Note: Oh no!
Slightly shorter update, but I didn't want to "fluff" it needlessly.
IFT makes everything from rack servers to network switches to phones in this universe.
Fun fact: the "SabreBlade" servers visible in the Machine CGI sequence (end of the Pilot) are actually Dell PowerEdge servers with a different faceplate. Those are what the story means by "rack servers"
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Two Years Prior
When Elizabeth Ruben showed up for work at Landis Technologies the next day, she gave no sign that anything was out of the ordinary. She arrived five minutes early, parked her car, rode the lift up to the twelfth floor, and settled at her desk. Harold Finch, already firmly ensconced at his cubical, watched her log in to her workstation.
He still did not know the nature of the threat against or soon to be caused by Elizabeth Ruben, even after wading through more of the files he had copied from her home network before the transfer had been forcibly aborted. The most he could do was keep watch over her while Reese tailed her coworkers around like a silent second shadow.
Frowning, Finch logged in to his own workstation and reviewed his assigned project—more HTML nonsense. Fortuitous, in a way. Although it was mind-numbingly boring, it was a task that Finch could finish quickly, allowing him to keep Elizabeth Ruben under surveillance for the rest of the day.
It took him twenty-six minutes to complete the entire project, but he didn't commit it to the source code repository—that would've attracted too much attention and possibly landed him with even more busywork. Instead, he focused on deciphering Elizabeth Ruben's notes on elliptic-curve cryptography. He had very nearly completed a working implementation—a rather elegant one, if he did say so himself—but there were significant pieces missing. Miss Ruben's notes appeared to be incomplete. Finch wondered if she had not filled in the blanks yet, or if they existed only in her head.
The morning marched along at a steady pace. Noon came, went. Elizabeth Ruben ate lunch at her desk again and went right back to programming.
Burying herself in work, perhaps, thought Finch. It's what I would do.
He kept in contact with Reese throughout the morning via cell phone.
"Where are you, Mr. Reese?" he asked.
"Following Bobby around."
"How has Mr. Tam reacted to Miss Ruben's unexpected outburst yesterday afternoon?"
"You must be getting more comfortable with guns if you consider that an 'outburst', Harold." Reese paused, and said, "I'm watching him through the server room windows. He seems alright. Busy. He's replacing some sort of equipment in the racks."
"Describe the equipment."
"They're about...eighteen inches wide. Two inches tall, a few feet long. Metal. They have an IFT logo on the front. Four little doors, each about four inches by one. Power cord. A network cable."
"A small rack server."
"He's got stacks of them on a cart. Maybe ten of them. I think he'll be busy awhile, Finch."
"Most likely, Mr. Reese. Perhaps you should follow Dodson or Leroy instead."
"I can't keep track of all our suspects at once."
"Perhaps we should bring in Shaw on this one, Mr. Reese."
"You know how much she enjoys surveillance, Harold."
"We could also bring in Leon."
There was a long pause.
"We'll make do." Reese hung up.
At 1:21PM, Finch's phone vibrated with an application alert. He pulled it out of his pocket. Checked the screen. His eyes widened.
There were three dots superimposed on a map—one for each of the GPS trackers that Reese had planted on the cars belonging to Dodson, Leroy, and Tam. Two of the dots were stationary—but one of them was on the move.
Wasting no time, he dialed Reese's number.
"Mr. Reese? Isaac Leroy's car just left the parking lot."
"Damnit, I was following Dodson," Reese said. "I'm on him, headed for the car. You stay on Elizabeth, Finch."
"Of course, Mr. Reese."
Four cubicles away, Elizabeth Ruben continued to type, oblivious to the drama unfolding around her.
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By the time Reese made it to his car, Isaac Leroy had at least a three minutes' head start. Reese steadily closed the gap until he could see Leroy's little black Volkswagen ahead, then held that distance, taking care not to follow too closely. The green dot marking Isaac Leroy's car pulsed steadily along the map on Reese's phone, guiding him along a familiar route.
"Finch?" he said. "Leroy is headed for Elizabeth's apartment. I think we found the guy who hired the thief."
"What do you plan, Mr. Reese?"
"The usual, Harold. Following him. Getting information from him. Discouraging him."
He pulled into the parking lot just in time to see Leroy open the door to Elizabeth's apartment and slip inside. Either he had picked the lock or he had a key. Like a ghost, Reese made his way up the front walk. He put his ear to the front door—no noise. It was unlocked. Pushing the door open with care, he slipped inside and closed the door behind him.
The bedroom light was on, the door ajar. Reese pulled out his gun and approach the door. Peeked inside.
There were computer parts everywhere. Several of the desktop computers were scattered around the floor, their side panels missing, their ribbon cables and power connectors dangling like guts. The wireless router lay disconnected on the bookshelf. A staggering amount of cords and cables spilled off the bed. All Elizabeth's doing, Reese guessed. Leroy had ignored the mess. He had gone straight for the desk and, like the thief before him, was making a grab for the notes.
Reese held up the gun, pushed the door wide, and said, "Hello, Isaac."
He spun around, mouth wide. One hand gripped a sheaf of notes.
"Hey, this isn't what it looks like," he said, holding up his other hand. "I swear, it isn't."
"Really?" Reese said, stepping carefully around a disassembled computer tower. "Because, to me, it looks like you're stealing the hard work of a colleague."
He gulped. "I d-don't have a choice, dude," he said.
"Yes, you do," Reese said softly. "You can put down those notes. And then you can apologize to Elizabeth Ruben for making her life miserable for the past few days."
Leroy shook his head and said, frantic, "You don't understand. I can't. I can't. I'm being blackmailed. She'll bury me."
"Wait," Reese said. "'She'?"
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Not five minutes after Reese had left to chase down Isaac Leroy, Elizabeth Ruben locked her workstation, stretched luxuriously, and stood.
Oh no, Finch thought as he logged out of his own workstation. You're not slipping away this time, Miss Ruben! He used his desk as leverage to stand and then followed Elizabeth Ruben as she made her way across the office, meandering through the maze of low cubicles. She walked fast. Finch limped along as best as his leg would allow, but when he realized just where Elizabeth Ruben was headed, he stopped as though he had collided with a wall.
Elizabeth Ruben disappeared through a door marked with a very familiar symbol: womens' restroom.
False alarm, Finch thought. But he did not go back to his desk; instead, he loitered near the door. (Somehow, Finch doubted that even John Reese would've been bold enough to go in there.)
Finch waited for Miss Ruben to finish her...business.
And waited.
An older ginger-haired woman smiled at him and pushed open the door. Finch tried to glance through the gap before the door swung shut, but he couldn't see Elizabeth Ruben anywhere.
He waited some more.
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"Look, I was young and dumb, okay?" Leroy said. He waved the notes around, as if he hoped he could use them to fly away by swinging his arms fast enough. "It was just one night. But—look, she's told me that if I didn't steal the notes, she'd go to the cops. And then I'd go to jail. It was her idea to hire somebody else to steal the notes. She made me spend the money to pay the guy. And when that guy didn't come back, she said I had to do it, or else. It's all her, man!"
"Who are you talking about, Leroy?"
"I can't—if she finds out I told you—she'll—"
"Isaac," Reese said, "I have a gun. And I'm pointing it at you." He clicked off the safety. "Tell me, Isaac. Who. Is. She?"
Isaac Leroy gulped and said, "Tara Dodson."
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Reese's voice buzzed in Finch's ear.
"Finch? Isaac Leroy is just the fall guy. Dodson hired him. She's the one behind all this. Where's Elizabeth?"
"In the restroom, Mr. Reese," said Finch. "I'm waiting for her to come back out."
"I'll be back at Landis in ten minutes. Keep Elizabeth safe. Don't let Dodson anywhere near her."
Minutes passed, and Elizabeth still had not returned. Finch began to worry. His worry turned to confusion when a familiar ginger-haired woman walked past him from the direction of the lifts.
"Excuse me, ma'am," he said.
"Yes?" She turned around.
"I just saw you go in there." Finch pointed to the bathroom door.
The woman chuckled. "Ah, everyone gets fooled by that. There's two doors, see. One of them goes out right next to the lifts."
"Oh," Finch said, fighting to keep the horror from showing on his face. "W-well. My friend Elizabeth went in there a few minutes ago. Could you...would you mind seeing if she's still...?"
The woman rolled her eyes but pushed the bathroom door open. It swung shut behind her. A few seconds later, she emerged again.
"Sorry. She's not in there. She must've gone out the other door."
"Ah. Thank you for checking."
The woman nodded and walked away. As soon as she was out of earshot, Finch tapped his earpiece.
"Mr. Reese, you need to hurry. I'm afraid I've lost Miss Ruben."
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"Really, Tara?" I said. "I can't believe you parked in the back."
"What's wrong with that? It's closer to the lifts. We won't have to push the cart as far."
"Yeah, but we have to go through the crypts." I looked around and saw a maze of unpainted cement walls, florescent light fixtures, silver electrical conduits, and insulated water pipes. Shuddered. It was the fastest way to the loading dock, but that didn't mean that it wasn't creepy. "Where did you get these servers, anyway?"
"Oh, a friend got them for me, real cheap. Just think how happy Tam will be to have some new equipment for the server room."
And maybe it'll make up a bit for me waving a gun in his face, I thought.
There was an exit door up ahead—ironically, it was the same door through which Bobby Tam had walked twenty-four hours ago, just before I had pulled my gun on him. Tara pushed the door open and motioned me through. I looked around and didn't see Tara's car anywhere. Just an unfamiliar white van.
"Okay," I said, "what's the big—aaah!"
The world went white. Someone had poked a red-hot cattle prod into the my back. My legs went out from under me and the concrete rushed up to meet my face. I heard a rapid tick-tick-ticking noise but couldn't place the sound at first.
I couldn't move. I could hardly breathe.
Stun gun, I realized, gasping in pain. My body twitched and spasmed.
"T-T-Tara," I wheezed. I struggled to get my arms under me to push myself off the hot concrete, but none of my limbs would respond. "What...what are you..."
"Shhh," she said. I felt her hand on my back. "Just hold still."
A bee stung me on the side of my neck, releasing its icy poison into my veins. Blackness encroached at the edge of my vision, creeping inward.
"N-n-no..." I felt so weak, so very weak...
The world shrank to a pinpoint as the drugs spread their evil magic throughout my body, dragging me down into the drowning darkness.
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