"Let me finish before you get even paler." Anna told him as she turned the laptop for him to see. On the monitor, the coding had stopped loading. Instead, there was now a specific set of dashes, numbers and letters displayed for them to see.
"See this? " She continued. "This is the exact track record of what the trojan horse in the system did. And from what it says here, the only function for it was to create a single, thirty second opening. Opening that would go unregistered by your firewall and could be they to insert a single employee file into Mr. Villan's private network. And besides that one successful entry, there are no others. Meaning that your information is safe."
"But that would mean that the rat was within our group from the very beginning." Jacob said with an exasperated voice.
"He was probably approached with the opportunity of earning some good money. That paired with a training coach, makes it an even more plausible story given it's one of the Phoenix Clan's usual methods." Anna replied as she tapped the laptop keyboard a few times. Seconds later, the printer inside the office beeped. She had sent the pertinent information discovered to be printed out.
"I can't believe you found all of that before our own team." Jacob was beyond shocked. Not only of what had transpired without their noticing, but the ability with which the woman before him had figured it out.
"Well with all honesty, I only found what was in the documents. Mr. Collins was the one that found the trojan horse in your system." Seeing Jacob's confused expression, she grinned. "You see, believe it or not, I'm actually a lawyer. And it just so happens that I specialize in finding loopholes and patterns in paper trails like this one." She gestured towards the now neatly stacked pile of papers at the edge of the desk. "But this trojan tracker is one of Mr. Collins creations." Lifting up the already unplugged external hard drive, Jacob understood he meant that was the tracking apparatus. "So in reality, you could say it was a joint effort."
Jacob simply stared at her, slightly wide eyed. She was a lawyer?! Never in his life would he have thought she held such a title. "You're a lawyer?"
"Surprised huh?" Anna chuckled while looking at him. The disbelief had been present on his face throughout their entire conversation, but now it was like looking at a deer in front of headlights. "I know. I'm don't really give off chief legal officer vibes."
And at that, Jacob felt his eyes threaten to bulge out of their sockets. Chief Legal Officer?! That was one of the highest positions any lawyer could dream of achieving. Not to mention one of the best paying ones as well. So what exactly was she doing by being Claire's head secretary? Surely the pay and prestige of the position wasn't one any other regular employee could achieve, but it was still nothing compared to exercising inside her area of expertise!
"Anyway, we should go inform the tech supervisors that they need to red flag the company's used by the Phoenix Clan." Anna purposely cut the conversation short as she stood up. After quickly gathering her things, she went around the desk and stood next to the door.
"Yes, of course." Jacob followed her lead and made his way towards the door. "After you Miss Clemson." He said as he opened the door for her.
"Thank you. And feel free to call me Anna." She replied with an amicable smile on her face.
"Then please, call me Jacob." He responded while returning a friendly smile of his own.
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Two whole hours had passed while Anna briefed Villan Enterprise's tech team on how to spot any other cover company looking to gain access to them. Although she didn't specify the Phoenix Clan at any point, she made sure that their eyes were now trained in identifying them.
After she and Jacob spent most of their time making sure all traces of other possible spyware was dealt with, they made their way to Aiden's office. But after not being granted permission to enter, Jacob called his personal cellphone. Three rings into the call, Aiden picked up.
"What?" Aiden's groggy voice was heard on the other line.
"Miss Anna and I are waiting for you to grant access to the office Sir." Jacob's voice was as hushed as Aiden's seeing as they stood in a floor crawling with other secretaries. The exact same men who were ordered out of the floor so that Lily could stroll through it without being seen. Causing every single one of them to be extremely curious about who was the person in their boss' office. And why he or she was needed to be kept such a secret, that even with their strict nondisclosure agreements, they weren't allowed to see.
Aiden then remembered why he fell asleep in the first place and looked down at the little bundle who hadn't moved from his chest. Lily's eyes were closed shut as she snoozed peacefully. Bringing a sense of overwhelming calmness to the still sleep dazed Aiden. "Don't make any unnecessary noise while in the office." After saying so, he hung up the call. Tapping a few times on his phone, he opened the main door to the office from where he laid.
"I think they were... napping." Jacob told Anna who had been looking up at him in an expectant manner. His face perfectly mirroring the disbelief on her own face.
They stepped inside and closed the door behind them. Looking around, they didn't see either of the two, which prompted Anna to look up at Jacob again.
"Aiden has a private bedroom through that door. I'm certain they're inside." Jacob was swift to answer her obvious question as he guided her to the sitting area. "He already knows we're here, so he should be out any minute."
"They've really grown fond of each other rather quickly haven't they?" Anna chuckled as she sat down.
"I'm surprised of it as well. She seems to have him wrapped around her finger. I might even ask her how she managed to do it." They both laughed at is remark when the bedroom door clicked open. And out came Aiden carrying a very dazed Lily in his arms.
"Well hello there Sleepyhead." Anna said as she smiled up at Lily who was currently rubbing her eyes. "Did you have a good nap?"
Lily nodded in response while laying her head down on Aiden's shoulder yet again. Just because her eyes were open, didn't mean she was fully awake yet.
"Should my people be doing something else right now?" Aiden asked Anna. Seeing as Lily was present, he wanted to avoid asking anything that would give away their true purpose for being there. So he simply asked her with a knowing look on his face. And by the way she smiled and replied, he could tell she understood the hidden message behind his words.
"Unless that something else is what has already been discussed, then no. They're just where they're supposed to be. Everything else has been dealt with." The hidden message in her own words was also well understood.
"Good. I'll catch up later then." He looked down at Lily and kissed the top of her head. "I'm thinking of keeping you as my dinner date today Princess. What do you think? Should I do it?"
As soon as she heard him, she lifted her head and nodded yes to him. Making both of them smile.
Looking back down at Anna, he continued. "Would you and a certain other red head like to join us?"
Anna couldn't help but chuckle. The man truly had a way with words. "I'm afraid my boss is too busy at the moment. But as long as you don't mind me stepping away to take a few calls from time to time, I would love to come along."
"Two dinner dates it is then." He replied while offering his hand to help her out of the seat. Gesture, which again, earned him a few brownie points in Anna's mental tally of suitable men for her best friend.
"Make that three Sir." Jacob said as he winked at him. He stood up as he heard Anna genuinely laugh.
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At the city's Center Base.
Colton slowly walked across the the dirt floor of the training room. He had regained a lot of his mobility, but his speed would be permanently affected as long as his leg remained in a cast. Finally reaching the two sparing people in the middle of the room, he couldn't even hear his loud sigh over the grunting noises that echoed throughout the empty space.
Claire had successfully knocked down Cameron for what seemed like the umpteenth time, and was currently holding him in a head lock. One that was rapidly making his face turn red. A few more seconds passed until his hand double tapped one of the legs she was using to choke him. Letting her know he admitted defeat.
Loud gasps were immediately heard a soon as Claire let go of him. And as they both began to sit up, Colton's voice now called for their attention.
"Next time, focus on reaching her throat. She can't choke you out if you do it first." He told Cameron casually. As if hadn't just suggested that the man strangle his own sister.
"I'll keep that in mind." Cameron chuckled between breaths. He then stood up and offered Claire a helping hand to do the same.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were supervising the equipment's transfer." Claire asked her brother as she too got up from the floor.
"I was. Until a little birdy told me Cameron here is you tenth victim today." He replied as he lifted his hand to wipe away some dirt from her face.
Cameron suspected what the conversation was about, so he decided to excuse himself. "I'll go join the moving crew after I hit the showers. Excuse me."
"Thanks Cam." Claire thanked him as she looked up at Colton. He hadn't taken his eyes off of her since he walked in.
Both stood there silently as they waited to hear the door shut closed. And once it did, Claire's voice turned seriously irritated. "What? Now I can't even train without you giving me looks?"
"You can do whatever you want. Just not for the wrong reasons Cece.." Colton's voice on the other hand was that of a caring older brother.
"Don't Cece me." She said as she walked over to on the of the metal benches near the wall. Grabbing a towel she had placed there earlier.
"Don't snap at me. You know I'm only here because you need me here." His voice gave no indicator of being mad with her for her behavior towards him.
"Wrong. I need you to be supervising the equipment's transfer to the joint task force's section. Not giving me crap about sparing with a few people." She wiped her face with the towel as she bickered with him. Even if the only one truly trying to fight was her.
"Cece, I'm trying to get you to talk to me here." Colton understood why her mood, and even personality, was so off. So he couldn't hep but want to get her to open up about it.
"What makes you think I need to talk?" Claire's voice was slightly louder as she turned to face him. "From where I stand, the only one eager to ignore work just to talk is you. So whatever you have to say just spill it out. We both have better things to do right about now." She stared at him with the inner rage practically spilling out of her eyes. And when Colton decided to remain silent, she began walking towards the door. "That's what I thought."
She was already half way towards the exit, when Colton made her halt with one simple word.
"Grayson."