Free Countermeasure by Cecilia Aubrey, Chris Almeida Page A

father had picked it for their headquarters.
    In the hub of the financial district, the building was secure, adding a layer of protection around the equipment and files holding client information and their customer-care center. The company had started as a small gig specializing in personal security, but over the years her father had branched out, offering not only security detail but also data security assurance, office security, and surveillance systems as part of his services.
    In addition to Matt and Jessica, a skeleton night crew would be on duty in the control room, monitoring the surveillance systems. Their proximity to the many businesses they monitored in the area gave them the ability to respond quickly to any security alarm.
    She pulled around to the alley behind the building, swiped her keycard across the security panel for the garage, and pulled in as soon as the door cleared the car. One perk of being Robert’s daughter was her twenty-four-hour clearance to his company’s building. Nathan followed Cassandra who, using her keycard once again, gained them access to the elevator. Cassandra was silent on the way up. She paced in the car and ran through the steps they would need to take to mitigate the disaster. Damn it! I thought we had everything covered.
    When they finally reached the fifth floor, Robert’s last words echoed in her head: Fix it, Cassandra. God, how she had felt like a little girl again having to tell him she’d screwed up. Fix it is what she intended to do, regardless of what it took.
    She breathed in deeply to center herself as they reached the computer room. When they walked in, frustration hung heavily in the air like a thick sticky fog. The servers on the racks against the far wall were blinking amber, red, and green, reminding her of Christmas lights gone wild. Matt sat in front of a series of flat-screen monitors, rolling from screen to screen with a crease on his brow and chewing on his lower lip.
    His disheveled shoulder-length hair had escaped out of the leather tie he used to keep it from his face. Where he appeared frantic, Jessica, on the other hand, was as calm as a smooth lake. In typical form, she had buckled down and shut out the world by shoving in her earbuds and cranking up the techno music. It was so loud Cassandra could clearly hear it from where she and Nathan stood a few feet away.
    Swiveling his chair, Matt let out a startled yelp as he made eye contact with Cassandra, “Shit, Cass! Next time yell or something. Damn it! Didn’t see you there.” He raised his eyebrow when he noticed Nathan standing behind her.
    “Matt, this is Nathan, an old friend from my CIA days.” When Cassandra turned to face Nathan, she noticed his narrowed eyes at the mention of her chosen words to introduce him. “Nate, meet our Boy Wonder.”
    Nathan chuckled as he approached Matt to shake his extended hand. “Boy Wonder?”
    A grin cracked across Matt’s face. “Yeah, man. I’m the real deal.”
    Cassandra guffawed and rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He suffers from Big Head Syndrome.”
    Her grin slowly faded when the reality of what had occurred came crashing down. Walking over to Jessica she tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Jessica quickly pulled her earbuds free and gripped Cassandra’s hand. “Glad you’re finally here. Guess you won’t need a wakeup call today, huh?”
    A small smile crept up the corner of Cassandra’s mouth. “I guess not.”
    Jessica looked over at Nathan. “Hey, Nate. Nice to see you again.”
    Grinning, Nathan lifted his chin toward Jessica from where he leaned against one of the desks. “Jessie, always a pleasure.”
    Cassandra took a seat next to Jessica. “Okay, Matt. Bring me up to speed. What the hell happened?”
    “You’ll be scratching your head like me over this one, Cass. I got an automated page from the server. Set it up myself so that if there was even the slightest deviation or anomaly I would be notified. Anyway, I logged