Chapter 18: Blackmail Definitely Improves Workplace Relationships

Octavia nearly ran into Ivanovich as he marched out of the executive office suite at 9 a.m. that Monday morning. He stormed past her muttering curses in Russian, and she watched him go with interest. She stopped by Lauren’s desk on her way to Raemon’s office.

“What’s Ivan doing here?” she asked.

Lauren looked more worried than usual. Her eyes kept darting past Octavia in the direction of Raemon’s office, and she nervously tapped her blue pen on the desk.

“There’s been a little…incident,” Lauren said.

“Must be pretty big if Ivan got called up,” Octavia said. “Why would the head of cybersecurity need to speak to Raemon in person? Do you know anything about it?”

Lauren shook her head. She then noted Octavia’s apparent calm. “Aren’t you late? Did Mr. Kentworth make you run an errand before work or something?”

Octavia took a sip from the travel mug in her right hand. “Nope,” she replied.

“Did he know you were coming in late?” Lauren asked.

“Nope.”

Suddenly Lauren wanted to be as far away from Octavia as possible. Clearly, Octavia had a death wish.

“He’s really not in a good mood today,” Lauren said anxiously.

“Is he ever?” Octavia sneered, taking another sip.

“You should probably—hurry in and—let him know you’re here. Maybe he won’t be mad at you for being late since they’re dealing with—whatever it is that’s going on.”

Poor Lauren had fallen into the habit of lying to Octavia. What she really meant to say was: Maybe you should run out of this building and book a one-way flight to Alaska to escape Mr. Kentworth’s wrath.

“I suppose so,” Octavia said. She held her arms out striking a pose and looked at Lauren. “How do I look?”

Lauren was all bewildered, but she glanced over Octavia’s jeans, faded silver T-shirt with the full cast of the ~Sailor Moon~ anime on the front, and her red-and-black plaid blazer.

“I…I think you look…okay,” Lauren answered. Another lie.

Octavia smiled brightly at Lauren and then proceeded to Mr. Kentworth’s office.

“Good morning, sunshine,” she said brightly upon entering.

The expression Mr. Raemon Kentworth wore when he looked up to regard the arrival of his assistant was the farthest thing from “sunshine.”

“What did you just say?” he growled.

“Never mind,” Octavia said, taking a seat in the chair before his desk. “I can already see we’re in a bad mood here.”

He clenched his jaw but said nothing and turned back to his computer screens.

“I don’t have time for this. I need you to go over all my computer systems and secure every file or document I accessed in the past few weeks,” he commanded.

Octavia frowned. “Ew. That sounds boring.”

Raemon Kentworth glanced up to give Octavia a withering look.

“Does it? We can’t have you being bored, can we?” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Don’t try my patience today, assistant. Or I will be drafting your letter of termination along with Ivan’s. And unlike him, your job here will be your last.”

“Why’s Ivan getting fired?” Octavia asked.

“He’s an incompetent fool,” was Raemon’s scathing reply.

Octavia replied, “He’s been in cybersecurity for twenty-five years. He’s worked on security for the biggest firms around the world. If he’s a fool, we’re all…” She paused, but then smiled as she said the next word, “…morons.”

“He was a fool enough to allow us to get hacked,” Raemon said through gritted teeth.

Octavia was surprised. “Hacked?”

Raemon gave her another withering glance but then turned one of his monitors in her direction.

The screen had several tabs open. The one at the forefront was of his email and had one particular email open. The text was big and in a comical font. Octavia could also see hundreds of files attached to it. It read:

~Dear Mr. Kennerly (oops! I mean Kentworth),~

~Thanks for letting me look through all the cool stuff you guys at Icarus are doing. It all seems very amazing!~

~You’ve got some great concepts for future products here, and I’m sure you’d just hate it if any of it fell into the wrong hands.~

~I promise to keep your secrets as long as you continue…(well, “start” is more likely)…to be a decent human being and treat the people around you with some basic respect.~

~Sincerely,~

~Lower-class scum~

~P.S. There is some fascinating fan fiction out there about you.~

“Wow, that seems”—Octavia fought to keep a straight face—“serious.”

“You think?” Raemon snapped. “Somehow this lowlife accessed all the technical drawings and spec sheets of every unreleased product and concept. Then he emails me copies with this veiled threat!”

“I’d hardly call it a threat,” Octavia said.

Raemon was too caught up in his rage to notice Octavia’s words.

“That fool Ivan failed at his job. Coming in here claiming he has no idea how this hacker accessed our system. Telling me he can’t trace where the email came from. What bullshit. His days here are over.”

Octavia sighed and took a sip from her mug. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

These words Raemon heard. He looked up, directing his rage at his presumptuous assistant.

“You are on very thin ice, assistant,” he said coldly.

Octavia considered his words. “Yeah, I guess so. But from the look of it, so are you.”

Raemon did not respond to this, but his brow dropped farther, adding another layer of energy to his boiling rage.

Octavia continued. “Whoever this person is, they clearly stated that your secret is safe as long as you treat people with respect. I really don’t think you should blame Ivan for this.

“So what if he couldn’t figure out who’s behind this? Maybe this lower-class scum person is just…I don’t know…really good.

“But if you fire him, something tells me your little pen pal would not take that kindly.”

Raemon stood, unfolding himself to his imposing six-foot-five height. He walked around the desk to stand directly behind the chair Octavia sat in. She did not so much as flinch when he spoke above her.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

Octavia continued sipping her coffee, ignoring the voice behind her.

“You’re responsible for this!” he spat, a surge of anger inflecting the tone in his voice.

Octavia set her mug down and then stood. Still without making eye contact with her boss, she walked around the desk to the chair he had just vacated and calmly took a seat in it.

She sat back and observed Raemon Kentworth.

She took in his broad-shouldered frame, the ripped flesh beneath his suit, muscular arms capable of breaking someone in two. She took in the raging inferno in his eyes that were trained on her.

“Me? You think I could hack into Icarus? I’m flattered,” she said.

“I’ll have your head for this,” Raemon muttered darkly.

“For what?” Octavia said with an innocent face. “I haven’t done anything.”

Raemon did not appear to have heard her.

“I’ll make you pay. I’ll have your worthless ass thrown in jail, after I’ve hit you with a lawsuit so detrimental your descendants will be paying for it with their blood for years to come.”

“How poetic,” Octavia remarked, “but…how would I have descendants if I’m thrown in jail?” She shook her head at the thought. “If you’re going to make groundless accusations, at least make them logical.”

“You can ponder the logistics of that while I call security. On second thought, I might be happy to drag you out of this building myself,” he snarled.

“And we all know how much you like dragging me around,” Octavia said with a sneer. “But consider it. It takes a while to take someone to jail, even just to drag them out of a building.

“Even with your powerful connections, it’s going to take some time before I could theoretically be convicted of a crime I didn’t commit. And then there’s that pesky need for evidence.

“I mean, if Ivan couldn’t find out who did this, who can?”

She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “However, in that time, suppose this lower-class scum person finds out about what you did?

“Suppose they don’t like it and realize you went against what was explicitly stated in their message? Suppose they decide to go ahead and release all that confidential information to the world?

“I don’t need to tell you how ruined you would be. You’d have much bigger problems on your hands than trying to frame me for something I didn’t do.”

Raemon’s jaw clenched, and he gripped the back of the chair before him. Then he said, “How much do you want?”

“What?” Octavia asked.

“Money,” he said bluntly. “How much for the information to remain confidential?”

Octavia paused in thought. Then she said, “Do you have a dollar?”

A particle of anger gave way to confusion on Raemon’s face. “A…dollar?”

“Since you’re offering me money, I wanted to get a candy bar from the vending machines, but once again, I’m out of quarters.” She sighed.

“Anyway, seeing as how I am not responsible for this hack, it doesn’t make any sense for you to try and pay me off.”

“I know it was you,” Raemon said through clenched teeth.

“Believe what you will,” Octavia said with a shrug. She pointed to the screen with the ominous message.

“But I think this person made it abundantly clear what they want. It’s rather fortunate that their wishes line up so well with mine.”

Octavia stood and walked back around the desk. She stood in front of her boss and met his infuriated gaze with her own calm, unperturbed one.

“Shall I tell Ivan the happy news?” she said. “That he isn’t going to lose his job and that there’s no reason to continue investigating the hack?”

She could see the pulse in his temple throbbing. He was still clenching his jaw, and she noticed his fists were also curled into tight balls and hanging stiffly at his sides.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Octavia said. She gave him her sweetest smile before she walked out the door.