46 Explosion (2/2)

”Selamat tengah hari, JoAnne.How are you this afternoon?”

[A/N: ”Good afternoon.”]

”We have a problem at our France office.” The seriousness of her tone had Rickie sitting up.

”What happened?”

”The building is on fire. Witness said they heard what sounded like an explosion. Since it's early in the morning in France, there wasn't anyone besides the custodial staff, and they have all been accounted for. The firefighters are still battling the blaze, but it looks like our offices have been gutted.”

Rickie leaned back in his chair.”At least no one was injured.Our servers back up at midnight there, so we shouldn't have lost anything.”

There was a long pause, and then JoAnne sighed.

”It appears there was some type of malware or worm that made it past our firewalls. The backup servers have been completely corrupted. For all intents and purposes, the office has disappeared.”

Rickie couldn't speak for a moment, thunderstruck at the complete destruction of the branch. He mentally shook himself, and then addressed JoAnne again.

”I'm on my way to the house. Please collect whatever information we can gather, and get in contact with our command staff in France. Let's see what we can do.”

”Okay, boss.” JoAnne brusquely signed off.

Rickie collected his keys and computer bag. Heading out the door, he looked at his cell phone and realized Meaghan had called and left a voicemail. He put the phone in his pocket with some regret; his visit with his woman was going to have to wait a while.