02/08/2019
Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think so far. Am I being too confusing with the timeline? Also, what is your preference on publishing chapters – shorter content more frequently or longer content less frequently? This is my first ever story so thanks a million for the feedback!
Ranger drove back to Rangeman and parked in the garage. He rode the elevator to his office, where Tank was waiting. "I can't believe this happened," Ranger said. "Out of all the clients, it had to be this one." "Pardon my asking," Tank said, "but why the freak out with SE Corp?" Ranger gave Tank a murderous glare. Tank backed up a step and said "I mean, I know it's bad any time one of our clients gets hit, but this one seems to be extra special."
"First of all, I don't freak out," Ranger said, using air quotes with his fingers to emphasize the ridiculousness of the accusation. "Second of all, what the fuck was the system doing offline without anyone deploying the backup firewalls? And third of all, let's just say that these clients deal with the scum of the earth who just happen to have more money than you and I will ever see in 5 lifetimes. When you combine scum with extreme wealth, the result is the power to pretty much do whatever you want, to whoever you want, whenever you want."
There was more to this story than Ranger was letting on. It was true, he knew that SE Corp did not deal with the straightest of arrows, but from all of his research, the company ran a legitimate business. Who they had as clients was one thing, but the business seemed to operate on the up and up. Ranger was starting to grow complacent in his day-to-day managing of the business so when SE Corp approached him a little over a year ago about designing a state of the art system for some unique challenges, he jumped at the chance. It was new and exciting to be able to use all of his skills to build something from scratch. And they were willing to pay top dollar for it.
Not that money was ever at the forefront of his decisions. Ranger had a very secure lifestyle of his own, but the Boston and Miami offices were not doing as well as he liked, and he wanted to be able to keep all of his men employed as long as they wanted to work for Rangeman. The decision to bid for the job weighed heavily on Ranger for months. He had his team perform all of the regular clearance checks and Ranger personally checked the backgrounds of the company and its owners. SE Corp had been purchased by a private equity firm about 6 months prior to Rangeman's involvement. The only thing that gave him pause was that he was unable to determine what attracted the firm to purchase SE Corp in the first place. Sure they turned a profit, but based on the other companies the firm owned, it didn't seem to fit the profile. It was explained to him that the firm wanted to diversify and they felt that wealth management would help them do just that.
Ranger knew that it was a risk taking on SE Corp as a client, given their sometimes shady clientele. Client lists were highly confidential, but Ranger got his hands on the list. We are talking about politicians, high-ranking government officials, world leaders, and the country's wealthiest business men and women. Throw in the (presumed innocent of course) members of organized crime and you have a recipe for death if something goes wrong. And it was Ranger who ultimately jeopardized the safety of his team by signing the contract.
Ranger turned to Tank and said "Bring in the A-team and get Sylvio on the phone. I want him combing through ever line of code to see how the data was copied. Everyone leaves evidence. We just need to find it. And I want every available man combing through the records of every employee, delivery driver, and janitor that's been to that office. If they took a shit in the bathroom I want to know about it. And when we find these fuck wads we will go after them and get that data back before anyone knows it's missing," Ranger said. "I'm on it," Tank said.
For the next few days Ranger barely slept. He was running on fumes while reading through all of the reports that the team had been gathering. So far, nothing concrete had showed up. A few prospects had turned into dead ends. Suddenly, Tank was at his door looking – well, Tank really only had one look. Maybe a little excited. "Sylvio found something," Tank said. "We think we may have our guy."