Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Efa
Of course I can’t go to Fort’s actual offices. No one other than employees are allowed through the doors. Lucky for me, they have a suite of meeting rooms in the same building where I am allowed to go.
The man at the reception desk gave me a pass card to Suite Three, similar to the ones at the hotel. He buzzes me through the double doors and I’m struck by how everything’s entirely white. The floors, the walls, the carpet inset into the white marble tiles. I round the corner and find Suite Three. It’s a small room with a white table and two white chairs. The entire place has the feel of a high-end insane asylum. I make a mental note to tease Bennett about it later.
The click-clack of heels draws my attention and the most gorgeous, glamorous woman on the planet opens the door. Her white linen suit is perfect camouflage in these meeting rooms. Her eyes are bright blue against her brown skin, and her hair looks so glossy I’m ninety percent certain she has a deal with L’Oreal.
“Aarvi?” I ask.
“Yes.” Her wide mouth pulls into a huge grin. “You must be Efa. I’m excited to meet you.”
“I’m not sure you’re going to remain excited,” I say as I take a seat. “I’m sure you know much more about all this than me, but I wanted to show you what I found, in case it’s helpful.”
“I appreciate it,” she says. She doesn’t give away that this meeting is probably a pain in her arse and the last thing she wants to be doing today.
“Shall I take you through what I know?”
“That would be great,” she says, her smile never faltering, not even for a second.
I flip open my laptop and go through what I’ve learned, including how the attacks happen in a weekly pattern and how Tristan discovered the attacks seem to be routed through Bennett’s phone. Her expression remains neutral throughout.
“So that’s it really,” I say, sitting back in my white chair. “I’m not sure if any of it’s useful.”
She pulls in a breath and her gaze flits between me and my laptop screen. “Yes,” she says, but I’m not quite sure what that means. “I’ve been aware of much of this for a few days now. Ten days, I think.” She sighs.
So she knows the attacks are coming through Bennett’s phone? How is it possible that he doesn’t seem to know that? “Ten days?” I ask, when the real question I want to ask is why she hasn’t told Bennett that his phone is putting Fort Inc. at risk.
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to… I don’t know how well you know Bennett, but he doesn’t trust a lot of people.”
“I know that much,” I say.
She nods. “I guessed you would when he asked me to meet with you. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t trust you.”
“I think he does,” I say.
“Can I ask why you haven’t told him what you’ve found?” she asks. It’s the exact question I want to ask her.
“Because I don’t…” I let the sentence taper off, then start again. “Someone has to be physically close to his phone to be able to get and renew their access, since the firewalls are changed and renewed every twenty-four hours. Just because you got access one time, unless you penetrate the systems on the first attempt, you need ongoing access?—”
“Right,” she says—and of course I’m explaining something she already knows.
“So that means whoever’s attacking Fort Inc. has regular access to Ben.”
“Right,” she says again.
Silence settles between us. Neither of us says what we’re both thinking.
“He doesn’t trust a lot of people,” she says again, finally.
“And it will break him to know that someone he does trust has betrayed him,” I reply. “I was looking for something conclusive.”
“I’d like to map his movements,” she says. “When he’s at the hotel, that’s easy. I don’t think it’s coming from there. He’s not going to let his phone out of his sight when there are strangers in his room. Apart from that, do you know of any regular meetings he has where he’d leave his phone unattended? I’ve gotten details on his personal trainer, who checks out. It’s definitely not him. I’ve obviously checked everyone at Fort. He doesn’t have a driver…”
I nod, understanding that she will have ruled out all the obvious suspects. That’s not where my suspicions lie. I just don’t know if she knows about Bennett’s Monday night gathering.
“Is there anyone else you can think of?” Aarvi asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “There is.”