Countermeasure Read Free

“The scar is bothering you again, isn’t it?” Cassandra looked over at her, and Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “Are the dreams back, too?”
    Cassandra shrugged and reached for the Bristol file.
    “Cassie? You have to talk about it sometime.” Jessica’s tone was low and coaxing.
    She glanced at her friend. “Not going to happen, so drop it.”
    Cassandra returned her attention to the file, flipped it open, and began to read through the information and photos.
    Sighing, Jessica watched her friend closely. “Fine, but you know I’m here for you, right?”
    Cassandra nodded as she continued to scrutinize the dossier on the company housing the data they had been contracted to safeguard.
    Jessica knew Cassandra well and recognized that she wouldn’t budge. She sighed again at Cassandra’s stubbornness, stood, and paused at the door. “Lunch?”
    “Yeah, Jess, that’ll be fine. Meet you at the elevators around 12:30, after my meeting with Bob.”
    “It’s a date. See you later,” Jessica called out as she left.
    Once alone, Cassandra focused her attention on the file and noted that Bristol Pharmaceuticals, the client, was using top-of-the-line servers for its in-house data center and a third-party provider, EXClinic, to manage their clinical trials. The servers’ security protocols were pretty standard stuff, and she skimmed over the specifications quickly.
    She noticed there was no mention of what kind of drug formula they were working on, but it had to be something important for the company to have major concerns over its security, primarily that others might try to steal their cutting-edge research. Their concern wasn’t too surprising, given how cutthroat the pharmaceutical industry was.
    The process of drug discovery and development was very expensive; if a drug failed part-way through the process, it incurred large costs and didn’t generate revenue. The expense of developing a new drug could range in the billions of dollars. Getting no return from such an investment could break a company, especially if a competitor released a “me-too” drug—a drug with chemically similar compounds but without the same investment behind the initial process. It would cut deep and hard into their profits.
    She jotted a couple of notes in the margin and glanced at the clock. It was already close to noon—Robert’s deadline. Picking up her notebook and the file, she walked down the hall to his office at a fast but not frantic pace. When she reached his door she did a quick mental check—notebook, file, clothes orderly—and glanced at her watch: on time. She knocked on the door.
    After a few seconds Robert called out, “Come in.”
    Her father was standing by the window with a frown on his face. She took a deep breath as she walked to the guest chair, setting the file and her notebook on the desk before sitting with her hands folded on her lap. Some ingrained behaviors never changed.
    Not knowing the first thing about bringing up the sad, lonely daughter his wife had left him saddled with, Robert, an ex-Navy Seal, had raised her on military stories instead of fairytales; trained her on survival tactics—yeah, camping trips were a blast—instead of sleepovers; and drilled her on use of weaponry and self-defense instead of playing with Barbies.
    While memories of her mother had faded long ago, to this day she wondered what life would have been like or whether her relationship with her father would have been different if a woman had been in the picture when she needed a feminine touch growing up.
    Some of her almost automatic behaviors, such as calling superiors “Sir” or “Ma’am,” perfect posture, perfect manners, and punctuality—all military style—made her the butt of many jokes told by her friends and team members. There were also some who considered her a “brown-noser” and treated her as such. They didn’t understand that was the behavior expected of her as a child. They always watched and waited