Chapter 54

CHAPTER54

They were going to have words.

A lot of them, Bailey decided with a firm nod as she stood there for another minute, glaring at the locked bedroom door that Quinn disappeared through a few minutes ago before she decided that it was time to take matters into her own hands.

She was done playing this game.

Hoping that whoever was behind this left something behind that she could use, Bailey grabbed Quinn’s laptop and debated her next move. She could use it to access Haven Technologies’ server, something that she really didn’t want to do remotely, or she could go take a closer look at that virus.

Decision made, she grabbed her backpack and shoved his laptop in it before making her way to the bedroom door. Once she was there, Bailey sent a silent apology to her ass for the spanking that she would be receiving once Quinn found out that she’d left the room and-

He loved her, Bailey thought, unable to help but smile as she stood there, adjusting her backpack over her shoulder as she slowly exhaled with a firm nod. She needed to stay focused, figure out who was behind this and then…

Then, she would let herself panic, but for now, it was time to get to work. Releasing a shaky breath, Bailey stood there for another minute, listening for any signs that Quinn was coming back, and when she didn’t hear anything, she decided that it was now or never.

A moment later, Bailey unlocked the door, listening intently for any signs that she wasn’t alone as she opened it slowly and glanced out into the hallway, making sure the coast was clear before she quickly made her way down the hallway and backstairs that led to the kitchen. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, Bailey released another shaky breath, double-checked to make sure that the coast was still clear and headed across the large kitchen, only to turn right back around and head back to the fridge, deciding that she was going to need some liquid courage to help her get through this.

Once she had a Coke stuffed in her backpack and one in her hand, Bailey made her way across the kitchen, turned left down the small hallway, and when she reached the last door on her right, she cracked open the Coke and took a fortifying sip. That was followed by a second sip, a nod, and another sip, knowing that this wasn’t going to end well as she let herself back into the office.

A few minutes later, Bailey had everything that she needed laid out on the large oak desk, from Quinn’s laptop to the lovely selection of thumb drives that she kept hidden in her bag along with a few wires. With a satisfied sigh, she connected his iPad to his laptop before sliding the thumb drive that she was going to need for this job into its slot.

After making sure that she had everything set up, Bailey shot the closed office door one last look before she turned on the laptop and-

“MmmmBop!”

-felt her lips pull up into a smile when she saw what was waiting for her. In a matter of seconds, her program was taking control of the virus that had made its way onto Quinn’s computer along with quite a few of Haven Technologies’ files from the server. While she enjoyed a sip of Coke, Bailey absently nodded along to the song that was most likely meant to torment the receiver only to release a disappointed sigh when her program turned it off seconds later.

By the time her program finished scanning the virus, Bailey managed to finish off the first Coke and was taking a sip of her second Coke as she waited for her it to finish summarizing the virus and-

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Bailey murmured absently when she noted that the Wi-Fi had been turned off. Curious, Bailey reached over and picked up Quinn’s cellphone and turned it on only to sigh a moment later when she saw that there was no cellphone service either.

“Interesting,” Bailey mumbled, taking another sip of Coke as she shifted her attention back to the laptop, noting that the summary was ready.

“Hmm,” Bailey murmured as she read through the file, her frown deepening with every line that she read, looking for anything that would give the creator away, but there was nothing.

She also didn’t understand why this program had been released into Haven Technologies’ system, especially since it appeared as though it had been released to protect their files. It didn’t make sense, Bailey thought, going through the notes one more time before sighing heavily as she removed the thumb drive and went to grab the next one only to rethink that decision and reached for the one at the end. She never had to use this one before, but then again, something about this whole situation told her that she was going to need it.

Praying that this worked, Bailey slid the thumb drive into the slot, and after a few clicks, she told her program what she wanted it to do. After a slight pause, her program did what she’d created it to do and took over the unknown program, finding out everything that it could about it, when it was sent, and what it was meant to do.

Two beeps later, Bailey had her answer as she was presented with the virus that had been released into Haven Technologies’ system, making her swallow hard until she realized that the unknown virus had been stopped completely in its track, had been taken over, and sent back to the source.

Whoever was behind this was hoping that they’d focus on the virus meant to destroy their system and ignore the fact that they’d also tried to steal all their files. Whoever released the second virus had saved them from a nightmare, Bailey thought as she looked for the original virus, searching through the program that saved Haven Technologies and once again wondered who wrote this. She didn’t recognize this coding style, but she recognized the one that it stopped.