Dane

There were no laughs around the table at the meeting an hour later though. Including Dane.

​​

Seven independent reports. Seven. And none of them had been confirmed by the media yet. It was just speculation and rumor. And it was spinning out of control.

As Lila, Tonya, and Grant filled everyone else in, Dane stood at the back of the room, his stomach churning.

The Police had finally been in touch, and the lawyers were doing their thing.

Their informants had gone underground and weren't talking.

Online research had been profitable in terms of information, but none of it confirmed yet, so they'd brief again Monday and hope to have more by then.

The only good news was that there had been no further disruption for any of their clients. The Tier One intrusion last week had come to nothing. The client had relaxed. Even Chris was suggesting they lower the security level since they had double teams working around the clock.

Dane was considering it, but something in his gut held him back from making the final call. If his father really was behind all these little sabotages, he'd just be waiting for the chance to make Dane look bad again—or worse, to derail him completely.

"Not yet," Dane said to Chris's question. "But let's keep an eye on it."

"Dane, people are tired—"

"And our clients lives are on the line!" he barked. "There's too many moving parts right now. We can't give anyone an opportunity to take advantage of our distraction."

Chris rolled his eyes but didn't press further. The staff watched Dane, tense. He frowned. "We need more information," he growled. No one responded. "Information is power. And we're on the back foot right now. Why don't we know more about the possibilities? Why are we still waiting to hear from journalists of all people? We should be telling them what's going on." In truth, they were. But the staff didn't know that.

Lila frowned. "We are ahead of the game, Dane. We're just still scrambling to understand. This came out of nowhere. Even her lawyers were taken off guard. There hadn't been a threat."

Dane snorted. "If she'd still been working with us, we would have seen this coming. Why didn't we see this coming?"

"Because we were focused on the people who were working with us," Chris snapped. "There's no point looking back, Dane. We have to move forward with what we have."

Dane shot a glare at his brother. "Actually, that's where you're wrong. This is exactly why we established Infoware." Infoware was Dane's patented intelligence gathering software. It allowed any of the staff—including security team members—to add personal connections between people, and notes about any details they thought might be relevant, for future reference. It logged when and where the information was found, and who added it to the system. It was part of what made them so successful. He'd been accessing it the whole time, though he hadn't found anything. Yet.

"I want full reports on every player, three degrees deep."

"What?!" Chris snapped, and Lila murmured her discomfort. It was a huge piece of work.

Dane ignored them. "It's been a mistake not to look back. We don't know what we have until we go through it with a fine tooth comb. Who knows what connections we missed. She was a client. We have a ton of information about her and her life," most of it probably planted, but the security team notes were worthwhile. "It's time to make sure we haven't missed anything. I want us digging to three levels, not just two, then cross-referencing."

Both Chris and Lila muttered their complaints. They were already run off their feet.

Lila cleared her throat. "I'm not sure you know how much work you're asking for Dane—"

"I'm very clear, don't you worry about that. You've got the statement out. We have the informants coming. You're waiting for new info. I want you to shift your focus. I want you looking back at Hanson, her contacts, and her contact's contacts. Every security note, every report. There has to be a clue in there somewhere."

"Dane, you're asking Lila to work all weekend—"

"And you too," Dane interrupted him. Chris snapped his mouth shut. "You're going to retrace the investigative steps we should have taken when she came on as a new client. You're going to make sure we know what we missed, what changed while she was with us. And you're going to write it all up for me. Before Monday morning."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Chris snapped.

"Dane, please—" Lila sighed.

"We're done waiting for something to come to us," he said, his voice low and hard. The staff just stared. "We will figure out what's happened to her, and we'll pass what we learn on to the Police and help them find the bastard that's got her—or that scared her away. So then they know it wasn't us."

Lila leaned her elbows on the table and shook her head. "This is going to take days, Dane. I can't—"

"Drop everything else. Work from home if you need to. Keep your phone on you. I want this Monday morning. We'll meet at nine. We'll debrief staff at eleven."

"But the teams—" Chris started.

"You said things are settled. You said you think we don't even need as much cover as we've got. Well, great. Then let them handle it. You take the weekend off shifts and you get this done."

Chris whole face went tight, but he didn't have an argument. Dane waited, then nodded when there were no other protests.

"I want to thank the rest of you. I know this week's been hard. And I know I've made it even harder. I'm sorry. You are good people and you do good work. Give us a few more days. A week, maybe. We will get to the bottom of this, and things will return to normal."

There were looks exchanged between the staff, but he ignored them. "I'm going to do some of my own investigations and call in some contacts too. I'll be working all weekend. But I will not be disturbed. You call me if they find her, or her body. You call me if someone else goes missing. Otherwise, you leave me to get to the bottom of this."

Except for Chris, they all brightened up at that. When the boss was gone, their loads got lighter. He was banking on them being motivated not to bring him into anything that wasn't absolutely crucial.

"Thank you. I'll see you all Monday."

Lila's face was tight as she packed up her things. Chris just grabbed his laptop and stomped out of the room. Dane watched him, but let him go. He didn't let his eyes fall on Lila as she left a few seconds later. He took his time packing up his things and gathering his papers. He wanted to read the mood in the room.

There was tension there, for sure. But knowing he was going to be gone had lightened everyone's load a little. There were quiet whispers and even a few smiles. Only Tish came to talk to him, but he dismissed her quickly. He'd let her know when he needed her help. Otherwise she could have the weekend off as usual.

She gave a thin smile and thanked him, then put a hand on his elbow. "Y-You're a good man, Mr. Daniels," she said quietly, her cheeks flushed. "I hope if anything ever happens to me, you'll be the one looking for me."

Dane blinked, but she let go of him and left.

He automatically watched her leave, wondering why he was suddenly so uneasy. It wasn't the first time Tish had touched him, though she was usually not quite so bold in front of others. Then he shook his head and finished picking up his things and left.

Just as he got to his office, his phone buzzed. A message from Lila.

DID THEY BUY IT?

Dane took a quick picture of himself smiling and sent it back.

.

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