“And your internal logs show nothing suspicious? When did you last run them?”
“Every night at midnight the system runs a security check and produces a report. The IT department determines if there have been any problems and alerts me immediately. So far, there’ve been no successful cyber attacks. Attempts, like usual, but no one has gotten close. But as you know, if someone is good, they can get through any barriers. Because you have a high government clearance, I can give you access.”
“I don’t need access.”
“But I thought you agreed to take the job. If it’s money, I can go to the board—”
“You agreed to my standard rate. I don’t need access because I already hacked into your system.” Sean slid a folder over to Gregor Smith. “Truthfully, you’re not that exposed. I couldn’t easily get into this office or the Dallas office. If I wasn’t concerned about being detected, I could have breached your firewall, however. I can fix that vulnerability. Your main problem is D.C.”
“Why? They use our intranet, they shouldn’t have any different system.”
“True, but any server—even an intranet housed privately—is potentially vulnerable if it can be accessed remotely. The Dallas office has their own server, but the D.C. office dials in, so to speak. I can recommend a few simple fixes. Overall, though, your computer security is better than most companies’. I’ll look at the log files for the last quarter to verify that you haven’t had any breaches, but since I know how it would have been done, it won’t take me long. I can easily explain it to one of your people. What I need to do now is going to be more difficult.”
“Which is what?”
“Investigate potential internal breaches.”
Smith didn’t say anything for a moment. “You mean corporate espionage.”
“If I wanted to get into a secure system, I would do it from the inside. With the level of security most companies have these days, that’s the best way to access information.”
“How?”
“I assume your employees all sign a confidentiality statement which includes permission for HWI to run a background check.”
“Of course.”
“Then I need access to all employee files. It would be best if I could use an office here. I also need a list of any computers that aren’t tied directly to the network, including employee laptops and company cell phones.”
“We’re a family here,” Smith said. “No one would betray us.”
That, coming from a former cop, bothered Sean. Loyalty was a strength in any business, but blind faith could be HWI’s Achilles’ heel. Betrayal wasn’t always voluntary.
But he said none of that to Smith. Instead he said, “Then there will be nothing to find.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lucy arrived at the office early and, armed with a large coffee, read an email Detective Tia Mancini had sent last night. Tia had checked with all her sources and no one knew the girl, except for the one tenuous lead she’d mentioned the day before.
I have a hunch my source is right—your girl is from out of town or new to the business, Tia wrote. I’ve reached out to everyone, and no one knows anything. To me it’s odd, especially with the level of sophistication your girl seems to have in the business. I’ll keep working it—I have one more idea.
Tia didn’t give Lucy a clue as to what other idea she was pursuing, but the detective was right—the whole situation seemed odd.
Lucy forwarded the email to Barry and suggested they go wider looking for the girl. She also had a hunch, and added to her message:
Considering the two men we know she was with, Worthington and Everett, are both powerful businessmen, what if this girl is working a blackmail angle? I worked a case in D.C. where a call girl recorded her liaisons for a third party.
Zach approached as she sent off her message. “Have you seen the news?” he asked.
Lucy hated the little flutter of worry in her stomach. Not all news was bad news, right? “What happened?”
He dropped a print newspaper on her desk. “It came out this morning and was all over the morning news and the Internet.”
Congresswoman Reyes-Worthington Attacked by Stepdaughter
Congresswoman shaken but uninjured after Jolene Worthington Hayden threw a wine bottle at her.
Beneath the headlines was a photo of Jolene Hayden being escorted from a patrol car, in handcuffs, by two police officers. The photo description read:
Jolene Worthington Hayden, the only daughter of recently deceased Harper Worthington, CEO of HWI, escorted home in cuffs Sunday night by sheriff deputies after she attacked her stepmother, Congresswoman Adeline Reyes-Worthington, at the Worthington estate outside San Antonio.