Monday, June 20th, 2016
Trey's Security Base
"Sir," a man said, grabbing Trey, Mitchell and Billy's attention. He stepped forward with a tablet. "He made his first move."
Trey saw the video and closed it, angry. Then he turned to Billy. "Is there any way to pull them down? Do you have personnel who can?"
"On it," Billy responded, stepping away from them, the young man following. They watched Billy bark orders at the team to get all hands on deck.
Dustin popped out of nowhere saying, "I've been able to gather the names of the sites who posted the video."
"This fast?" Mitchell muttered. "Man, that's impressive."
Dustin smiled briefly and handed the list to them. "Most of them are small upcoming sites who want to make a big break. I'm sure the team can hack into those. This is the list of the bigger companies who have uploaded it with tacky headlines."
"And this is their big break?" Trey snarled at no one in particular. Dustin cast a disgruntled look at Mitchell. He'd said that about 10 seconds ago. "I need to make some calls. I'll be right back."
They watched him stomp away, pulling out his phone with such strength. "I'm worried about the phone."
Dustin huffed with surprise, wondering just how... "Aren't you worried about your friend, sir? You're worried about the phone in his grasp?"
Mitchell waved it off, turning to face Dustin. "He'll be fine. But you're right. We should worry about whoever is going to be on the other end of the call, not the phone."
Dustin nodded with a wry smile. "We'll work on taking down the videos," he said, walking away to work. "Oh," he said, returning to Mitchell who looked up to acknowledge him.
"I was able to find someone in Matthews' past that could be who Ethan has over him. Do you think I should wait for the others before I divulge that piece of information?" Dustin asked tentatively.
"Uh..." Mitch mumbled, looking at Trey yelling into his phone at the end of the corridor, then at Billy who was marching around, making sure everyone was doing what they could to bring down the videos. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I'll tell them later."
"Alright," Dustin agreed, edging closer. "He has a daughter, and believe it or not, he loved her a lot. Of course, his daughter is grown up and living her life, but maybe... maybe, Ethan is threatening Leander's daughter. We won't know for sure till we get hands on Leander himself."
Mitch stood, processing the information. "I'll see what I can gather about Leander's whereabouts."
"Sure."
Patting his shoulder twice, Mitchell turned, going towards Trey. His phone rang and upon seeing who it was, he hurried to answer. "Hey."
"Are you coming home for dinner today?" Sam asked, not bothering with pleasantries.
Mitch looked around at the chaos that had ensued because Ethan was messing with his friend's wife. If today went well, then yes, he could. But he knew he had to make time for Samantha and the baby—no ifs.
"Mitch? Will you or will you not?" Sam said, sounding frustrated. "Because I'm pregnant and I still have to stand on my feet and cook, only for you to tell me you've already eaten. I need an answer."
Mitch sighed, then smiled. "I'll be home early today.—"
"Okay good."
"And put your feet up, love. We'll order takeout."
"Oh," she murmured. "Sure."
Trey's voice went up a notch just then. "What do you mean you can't take them down?!" he thundered furiously. Mitch's attention went to him. "Try keeping it for more than the next two minutes and I'll make sure you never get work anywhere else in your whole damn life, understood?!"
"Who's that?" Samantha asked over the phone.
"That's just an angry Trey," Mitchell answered absently.
"Trey?" she queried in surprise. "I thought you said you were working."
"I am—"
"You're spending time with your friend to be away from the house?" she asked, sounding hurt. "That's fine. Have a nice day."
"Sam—"
Beep. Beep.
She hung up on him.
Frustrated, he tried calling back, but she wouldn't answer. So, he sent her a series of texts saying,
It's not like that Sam.
I'll explain it to you when I get home.
Take care.
He stood waiting for a minute, then two. When she still didn't reply, he expelled a breath, shoving the phone into his back pocket. A call came when he got closer to Trey.
He retrieved it, hoping it was Samantha calling back. To his disappointment, it was Melissa. He huffed in annoyance till he realized Melissa never called him unless important.
"Where on earth is Trey?" she whispered, sounding frazzled. "Why can't I get through?"
"Why are you whispering?" Mitchell asked in confusion.
"Where the hell is Trey?" she hissed angrily.
Eyes wide, he replied, "He's here but on the phone."
Melissa growled. "I think Ethan has contacted her."
"Why do you think so?" he asked, making eye contact with Trey who had just finished with his phone call and was running a hand through his already messy hair.
"She asked if I could go to a cafe she has never been to before, just to 'check it out'." Melissa sounded like she was losing her mind, but then again, she almost always sounded like that. "Nothing about her disposition shows she actually wants to go."
"I believe it is possible," Mitch said, running a hand over his face.
"What do you mean?"
"He's had several websites post a nude and one of the videos," Mitch told her, making Melissa gasp. "That was why Trey was on the phone. He was trying to get the sites to take them down. His security team is also working on hacking into the other sites to delete the video. The only threat now is if someone saw and has saved it already."
"Her punishment for telling me," Melissa realized, then sighed.
"Who's that on the phone?" Trey asked skeptically.
"Melissa," Mitch replied, putting her on speaker.
"Trey, did they take them down?" Trey looked up at Mitch, wondering how Melissa already knew.
"I just told her," Mitch admitted.
"Yes," Trey replied to Melissa's question. "There's still a few more to go. I'm yet to see if Billy and the team have managed to take down some."
He started to walk away when Mitch grabbed his arm. He looked at his arm and up at Mitch questioningly. "You should hear what she's saying."
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Them?" he asked worriedly.
"That's a hard question," Melissa whispered. "I think Ethan contacted her. She asked me to go to this cafe with her to 'check it out'."
"Where's Lexi?" Trey demanded.
"In the bathroom," she answered. "She's to go to the café tomorrow so don't worry."
"Can you check her phone and see if there are texts?"
"Trey!"
"I just need you to take a screenshot and send it to me. We'll need every piece of evidence."
Melissa sighed and they could hear her moving, hopefully to find Lexi's phone. They waited patiently. "Got it."
"Hurry up, Melissa," he urged. "You don't want to be caught red-handed."
There was a pause. "Did you get it?"
His phone beeped just then. "Yes, thank you very much. Delete it from her conversation with me."
"Already on it. And just so you know, you'll be explaining when she finds out. She's going to be so mad," she grumbled. "I think she's done."
They heard Alexandra's voice in the distance calling for her. "I've got to go. Bye," she rushed out. Before she hung up, they heard her mutter, "God, I feel like a snitch."
Trey turned to Mitchell, asking, "Do you think we're making her do too much?"
"It's up to her to decide what's enough," Mitchell said with a shrug.
"Knowing it concerns Lexi, she won't draw a line," Trey muttered, rubbing his eyes.
Mitch patted him on the back. "Then be the one to draw the line. I know you care about her too so it's up to you now." They began walking towards Billy and the team members who were trying to bring the videos down.
"Oh and before I forget, Dustin found something," Mitch said. Having Trey's full attention, he went on saying, "Leander had a daughter with his late wife, a daughter he loved dearly. Dustin thinks that might be what Ethan is holding over him, but there's no way of knowing for sure."
Trey paused with hands on his hips. He moved a ring covered hand to his lips, rubbing it in thought. He swallowed. "We need to find him. How exactly are we going to question him if we don't know where he is?"
"I'll find him," Mitchell muttered, determined.
"I know you're trying to help, but think about your safety too. You also have Sam and the baby to care for," Trey told him. "Don't make the same mistakes I made, yeah?"
"Sure." Trey patted him on the shoulder and turned to Billy.
"Any progress?"
"A lot. We have three more sites to go and we're done," Billy informed.
"Down," one person called out from the crowd of tech whizzes.
"Down," another called out.
"One more to go," Billy said, cupping his hands in front of him as if praying. Though he hadn't met her officially, he still cared for the welfare of Trey's wife—a woman who had fallen prey to her obsessor.
Fingers crossed, Trey stood, hoping they would be able to take it all down. The one left posed a threat. "Sir," one man called out. "The last one is from an anonymous highly encrypted server. We're having trouble with it."
"May I?" Dustin said to the guy, popping out of nowhere. The guy sighed and stood out of his seat to make way for him. His hands flew over the keys as he typed in codes.
Mitchell's phone vibrated again and he checked it, finding it was Jason. "Trey," he called out, "It's Jason."
Trey looked conflicted, not knowing if he should leave or stay and make sure they were able to. "I'll handle it here," Billy assured with a smile.
Trey nodded with a smile and went after Mitchell to the usual small conference room, where they called Jason back and put it on speaker.
"How's it going?"
"We just called you yesterday," Trey muttered.
"Today's a new day," Jason replied. "Sierra said she saw a nude of Lexi."
Trey and Mitchell exchanged looks. "Tell her to check again, please," Mitch said.
"Okay, but you'll explain everything," he said. In the background, they could hear Jason trying to persuade Sierra into doing it.
The intercom in the conference room crackled to life, "Sir, do you copy?"
Trey moved to the intercom, preparing himself mentally for the worst. Pressing a button, he replied, "I'm here. Status?"
"All down, sir," Billy announced, and Trey thought he sounded happy. Heck, he was glad too.
Trey smiled, saying, "Thank you." After this was over, he needed to spoil his team for their help.
"She says it's no longer there," Jason said, right on cue. "She says it's vanished, almost as if it was never there. What is going on?"
Mitch looked at Trey, urging him to do the explanation. "Melissa was able to get her talking. According to her, he has nudes and videos of that kind which he's holding over her. Apparently, she wasn't to tell anyone, but when she broke that part of the deal, he punished her by releasing a single nude and video to several websites."
"Boggles my mind how he knew she had told," Mitch chipped in.
"He wants her to share her portion of my assets that would go to her after our divorce with him. The lives of our kids depend on that," he summarized. "So the nude Sierra saw was her punishment."
"You managed to take them all down I assume," Jason said quietly.
"Yes, with the help of my security team," Trey replied. "Melissa thinks he contacted her with instructions because Lexi wants them to check out a café though she didn't look like she wanted to go."
"You're letting them go alone?" Jason queried.
"He won't do anything to her—not physically," Mitch surmised, making Trey look up at him. "He's obsessed with her, and she has what he wants. Till he gets it, he won't harm her. He might scare her though."
"I don't get why he's still after her when she doesn't want him even," Jason grumbled.
"No one ever understands how obsessions work," Trey said, sighing tiredly.
"So now we wait," Mitch said, "We'll update you on happenings tomorrow."
"I feel bad that I'm off on my honeymoon, having fun when your life and marriage is going down the drain," Jason told them. "Maybe I should just come back. Sierra and I can always reschedule."
"Don't," Trey said, "Even from afar, you're concerned, and that means a lot. We'll see you when you get back."
Jason sighed then grumbled an 'okay'. "I'll be waiting tomorrow."
"Sure."