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“Yes. Maci left her smartphone.”
“She knows that’s against policy. I caught her with it a couple of times, and she claimed she needed to allow the babysitter to text her. I didn’t have the heart to fire her, and instead, I’ve been working on establishing a childcare center on campus. But with everything ... I’ve been distracted.”
“Well, this is clearly being used as a Wi-Fi router. Since the servers are down on the lower level, the connection is probably routing through another one somewhere too.” If Carson was involved, he was either the insider or the cybercriminal, and he’d needed Maci’s assistance. To direct the blame to her later? Mackenzie wasn’t sure.
“I didn’t see Maci’s car in the parking lot.” Nora hugged herself. She glanced around as though she could be overheard.
A little boy raced down the hall. “Cleo, come back!” Maci stopped short when she spotted Nora and Mackenzie standing at her desk. She looked at her cell, and unfortunately, her expression left no doubt of her guilt.
She took a few slow steps and lifted her little boy. A tear streaked down her cheek. Another step forward and she pressed his face into her shoulder, covering his exposed ear as if to protect him from the bad in this world. “I had no choice. He threatened my child. I ... I was told to get the phone today, but I’m too late.”
Mackenzie looked from Maci to Cleo. “Who threatened you?”
“I don’t know. I got a text from an unknown number showing me videos of Cleo playing with friends, along with threatening messages saying that Cleo would be harmed if I didn’t follow their instructions. I was terrified.” The tears freely flowed now. “I’m so sorry.”
“Take what you need from your desk, the office. Leave the phone and go directly to the police.”
Mackenzie debated about whether or not to turn off the cell. Then again, if Maci had been instructed to retrieve it, then Nebulous 2.0 was done using it. Either that or he feared it would be discovered. She glanced at the camera in the corner. Was he watching them even now?
She turned off the cell.
“I’m scared.” Maci’s voice shook.
Nora stepped between them. “No police yet, Mackenzie.”
Mackenzie eyed the boy. “This has gone on long enough. My career might be toast, and I might lose my chance at getting Nebulous 2.0, and Hanstech could be done too, but threatening a woman’s child is going too far.” Murdering Rowan had been going too far. Attempting to kill Julian had been too much.
It was all stepping over the line, but Mackenzie now realized the error in her thinking. She’d been arrogant, believing she should be the one to take Nebulous 2.0 down and do it alone.
“Maci, do you know who is behind this?” Nora asked.
Maci shook her head.
Nora appeared visibly relieved. “It can’t be who you think, Mackenzie. He wouldn’t need to use Maci.”
“He could have done it to protect himself.” She directed her next words to Maci. “I’ll escort you to the door.”
Mackenzie’s pulse spiked. He could be planning to crash the system and was removing all evidence. She escorted Maci, who held her precious son close, to the front door and watched her climb into her older Ford Escort, then drive away. Maci had reassured Mackenzie she would drive straight to the sheriff’s offices and speak to a detective about calling the FBI. Her model car was older and couldn’t be digitally highjacked to cause her harm.
God, please keep them safe. Bring in whoever is needed to stop this. Forgive me for believing I would be the one to take Nebulous 2.0 down.
Mackenzie entered the building again, anger burning in her gut at the thought of someone threatening a small child. She found Tilden at the security desk. He hadn’t been present when they arrived—possibly because he was checking the building and the grounds. Or taking a break? Where was his partner? She had never seen or met the guy.
Tilden.
He was here at night and on the weekends. She hadn’t even considered him as a possible insider. Mackenzie rushed back to Nora’s office and found her pacing.
Her face pale, Nora stopped in her tracks and stared at Mackenzie. “I went to Carson’s office to face him.”
“Nora, you didn’t. Do you know how dangerous that was?”
“I didn’t face him because he wasn’t there!”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s gone. I can’t find him on the security cameras. I had Tilden patch me in, but I didn’t say anything to him about what was going on. Maybe I should have.” Nora stared at her desktop computer screen.
“Even on the lower level?” Mackenzie rushed around to look at the screen.
