Jamie’s eyes filled. “I think we’ve been hacked.” Her voice was shrill. “I got an email from Sydney this morning instructing me to make a supplier payment to a new organic farmer for a pallet of preserves, which we did. Then, a few minutes ago, I received a call from our bank’s fraud department. They were questioning the validity of the payment. Apparently, according to the man I spoke with, the recipient’s account was compromised.”
“While unfortunate for the farmer, what would that have to do with our network?” I asked.
“Everything,” Sydney said through gritted teeth. “There is no farmer. There are no organic preserves. I never asked Jamie to send out a wire today!” Her voice grew louder with every sentence.
My stomach dropped. “How much did you wire?” I asked.
A tear trickled down Jamie’s cheek. “Fifty-five thousand dollars.”
“Crap,” I said. “We can get it back, right? You can recall the wire, right?”
Sydney closed her eyes and clasped her hands together as if in prayer. “I don’t know. Wire recalls only work if the recipient sends the funds back. And given this situation…”
I had so many questions, but I knew now wasn’t the time to ask. Now was the time to act. I stood up and headed to the door. “Okay, we need to move. First, Syd and I will go and tell Charles what happened—he needs to know immediately. Jamie, I’m going to need to see the email. Forward me a copy, so I can check the email headers. I also want a printout. Then grab my laptop from my office and meet us in the conference room where we can spread out. Everyone will have to change all their passwords. I have diagnostics to run and need to check everyone’s computers and—”
“We need to call the police,” Sydney said, turning to her assistant. “Before you do anything else, call the police.”
As soon as Sydney and I showed up outside his door, Charles realized immediately something was amiss. I prepared myself to have the conversation with him, but Sydney took the lead. When she finished explaining the situation, our no-nonsense boss looked murderous, and rightly so. “I don’t care what you have to do, but fix this,” he barked. “And don’t say one word about what happened to anyone else in this organization without checking with me first. Do you understand me? And when the police get here, call me.”
We both expressed our agreement and scampered out of his office as quickly as humanly possible. We headed to the conference room, as planned, to wait for Jamie.
“How did I let this happen?” I banged my fist down on the wooden table. “I told you I was worried about the firewall. I told Charles I was worried about the firewall! But did I keep championing the cause? No! I allowed myself to get distracted and put my work concerns on the back burner. I should have kept at Charles and fought harder for the upgrade. This is all my fault!”
“Waverly, stop it!” Sydney hissed as she slumped in the leather seat opposite me. “You are no more responsible than I am. It’s a wire scam.” She pointed at her chest. “It was my team who sent out the money. The buck stops with me! I should have known better. I read about wire scams all the time. Why didn’t I train them better? Hell, I should never have given Jamie the power to execute wires in the first place. I should have kept doing the task solely on my own.”
Sydney and I looked at each other for a beat, both lost in our sea of guilt. Then I stood up and walked over to the back of the room where the phone was. “I’m going to let the front desk know we are expecting visitors.”
“Remember Charles’s warning,” she said sternly.
I nodded. “Hey, Jill.” I mustered all the mad acting skills I picked up when I played the tomato in third grade and attempted to sound perky. “Sydney and I are in the conference room. We’re working with the local police department to organize a food donation for a charity event. Someone from the force should be here soon to see us and work out the details. When they come, please escort them here for us. Thank you.”
Then Jamie entered the room. She handed me my laptop and a sheet of paper. She gave a copy to Sydney as well. “Here is the email,” she said without looking either one of us in the eye.
I didn’t think it would be possible for Sydney to lose any more color in her face and still be breathing, but as she scanned the words on the page, she turned a ghostly shade of pale.
“How could this be?” Her voice was a whisper. “This email is spot on how I write. If I didn’t know any better, I would bet my life these words came from me.” Whatever composure she had, she lost in that moment. Tears sprung from her eyes. I jumped out of my seat and walked over to where she sat. I wrapped my friend in my arms and whispered into her hair, “It’s going to be okay.” Even though I, too, felt like collapsing, I knew I needed to be strong for her.
“Excuse me,” Jill, the receptionist, said in her cheerful voice. Then she cleared her throat. “Your guests are here.”
I looked up and realized no matter how bad a day seemed to be, there was always room for it to get worse.
20
“You’ve gotto be kidding me,” I hissed when I spotted Pete standing in the doorway, looking nervous.
A mix of emotions coursed through my veins at the mere sight of him. I felt a bit of relief to see a “friendly face.” A part of me wanted to fling myself into his arms and feel the same security I had felt the night he swooped me into his arms and cared for me when I was hurt. But the warmth was short-lived when I remembered our text exchange and all of his vindictive actions. Fury swept over me for a moment when I realized he had to see me at such a low point. Mostly, I just felt sad to see him.
Our eyes met for a second, and I prayed I was successful in blanking my face.
Sydney recognized him as well, and she exchanged a side glance with me. I knew she was still smarting from how he treated her the day the fire alarm went off. Add in his attitude toward me after the reunion, it was a toss-up which one of us was more agitated to see him in our vulnerable hour. I was lucky to have such a protective friend.
Jamie, on the other hand, was another story. She was awe-struck by his rugged handsomeness. As Sydney buzzed Charles, Jamie not only gave Pete a big, toothy grin, she had the nerve to fluff her hair with her hands and smooth down her way too short skirt. How could the hussy think those actions were appropriate at a time like this?I never liked her.
Pete was joined by an older, heavy set man who got right down to business as soon as Jill closed the conference room door. The man pulled his badge from his pocket and held it up for us to see. “Ladies, I’m Detective Sanchez and this is Officer Ennis.”
I glanced at Pete. “Yeah, I know,” I said. I struggled to keep my voice even. Then I tilted my head toward Sydney. “We’ve met.”
“Hi, Waverly,” Pete said softly. I noticed he avoided making eye contact with me, before tipping his head to Sydney who gave him a tight nod.
