Chapter 6 - The Man Inside My Company
Dana answered on the first ring.
“Tell me Calvin is not in the office.”
Silence.
My stomach sank.
“Ashlynn, why?”
“Where is he?”
“He arrived twenty minutes ago.”
“Get him away from every server.”
Dana immediately stopped asking questions.
I heard her moving.
Then a door closed on her end.
“What happened?”
“Margaret says Walter called someone named Calvin.”
Dana swore quietly.
“Could be someone else.”
“It could.”
Neither of us believed that.
I continued.
“Lock Reese out of everything.”
“We need grounds.”
“Use the emergency cybersecurity clause.”
“That requires evidence.”
“My password was changed.”
Pause.
“That’s enough.”
I heard typing.
Dana contacted our IT operations manager while I stayed on the line.
Thirty seconds later, she said, “His credentials are suspended.”
“Building access?”
“Suspending now.”
“Remote access?”
“Cut.”
“Backups?”
“Protected.”
“Client vault?”
Dana stopped.
“What?”
“The vault shows a data export.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“When?”
“Four hours ago.”
“What was taken?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“How large?”
“Twenty-eight gigabytes.”
I closed my eyes.
That was not one client file.
That was an archive.
“Call federal law enforcement.”
Dana did not hesitate.
“Already doing it.”
The Nassau investigator entered the room while I was still on the phone.
He waited until I finished.
“Mrs. Hartman, your husband is requesting to speak with you.”
“No.”
“He says he has information you need.”
“No.”
“He says it concerns your company.”
I looked at Margaret.
Her face had gone pale.
“What exactly did he say?”
The investigator checked his notes.
“He said, ‘Tell Ashlynn that if she wants to save Mercer Strategic, she has fifteen minutes.’”
I almost smiled.
There it was.
The same control tactic.
A deadline.
Pressure.
Fear.
Gregory still believed urgency would make me obey.
“Tell him I decline.”
Margaret stared at me.
“What if he knows something?”
“He probably does.”
“Then why refuse?”
“Because if he has information about a crime, he can give it to investigators.”
I looked at the officer.
“Tell Gregory that.”
The investigator nodded and left.
Margaret watched me carefully.
“You’re not afraid he’ll destroy your company?”
“I’m terrified.”
She seemed surprised.
“Then how are you so calm?”
“I learned a long time ago that fear is information.”
I glanced at the door.
“Gregory thinks fear is obedience.”
“That’s the difference between us.”
Ten minutes later, the investigator returned.
Gregory had agreed to make a statement.
Not to me.
To law enforcement.
He admitted that his father had arranged access to one of my company systems.
He claimed he did not know how.
He claimed he believed it was legal.
He claimed the documents in the cabin were drafted by attorneys and that he had been told I had already agreed to sign them.
Every sentence protected him.
Every sentence pointed toward Walter.
But then investigators asked one question Gregory could not answer.
Why the bat?
According to the officer, Gregory stopped talking.
He requested an attorney.
By noon, our cruise honeymoon was officially over.
Gregory was removed from the ship for further questioning.
I voluntarily remained in Nassau long enough to give a complete statement.
Then Dana arranged a flight back to Florida.
Margaret asked to travel with me.
I almost refused.
Then she said, “Walter knows I spoke to you.”
I looked at her.
“What happens if you go home?”
She did not answer.
She didn’t need to.
“You can come.”
On the flight, Margaret sat beside the window and barely spoke.
I worked the entire time.
Dana sent me preliminary logs.
Someone using my credentials had authorized temporary administrative privileges.
Calvin Reese had then downloaded encrypted client archives.
But there was one piece of good news.
The most sensitive documents required a second authentication key.
Mine.
A physical security token.
The token was not at the office.
It was inside a safe at my house.
I almost relaxed.
Then I remembered the man my mother had seen photographing the property.
I called her immediately.
“Mom, where are you?”
“At home.”
“Your home or mine?”
“Yours.”
My heart stopped.
“Leave.”
“What?”
“Leave the house now.”
“Ashlynn—”
“Take your purse and leave.”
My mother heard something in my voice.
She stopped arguing.
“Okay.”
“Do not go upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Just leave.”
I heard footsteps.
Then she suddenly stopped.
“Ashlynn.”
“What?”
“The back door is open.”
My blood went cold.
“I locked it this morning.”
“Mom, get out.”
“I’m going.”
“Now.”
I heard the front door open.
Then my mother gasped.
A man’s voice sounded faintly through the phone.
“Ma’am, I just need to ask you something.”
My mother screamed.
May you like
The phone hit the ground.
Then the line went dead.
