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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The next day, Rupert went to work beside himself. The stress of thinking about a way out, coupled with the sleepless night he'd just had, clearly put him out of his element, and he looked as though he didn't have his wits about him.

At Leadsway, he first met Cindy at her desk, as she was typing an email.

"Hi, Rupert. You don't look so good. Care to share your thoughts?"

"I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night," he said.

"Well, I'm sorry for you. Maybe a cup of coffee will do the trick."

"Thanks. I need it. The one I drank at home clearly isn't enough."

She stood up and poured him some coffee from the coffee machine near her desk, and then gave it to him.

Rupert took the coffee.

"Thanks. Listen, I'll see you later. I've got some work to do in my office."

"Okay. Take it easy, okay," she said.

"Will do. Thanks again for the coffee," he said as he walked away.

Cindy's mobile phone rang as Rupert was walking away.

"Hello, Sylvia. How are you?"

"Hi Cindy. I'm fine. Is Rupert at work already? I'm worried about him; he hasn't been himself lately."

"Yes, he just came in a few minutes ago. I've noticed that he's a bit edgy, what could be the problem?"

"I don't know myself. I was wondering if you knew anything about it. He hasn't said much to me," Sylvia said.

"He hasn't said much to me either. Perhaps its work."

"Yeah. I just hope it's not something serious. Thanks anyway. I'll talk to you later."

"You're welcome, Sylvia. Bye."

Rupert walked away from the reception and headed toward his office.

"Take it easy, she says," he whispered and chuckled, and then shook his head.

"These may very well be my last days here at Leadsway, or alive for all I know."

He entered his office and sat behind his desk, and drank his coffee. The coffee did give him a much needed boost, but he was still far from being well.

He took out the two flash disks, that he received in the mail, and placed them on the desk.

"I'm actually helping these terrorists out," he said to himself, his conscience hitting him.

"I can't do this. I really can't."

He took out his phone and opened a photo of Sylvia and Jane. He had taken it on a holiday trip they once went on.

"They look so happy and innocent. I can't let anyone harm them," he said.

Tears fell down his cheeks. He closed his eyes and clinched his fists. He cried for minutes as he struggled to cope with the situation he was in. He had flashbacks of the happy times he shared with his family and anger soon filled his heart, and he came to a conclusion.

I am going to put an end to this madness, now. I hope Sylvia will forgive me for this, once she understands.

He took the flash disks and connected them to his computer, without disabling the antivirus system, a deliberate attempt to get caught.

He watched them load as he wiped his tears and regained his composure.

"No turning back now," he whispered.

Suddenly, a red box with a virus warning came up on the computer screen. Rupert just watched, his heart beating like it's about to self-destruct.

The alert triggered a number of notifications to be sent to the security personnel, and caused Rupert's computer and other vital system devices in the Leadsway computer network to lock down.

...

In the system-monitoring room, two technicians were on duty that morning, and they saw the alerts.

"Matt, a virus alert," one of them said to the other.

"Yeah, and it's coming from Mr. Blake's office computer," Matt said.

"Well, we better inform Mr. Grant and sort this out. Remember that he said we should tell him if any security alerts occur."

"Yeah," Matt said.

He took his phone out to call him.

"I'll go see what's happening in his office," the other technician said and went to Rupert's office.

"Hello, Mr. Grant."

"This is Matt Stewards, from the Security Department."

"Yes, what do you have for me?"

"Sir, our monitors are alerting us of a virus in the system. It was detected in Mr. Blake's computer, sir."

"Okay, thank you. Tell Mr. Blake to come to the boardroom immediately."

...

Rupert heard a knock at his door, as he sat on his desk, and he pressed a button on a device, opening the door. The anxiety had passed him now, and he was very calm.

The technician walked to his desk.

"Good morning, Mr. Blake."

"Good morning," Rupert said.

"Sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but we've received a virus alert from the system and its indicating the source as your computer," the technician said.

"Yes, and?"

"I'm going to have to take a look at it, sir."

"Sure," Rupert said.

He stood up and stepped away from the desk. He watched as the technician sat down and examined the computer.

"Sir, are these your flash disks?"

"Yes," he said.

"Well, they—" the technician managed to say, before his mobile phone rang.

He answered it.

"Yes, Matt. What is it?"

He remained silent for a few seconds and then said, "Okay."

He then put his phone back into his pocket, and turned to look at Rupert.

"Sir, Mr. Grant wants to see you in the boardroom, now."

Rupert's heart raced when he heard it.

"Thank you," he said, and just left the office.

The technician remained in the office, still unsure of what was happening.

It's happening. I'm in trouble, but I don't care anymore.

Rupert walked through the passageway.

I'm ready for this. At least this way Sylvia and Jane can get witness protection. I'll probably go to jail and get questioned about the guys that are doing this. The hackers are not expecting this, so there is enough time to get the police to Sylvia and Jane, before the hackers get to them.

He walked past the reception area, acknowledging Cindy with just a nod, and took the elevator to the twentieth floor.

The elevator doors opened and he walked out. He then made his way to the boardroom.

The door was open when he arrived at it.

He stepped in and saw John Lay, William Roberts and Lloyd Grant seated inside.

I'm sure getting sacked today, but I just don't care anymore.

He closed the door.

Everyone in the room remained silent and looked at Rupert with serious faces as he walked over to the table and took a seat. As soon as he took a seat, Grant began to speak.

"Rupert Blake. I need you to be—"

"I know what you are going to say. I'm fired, I know that. But I want you to know something."

He looked Grant in the eye and continued.

"Someone called me on Sunday and told me to follow their commands or else they would kill me and my family. They first told me to send them our security system's technical documentation, and I did. Then they told me to disable our antivirus system and allow viruses into the system. I didn't disable the antivirus system, because I wanted to put an end to their games. I was going to go down for this anyway, because I did break the law. So just save the police and FBI, or whoever deals with these issues, their time and give them this statement. I just want you to protect my family. They had nothing to do with this. The guys that did this to me don't know about my latest move and there's still some time to send authorities to my house and protect my family. That's all I'm asking."

Rupert fought back tears as he finished speaking, and waited for Grant's response, still looking him in the eyes. Grant kept silent for a few seconds, and then he started laughing.

He laughed for over a minute, to the point of tears.

Rupert felt anger rise up within him and wanted to punch him in the face for making fun of him, but he controlled his emotions.

Grant ended his laughing session and wiped tears from his face. The others giggled too, but stopped when Grant stopped.

He cleared his throat and looked at Rupert, who now had tears flowing down his cheeks, and wasn't bothering to wipe them off.

"Rupert," Grant said.

Rupert remained silent.

"I suggest you stay calm and listen to what I have to say. I would like to congratulate you on assisting in the capture of the most wanted hackers in this nation."

Rupert looked perplexed.

"What?"

"We knew what was going on all along, Rupert. You were Project Proxy." Roberts said.

"Look at this," Grant said as he took a remote controller and turned on a TV in the room.

Rupert looked at the television and saw a breaking news alert. At first he couldn't understand its relevance to his situation, but it soon came to him. The news report showed footage of Jake Waters being arrested by the police at his office.

Rupert looked away from the television and looked down at the table. He took a few seconds to gather his thoughts, during which time no one spoke a word to him.

He lifted his head and looked first at Roberts, then at Lay and then finally at Grant.

"You used me?"

"I wouldn't phrase it that way. We didn't force anyone to do anything. We gave you the job, watched your moves and noticed the needle in a haystack that everyone in our industry was searching for. You led us to Jake, and now we are thanking you."

Rupert sat in silence as he tried to get his head around the situation.

"Look, if you—" Grant said, before Rupert interrupted him.

"You knew these guys were threatening me? You all knew about this, but didn't bother to let me know?"

"If we had told you about them, we would've been risking ruining the case. If they had sensed even the slightest signs of a setup, they would have backtracked or killed you before we could have enough evidence to nail them. We needed to let them think that they were winning."

"So your victory over Jake is worth more than my life, and that of my family?"

"No. We were working with the FBI and had you and your family under the best protection in this nation. The FBI has got agents at your house right now, as we speak," Lay said.

"Sylvia," Rupert whispered.

He fetched his phone from his pocket, and then called her.

"Hello, honey. Are you okay?"

"What's going on, Rupert. FBI agents are here and they asked us to stay inside and stay away from the windows. Is someone trying to kill us, Rupert?"

"Look. I know you are freaked out about this, but everything will be fine. Just do whatever they tell you to. I'll explain everything when I get home, okay?"

"I'm scared, Rupert. When are you coming?"

"I just need to finish off a few things, and then I'll come there."

"Okay," she said.

"I promise. I'll see you when I get there."

He ended the call.

Rupert put the phone back into his pocket and looked at Grant.

"She doesn't know, right?"

Grant had a smirk on his face.

"No, she doesn't. If I had told her, she probably would've called the police. I couldn't risk that. They bugged all our phones and they watched our every move."

Grant just looked at him, without saying a word, and smiled.

"Okay, okay. I get it. I did it to protect her, just as you didn't tell me for the same reason."

"Good. Now that you've calmed down, we can discuss your next moves; the way forward."