21 An Emergency
Ewan was a few miles away from his house when he received a call from the operations manager
of his company.
Ewan looked at his wristwatch. Why was the man calling this late? Annoyance reared its head, but he pushed it aside. This was a first. It must surely be an emergency.
He finally conceded, and picked the call. “Mr. Suarez, what is the issue?”
There was so much heavy breathing and tension at the other side of the phone that Ewan sat up on his seat and asked his driver to increase the car’s speed so that he could get home on time.
There was trouble. He knew it.
“Mr. Suarez, make a report or get out of my phone. I don’t have time for this. He ordered, after waiting in vain for the manager to speak.
“I’m sorry sir. I just didn’t know how to break the news to you. As you know, we had fortified our systems last year, after the last hack–in, with the best tools. But all those efforts were nullified
tonight.”
Ewan exhaled roughly. “There was another hack in?”
“Yes sir.”
Ewan rubbed his face tiredly. “For what? What are the hackers doing?”
A pause which spoke of an evil foreboding.
“Are they taking the money in the storage account?”
A pause again.
“It’s worse sir.””
Ewan piqued an eyebrow. What could be worse than rendering him bankrupt?!
“The hackers are collecting our users‘ data, and that of our shareholders. They are sending an anonymous text message to them. The problem is that our team can not decipher the text.
“What do you mean you can’t decipher the text?!” Ewan shouted, causing his driver to screech
the car to a halt.
Ewan glared at him. The middle aged fellow apologized profusely and started the car again.
“Suarez…if I ask you a question more than once again, you are fired…” Ewan added, after waiting in vain for an answer from his operations manager.
“I’m so sorry sir, please don’t… !”
“I don’t care for an apology, Suarez! Give me a report of things at the moment!” Ewan shouted. again, annoyed at the manager whom he considered slow.
He took the phone from his car and glared at it, as if his glare could walk past the phone and
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21 An Emergency
“Okay sir. The text was encrypted. It can only be opened by our clients and shareholders. I’m not sure how it was done, but that’s the case.“.
“Is that even possible? Get a hold of one of our shareholders then!”
A pause.
Ewan was about firing the man for real this time around, when the latter spoke again.
“They are not picking their calls.”
Ewan went silent. “How long ago? This hack in? How long ago?”
“Fifteen minutes ago, sir.”
Ewan hung up the call, and let the phone fall from his hand to the plush car seat.
Fifteen minutes ago? It correlated with the time he had left Athena’s apartment.
He balled his fists. Had Athena and Zane put their plans to motion already?
Fury burned within Ewan. He didn’t know what to do with his fists. There was no wall to punch at either.
He clasped his shaking hands together, such that the knuckles went white.
Athena and Zane.
He didn’t care about the connections they had, but they would pay for this. They would understand that he wasn’t known as the best for nothing.
While Zane came from old money, he had struggled to build his empire up from the pieces that his father had left it at. He won’t let it go because of a woman and her lap dog.
They had made the first play, right? He would make his own play soon, right after he stopped the hackers.
He picked up the phone again, and called Sandro.
“I know, Ewan, I’m on it. I’ve hired the best hackers.” Sandro spoke, without even being spoken to. He already knew why Ewan was calling him.
“Do you know the content of the text, and why none of our clients are picking our calls?”
A pause.
“No. But I’m heading to the home of one of our shareholders. And I’m not leaving without an answer. Don’t worry, Ewan. But did you offend anyone? The higher ups?”
Ewan glared at the phone. Higher ups? He was a higher up too! But no. He hadn’t offended anyone, except Athena.
“No. I think Athena and Zane are working together to make me bankrupt.
A significant pause,
Ewan allowed it. Sandro wasn’t the operations manager.
21 An Emergency
“I’m just coming from Athena’s house, Sandro. They were both cozy there, before I walked in. And when I told him about the shares Athena wanted, he sided with her. Can you imagine that?”
“No, I can’t imagine. Sandro replied, after another silence.
Ewan understood the reason for the silence. Yet, it didn’t mean he would sit and let his hard
labors go to waste.
“I’ll wait for you at home. Be quick! Deal with those hackers while at it!” He ended the call, and came down from the car. The driver had arrived at his place a few minutes ago.
When he stepped into the sitting room, Fiona was sitting on a sofa in the sitting room, tapping her feet erratically.
When she saw him, she jumped to her feet like an insane person, ran to him furiously, and stabbed his chest with her index finger defiantly.
“Where are you coming from, Ewan?”
Ewan frowned, not understanding when Fiona had the audacity to touch him that way, or ask him irresponsible questions.
rtot
However, he ignored her due to their shared past, and tried walking past her to the passageway.
but she blocked him.
“You went to her house right? My friends saw you! What were you doing there alone?” Fiona was beyond reasoning. All she could see was Ewan being intimate with Athena again.
When she moved closer to Ewan to perceive his shirt, Ewan angrily pushed her away. She landed on the sofa roughly… lucky for her.
Fiona was gobsmacked.
“How dare you, Ewan?” She gingerly got up from the sofa. “Why are you frolicking with Athena? What does she have that I don’t have?”
When Ewan said nothing, she screamed in anger. “Tell me, Ewan! Why are you so obsessed with
her?!”
Ewan inhaled sharply, hating to be called obsessed. Instantly, he clamped his hand around Fiona’s neck and squeezed.
Fiona’s eyes bulged in unbelief and discomfort. as
She hit Ewan’s offending hand, pleading to be released, suddenly remembering the coldness that
Was Ewan.
“No fighting spirit again eh?”
But Fiona couldn’t speak. Her throat was closing up, just as her eyes would soon be, if Ewan didn’t release by
21 An Emergency
But he didn’t let her go without a warning.
“If I hear Athena’s name from your lips again, the engagement is off.”
