Chrysalis

20

The room cleared slowly until only Claire Asperton, Kramer, and Peyton remained at the table with Logan. Peyton glanced at Kramer, clearly dismissing the security head, and Kramer rose and exited the room. The three of them were left alone.

As soon as the door had closed, Peyton whirled toward Logan. “You son of a bitch.”

Logan had expected the outburst. Peyton had already demonstrated his territorial insecurities; they were on a clock, and it was time to headbutt the bully.

“Blame yourself, Peyton,” Logan said nonchalantly. “You’ve done nothing but give me pushback since we met. Shooting holes in plans of action without bothering to explain the flaws. Keeping me ignorant of vital information.”

“ ‘Ignorant’ is the word,” Peyton shot back. “What the hell do you know about the Complex, or its operation, or its history? I’ve worked here almost a dozen years.”

Logan laughed. “Lying. Again. A dozen years ago, you were riding a tricycle.”

He had already sensed how self-conscious the logistics director — obsessed as he clearly was with authority — felt about his boyish looks. And this remark had the desired effect of knocking the man off balance: with a curse, Peyton stood up, chair wheeling back.

“Sit down,” Logan said. “You heard Mr. Christie: I’m Superman now, so unless you’ve got some kryptonite around, do us both a favor: shut up, take a deep breath, and let’s get to work.”

Logan let a brief silence follow before following the stick with a carrot. “I’m not interested in getting in your way. We all want the same thing. And you might just find that my ignorance is a virtue. I can ask the kind of foolish, objective, uninitiated questions you can’t… or won’t. For example, why are you so sure Mossby was involved?”

Peyton stared at Logan for a moment. It was unlikely he’d ever been challenged in this way. Finally, he shifted in his seat and replied in a monotone. “I’ll have a summary sent to you, encoded and flagged, of my reasons. Knock yourself out reading it… and be prepared to apologize. Oh — and you may be Superman, but let me make one thing clear: if anything I tell you, or give you, leaks out of this facility, it’s still going to be your ass.”

“Let’s hope that’s all I have to worry about.” It was time to deescalate. “So: Why, then, didn’t you bring up Mossby? It seemed the ideal time.”

“I thought it premature,” Peyton replied. “He hasn’t been very talkative so far. And as Pettigrew said, there may be more than one mole involved.”

“That’s true. We don’t know how many we’re dealing with, or how deeply their hooks are sunk. There could even be someone on the board.” At this, Logan glanced at Asperton. “You’ve effectively arrested Mossby, locked him up. So much for habeas corpus. I’m curious: Exactly how far does your rule of law extend?”

Asperton, who despite being a lawyer clearly disliked drama, looked distressed. “What do you mean, Jeremy?”

“I mean, this place is like a private fiefdom within Windham County. Can you do whatever you please within its walls? Is there a gallows in one of those vaults beneath the Torus?”

Peyton smiled at this question, but Asperton did not.

“That’s ridiculous,” Asperton replied. “The state gave many concessions and waived many restrictions that would apply to smaller entities. One of the concessions was to allow Chrysalis to hire credentialed law officers to serve as our internal security team. And as you know, employees sign extensive and comprehensive NDAs, along with other agreements that give us a lot of room for… enforcement.”

“Including torture?”

She scoffed. “As I said, a great many restrictions have been waived. But no, Jeremy, torture is not a pillar of our corporate philosophy — at least, not to my knowledge.”

At this, Peyton smiled again.

Logan considered what he’d just learned. There was now little point in trying to protect other board members, or examining their medical histories: the three already dead had made the opponent’s point.

Now he focused in on the crucial issues. “We have a number of unanswered questions. First, how do we think the person we’re up against — Mossby, or whoever — will select a thousand random people to target if you don’t pay out? Second, how do we identify whether the opponent is internal or on the outside and has just managed to hack past the corporate firewall? And finally — perhaps most important — how were the three board members’ deaths carried out… and what would be the mechanism to murder a thousand clients if the random deadline isn’t met?”

A silence hung in the air for a moment. Then Peyton spoke. “The board members got a tour of the Voyager technology two weeks ago. This message warns, orders, us not to stop the rollout of that same technology.”

The silence that followed this was even longer.

Logan glanced down at his watch, changing its display to a timer: sixty-nine hours, forty-two minutes and counting. Counting down. “Should we loop Wrigley in on this?” he asked. “I mean, Omega’s his baby.”

“I’m not sure what he could add at this point,” Asperton replied. “It might just mean one too many cooks.”

“Fair enough,” Logan said. “Then may I finish with a few recommendations?”

Asperton nodded, followed a moment later by Peyton.

“Given the clock we’re on, triage is the only option. That means getting the money ready, and putting all available resources on this mole. Killing a thousand people must require some kind of action — even if it’s just pushing a button. Whoever’s behind these messages can tell us that… or will know the people who can.” He glanced again at Peyton. “Maybe Mossby is a lone wolf. Maybe he’s part of a group. Maybe he’s just a false positive. Whatever the case, you’ve got some serious resources at your disposal: Can you run all HR data, vacation history, bank accounts, psych evals, of Chrysalis employees and contractors through a sieve sort? We can’t let Mossby, and whatever sins you say he’s committed, blind us to other potential malefactors. Anybody who doesn’t act right, feel right, smell right… whether you come up with a single name or fifty, it would be a start. That includes the thirty you’re already surveilling. Nabbing the mole is our immediate priority.”

Peyton nodded. “Done.” He seemed relieved to hear Logan suggest a tangible goal that included him.

“And you should assemble a small strike force from whatever cybersecurity team handles your internal intelligence, fends off ransomware attacks: a handful of your sharpest and most trusted. Put them on these goddamned messages Claire has been receiving. Where are they coming from? What mechanism generates them? Even if they find nothing, we need to have sentries posted and ready when new messages come in.” He paused. “They should probably be familiar with cryptocurrencies, too. No doubt that’s how these bad actors will want to be paid — I doubt they’d be content with shares of stock.”

Peyton nodded. “I’ll put my best man, Snow, onto it.”

Logan turned to Asperton. “I’m guessing you’re the person to scrape together one billion. It’s Friday afternoon, I know, but can you assemble the liquid assets in time?”

He saw the look on her face. “What is it?”

“Normally it would be feasible, given our market cap. But we’re currently restructuring some long-term debt, and a staggering amount of capital has been spread around the divisions in preparation for this rollout.”

“What about equivalents? Can’t you liquidate an asset, or — if necessary — sell off some underperforming division?”

“Yes. But the note said crypto. That’s the difficulty.”

“So raising the billion, fast, may end up costing you a premium due to time pressure. But you can do it, right?”

“I think so,” came the hesitant response. “I need to make some calls.”

“Okay. So, Orris, just one more thing. I’d like to say hello to your guest.”

Peyton, unsurprisingly, frowned. “Mossby?”

“He must have had all the ‘processing’ he needs by now — right? So maybe he’d like a little chat. To take his mind off things.”

Peyton didn’t answer. He looked at Asperton. Then he looked toward the door through which John Christie had vanished a few minutes before. It didn’t take an empath to follow his train of thought.

Peyton stood up. “Come on.”

They left the conference room just as Claire Asperton began making her first call.