Paige #3
“I was brought in after the mine collapse in South Africa. I was just a partner on some other investments and projects, but they wanted me to get close to you. I didn’t know what was happening before that, but they gave me access to the information.
I needed some context for what was going on, and they were very accommodating.
I would never have gone along with what they did, no matter my feelings. ”
Payton stands from his chair and rounds Hayes’s desk, pulling out a laptop and plugging in the thumb drive.
“This better not be some elaborate way to infect our network with a virus,” he grumbles.
He taps the keyboard a few times, his hands deftly moving through commands and pulling up documents from the drive while his face is bathed in the light from the laptop screen.
“There’s enough information on here to take the four years you estimated to go through it all. Shit.”
“Won’t you be implicated in this right along with your partners?” I ask, worry lacing my words.
“I have plans in place for that inevitability, but I have to go down with the orchestrators or it will look like I was the leak all along. Even if the main conspirators go down, it doesn’t mean I would be safe with that target on my back.
It’s a necessary means to an end and gets me out of this fucked up partnership.
” There is relief laced in his words, and his willingness to both come clean to avoid this catastrophe and go down with those who put this plot together feels very truthful.
“And that’s where we come in for you, is it?” Hayes says. “You want to secure your future before you get raided by the FBI and your career options become extremely limited.”
“The best thing you can do is plan for every possibility, right? Why stay shortsighted when I can take my future in hand now?”
“You’re complicit to the atrocity that already took place in South Africa. Why stop now when you could see us taken down for good?” Hayes asks, removing his arm from my shoulders and leaning forward.
“I never wanted anyone to get hurt.” Octavius leans back into the chair and scrubs his hands across his face.
“I’ll do anything to make sure they don’t get to repeat the loss of life and destruction, including letting you assholes know about it with enough time to step in and keep it from happening, even if it means I’ll be dragged down with them. ”
“What exactly is planned for tomorrow at the Georgia mines? Are they going to blow something up, or is it more insidious than that?” Zander asks, not bothering to address Octavius’s comments.
“There will be a few steps skipped in the safety processes, a few charges left in opportune places, and a coordinated attack to shut down the systems in place at the mines. It would be complete devastation if they were successful, both in shutting down your operations here stateside and in drawing a big spotlight onto every operation you hold the world over. Two industrial accidents in the span of a few weeks isn’t a coincidence. ”
“He’s actually downplaying the scope of what is really planned,” Payton says absently from the desk.
He’s scrolling furiously, the light of the screen playing across his face in waves as his eyes skate back and forth taking in the details.
“There are several layers of plans if this one fails to bring about the outcome they want, each escalating in severity.”
“And all they have to do is turn over that information to the right authorities and it will be stopped before anyone can get hurt?” I ask, my hands clenched around Hayes’s arm. The last thing I want is for them to act too slowly and see innocent people hurt. Again.
“You probably want to send some trusted people to the operations as soon as you can to make sure every last interloper is removed and do a top-to-bottom systems check to ensure nothing was left behind as a sneaky surprise. The planted workers came from Gage Geological and were unceremoniously let go when you acquired the company, so there were plenty of hard feelings toward you that didn’t need to be coaxed out.
There should be an exhaustive list of every person that was placed at one of your holdings. ”
“Found that and already emailed it to the right people at headquarters to have their access cut off and start the removal process tonight,” Payton says.
I look out the window at the black night dotted with city lights.
It’s nearly midnight and they have more than their share of work to do before sunrise to ensure whatever is planned can be stopped.
I’m exhausted, but I don’t want to leave Hayes’s side.
The mere thought causes me to yawn, which I try to hide by covering my mouth.
“Let’s get you to bed, angel,” Hayes says quietly. “You have a full day ahead of you and don’t have to sit through this mess.”
“I don’t want to go home, or to Mama’s,” I whisper back, while Payton tells Zander more of what he’s finding on the thumb drive.
“We’ll sleep here tonight. I don’t want you too far away, either.”
“I’m so sorry this is happening.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, it’s me who should be begging you to forgive me for putting business before you tonight. I’m sorry, angel.”
I shake my head. “Don’t be. There’s no way you could have anticipated this. And some things just need your attention right then and there, no matter what else you have going on.”
Despite the stress of the situation, he manages to smile for me now. “Let’s get you to bed.”