Chapter 6 - Dee

I glance at my watch and then look around the conference room table at my top agents.  I still have more time before my uncle Charles shows up.  However, I want to get started and hopefully find something new before he arrives.

Fortunately for myself, I threw all the frustrations and anger along with my worries at my punching bag this morning.  My arms might be a little sore but I’m able to calmly walk into the office and sit here right now. 

Right now, I’m hoping that my people have been able to find something regarding the attack yesterday.  Plus, I want to be able to give my uncle something when he gets here. 

I turn my attention to Max, who is sitting next to me.  “Max, what have you been able find out?  Do we have a leak somewhere within our organization?”

As my last question sinks into everyone’s mind, many around the table tense up and begin looking at each other.  I’m not worried about the people in this room, but I still can’t rule out someone within our organization. 

Max shakes his head.  “No.  My team has double and tripled checked everyone within our company.  No one is leaking information.  Plus, if they are leaking things about the royal family, they would also be leaking other data, but only confidential info about the royals seems to be out in the public.”

Max scans the room.  “It appears that the leak, if there is one, is around the royals.  I haven’t had the chance to double check all the video and the CCTV yet.  My team is currently combing through everything for the last several weeks.”

He sighs before he continues.  “There is a lot of files to go through, especially the secret cameras and audio recording devices.  We are still only allowing a few select agents to review them.”

I would love to put more people on that task, but I can’t.  The King has personally reviewed and has agreed on a few select people to be able to watch those files.  Too many confidential and sensitive things are discussed, and we can’t risk that info getting out in the public. 

I take a deep breath and slowly nod my head, as I look at Max.  “Okay.  I’ll go help with those files this afternoon.  I’m sure that when Uncle Charles gets here, he will want to help me in the process too.” 

I turn my attention back towards the others.  “Do we have any other leads on who the person contacted outside of the castle?  We can attack this from both directions.  If the leak is someone inside the castle, we can subtly focus one team on that while the other tries to locate the group that has planned and attacked the King.”

Max looks across the table at Trevor and asks, “Trev, have you been able to dig up anything on the emails, phones or messages to explain how the information has been passed to the outside?”

Trevor sits up straight.  He pushes his glasses up and takes a deep breath, and then he looks down at his tablet.  “Well, I have found some strange messages, but I haven’t been able to link it back to the castle.  But the one account is clearly a dummy account.  I was able to hack into the company and there isn’t any user information listed.  Well, there is data, but it is clearly fake, John Doe at 12345 A Street.”

Well, yeah.  That is definitely fake. 

I sigh, but I’m not going to give up yet. 

I ask, “Have you sent some spyware that can give us a location or something a little more than John Doe?”

Once again, Trevor pushes his glasses up on his nose.  “I haven’t yet.  I have been working on writing the code last night.  If all goes well, the little bug will tell me the location and IP address of where the messages are coming from.  In addition, it will also give me the same thing for anyone to whom the person sends the data.  It will kind of attached itself to anything that the person sends out regardless of whether the messages are being sent from a computer or a phone.”

Well, that is good.  We can’t rely on our assumption that the messages are being sent from a phone.  It will be easier to track if the culprit uses a phone, but I have a feeling that the culprit isn’t that dumb.  Afterall, the person has been able to get into the castle undetected.  That is an accomplishment itself.  We do thorough background checks on everyone, including the cleaning staff.  No one gets into the castle without passing all the checks and an interview. 

Suddenly, Katherine’s face pops into my head. 

With a slight hiss, I look at Trevor and demand, “Trevor, double check Princess Katherine and make sure that she isn’t a part of this.”

Trevor, once again, pushes his glasses up and tilts his head while he looks at me with confusion swirling in his eyes.  “Dee, you want me to check out Princess Katherine?”

The room goes quiet as I nod my head.  “Yes.  No one is without suspension, even the spouses of the princes.”

Before I can say anything else, the conference room door swings open and Uncle Charles marches into the room, while barking orders.  “Make sure that you check everyone, including the spouses.  Of course, the King, the Queen and the two Princes are excluded.  But if something directs you in that direction, don’t ignore it.”

Max looks up at Charles as Charles stops next to me at the head of the table.  With a faint smile on Max’s face, he chimes, “Welcome Uncle Charles.”

Charles sighs and looks down at Max after scanning the room.  “Hi, Max.”

Charles then turns towards me and grunts, “Hi, Dee.  Update me on what you got.”

Well, I could repeat everything that everyone just said, but I won’t.  I turn towards the staff.  “Since we just started, let’s start all over.  Can you please repeat what you have just stated before Uncle Charles has walked into the room?”  I turn and look at Max.  “We will start with Max.”

Uncle Charles pulls an extra chair forward from the back of the room and sits down next to me while Max begins explaining again what he has found. 

When we have finally covered all aspects and every little detail that the team is able to find, we finally take a break for lunch.  As everyone gets up and begins to leave the conference room, Uncle Charles digs into his briefcase and throws down several newspapers in front of me while I’m gathering my things to leave.

I know that his initial entrance was too calm.  He is just chomping at the bit to unleash his anger and frustration at someone or something, but I’m ready.

I calmly move the newspapers off my things, but I can’t help to catch the headlines on all of them.  All the headlines focus on the King’s attack and possible groups or countries behind it.  However, I’ve already read all of them before I left my apartment this morning. 

I don’t read them for the entertainment value though.  No.  Instead, I read them looking for those little bits of truth buried within the speculations and opinions.  If anything jumps out to me, I give it to the team and have them track down and verify whether it is truth or fiction. 

With the articles today, I’m not able to find too much within them that is be a possible lead.  However, there is one newspaper that gives a play-by-play recounting of the events which seems to be close to the reality of the events that needs to be looked at further.  It is also the main article that I gave to the team and told them to verify everything within it. 

As I glance up from the table and turn my attention back towards my uncle, he grits his teeth and growls, “Why aren’t these articles all suppressed?  You know that you should have demanded that none of these newspapers print any of this!”

I take a deep breath and look straight into my uncle’s angry eyes.  “You know that this can’t be hidden.  The event was on live TV when this happened.  The people would expect to see articles about the event.  Since the King is unconscious, I have consulted the Queen.  It was her call to let the newspapers go ahead with whatever stories that they are printing about the attack.  However, she agreed to block anything further on it or keep it to a low rumble with absolutely no information getting out about it.  Not even the condition of the King is allowed out.  We can only relay that he is resting.”

As my uncle’s anger grows, his eyes burn holes right through with each word that I calmly say.  He knows that I can’t go against the Queen unless there is a good reason for it.  However, on this event, I agree with her. 

The people will get suspicious if they don’t hear anything about the attack and the King.  A good chunk of the country was watching live TV and saw the attack and could hear the multiple gun shots.  However, they don’t know that the King is hit or how badly he is injured. 

Most of the company doesn’t even know the King’s condition.  Only a small handful of very trusted and reliable people know.  It is going to stay that way until this whole mess is over. 

My uncle huffs and grinds his teeth.  However, he knows that I’m right. 

Max clears his throat from inside the doorway.  As my uncle and I turn our attentions towards him, he calmly says, “Uncle Charles.  We are doing everything that we can do to resolve this matter fast.  You have seen everything that we are doing.  Don’t worry.  We will get this resolved soon.”

While my uncle continues to stare at Max, he sighs and runs his hand through his hair.  “I know.  I’m just concerned.  We haven’t lost a king in a long time, but I don’t want our generation to be the one that does.”

I slowly nod my head.  I don’t want that to happen either.  Plus, I don’t want to lose my father. 

I know that our family has a lot of dangers in every aspects of our life, but I’m still not completely immune to the stress of it all.  You would think after working on the family’s security for so long that I would accept and be able to handle the risks.  Unfortunately, I can’t turn off my feelings and my connections to my family. 

Well, I haven’t gotten that cold hearted to be able to handle that yet.  I’m cold, but not that cold yet. 

A lump slowly forms in my throat just thinking about the possible outcomes of this attack.  However, one thing keeps repeating over and over in my mind.  I’m not going to let anything else happen to my family.  I’ll take the bullet instead of any of them getting hurt.   

No questions.  I’ll throw myself in front of them to save their lives.