Loose Ends

Flipping on his office light and dropping his carry-on bag. Steven promised himself that he is only going to take care of the most important emails, get an idea of what Monday is going to look like before he calls it a weeks and heads out to see his dad. It will be nice to go out a day early. His trip to New York was good. Steven met up with a small tech company that wanted to utilize Foresight's software. The company seemed well funded but he was not able to work out who was funding them. They ended up having three meetings. The one Monday and then they asked for a follow up meeting on Tuesday. At the meeting on Tuesday they asked for a follow up meeting on Wednesday. The extra meetings surprised Steven. He guessed it means they are interested. They talked a lot about how they wanted the Foresight data to help their product interface with their customers. They were developing some new level companionship app. There were still a lot of details to work out. Steven even entertained a thought about selling the company to them if they wanted to go that far, maybe he could start something new. Speaking of something new. Steven set his computer bag in his chair and looked at all of his files in one big pile on his desk. He had gotten so used to them being ordered across his desk cascading by importance. He was going to miss Sam, in more ways than one. He let his mind slip back to the time she fell over at this exact spot and struggled to get up without exposing too much of herself. The thought brought a sad smile to his face. The startup in New York insisted that they meet Monday afternoon the same day as Sam's last day. He regretted not being here, but maybe it was better. They had not talked much the last month. He gave her space, not wanting to interfere with her mystery man. He was still hurt just a little bit that she did not tell him that she had other suitors. "Other," he caught himself. "I was not even 'a' suitor."

Steven took his laptop from his bag. and dropped the bag to the floor and moved the mono stack, placing his laptop on the now bare spot and opening it up while plopping down in the chair weary from his trip. When he slid his chair up it clanked on something hard. He looked down and saw his Business Man of the of the year award in two pieces under the desk. "Strange." Steven said out loud as he picked up the pieces and stood up and went to place it back on the self. He noticed that everything had been rearranged. "Doubly strange." Steven said more confused.

Moving back to the desk Steven dialed the receptionist at the front desk. "May, did someone reorganized my office." Steven ask as soon as she picked up.

"Nobody has been in your office since all week."

"What about my new assistant…what's his name, Sam's replacement."

"Nope, he has been shadowing the director of marketing all week. I thought I would see Sam on Monday, but she never showed. I thought maybe you and her worked something out."

"Nope, I thought she was coming in. Okay, thanks May." Steven went to hang up, hesitated and then asked May to forward his call to security. Someone had been in his office after he had grabbed his files Sunday for the Monday meetings on his way to the airport."

"Security services." the voice said on the other line.

"This is Steven St. George."

"What can I do for you sir."

"I need the video footage for accessing my office from Sunday at 5:00 PM to today at 4:30."

"Yes sir. I will send it right over to your email." The voice said as Steven hung up.

Steven looked at his favorite contacts and paused before touching the picture next to the name "Enigma." He was not sure what he would say, "my office is not the way I left it", "you did not come to work Monday, you are fired", "who was the guy on your couch". Still unsure what he would say, Steven touched the screen and listened as the call rang through to Sam's answering machine. "Hey Sam, May said that you did not make it on Monday. Sorry I missed your last day, but it sounds like you missed it too. Thanks for everything. Let me know if I can help with anything." He hung up the cell phone as he desk phone rang.

"Steven, This is security. I just emailed you the video footage you requested, but we are missing footage from 12AM to 9 AM on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We are looking in to what happened."

"Please give me an update when you can." Steven said hanging up. He was not able to process any thoughts before his phone rang. It was Sam.

"Hey Sam, Thanks for calling me back."

"Steven St. George?" The caller asked in a flat tone, not the voice Steven was expecting or wanting to hear.

"Yes, who is this?"

"Let's trade, Night Owl for your secretary."

"Um." Steven paused. "Why do you want a failed algorithm?" Steven asked trying to feign curiosity. He knew exactly why someone would want the Night Owl algorithm. In experimenting with identifying individuals that could benefit from a friendly reminder to exercise a little more, the algorithm identified a subset of people that were susceptible to doing anything the message from the app asked. There started to be strange behavior with the users. One user almost murdered their spouse because the app was telling the user to not let anyone get in the way of their potential. When Steven and his research team discovered this they took the algorithm out of the software and mothballed the project. Steven locked away the study and algorithm on a device that was not connected to the internet and not kept at the office.

"Do you want to see your secretary again?"

"Kidnapping seems a bit much to get a trade secret." Steven said trying to stall the caller. Steven heard a loud snap and Sam cry out on the other end of phone.

"Nothing is too much for the power of that code. Now do you want to keep talking while I smack the girl around some more or do you want to make a trade?"

"Let me talk to Sam, it could be anyone you are smacking around."

"Steven, I am so sorry. They made me search your office while you were gone. They knew you were gone." Sam said as the phone was pulled away from her. "That is enough." The man said.

"Fine we will meet at Waterloo Station at 6." Steven was hoping for somewhere public.

"Do you think this is a fucking Jason Bourne movie. I will text you the place and time. It will be after dark, in a place that you should not be after dark." They phone screen showed that the call had been disconnected. If that algorithm got into the wrong hands, people where going to get hurt. Steven would die before he gave it up, but would he be strong enough to let Sam die. There were only four people who knew about the algorithm and they all still worked at Foresight. The phone beeped with an address in the Croydon borough. They were supposed to meet at 11. Steven had about 6 hours to get something figured out.