Dalton shook his head. “Let’s agree that it’s okay for you to call me Mr. Granger while at work if that makes you comfortable. But otherwise, it’s Dalton.”
“That’s a deal.” There was a moment’s hesitation before Percy said, “I’m sitting in the parking lot, and so I guess officially I’m not at work.” He paused. “Dalton, the reason I called is because I noticed something unusual. I just got this job, and I don’t want to be a snitch or anything but...”
Dalton sat up straight in his chair. “You noticed what?”
“A program on one of the computers that shouldn’t be there.”
How could there be a program on a Granger Aeronautics computer that shouldn’t be there? “You sure?” Dalton asked.
“Positive. Unless you are familiar with this type of stealth program, you wouldn’t be able to detect it.”
“But you can?”
“Yes. I might have just gotten my degree last year, but I’ve been messing around with computers for years. Besides that, I used to work for a company that did that sort of thing, legally, to monitor their employees. This one is more high-tech, and it’s not monitoring anyone. It’s taking information from somewhere in the building.”
“Have you mentioned this to anyone else, Percy?”
“No.”
“Good. Let’s meet tonight, away from the office, and talk more about this. What about meeting at that nightclub where you used to work?”
“That’s a good place. Percy Jr. has a football game after school, so would seven o’clock be okay with you?”
“Seven is fine. I’ll see you then.”
When he clicked off the phone, Dalton thought about getting security involved but then changed his mind. Security hadn’t detected the spy devices implanted in Shana’s office earlier in the year. Not to mention that someone had tried hacking into her computer around the same time, and it had been someone from within the building. That’s one of the reasons Jace had asked him to supervise security with the company and, as far as Dalton knew, everyone was doing their job and things were running well. But was there someone in the department who was compromising things? Someone with the ability to undermine his entire team of technical experts? He couldn’t help but remember that Vidal Duncan had been able to embezzle money from the company for years without being detected, so Dalton knew such a thing was possible. Besides that, he mustn’t forget that the person who’d tried hacking into Shana’s computer had never been identified. It was assumed it was one of the employees who had been arrested. What if it wasn’t, and what if the person was still working for Granger? The one benefit to working for the USN was knowing that anything was possible and that new technology, both good and bad, was being created every day.
He picked up the phone to call Jace and then put it down. Before taking the matter to Jace and Caden, he needed to first determine just what kind of program Percy had detected. He checked his watch and figured he had enough work to get through until his meeting at seven.
*
“Boy, did I need that,” Shep said, releasing Carson’s lips. He hadn’t known she was visiting him today, and when Ambrose had come to the library to get him, Shep had been anxious to get to the room where he knew she was waiting. As usual, Ambrose had left them alone for an attorney-client consultation, when the guard had known it would be more than that.