Chapter 35 - Quinn #2
“Look,” Joel interrupts with his stop sign hand again. “Don't stress yourself over it, Olivia. We respect your father and wish you all the best in trying to keep his business afloat. But, we’re just not interested.”
“If you would just give me a second to go into further detail—Olivia tries to say, but Joel cuts her off again, making my blood boil.
“Olivia, please,” he snips. “We’ve said that we’re not interested. Thank you all for coming, but this meeting is over.”
Eden and I look over at Olivia, and it’s obvious that she has lost it.
Tears fill her eyes as she realizes she has no more cards left to play, and she's about to lose to the house. I see the pain filling her face like a pitcher about to overflow, and even with everything that went down yesterday, seeing her in pain sends fire raging through my veins. I know how much this meant to her, and I know how dark Obsidian’s future is without this deal.
No matter how murky our situation is, I can't let this happen. Not to Obsidian. Not to Olivia.
“Okay,” Olivia says as her eyes drop down to the table. “Thank you for your ti—”
“You are interested,” I jump in before she can finish.
All eyes turn to me and my heartbeat revs like the engine in a race car.
“Excuse me?” Richard says. “Did you say something?”
I take a deep breath, knowing that what I'm about to do could get me fired, arrested, and blacklisted from every cybersecurity company on the east coast. It could cost me everything, but I don't fucking care.
I've listened to enough, and now I'm off the deep end. I know I was supposed to just sit back and observe Olivia’s attempt at this pitch, but she needs me now, and I can tell from the fiery gaze in her eyes that she's going to be pissed about this, but I don't fucking care.
“I said you are interested,” I repeat. “In both doing business with us, and in leaving Palo Alto Networks.”
I feel Olivia’s eyes burning holes in the side of my face, but I ignore it and focus on the rich men sitting across from us. They forget Olivia too, and while that fact pisses me off, I’ll be sure to make them regret it and apologize before I'm done.
“Umm … Mr. … King, is it?” Joel asks as condescendingly as he can. I'm offended, but I don't act on it. I'm smarter, and I simply nod. “Right. Well, Mr. King, I can appreciate a hard-nosed approach, but I didn't misspeak. We’re not interested in either of those things.”
“Yes, you are,” I say. “And if all of you would just indulge me for a few minutes, I can do more than just tell you. I’ll show you. Give me one second. I’ll be right back.”
Olivia gasps. “Be right back? Quinn, what the hell are you doing?”
I turn to her in all seriousness. “Do you trust me?”
I watch Olivia swallow hard as her breath quivers in her throat. Then she says in nearly a whisper, “More and more every day.”
I nod. “Good. Then make sure they don't leave.”
Without another word, I spin around and begin speed-walking down the hall, ignoring the loud complaints from Joel and Richard.
I fly past the receptionist, gazing at the homescreen on her desktop before stepping onto the elevator and riding it down.
Once the elevator hits the bottom, I quickly walk out to my car and grab the laptop from my passenger seat.
I thought I wouldn't need it, but they pushed me to it.
By the time I make it back to the conference room, everyone is standing and gesturing with their hands as the conversation heats up like the thermostat has been tampered with.
Joel and Richard are sick and tired of our shit.
They think they've made their choice and they're just about ready to have security escort us out, but if they were going to leave, they should've done it already. Now it’s too late. I'm back, and I'm pissed.
“Sit down, please,” I command as I take my seat and open my laptop. “All of you sit down. If you stick with your decision after I show you this, you can have us thrown out and have me arrested, but until then … sit down.”
The room goes quiet, and I half-expect Richard to call security anyway from how hard he's staring at me, but he doesn't. Everyone slowly retakes their seats and waits in silence for me to begin.
Perfect.
My eyes find Richard Saul. “You spoke eloquently about Palo Alto Networks not having security breaches like the ones Obsidian faced over the last quarter, but I can't help but wonder if you lied on purpose or if you really didn't know.”
Richard scoffs. “Didn't know what?”
“That Palo Alto Networks had a security breach last year,” I reply. “One that cost them nearly a third of their clientele after it was discovered that five terabytes of personally identifiable information was stolen.”
Richard scoffs again, but it’s weak and he knows it. “Well, that PII breach didn't affect anyone working here, or any of the clients banking with East-World.”
I nod my head as my laptop comes on and I start to click the keys.
“Not this time, you're right about that, Richard.
But if that breach didn't bother you, why do ours?
Especially when you're well aware of the fact that our breaches were carried out by someone working at Obsidian, someone with direct access to the information and systems we use.
We were never hacked by an outside threat, but Palo Alto was. How come that doesn't bother you?”
Joel and Richard look at each other, and they don't even know how dumb they look. It doesn't matter, though. I’m just getting started.
“Why are you willing to risk your data, and the data of your clients, just to maintain a business relationship with a company you can't even trust?
If you switch to Obsidian, we may not be the best of friends who go golfing together like you do with the Palo Alto CEO, but at least you won't have to worry about a data breach that could result in numerous lawsuits and millions in payouts.”
“We can trust Palo Alto,” Joel snips angrily.
“Can you? Is that a fact?” I ask, still typing on my computer.
“Yes, we can,” Joel barks. “And maybe if you weren't on your laptop in the middle of this meeting, you could see that.”
“Oh, this laptop isn't for me,” I say confidently. “It’s for you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Richard asks.
“Quinn,” Olivia calls to me. Her tone is blistering hot, but I don't take my eyes off my laptop.
Everyone in the room waits on pins and needles while I click a few keys to bring up a screen on my laptop, and run a background scan on computers within a one-block radius.
In about five seconds, I can see whose work computer has updated antivirus and whose doesn’t.
Luckily for me, the receptionist who brought us into this meeting hasn’t updated hers, and I use her system to bypass Palo Alto’s firewall and get into East-World Bank’s employee files.
After a few more keystrokes, I have exactly what I want, all thanks to the receptionist who doesn't even know her profile has been hacked.
“Mr. Saul, could you do me a favor?” I ask as I turn the laptop around and slide it over to him so he can see the screen. “Go ahead and put in your username and password.”
“Excuse me, how did you get to this screen?” Richard asks. “This is our bank staff login page.”
“Right,” I reply dryly. “Go ahead and login.”
Richard starts pressing keys on the laptop, but nothing happens. I watch with a growing smile as his frustration peaks every time he presses enter, and he slowly realizes that he’s locked out.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Richard asks.
“I locked you out of your account,” I reply with a smile.
“Excuse me?” Richard says again, this time with wide eyes and a voice as high as the receptionists.
“Quinn, stop,” Olivia growls, trying to whisper angrily, but I ignore.
“I didn't misspeak,” I reply, quoting Mr. Epson. “I locked you out of your account, Mr. Saul, by hacking into East-World’s system and installing ransomware into your file, meaning I encrypted your data storage drives from right here, and made them inaccessible to you. Now, if I was a real asshole, which I should be for the way you’ve been so disrespectful and dismissive of Olivia, I could hold all of your shit ransom.
I could lock you out of everything until you pay me what I want, which is why it’s called ransomware.
I could even erase everything if I wanted to, including all your records in payroll.
In less than five minutes on a laptop, sitting right in front of you, I hacked into your system, and could make it like you never worked even here, Richard, and you’re the CFO.
Now, tell me again how you can trust Palo Alto. ”
Neither Richard nor Joel says anything. They just stare at me, as do Eden and Olivia, but I can feel Olivia’s eyes on me like heat from warm pavement.
“Obsidian was never weak,” I continue, going in for the final nail in the coffin.
“It simply had a leach that was sucking our blood from the inside. That leach has been removed … and replaced by me. With my help, and Miss Lucero at the helm, Obsidian is going to be bigger and stronger than it even imagined it could be before, and I say that with all due respect to Diego Lucero and his legacy. But it’s a new day now.
We’re going to grow exponentially, and we’re asking you to grow with us.
” I take the laptop from Richard and quickly undo everything I did, then I close it and clasp my fingers together on top of it.
“Or, you can stay in the past. The choice is yours. Grow with us, or die with them.”
I stare across the table and take great pleasure in watching Richard blink rapidly like a bug just flew into his eye. He looks over at Joel, who stares at me with raised brows before clearing his throat and standing up. Richard follows his lead as Joel turns his gaze toward Olivia.
“Olivia, I apologize if we got off on the wrong foot,” Joel says.
“I certainly didn't mean to be disrespectful to you or your,” he glances at me, “brilliant colleague.
I came into this meeting intending to quickly send you on your way, but after what I just watched, I don't think I have any other choice now.”
Olivia gasps but tries to keep it quiet as she stands. Eden and I do the same as Joel reaches across the table with an open hand and his first genuine smile of the day.
“Okay, Olivia Lucero,” Joel says as the two of them shake hands. “We’re in. Where do we sign?”