitted.
“Most active shooters don’t give any notice,” Lucas added.
“Right. Which is another concern. Why is ours giving us such a head start?”
“Maybe they didn’t think we would see the message?”
“Possibly, but doubtful. Security protocols look for certain words in posts and flag them, which is why I was notified immediately. The system pinged me, and I actually knew before the social media director even picked up her phone to call me.” Her frown deepened.
“What are you thinking?” she whispered to the poster, more to herself than expecting an answer from Lucas or Sealy.