Choose Them Wisely

The next morning, while Xander was thumbing through contracts and projects proposals on his desk, there was a knock on his door.

"Come in."

Jake entered the room to announce, "Sir, Mr. Lockwood is on his way up here."

"Alright. Don't let anyone in while we talk."

"Understood." Jake turned to leave, closing the door behind him.

Moments later, a commotion was heard before the door was opened by a tall man whose kind features belied his cunning mind. He was sporting chin strap beard along his pointed jawline as his thin lips held a mischievous smirk. He had a very expressive pair of stormy gray eyes.

He was dressed in black slim- fitting dress shirt with it's sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing a pair of muscular, tattoo-covered forearms. His black pants hugged the curve of his shapely ass and lean legs.

Various sighs and shrieks of admiration could be heard as he turned to wink at all the female employees.

Xander's face darkened at the commotion his friend created. Little did he know though, that the same situation happens whenever he was roaming around the premises.

"How long are you going to play around my office?" Xander's grumpy voice made all the employees scatter and return to their work stations.

The man closed the door of Xander's office then sat down on the sofa in front of his desk.

"Geez, hold your horses would you?"

Jethro Lockwood, at the onset, worked as a stock market expert and Xander's financial advisor. Beneath his easy-going character was horrible past that made him vow to never, ever allow himself to go hungry again. Xander gave him the opportunity to turn on a new leaf, he certainly he was able to achieve what he had now.

When Xander discovered that he had ties with the underground triads, together with his expert skills in knives and poisons, Xander recruited him to the team, using the nickname Silver Spoon.

"Take a look at this. It was sent to me yesterday." Dragon was all business as he passed a tablet to Jethro.

When Jethro finished watching, he glanced at Xander and whispered, "No fucking way."

"Apparently, the video doesn't agree with you. There's a snitch somewhere. Deeply hidden, if I may add." Xander concluded.

"Do you think we should inform Flinch?"

"Not yet. I had the other three investigate first. We're wait for their news."

"Speaking of news, I have news to bring too." Jethro raised his hand as if asking permission to speak.

Xander quirked his brow.

"The Devacci Group registered to bid for the upcoming elections." Jethro immediately said. "I heard they are about to launch a new vote-counting software that is almost the same as ours."

"They don't have any track record in creating any computer softwares." Xander felt skeptical at what he heard. After all, Devacci Group specialized in ammunition and combat weapons.

Nonetheless, he picked up his phone to call his assistant.

"Get Krissan Ellis here in five minutes."

Less than five minutes later, there was a muffled knock and the person he called for entered the room.

He was a young, geeky looking guy. He wore a dark green coat over his fitted black turtleneck shirt and gold-plated chain necklace. He paired his brown checkered tight fitting pants with black topsider.

"Boss, you called for me?" Krissan tentatively asked.

"Take a seat first." Xander pointed at the vacant space on the sofa beside Jethro.

Soon as he was seated, Jethro fist bumped him as greeting.

Xander then fired up his question, "How secure is your vote-counting program, Krissan?"

While he was thinking how to answer, Jethro repeated his news to the guy.

"How could that be possible!! All my programs have my own signature for security purposes. I would know of it was duplicated or even copied."

Krissan was immediately in the defense. He didn't like the sound of this news. Not one bit. Being the lead computer engineer of Baylis Empire, he had the responsibility and accountability to ensure that the software patents they produce did not have any chance of getting pirated, much less leaked out.

The program Xander mentioned was developed by him. It was custom-made for government use during the elections. Other software companies could easily manufacture vote counting machines and software s, but their own program had unique security features that only the program creator could access. Any manner of manipulation or modifications on the counting and canvass of votes could easily be traced.

Xander stood up and walked over the window. He started planning on his countermeasures right then and there.

The atmosphere inside the room turned heavy as Xander began to instruct the two men.

"Jethro, contact our spy, get a copy of their software. I don't care how they do it, but it'd better be in Krissan's hands tonight."

"I'll be on top of it." Jethro accepted the mission.

"Krissan, look for any possible bugs, update everything, and work with Ralph for a second batch. The production should only be known to a handful of your people. Choose them wisely. You have four weeks."

'How can I get a girlfriend at this rate?' He sulked silently.

Poor Krissan. Not only was he devastated that his own program could have been compromised, he also had to endure the very gay Green Day. Not to mention sleepless nights and endless software installations.

<=><=><=><=><=>

Night came and everyone gathered at Dragon's base.

Xander's was nursing a glass of whiskey on the rocks, a contemplative look on his face.

Krissan was writing codes on his laptop, a bottle of soda sitting at the side.

Jethro was playing with his phone, looking sulky. He looked up soon as Jan entered the room.

"Jan, bro! What took you so long?" Jethro started to whine at his buddy, as he was clearly being hogged by his "admirer."

The admirer was none other than Ralph Green, a.k.a Green Day. He was drawing imaginary circles on his chest while his eyes were shooting hearts at him.

"Customers." Jan replied in his ever uninterested tone. He sat down on the single couch before nodding to Xander.

"Since we're all here, let's start. How was your survey?"

Dragon asked the three and everyone straightened up.

Blue Bear began to report his findings - building owner, blueprint and security details.

Next, Green Day summarized the audio recordings at the basement.

Then Firebird's one sentence summary: "They'll take the Cray girl soon."

Xander nodded from time to time while listening to them.

He then asked Jethro, "What about the spy?"

"Krissan's already working on it." Jethro puffed up his chest in this small accomplished task.

"I'll be done right about... now." Blue Bear looked up and turned his laptop over to Xander.

There, on the screen, was the name of the culprit.

Xander smirked dangerously at what he saw. Turning to Jethro, "Tell your friends to keep an eye on his family."

He had a feeling that Baylis Empire would soon face a point of no return. The current situation was getting out of his hands.

He had to consider all aspects before deciding on his next moves. But first thing's first. He had to address his most immediate concern: Shania Cray.

He took a sip of his drink before he spoke again.

"Alright, here's what we are going to do..."