Helpless

In the hours that followed Steve's discovery, things got pretty busy at all fronts. Laila had planned out how she and Maria would be getting into Jake's phone. Steve's friend from the secret services got back to Steve and agreed to lending him two men for the duration of a week. AND, Rebecca and Anthony came through on the video. They had indeed spotted the man who had taken the pictures. Though he had worked hard to stay out of frame, the windows showed his reflection and this came into frame pretty clearly. They needed very little enhancement of the image to get a clear picture of the person, which after some digging, indeed was a match to Harold Richardson's nephew.

Another person they discovered in the footage, someone who was looking quite menacing and therefor suspicious, turned out to be one of Harold Richardson's henchmen. They assumed he had been sent to guard the nephew in case he got caught or in any kind of trouble while trying to prove himself to his uncle. They came to this conclusion after they got into his social media and saw him in the back in different pictures taken over this week. This made them think that Harold Richardson himself might have been in town for that same duration of time.

Rebecca and Anthony appeared a bit nervous as they reported this. Wondering if their boss was in danger as they too had heard of the name Harold Richardson before and knew he wasn't good news. They were quite indebted to Noah and Steve and didn't want to see any harm come their way but they felt quite helpless in this current situation as they were no match for Harold Richardson. Making them question themselves and their abilities. All the skills in the world seemed a bit useless if they couldn't be of any help in a situation like this.

Noah noticed how their behaviour was a bit off and directly asked them if anything was the matter. "What has you two looking so nervous. He is after me, not you guys. Don't worry. We won't let any harm come to the team." This is when Rebecca tried to say something. "That's not it. We aren't worried about ourselves. It's just-" But she choked up before she was able to finish her words. Fighting back the lump in the back of her throat and the prickling of the tears that were forming in her eyes. Fortunately Anthony came to her aid and finished saying the words she was unable to say.

"Mr. Stephens, though we appreciate you saying you won't let any harm come to the team, the ones we are worried about aren't ourselves. It is you and Mr. Branson we are concerned about. Though we aren't too familiar with him, we too have heard of Harold Richardson and we know he isn't good news, in any type of conversation. So, knowing that he is somehow involved in this incident with the pictures and having that confirmed, seeing his henchmen here, it makes it all much more real than when we heard about his involvement back at the restaurant. We feel helpless knowing that he could and might potentially harm you and we have no way of stopping him or protecting you."

Noah was taken aback a bit as this was not what he had expected. He knew he had a good team of people, with the exception of a few rotten apples in the form of his own nephew and Andrew. But even they are simply greedy and not necessarily evil at the core. However, hearing such genuine concern from members of his team, that seemed to have surprised him. It had touched him and he did not quite know how to respond. But fortunately he too had someone to help him out when his own words were failing him, as Steve stepped in to say the words he apparently could not.

Steve smiled before he said, "Thanks you guys. That means a lot. But there is no need for you two to worry. We weren't counting on you and Rebecca to fix this problem. This isn't even something WE can fix by ourselves, much less something we expect you to fix by yourselves. Yes, Harold Richardson is a dangerous man. But fortunately we know he is targeting us and that he is nearby. We are also fortunate enough to have a lot of connections in different area's, which can help us with our current predicament. We won't just take things lying down. So, we are doing whatever we can to protect ourselves and the company against him, while preparing an offence. We have hired the best of the best to guard Noah here, 24/7. There will also be someone guarding his wife and home. In the meantime we have come up with a game plan and we'll be taking action later tonight or early tomorrow morning. I hope that knowing this, sets your mind at ease a bit more."

Seeing that Rebecca and Anthony were still not fully reassured and still had a certain look of concern in their eyes, Steve decided to let them stick around. This way, they could see everything go down for themselves and perhaps feel useful somewhere along the way or at least set their minds at ease after they saw that things were under control. With a warm look on his face he said, "Your bosses aren't weak nor stupid but if you still want to do something to help, you can stay and maybe help us when it becomes time for us to act. Who knows, there might be a task that is perfect for either one of you or both."

Almost instantly and simultaneously, Rebecca and Anthony said, "We'll stay!" before glancing at each other and nodding with affirmation. To this both Steve and Noah chuckled and Noah leaned back into his large office chair as he felt quite blessed in the moment, despite the danger that was looming over him.