“Not gonna lie,” said another. “This is bad.”
“No shit,” Stryker bit out. “How long is it gonna take to get us back online?”
“Hard to know for sure. Maybe a few days. Gotta call my boss on this one.”
That wasn’t even the worst of it.
Stryker needed to tell his clients that the building had been compromised, that laptops used to hack into the FBI had been stolen, and that top-secret government information could be in jeopardy. Stryker’s head pounded and he scrubbed his fingers through his hair.
One of the police officers walked over. “Mr. Truman, we found the point of entry.” He pointed across the atrium. “The perps used glass cutters to remove a large piece of the side window and they stepped right in.”
Too fucking easy.“I’ll have that boarded up,” Stryker said.
Stryker found Brooks on the phone with their insurance company. After hanging up, Brooks murmured, “Could this be gang retaliation from our hit last week?”
Stryker shook his head. “They would have come after us, not our company.”
“That’s comforting to know.”
Brooks’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.
“We’ve got over twenty-five pods. Why target just one of them?” Stryker opened a window on his laptop and pulled up last night’s security surveillance. “Check this out.”
Stryker fast-forwarded until 3:12AM, when the video went dark. “That’s when they cut the connection.” He dragged the cursor back. “That’s when it happened, but they’re dressed in black with black ski masks.” His chest heated, the anger surging through him. “No flashlight. They must’ve used night goggles.”
“You sure this isn’t some gang-related revenge?” Brooks whispered.
“My gut says no,” Stryker replied.
“What next?” Brooks held out his hand.
Stryker fished a hair tie out of his satchel and handed it to Brooks. “IT needs to inventory the equipment. Can you call someone to board up the glass?”
“Sure thing.” Brooks tied back his dreads. “I’ll also send out a company-wide email telling everyone to stay home until they hear back from us.”
“Remind them not to talk about this with anyone outside the company.”
“You know, this is all they’re gonna talk about.”
Stryker nodded. “If the power isn’t up by Monday, we’ll send someone from each pod to the client site to work from there. I’ll handle logistics for that.”
Brooks slapped him on the back. “We’ll get through this.”
Stryker snapped his laptop shut. “I’ll check in with the police before I head to the Bureau.”
“Glad I’m not having that conversation. We’re already on thin ice with them.”
“Not gonna be pretty.”
“The upside is that no one was here when they broke in. Things coulda been a lot worse.”
“I’m sorryIwasn’t here,” Stryker said. “The outcome would have been very different.”
Stryker found the officer in charge. After showing him the surveillance video, he forwarded it to him, then jumped up on the reception counter. “Hey, guys. C’mon over.”
Once his employees had gathered around, Stryker addressed the group. “As you’ve heard by now, there was a break-in.”
“Was anything taken?” asked a manager.