The silence on the fifteenth floor of the corporate legal division that afternoon felt harrowing, the type of quiet that usually occurs right before a massive storm hits. The digital wall clock showed four in the afternoon. Most of the senior attorneys were attending a compliance committee meeting in the opposite building, leaving the rows of intern cubicles quiet and only filled by the constant hum of the photocopy machine.
Valera Dawson sat in her chair, pretending to focus on examining an ordinary commercial regulation sheet on the computer screen. However, all of her senses were in full alert mode. The incident in the lobby this afternoon, regarding the two men stalking her with a photo sketch, kept revolving in her head. She knew the encryption protection Garrick provided to her iden
