Chapter Twenty-Three #2
His nose screws up and his lips purse together. I hold my hands around my ear and lean forward slightly.
“Understood, Boss,” he snaps and I hear someone behind me snort.
“Now I apologise that things have not been running smoothly, and that’s being rectified. I’ve read over your file, and we will have you out by the end of the week.”
“End of the week?!” he yells, thrashing himself around.
“Beast, the way I see it is you were sloppy and got caught. How is that my fault?”
“The backup team never arrived. They were supposed to be at the meeting point. No one else knew where I was besides them.”
“They said you weren’t there, that you radioed in that you’d be working alone.”
“That’s bullshit! I was there and ambushed by the cops.”
“Shit,” Sawyer swears softly behind me and I turn back to look at him. He’s pulled his phone out, which I’m sure he shouldn’t have in here either.
“Dad, pay the bail and organise a transport team, we’re extracting Amelie now.”
“What’s going on?” I ask as Frost pulls his gun and Sawyer moves to my right.
“Harold, I’m presuming. He must still have access to our servers. I need to get us out of here just in case he has something planned. We can’t risk your safety.”
“What about me? I’m a sitting duck!” The Beast complains.
“You will be released within the hour and brought to our headquarters. I will see you there.”
We’re ushered out of the room and back to Frost’s car. Sawyer is on the phone talking to the analysts and computer specialists, instructing them to do an overhaul of the system and to find out how Harold is still in.
“Where are we going?” I ask Frost, who’s speeding through the streets like he is on the set of The Fast and the Furious.
“To take you to the safe house,” he answers without looking at me.
“No, I’m going to headquarters.”
I can see the indecisive look wash across his face and he briefly glances at Sawyer.
“Don’t look at him, this is an order. I’m coming with you.”
He nods his head and changes direction, just as Sawyer ends his call and looks back at me.
“That’s not a good idea, what if he targets headquarters?”
“I doubt he’s making a move yet, he’ll be messing with us just to let us know that he still can.
When he rears his ugly head, he’ll want everyone to know.
He’ll want an audience, too, no doubt. Today is not the day.
Message your brothers and get them to meet us at HQ, and I need an ETA on the new board.
We need to make some permanent changes, and soon. ”
“Already done, the new board will be announced after your inauguration.”
We soon pull up to the gates of the headquarters building, and they open automatically. They were obviously expecting us, though, because three beefy guys greet the car, and Frost immediately starts to brief them. Sawyer and I walk into the building and he leads me down to an office.
Kalen, Slate and Onyx are already here, standing over a very scrawny guy who is typing away at a computer.
“Any update?” Sawyer asks, and everyone looks at us.
“All of the team that overlooks our assignments have been picked up and they are on their way,” Onyx explains.
“And what about that guy? What if it was him?” I ask suspiciously, pointing to the one working away at the computer screen.
“Linus works for us, exclusively. He’s never been under Harold and as much as it pains me to say it, Branson even uses him and approves. You know how anal that guy is with his privacy,” Slate adds.
“Get Mackenzie in here too. She may not be allowed to touch the damn keys but an extra pair of eyes won’t hurt right now, and she’s damn good at what she does.”
“Will do, boss,” Slate replies, pulling out his phone. He steps away to make a call. I turn my attention back to the screens.
“So what are we doing?” I ask, satisfied with Slate’s response when he nods to say Mackenzie is en route.
Linus turns to face us. He starts talking in big words I really don't understand.
“In English for us that have zero idea what you’re talking about,” I say with a laugh.
“I’m going over the contracts and following the…umm…cyber footprint to see what locations ping, to make sure all communication came from within The Order servers. If we can pinpoint it, then we should be able to trace their location and who it is.”
“How many people oversee assignments?”
“About thirty have clearance, and the members of the board can technically get clearance too,” Linus answers.
“And everyone is accounted for?” I question.
“Yes, we have teams out now, and everyone has been picked up and is on their way here. They’ll all remain here until they’re cleared. Even our father has been picked up. We have a team of experts flying in. We need to make sure no one is lying, and we have body language experts coming.”
“Why no lie detectors?” I hate having to ask so many questions, but I’m new to all of this and need to know how to deal with things in the future.
“We train all of our recruits to be able to bypass lie detectors,” Kalen says. “Do you want to test me?” he smiles trying to lighten the mood.
A knock at the door startles me, but a moment later it opens and Baxter is standing in the doorway.
“It’s about time you got here,” Onyx snaps.
“Calm down, I came as fast as I could,” he throws back.
“Why is Baxter here? I’m confused.”
Sawyer steps forward. “Because our father is involved we have to step back. Normally you would oversee all of this but due to you…”
“Fucking them,” Baxter teases. I flip him off.
“Due to you being involved with us, we’re handing the investigation over to Baxter. He knows as much as we do, and you trust him. We might not but—”
“I trust him with my life.”
“I know, and that’s why I asked him here. We’re all going to Dad’s house.”
I groan. “Why there?”
“When Harold went…rogue, all our safe houses were compromised. We had to sell them all and are still in the process of purchasing new ones. His house is the safest. Laura has been picked up for a surprise holiday and is leaving as we speak. She won’t return until after,” Sawyer answers, and even though it’s a minor detail compared to everything that’s going on, I feel relieved knowing that she’ll be gone.