Page 15 of No Questions Asked

Lilith took my hand and shook it with a firm, no-nonsense grip, looking intently at me with light blue eyes, as if judging my character and integrity on the spot.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said. “You come highly recommended, especially from the executives at ComQuest.”

“We’ve done some work with ComQuest and are pleased they recommend us,” I answered, hoping that was an appropriate response. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”

The lines on her face eased slightly. “We appreciate you seeing us without a lot of lead time.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Finn said. “Most emergencies, especially those of a cyber nature, don’t provide a lot of advance warning.”

After Hayden shook my hand, and Finn closed the door, we all sat down at the rectangular conference table. I opened up my laptop and logged on, ready to take notes. Finn liked to jot down notes the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, but he hadn’t picked up his pen yet. It didn’t surprise me, as I was familiar with his approach. He liked to let the client talk for a while to get a feeling for what they wanted and what we could do to help them.

“So, how can X-Corp help you?” Finn asked.

Lilith and Hayden exchanged glances, but it was Lilith who spoke first. “Maybe it would be helpful if we told you a little about our company first. Vaccitex is a nonprofit, NGO or nongovernmental organization. We’ve been working exclusively for the past several years on a revolutionary malaria vaccine. We’ve made some exciting breakthroughs in recent years with promising results, especially in regards to use with small children and infants.”

“Wait. Isn’t there a shot or something you can get to prevent malaria?” I asked.

“There is, but it’s expensive and isn’t safe for children and infants. The shots can reduce a person’s chances of getting the disease by about ninety percent. But there’s another ten percent of the population to account for, not to mention the medication will not protect the most vulnerable of the population—children. Moreover, four shots are required for maximum efficiency, and studies have shown that about forty-six percent of the populations studied only ever receive one shot, which means significantly reduced or ineffective protection after a period of a few years. Our vaccine will change all of that. Two doses over a lifetime is all that’s needed. Phase I and II of our field trials have indicated the vaccine is safe for children under two years of age, with any adverse reactions being similar to those of other childhood vaccines. After an in-depth review, it was decided the benefits of the vaccine would far outweigh any risk. So, three months ago, Vaccitex received a nod from the World Health Organization to move to Phase III of the trials, which means widespread introduction of the vaccine in targeted areas as part of a precursor to a large-scale pilot implementation program. It will be the first malaria vaccine provided to young children through a routine immunization program. We entertained requests from thirteen countries with populations at high risk and eventually selected Brazil—helping a few of the indigenous tribes of the rainforest.”

Finn jotted down some notes and I tapped out a few of my own on the computer. “Why Brazil?” he asked. “What made that area more attractive over other areas of the world?”

“There were a lot of factors considered,” Hayden replied. “Primarily, we received the assurance of the Brazilian Ministry of Health that they would fully cooperate and help with the implementation of the vaccine. In addition, the country already has a good vaccine program in place and has dedicated significant funds and resources to protecting its population, even the indigenous ones.”

Lilith folded her hands on the table. Her fingers were long, elegant and devoid of jewelry, the nails painted a soft pink. “Not to mention, from a biological point of view, the rainforest is located fairly close to the equator, which means the conditions for the mosquitos are more standardized, as opposed to various locations in Africa and Southeast Asia.” She glanced at Hayden, who nodded. “For clinical trials, the standardization is an important factor. There are many more reasons we could give you, but those are the big ones.”

“Fair enough,” Finn said.

Lilith leaned forward, her voice taking on a sense of urgency. “But we are now at a critical stage in our testing and implementation. We’re experiencing an enormous amount of concentrated effort to break into our company’s database to either steal or alter data. A malaria vaccine is like the Holy Grail to pharmaceutical companies. The money it could bring in would be in the billions. Vaccitex has no desire to make a profit from this. We will want only to have our operating costs covered, and all additional funds will be recycled to pursue research that will further refine the vaccine or aid in developing new ones.”

Her statement was admirable, even saintly. But the danger was real. Years of hard work could be stolen or the data corrupted to a point where it could take the organization years to rebuild or repair, giving other drug companies time to come up with a vaccine of their own. The cost would be incalculable. But now we were in my zone. It was time to dig down to the details.

“How do you know you’re being attacked online? Who’s in charge of your cybersecurity?”

“We’ve been protected by a variety of sources, most often government cybersecurity agencies or individuals, and occasionally private companies,” Hayden explained. “We have an excellent IT guy heading up what little staff we have. They’ve all done a good job, considering the sheer volume of attacks we’ve been under, but we’ve come to a critical juncture in the research and we need a higher and more consistent level of protection to finish things off.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that. Different governments had different levels of ability in terms of cybersecurity. Not knowing who had built the security architecture, I couldn’t know how impenetrable it might actually be.

“We’ve been given a grant by the WHO and several charitable organizations and companies around the world are helping to subsidize the costs of hiring a cyber-intelligence company full time to protect our information,” Lilith added. “You—” she looked directly at me “—and X-Corp come highly recommended.”

I exchanged a glance with Finn, who lifted his eyebrow slightly. “Okay, what exactly are you thinking?”

“We need a team of experts to review our database and security setup at our New York office and ensure it’s fully protected,” she responded without hesitation. It was clear she and others at Vaccitex had given a strategy some thought, which I appreciated. “That means, at minimum, a one-year contract with X-Corp, possibly longer. We also want one team member to accompany us periodically in the field to ensure any transmission and data collection remains secure and safely encrypted.” She paused, as if to give the next statement more emphasis. “We want that field team member to be you, Lexi.”

Chapter Eight

Lexi

“You wantmeto go to the rainforest to ensure data protection?”

“Yes.” Lilith kept her gaze steady on mine. “We’d like you to set up a team at our headquarters in New York first and then accompany our scientists to our portable lab in Brazil on our next trip, which happens to be in five days.”

“Five days?” I’m pretty sure I sounded like a parrot repeating everything she said, but it was a lot to take in.

Lilith nodded, an apology flashing in her eyes. “I know it’s an extremely accelerated timeline, but as you can imagine, time is of the essence. We want the best with our field team in Brazil. The rest of your team would be working out of our headquarters in New York. I know it’s a lot to ask of you personally, and not a lot of time to bring you up to speed, but here we are. We’d like to have you and your team on a plane to New York first thing in the morning. Do you think you can assemble a team that quickly?”

I sat there stunned before Finn stood up and motioned for me to do the same. “If you’d excuse us for a minute, I’d like to speak privately with Lexi.”

“Of course,” Hayden said.

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