Chapter Ten

Because it was a three-pronged approach, I had to step in to help. My job, given my extensive knowledge of the insides and workings of offices and my ability to adapt quickly to any office environment, was to masquerade as an office worker, get into the system and change the company's records.

At one point, I did admit to Owen that I was afraid. "Anything could go wrong," I said. "This is too much like the plot of a bad movie and it always goes wrong in those."

"You'll be fine. This is not the movies," he said. "I'll keep an eye on you and keep you safe. We both will," he added, looking up at Colin, who smiled and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. Perhaps they were used to this by now but this was my first time doing infiltration and I was still extremely nervous.

On the day planned, I pretended to be a temp reporting for work at Kerise's manufacturing plant. As expected, the person at security did not know who I was and said he was not informed of a new hire.

"I'm not a new hire. I'm a temp," I corrected. "Call up Will in HR. I'm supposed to report to him." There was likely no "Will" in this HR department but it was a common enough name so it did not arouse the suspicions of the guard. He probably did not know who worked in HR anyway. The night before, Colin had arranged a wiretap and managed to reroute the guard's call, anticipating that this would happen. Owen intercepted the call and assured the guard that I was a legitimate temp hire.

The guard issued me a visitor's security badge and let me in. The Kerise offices were large, as I expected in a factory this size. It was not hard to commandeer the desk of an absent employee. Most staff make the mistake of not logging out and just putting their computers in sleep mode. Thankfully, this chap was exactly like that and it was easy for me to get on to his accounts.

I knew by now how to look busy in an office. Shuffle papers, make typing sounds, and looking as if you are walking somewhere with important files and documents. No one questioned my presence in the office, except for one woman who was trying to be friendly. She introduced herself and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was just a temp helping out with data entry. The trick was to act like I belonged and was meant to be there and was too busy to socialise. She did not ask any more questions.

This employee whose computer I commandeered was, naturally, not high ranking enough to have access to the drug chemical formulas. However, when I worked with a technical support company, one of the technicians taught me how to remotely access a computer terminal that was linked to an intranet. Back then, it was just so we could relieve our boredom and see who was surfing porn during working hours so we could mock them and scare them with fake warning messages. Now, I remembered his lessons and found it surprisingly easy to hook up my computer terminal to what I hoped was the terminal of someone with higher-level security clearance and access to the protected files.

Setting up the remote desktop was not hard. The more difficult one was to look for and edit the file without the person noticing. I tried one ruse – sending the person an email saying he was wanted for a consultation right now at the other end of the building. I sent the memo and crossed my fingers. Minutes later, I got lucky; he sent a reply email saying he was on his way.

I waited about two minutes, just in case he had not left his terminal immediately, then began searching his computer. I managed to find a link to shared folders that contained the drug formulas. And (it seemed too easy) there were files whose names included "Revised", indicating they were edited regularly. My changes would go unnoticed.

Colin had provided me with the changes that needed to be done and made me memorise them so I did not have to bring in any pieces of paper that could be used as incriminating evidence against me. I was not unfamiliar with data entry so this part was a breeze. I finished the edits within minutes, saved the file and shut down the remote link.

Meanwhile, I had another part to play – getting Colin and Owen into the building without arousing the attention of the security system. This was not accomplished until after lunch. There was far too much activity in the morning and workers did not seem to settle down until after they had their midday meals. While walking around with my dummy papers and files, I kept an eye out for employees who left their security passes at their desks instead of wearing them around when in the office. By afternoon, I had selected two good candidates and took their passes.

Entry in and out was easy for me with my visitor's pass and, when I took my lunch break, I met Colin and Owen and handed them the security passes. We then returned to the factory. Colin's job was to neutralise the current batch of drugs on the manufacturing line. Owen had to destroy the finished product that were being kept in the factory's storage areas and awaiting government approval to be shipped out for public sale. The plan was to either confiscate the batch, citing health and safety regulations, or destruction by fire. All three of us agreed arson was to be the extremely last resort.

I took over the stolen security pass and handed Owen the visitor's badge. The plan was that I was an employee bringing the Health and Safety officer to inspect the products; we trusted that the workers in the storage bays would not recognise the general office workers.

Owen was a good actor and played a very convincing as a Health and Safety officer walking in and announcing that the goods were all under inspection and needed to be moved out of the building and into the Health and Safety labs for testing. Yes, the entire batch. You got a problem with that mate? Take it up with upstairs; I'm just doing what I'm told, you'd best do it too. I was impressed with his performance. I just stayed the company representative, looking and feeling embarrassed at what was happening and just gave the nod when the storage workers looked to me for approval of this seemingly unorthodox order.

Everything was going to plan until I heard an authoritative call from behind for everyone to stop what they were doing immediately. I turned quickly to see Alex James striding towards us, two bodyguards in tow. Everyone froze.

"Is there a problem, sir?" the man I took to be the foreman came up to him and asked.

Alex did not answer him. "Everyone out," he ordered coldly. To Owen and me: "You two, stay." His tone brooked no argument or disagreement. This was the steely powerful side to Alex James that I had not seen before. I now believed he could be cruel.

Owen took my hand in a protective gesture and set me behind him as the other workers scuttled away. The two bodyguards remained and flanked us.

"My dear Danae, you disappoint me," Alex said, his voice returning to the charming suave tone I had heard before. "Not only do you choose to side with my enemies, you work with them against me. Conning my workers and sabotaging my production line? What wrong have I ever done you?" He shook his head and sounded hurt.

Owen's grip tightened around my hand. "You offered her a choice," he said evenly. "She chose. She's a free agent after all."

"I'm sure the young lady is more than capable of speaking for herself," Alex said. "After all, she did infiltrate my office and spend the whole morning right under my nose. It was only when she brought you two in that I discovered her presence. Very well done, I must add, Danae. But ultimately futile."

"You knew we were going to be here sooner or later," Owen realised. "You set out a trap at the party and we took the bait."

"Bravo to you too, Owen," Alex said sarcastically. "Though I would have thought that by now you and Colin would know my methods much better than to fall for such a transparent tactic." To the bodyguards he ordered: "Take her."

The two guards closed in on us. Owen moved into a more defensive stance, preparing himself for a fight. He did manage to score several hits while keeping his body between me and the two guards. However, the guards were bigger than he was and physically pulled us apart. One of them restrained him after punching him hard in the stomach and the other held me by my left arm.

"Leave her alone!" Owen roared, struggling against the guard's tight hold on him.

"Temper, temper," Alex goaded. "If the two of you are here, the third man can't be far. Where is Colin?" he asked me.

My hopes rose. If Colin was still at large, it meant he could still help us. Owen seemed to have thought the same thing for he stopped trying to fight.

"We don't know where he is," I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.

Alex's face darkened. He nodded to the guard holding me and his grip tightened on my arm to the point where it grew painful and I winced. "Let's try this again, shall we?" he repeated. "Where is Colin Bradley?"

"I said I don't know," I insisted truthfully.

"Then maybe your friend does!" Alex snapped, turning to Owen who shot daggers at him with his eyes. Alex returned the stare, leaning in close to Owen, his face right next to Owen's. "Answer the question and perhaps no one gets hurt."

"You know I don't break under pressure. You've tried it before," Owen said defiantly.

"Oh, I know you don't break under pressure," Alex said coolly. "But I didn't say anything about doing anything to you." He looked over at me. Owen's eyes widened as he stared at me and realised what Alex had meant.

I did not get it until it was too late. The guard holding me gave my arm a huge wrench and pain exploded from my left shoulder. I let out an involuntary scream in shock and pain.

"Danae!" Owen cried. "Don't hurt her," he pleaded. "You know she's only doing what we told her to."

"Oh we've gone far beyond that point now, Owen," Alex said. "Tell me what I want to know. Where is Colin?"

"I don't know," Owen said.

"Maybe I'll kill her, then you'll know."

The fear that entered Owen's eyes then haunted me. He looked at me in desperation. I knew he was telling the truth. He did not know where Colin was. But his lack of knowledge might get me killed and he knew this.

Owen was pausing for far too long and Alex grew impatient. He signalled my guard again who gave my shoulder another wrench. This time I almost fainted from the pain. It hurt too much to even scream. My knees grew weak under me and buckled, causing me to fall to the floor. With the guard still holding my arm, it made the situation worse for me.

"Please," Owen pleaded again. "I honestly don't know where Colin is. You can do anything you like to me. Just stop hurting her."

Alex gave Owen and I an odd look at his last plea but did not articulate what he was thinking. Instead, he returned to the topic at hand. "Then, let me tell you where Colin is. He's out somewhere in my factory trying to sabotage my operations, isn't he? He's trying to neutralise the drug, isn't he?"

"Yes," Owen admitted. "That's what he's doing. But I truly don't know where exactly he is."

"Maybe this will lure him out then," Alex said. "Kill her."

I expected to see my life flash before my eyes. But instead of my childhood, I saw a blindingly bright flash of light. The iron grip on my arm loosened. Someone grabbed me and dragged me to my feet, pulling me away. I did not know whether to follow or resist. In any case, my shoulder was hurting so badly that I had no more strength left to fight, even if I wanted to.

When my eyes adjusted, I found that Owen was the one dragging me, forcing me to move faster. But everything was hazy and I could not focus on what was going on. I had an impression of following someone down a hallway and out of the building. The pain in my arm was growing worse from all the running and jolting of my body. It finally overwhelmed me and pulled me down into comforting darkness.