Chapter Nine
Hawk heard his phone ringing over the sound of the shower spray.
He ignored the ringing and rinsed the soap from his hair. Whoever it was, he could call back.
Only the phone started up again as soon as the ringing had stopped.
He cut the water and grabbed a towel before reaching for his cell phone with his wet hand. “Yeah?”
“Are you watching the news?”
It was Ed.
“Midmorning? No. What’s up.”
“Seems our potential new clients are having a difficult day,” Ed said.
“Stone?”
“Yeah.”
Hawk held his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he tied the towel around his hips.
As soon as his hands were free, he put the call on speaker and walked to his living room.
“What’s going on?” he asked. He turned his television on and flipped through the local channels.
“The bomb squad is surrounding the building.”
Hawk zeroed in on the breaking news and turned up the volume.
A news reporter stood in front of the police line, talking into a camera. “Details have not yet been relayed to the press, but you can see by the police presence that the authorities are taking this threat very seriously.”
The camera panned beyond the reporter and to the scene.
The bomb squad was out in full force, plenty of black-and-whites controlling the public, and what looked like hundreds of employees standing around staring.
The camera snagged on Alex and Chase Stone and the man the reporter was calling the new brother .
“How soon can you get there?” Ed asked.
“I’m on my way now.”
“I’ll meet you.”
Hawk disconnected the call and stared at his television at the woman he couldn’t quite keep away from.
Sandwiched between her brothers, Alex stood by and watched as armored trucks, squad cars, the fire department, and at least one ambulance were all parked haphazardly in front of Stone Enterprises.
Once the alarm started to scream in the building, Alex’s heart had lodged in her throat.
Much of the board didn’t react at all to the flashing lights and noise. It wasn’t until Chase yelled over the noise that it wasn’t a drill that people started to move.
Seeing how so many employees didn’t immediately find the nearest stairwell and start descending, Chase and Max ran through the executive floor, telling everyone to evacuate.
Alex couldn’t believe how many people—women, mostly—were returning to their desks to retrieve their purses and jackets instead of leaving. Equally disturbing were those standing by the elevators.
Everyone who noticed Alex or her brothers gave them the same surprised look.
“It’s not a drill,” they said continually.
By the time their feet stepped outside of the building, there were already police cars skidding in and the sound of sirens coming to join the party. Only then did the employees truly figure out that something was happening.
“That isn’t a fire truck,” Mrs. Monroe said when an armored truck arrived with the words Bomb Squad printed on the side.
“There was a bomb threat,” Alex told the older woman.
“Oh, my.”
Floyd and Arthur stood close, watching along with Alex and her brothers.
The police started setting up a line and pushing everyone back.
“We need to see someone in charge,” Max said to the first police officer that approached them.
“Do you work here?”
“We own the place,” Max replied.
“As soon as we know more, we’ll have someone talk to you.”
Alex scanned the crowd in search of the in-house daytime security guard and couldn’t see him.
Someone on a loudspeaker yelled up at the building and those still trickling out, “Please move beyond the police line as quickly as possible.”
Busa, Chase’s right hand in his company, slid in beside them. “What’s going on?”
“All we know is there’s a bomb threat.”
Another fire truck rolled into the fray.
“Damn,” Arthur exclaimed.
Almost as quickly as the sirens stopped, the media showed up.
Alex stared in silence as authorities ran around and employees huddled in clusters.
Within thirty minutes, Sarah had arrived and stood beside Max.
Chase had already called Piper to tell her they were all safe and asked that she call Vivian, Chase and Alex’s mother, so she wouldn’t worry.
Alex reached for her cell phone several times while they stood there waiting for answers. Only to remember that her cell was in her office with her purse.
“We should encourage everyone to go home,” Alex concluded. “If there is a bomb in there ... and it goes off ...” She glanced around the huddled employees who stood by staring.
“Our cars are in the parking lot,” Floyd stated.
Alex saw a motorized drone roll out from the back of the bomb squad truck.
“Call your wife or an Uber,” Alex suggested.
Chase turned to the executive staff. “Spread out, tell everyone to leave. With any luck, this is all a false alarm and they can get their cars in the morning. If not, we have bigger problems.”
For once, Floyd didn’t argue.
Their senior staff moved through the mass of people, encouraging them to go home.
All the while, Alex stared at the unfolding scene. The thought of the building actually blowing up wasn’t something she could picture. Was everyone out of the building?
Her heart rate and her breath were competing for who could race the fastest.
Dee approached from behind her. “Ms. Stone? Is there really a bomb?”
The poor woman looked like a panicked teen being pulled over for speeding as she stood there clutching her purse.
Alex attempted a reassuring smile. “We don’t know yet.”
“Oh, God.”
Alex placed a hand on Dee’s shoulder. “You should go home.”
“My car is . . .”
“Someone will call you when it’s safe to return to pick it up,” Alex assured her.
Dee nodded several times. “Okay ... yeah, okay. Be safe.”
“It’s probably nothing,” Alex told her.
More nodding. “Right. Nothing.”
Alex watched as Dee walked away.
From Dee’s direction, two men approached behind dark sunglasses.
Hawk.
He passed through the crowd with a confidence no one around them had. Tall, broad shoulders ... a jacket that she knew likely hid a firearm. The sunglasses may have hidden his eyes, but she felt his stare directly on her.
Alex blew out a breath as an unexpected wave of relief washed over her.
Hawk removed his sunglasses.
“Hi,” she said on a breath.
Their eyes met. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, shook her head, then nodded again.
Chase turned around at that moment and realized Hawk was there.
“I saw the news,” he told them.
Chase immediately reached to shake Hawk’s hand. “Hawk. Good to see you.”
“Chase, Alex, this is Ed Vargas. He runs the company I work for.”
Chase moved to shake Ed’s hand.
“This is Max, our brother, and Sarah.”
More handshakes.
“A pleasure to meet you. Sorry it’s under these circumstances,” Ed said.
“Do we know what’s going on?” Hawk asked.
“No,” Chase told him. “Nothing more than there is a bomb threat. No one has talked to us yet.”
Ed and Hawk looked at each other.
Ed hooked his sunglasses on an inside pocket of his jacket. “I’ll get some answers.” And then, just like that, he ducked under the police tape and walked straight toward the uniformed police officers.
“Are they going to let him ...” Alex’s words trailed off when Ed moved from the police officers to those who looked to be in charge of the people operating the drone that was rolling toward the building.
“You only have to act like you belong and people won’t question you,” Hawk said.
Sarah moved to Alex’s side and laced her arm through Alex’s. “It’s going to be okay.”
Alex looked toward the building. “I know.” At least she was trying to convince herself that it would be.
“Do you have any idea who could be behind this?” Hawk asked.
Alex shook her head.
“No,” Chase said.
“Anyone fired lately, someone with a grudge?”
No sooner did Hawk voice the question than Floyd walked back into their circle. “Any answers yet?”
“We’re working on it,” Max told him.
Floyd looked up at Hawk.
Chase made the introductions. “Floyd is our vice president. Hawk Bronson is being brought in to assess our security measures. The plan was to meet with him next Wednesday.”
“I wouldn’t think we needed that a few hours ago,” Floyd said.
“Alex and I had a few concerns.”
“Where is the building security guard?” Hawk asked.
“No idea. We haven’t seen him.”
Was that an eye roll?
“Floyd, how long has Rodney worked security in the building?” Chase asked.
Floyd shrugged. “I don’t know. Couple years, maybe. I never really see the man.”
Hawk looked over the heads of those still standing around. “Who here would know?”
“Piper’s not here, but she would,” Alex said.
“Who is Piper?”
“My wife,” Chase told him. “She was our late father’s executive assistant before he died. I’ll give her a call.”
Chase pulled his phone from his pocket and stepped away.
Max slid into Chase’s space. “Do you have any experience with this type of incident?” he asked Hawk.
“Yes.”
“Is this response normal?” Alex asked. “All these resources?”
“When the threat is viable, yes.”
“Viable?”
“Good reason to believe the threat is real,” Hawk clarified.
Alex shivered.
Sarah put her hand on Alex’s arm. “It’ll be okay.”
“I just hope everyone got out of the building.”
Chase walked up from behind them. “Rodney has worked here for five or six years. Piper said that the building security only consisted of an alarm system and cameras before then.”
“Did something happen to prompt a change?” Hawk asked.
Alex looked to Floyd, the only person standing there who had worked in the building at that time.
“I don’t recall anything. Certainly not this. I would have remembered a bomb threat,” Floyd said.
“Piper said the same thing. There wasn’t any discussion about the change, but our dad requested the security be increased and authorized the hiring of guards.”
Hawk narrowed his eyes.
Alex wanted to ask what he was thinking but saw Ed walking toward them.
“Well?” Hawk asked.
“They said 911 got the call. It came from inside the building.”
Alex grasped Sarah’s arm.
“Woman. But there is reason to believe it was AI generated.”
“What did they say?” Max asked.
Ed looked at Hawk.
They both stayed silent.
“It’s something bad, right?” Alex asked.
“We’ll be able to hear the recording later. Suffice to say there was enough said to bring out the whole circus,” Ed said.
Sarah straightened her spine. “Shit. Here they come.”
Hawk, Ed, Chase, and Max all turned around.
Two reporters with cameramen headed straight toward them.
“Mr. Stone, Ms. Stone, what can you tell us—”
Alex shook her head.
Hawk turned and faced the media.
Chase lifted a hand. “We don’t have anything at this time.”
Floyd pointed to the north end of the building. “Is that Rodney?”
Alex peered closer. “Yes.”
Rodney was walking away from the building, pushing a wheelchair with a woman in it.
The reporters swung their cameras in Rodney’s direction.
“Who is that with him?”
Floyd spoke up. “I don’t know her name. I think she’s in Marketing.”
“He must have stayed back to get her out,” Max said.
Alex seemed to remember seeing an employee in a wheelchair but hadn’t taken the opportunity to know who she was. “She must be scared half to death.”
The media started toward the guard.
Max pushed in front of them. “Give them a minute.”
Sarah dislodged herself from Alex’s side and joined Max. “If they want to talk, we’ll wave you over,” she told the reporters. Considering Sarah was once a tabloid reporter, she knew what to say to hold back the media.
Hawk lowered his voice and said, “I wasn’t impressed with Rodney when I was here last week. This makes up for it.”
The movement of police vehicles and fire trucks brought Alex’s attention back to the building.
“What’s going on?”
Hawk moved close to her side. “They must have found something?”
Alex’s gaze darted to where Hawk was staring.
A person in a bomb protection suit stood outside the armored vehicle.
Hawk placed a hand on her shoulder. “We need to move farther back.”