Free Countermeasure by Cecilia Aubrey, Chris Almeida

finished the copy process, set everything as it was when she got there, cleaned all surfaces she had touched, and left the room—all added precautions to be sure she kept the lead she was counting on for her escape.
    She walked back to her office at an accelerated pace and grabbed the box she had stored with personal items she was not willing to leave behind. Small tokens of good memories she had brought to work and had pinned on her cork board, a couple of books, and a picture of her taken with her parents and her sister’s family. After turning the lights off, she took a long last look at the darkened room and walked away.

Chapter Five
The Breach

    A loud ringing jerked Cassandra awake. Realizing the sound belonged to her cell, she scrambled for her purse. Finding it by the chair beside Nathan’s bed, she pulled the cell out, saw the clock displaying 4:47 a.m., and answered the call. Before she could say anything, Matt’s panicked voice flowed out of the speaker.
    “Cass! Thank God I caught you!”
    “Matt? What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately wide awake and already searching for her clothes.
    Finding her top, she quickly pulled it on and held the cell back to her ear in time to hear Matt yell, “Code Red, Cass! It’s bad! EXClinic was breached. Data. Formula. All copied!”
    “Shit!” Cassandra said a little too loudly, waking Nathan, who lazily raised himself up on an elbow and watched her with a frown.
    “Who is it?” Nathan whispered.
    She lifted a finger to stall his questions as she wiggled into her skirt, holding the cell between her ear and shoulder. “Matt, you said you didn’t find anything on the continuous scan! Damn it! Where are my shoes?”
    Cassandra searched the floor and found one sticking out from under the bed and the other close by. While she slipped them on, Matt explained, “We were focusing on an external infiltration, and we had that covered, but the breach came from inside, Cass! The files were accessed by an unauthorized party at 12:20 a.m.” The anxiety in Matt’s tone clearly indicated the situation was critical.
    “What do you mean ‘unauthorized party’? We made sure only authorized personnel had access to the files.” Cassandra was stumped. The list of authorized employees wasn’t long. They had been screened and had cleared all background checks. What had she missed?
    “You need to see it with your own eyes. Get your ass over here!” His voice was frantic and gave her a visual of his face white as a sheet.
    “No shit, Matt. I’m on my way. If you haven’t called Jessie, do so now and tell her to get her ass moving.”
    Cassandra hung up and reached for her bag as a dressed Nathan joined her. She looked at him as she shoved her cell in her purse. “I have to go. The Bristol project I told you I was working on…it was infiltrated.”
    “I’m coming with you,” Nathan stated firmly.
    Time was slipping away, so she didn’t bother to argue. “Fine. Let’s go.”
    Cassandra’s voice was pure business as she stepped out into the hall and moved briskly to the bank of elevators. All the events of the past few hours pushed from her mind in light of the issues growing before her. First and foremost was her father’s disappointment when she informed him of the breach.
    Dreading the confrontation, Cassandra decided to get it out of the way now. She pulled her cell back out of her purse, scrolled to Robert’s number, and called him at home. Nathan reached her as the elevator doors opened. She merely glanced at him and saw him wince on hearing the words: “Sir, we have a situation.”
    ****
    Cassandra knew she was driving a bit recklessly, but her nerves were getting the better of her and she was anxious to find out what exactly had happened. Once again she had let her father down. Not only her father, but the reputation of the company he’d worked so hard to build. As she drove past the building where James Security Agency was located, she appreciated why her