Chapter 37
Titus
“How extensive is the damage?” I stand next to Tucker in the smoke-stained hall, looking over what remains of the storage area and the wall separating it from our now-empty server room.
“Structurally it’s still sound, but the whole space has to be gutted and redone.” He jerks his chin to the room that used to house the kind of information lots of people would obviously do terrible shit to get their hands on. “Have you had the chance to see if you lost anything?”
“The whole system is set to back up every fifteen minutes. Anything we lost would have only been from a short span of time.” I scrub at my face, scratching at skin still irritated by ash, smoke, and memories. “Have we figured out how in the hell he was able to do this?”
“Not exactly, but I have my suspicions.” Trevor looks like he hasn’t slept in the week since the fire.
He’s got bags under his eyes and his face is drawn and pale.
“I guess he groped the supply girl a while back. The security team thinks it’s possible he used that as an opportunity to swipe her key card.
Apparently there are machines that can duplicate the information onto a second card in a matter of seconds.
“In the minutes before the attack, her card was used to open the door three times. Once when she and Mariah entered initially. Once when they returned for the items they forgot. And then a third time we were able to confirm through security footage was him using what was likely a dupe card to enter.”
I’m not a violent person, but if that fucker hadn’t been killed in the blast, I would have made sure he never saw the light of day again. “And he just didn’t give a shit that there were two innocent women in the line of fire?”
“That’s a question someone else will have to answer, because I don’t fucking know.
” Trevor rakes a hand through his messy hair.
“I don’t know why he wanted to take our servers out.
I don’t know if he was working alone or with someone else.
I don’t even know if the name we have for him is legit because his remains were too damaged for fingerprints, and without a comparison, dental records are apparently useless. ”
Bile climbs up my throat at the reminder of what happened to that fucker. Because it could have easily happened to Mariah. If she hadn’t thought so quickly to knock him down and retrieve the stolen key card. Hadn’t moved as fast as she did to get through that other door.
If I hadn’t been able to get to her when I did.
“Stop thinking about it.” Walker shakes his head at me.
“Nothing good will come from sinking in a pool of what might have been.” Taking a deep breath, my cousin straightens his shoulders, looking between us all.
“Until we know more about the motivations behind the attack, I think we operate under the assumption it’s not over. ”
Silence settles over me and my brothers, the possibility resting heavy on our shoulders.
I pull in air, clearing my throat before mentioning a suspicion I’m sure someone else is also considering. “Could this be connected to the breach at Alaskan Security and the attempt made to access our system?” It’s more of a rhetorical question. One I think we all know the answer to.
“I can’t see how it’s not, but who in the hell would want to get their hands on our data?” Walker poses the million-dollar question.
And he’s not gonna like my response. “Who wouldn’t want to get their hands on our data?”
Our company—my team specifically—handles cybersecurity for a number of high-profile companies.
Companies like Alaskan Security, who are connected to everyone from private corporations to government entities.
Except whoever this is didn’t seem to want into Alaskan Security’s system.
They were just trying to go through them to get to us.
So I guess that’s one possibility off the table. Only a million more to run down.
“This is a fucking nightmare.” Walker presses the heels of his hands into his eyes. “I don’t even know where to start with this.”
“We start by hiring more people for my team. The more eyes we have on this, the safer everything will be, and the more likely it is we’ll be able to figure out what’s happening.
” I turn to Walker. “You are going to ramp up security in this building. I want cell phones to work in every room and an emergency override in place for the door locks. One only a select group of people can access.”
“We run full background checks on anyone we hire.” Trevor clenches his jaw. “Temps, assistants, fucking window washers. Everyone. I want to know their mother’s favorite color and how many times a week they take a shit.”
I know Trevor feels like this is his fault.
Like he missed something in Dan’s hiring process.
I don’t think he did, because I know I didn’t.
“I get where you’re coming from, but I want to be clear—we did a full background check on that guy.
It didn’t come back with anything that would raise any suspicions. ”
That’s why we’re working on the theory he wasn’t who he claimed to be. I know my team wouldn’t have missed something so significant. A person doesn’t just start blowing up buildings out of nowhere.
“Fuck.” Trevor shoves both hands into his hair. “I don’t fucking like this shit.”
That’s pretty obvious.
“None of us do.” Tobias is holding it together better than the rest of us. “But we’ve gotta come up with a way to move forward while we figure out what the fuck is going on.”
I wonder if Tobias is going to feel the same way about moving forward when he finds out who just joined my team as a project manager.
Somehow I doubt it.
“This is a fucking nightmare.” Trevor rakes a hand through his hair again. I hope he didn’t put any effort into styling it this morning, because at this point he looks like a rooster from how aggressively he’s manhandling that shit.
I know part of the reason he’s so shook up is because he witnessed what actually happened firsthand. Moving forward from that kind of trauma is difficult, even when everyone you care about makes it out safe.
“What if we hire additional, high-level security?” I don’t know why this idea didn’t occur to me sooner. “Alaskan Security has a team that specializes in commercial security. I’m sure if Pierce has the availability, he’d be more than happy to send us a few of his guys.”
“Good idea.” Walker agrees immediately. “Talk to him as soon as you can. We need to get the ball rolling on this.” He pauses, expression pinching. “How is Mariah?”
“Not thrilled I won’t let her come here with me anymore.” I hated having to do it, but until we know who Dan really was and why in the hell he wanted to destroy—or get his hands on—our servers, I don’t feel safe bringing her to the office. “She gets it, but she’s still not happy about it.”
Thankfully, I was able to come up with a plan B that will hopefully keep her from feeling totally isolated. I’m pretty sure Tobias is going to hate it, but I don’t fucking care. He can get over himself.
It’s probably well past time for that to happen anyway.
“Speaking of Mariah.” I pull out my keys. “I need to get back home. See if our mother’s driven her crazy yet.”
Tobias crosses both arms over his chest. “Better her than us.”
I don’t have the heart to tell him our mother should be the least of his worries.