Chapter 6 Derrick

The team looked up for directions on what to do. They were watching me, gauging my emotions to see how far I've spiraled. How far I've lost control of myself and the company. I raised my head from the table and faced the team once more.

We've been awake since the news broke out at dawn and we've been trying ways of tackling the issue. It was clear as day that this was an inside job and whoever was behind this was obviously an executive member of staff and their plan was a stroke of genius.

Get me out of the office. Soften me up with booze and the sentiment of Jackson moving away and the promise of lying with an exquisite red head. I was notorious for my thing for redheads, Damn her, I thought. Damn her to hell and back. I knew it wasn't her fault that I got into this mess but she was the only one I could blame.

"Excuse me for a moment people," I said to the conference table before I went to my private bathroom to gather my thoughts. When I got there I locked the door behind me and sat on the floor. I became a twitching mess on the cold marble, letting the anger, rage and fear wash over me. Allowing it consume me and my thoughts.

I've truly hit rock bottom. My life's work, my endless years of labor and sleepless nights all down the drain in a night, in the twinkling of an eye. My town was burning and I was atop a woman thrusting. I felt like punching something, like taking out my rage on something but I knew the bathroom wasn't the best place for that. I realized I was taking too long and the employees might have started panicking. I picked myself up from the ground, dust my suit jacket off and rearranged my face back into a neutral mask before opening the door.

It's important to not show weakness in the face of danger. You need to project strength and calmness in spite of adversity and doom. If I didn't and I let my real emotions lose, A wild panic would sweep through the company and people would quiet in fear.

A mass exodus would happen and I can't have that if I was going to rebuild what was left of this company. Their might be a Judas among them but a good number of them were hard workers.

"Thank you for waiting for me, I'm also human. When nature calls you to answer," I offered an easy smile. They chuckled and went back at ease. If Derrick the CEO of this company was too worried about this then why should we be too? I sighed and faced them making eye contact with the seven of them. "It important we take this thing really seriously but with a clear head and a focused mind to deal with this issue.

A cyber attack is no joke. I don't need to stress how serious this is," I said, my voice grave. They knew how important this was and what this could mean for the company. A cyber crime was no joke and many companies had gone under for an attack on a much smaller scale than this. I called my secretary in to give the rundown of the police report and how far they've gone with the investigation.

Before I even left the club the core team had informed the cyber security section of the Las Vegas Police Department. They also invited a team of private investigators to help track who was behind this incase the police took too long. "No, lead yet," she said. "The police department has set off a sub unit dedicated to investigating this crime considering your hefty donation to them last year."

That wasn't a surprise the police were overstretched for this city, their numbers too few. If anything the police report was all a matter of legality nothing else. I had more face in our hired hands. "The private investigators are back at the club hoping to apprehend the girl or get any lead on who could have employed her," Arielle, my secretary continued. That's a relief, I thought.

Get the girl and the entire mystery unravels itself before me. I looked at the team again, giving them another reassuring glance. Everything was under control. "Thank you, Arielle. Anything else?" I asked.

"Reporters have been hounding me since last night, trying to reach you for a statement. To have the first scope of the news. A few of them are camped downstairs ready to wait until you grant them an interview." I sighed, "You should've called the publicist by now, tell her I'm going to do a tell all with People, then Forbes after.

The rest of them could die waiting for my statement." "Ok sir," She nodded vigorously. She brought her phone out and started typing out a frantic message to the publicist. After she was done, she cleared her throat. Her voice grave and heavy, she said, "The shareholders are here to see you, they're angry and they demand your attention now.

They are waiting in the larger boardroom. Room 704." I groaned. Dreading my meeting with those people. They've been the bane of my existence since I made the mistake of letting the company go public. I've been forced to answer to a group of old, stuffy, rich people. I stood up from my seat, already immaging the outrage I'll have to face and the questions I'll need to dodge.

Today is going to be one hell of a day I thought in misery. A hush fell on the shareholders as I entered the room. I would've basked in their shocked adoration if the look in their eye had been any different. Their eyes held daggers that they were hoping to throw at me. I was used to these looks from them.

I brought out my well worn easy smile and flashed it at them. Some of the women eased at this and some smiled back eagerly, ready to do anything to please me. The men were a bit harder but I knew I would win them over. I walked around them shaking some of them women who practically wet their pants at my touch and went to take my seat at the head of the table.

I took my time in seating down and getting comfortable letting them wait on my every move and breath. I waited for the other members of the core team to get here before I made any notion of addressing them and their concerns. When they came and were comfortably seated I finally addressed them. "I learnt you are here to see me, what about?" I asked, rearranging the files on the table.

"Cut the bullshit, Johnson," an frenzied old man shouted at me across the room. David, a giant pain in this house. "If this is about the cyber attack I assure you it's all under control. No, need to panic or fear." "Like hell it is," David said again.

"Anything else?" I said, ignoring his statement. We haven't started this meeting and I was already developing a terrible migraine. The hangover of last night's alcohol and the crash of adrenaline rush was creeping up on me. "Yes, actually," a thin, old man stood up, clearing his throat and adjusting his thick glasses. He held aloft a sheaf of papers like they were the first amendments.

"If you checked the stock market this morning you would know this isn't just about the cyber attack, This is about our investment in this company. An investment that has gone down the drain!'' he exclaimed, shaking the papers.

His words shook them out of my charm and I could see the worry creeping back on their faces. I faceplated on the table internally. I didn't check the stock market this morning. I was too focused on the attack to think about much else. This would affect us on the stock market. It would be so bad and the losses would be almost too much to bear.

The thing about stocks is that they worked based on perceived value. Value went up on brand awareness and most importantly trust and social credit. We have the brand awareness sorted but our Trust and social credibility just took a huge hit. A hit that might just sink us. It would take one hell of a major overhaul and a huge media tour to right this wrong that has been done.

I face planted on the table again and asked him to send the documents forward. A deep fear clung tightly around my chest like iron bands, when the charts got to my table. All I saw was a pool of red sitting smugly in the paper. I screamed internally and ran around in a circle screaming WTF in my head.

I cleared my throat and smiled, knowing they were studying my face for an tell to fear. I flipped the page and the red losses made my migraine worse.The red reminded me once again of that ginger girl. We lost more than seventy-five percent of our market value in one night and were predicted to lose more in the coming days.

I could see why they were scared now. I would be scared if my investment was losing its market value. I turned the page again and this time I was assembled with a color almost strange to me now since I've been surrounded by red the past twenty-four hours. The color was green and the market cap. I checked the company's names.

Google and Apple, our major competitors. Where our charts showed losses they showed an almost identical growth index on their curve.

Meaning over customers chose them over us. That wasn't the most surprising. I turned the page and was met with another shock. It seemed overnight a new company, Samsung, had stepped in to fill our niche in the tech market. They used to be the thirtieth on the tech index and now they're fourth. The exact position we used to be.

Things were going from bad to dire pretty quickly. I was suddenly thirsty and my migraine was getting worse. I asked for a quick leave from the meeting and sent everyone into a quick ten minutes recess. I speed walked to my private bathroom and locked the door behind me. I looked at my reflection in the mirror on the medicine cabinet.

My green eyes were bloodshot and they looked almost gray. My hair sat in a limp clump on my head and strands of gray were starting to appear on my dark hair. I opened the cabinet, pop two tylenol pills and washed it down with water from the wash basin.

I stood there until the recess was almost over vaguely wondering where my friends were and if they had any news about the attack. The recess did not help with the shareholders morale. The opportunity to talk help amplified their fears to each other and now the entire room was a sweltering mass of fear.

I had to do something quick or else i mutiny could be underway. I called the core team and my secretary to the side to discuss any possible solution to the situation. We had none except we found those behind that attacks and then we could think of a possible situation.

In between our conversation we got a series of emails from the resources team. It was list of companies who had cut ties with us in lew of the cyber threat and safety.

One of them was the cyber security and intelligence branch of the US military. They were one of our biggest clients and how could already see our loss increasing from seventy-five to eighty-five percent.

Now trick I could pull, no way I could make the situation any better. I went back to the boardroom already defeated and anxious. The boardroom was plunged into an eerie silence at my entrance, gone was the apprehension and fear on their faces.

They were calm and assured and that did nothing for me. The threat of mutiny seemed all too real now. I took my seat. David stood up, that was the exact moment he was waiting for. "We have collectively decided to sell our stake in the company below at current market value before it drops any lower," he said. "You can't do that," I said.

"The your going to lose a lot of money." "It's better we cut our losses now instead of waiting for the company to recover, which it might never." He countered. The others muttered and nodded in agreement with him.

My whole world started reeling and the fabric of reality started unraveling itself. I lost everything. All my labor went down in the blink of an eye. My ship was sinking and the sailors were jumping ship.

I had no choice but to sink with my ship as the captain at the helm. I jerked up in fury and ran towards my office. "We're going to sell, Johnson, whether you like it or not, we're selling either way." I couldn't breathe, my chest was heavy and it felt like I'd forgotten how to draw breath.

I removed my tie and lied on the couch, trying to focus on only breathing and not much else. "Breathe,"I told myself. Arielle came in with an inhaler, I took it from her, grateful. She stood across from me. Waiting as I recovered myself. I recovered myself a bit and promptly switched to probleming solving mode.

"Call the legal counsel, I need them right here in an hour. It's impossible for them to dump all our shares that way." She stood up and left to call them. I told her not to let anyone disturb me till the lawyers came. They can do this. If they want a lawsuit then they would get a lawsuit. My despair was quickly becoming anger and that was an emotion I was very familiar with. I could feel my anger slowly cooling into spite and vengeance. If they think they could pull the rug from underneath me.

I would show them who owned the rug factory.