Page 10 of Fool’s Gold

She turned back to her screen, and Matt led the way into his office, which was a sharp contrast to the opulence of the general C-Suite area. It was nice enough, sure, with solid wood furniture and plenty of books on its shelves. But it was also fairly austere, with no frippery or weird executive “toys.” The only framed pictures were of Matt and his grandmother.

“Make yourself at home. I’ve got work to do, no idea what you plan to do while you wait for your replacement.”

Jack sighed and pulled a chair into the corner. “So what exactly is going on that you’re working on?”

“Corporate stuff. Nothing you’d be interested in.” He waved a hand and woke up his computer.

Jack opened his tablet to check on messages from Levi. Unfortunately, he didn’t find any good news. Levi was unenthusiastic about having Jack’s personal issues with his client be the first thing he woke up to this morning, and he wasn’t going to be sending a replacement any time soon. Most of the people he’d assign to a job like this were on longer-term placements, and the only ones who weren’t were women.

Jack was stuck.

He sighed and started digging into some of the people Husniya had mentioned. The journalist was easy enough to find. His publication was, as the name indicated, mostly about Georgia, although it had a distinct progressive/left-leaning bent to it. Parkinson’s articles usually featured business types from unexpected backgrounds, so his choice to feature Matt struck Jack as odd. He couldn’t find anything that stood out in his background, so he let the meeting stand and resolved to stay in the room when it took place.

The presidents were another issue. Getting into their backgrounds was a little more of a challenge, not because they were less public but because their backgrounds were more likely to have been scrubbed. The president at the first school came from a super right-wing background but had a record of supporting workers’ rights and standing up for unions. The president at the next had worked at almost entirely left-wing schools but was known for union busting. The third had come in from a mostly political background and had made a name for himself in civil rights work.

Frankly, he didn’t think most of them were threats for the simple reason he didn’t typically see a ton of assassins in the sixty-plus crowd. That didn’t mean that they weren’t out there. They warranted watching.

The building shook.

The fire alarm went off, and Matt looked up from his computer. He glanced over at Jack, then typed something.

“We need to evacuate.” Jack rose to his feet.

“Shouldn’t we wait until we know what’s going on?” Matt gave him an exasperated look. “I just messaged the head of security. The sprinklers haven’t gone on yet. We’ll get the order to evacuate when our floor is endangered or when the situation is assessed. It’s supposed to be orderly, so we don’t get in emergency service’s way.”

Jack took a deep breath. He stomped over to Matt’s desk, grabbed him by the arm, and hauled him to his feet. “We’re getting out of here, and we’re getting out now.”

Matt didn’t exactly resist as Jack dragged him toward the exit. He didn’t cooperate either, and he insisted on grabbing Husniya and his laptop on his way out the door.

Jack bit down on the inside of his cheek. He wasn’t being paid to defend two people, but it would take a real asshole to demand he leave his assistant of five years behind in an evacuation.

And not only was Matt an uncooperative client, he had been willing to go toe to toe with him overcoffee. Matt might well throw punches over leaving her behind. Jack could take him without a problem, but he’d be in the wrong.

They raced down the stairs as fast as they could, emerging into the sunlight just as authorities arrived on the scene. Jack recognized Atlanta police, the Georgia state police, and even some of the black SUVs only the FBI used. He ignored them for now because law enforcement wasn’t the threat.

The protestors on the other side of the security gate were watching as smoke belched out from the underground garage. A few cheered. Most just stood, watching. Jack frowned, taking note of the people cheering. Most of them hadn’t been there when he’d seen them earlier.

Agent Morales pulled up in his SUV. “Come on. We need to get him out of here.”

Jack didn’t think twice. He all but shoved Matt into the vehicle. Husniya climbed in after him. Jack took the front passenger seat, and Morales sped away.

Husniya was already on her phone, rescheduling with the university presidents to meet at Matt’s apartment instead of the office. Jack was too professional to gape, but he still couldn’t begin to understand it. They could have died, and he still thought it was a good idea to meet with strangers? In his home?

The meeting took place at the dining table where they’d had breakfast only that morning. Jack sat not too far away in a comfortable seating area, trying not to eavesdrop as he got reports about what had happened.

It wasn’t hard to figure out. Someone had bombed a car, sticking an explosive device to the undercarriage of a vehicle as it stopped at the security gate. The perpetrators were comparatively new protestors, who’d arrived after Matt had gone inside. They thought they’d gotten Matt’s car because it was a Mercedes and the driver “looked like an accountant.”

Matt had spent years as an auditor, like most CFOs, but he didn’t look like a stereotype. And he drove a Subaru.

Instead, they’d gotten a vehicle belonging to one of the many regulatory auditors who’d become a constant presence at the plant.

Amateurs.

They weren’t repentant. They felt bad that they’d gotten someone who was supposed to be keeping Besse in check, and they felt bad that they’d failed to “off” Matt. But that was it.

He reported to Matt and Norah after the university presidents had left.

Matt just bowed his head and sighed. “I’ll call corporate counsel and see what we can do for them.”

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