Hate to Love You (Strong Brothers 4)

"Margaret is asking that we be very thorough. So those are our personal files, and there are also some of our vendor files as well. I'll be honest, I work with a really good group of people and I’ll be really disappointed if it turns out one of them is a part of this. But when we get to the office, you’ll have full access to everything you need and if you don't, let me know and I'll make sure you get it."

"I appreciate that. And I know my grandmother does too," Noah said as he skimmed through the files. Then he closed them and handed them to me. "Maybe you could look at these as well. Pull up their personnel files and see if there's anything in there that might be suspicious."

I wasn't sure that I liked spying on my colleagues, even if they were half a world away, but I nodded because I was loyal to the Strong family.

When we arrived at the office, Phil introduced Noah to their head technical person for the office who led Noah to his own computer to begin to work. For someone I had always thought was such a slacker, Noah’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and letters and numbers zipped through the screen. I could only assume he knew what it all meant, but to me it just looked like a bunch of gobbledygook.

"It's amazing to me than any of that means anything," Phil said, nodding to the screen.

I laughed. "I was thinking just the same thing. You really are a nerd," I said to Noah. It felt natural to say it, and yet at the same time, once it was out of my mouth, considering how I'd behaved earlier, I wondered if he would chastise me again, as he would have the right to.

"I prefer geek," he said without breaking his stride on the keyboard, his eyes holding intent on the screen. He stopped for a moment and leaned forward as if whatever was on the screen meant something to him and then he sat back. "I'm probably going to be here for a little while. Maybe you can go take care of some of that other stuff, Andi."

I nodded and turned to Phil. "Maybe you and I can go have some tea or coffee, and we can talk a little bit more about the staff here and your vendors so I can do a little bit of more research on them."

He nodded and led me to an employee lounge. He made me a cup of coffee while he brewed himself some tea.

“You’re not a tea drinker, Ms. Walker?”

I shook my head. “Only when I don’t feel well. You can call me, Andi.”

He nodded. “The truth is, America hasn’t really mastered tea. Not like other countries.” He set a mug of coffee in front of me and then took the chair across from me.

"How is Mrs. Strong holding up in all this?

" Phil asked.

"Well, she's concerned, of course, but Margaret is a strong determined woman. Whoever did this will be found out and will be sorely sorry that they crossed her."

He threw his head back as he let out a loud laugh. "I like that about her. There are a lot of strong, smart women in the world, but Margaret has that unique combination that adds empathy and humanity with the don't-get-in-my-way-or-I'll-kick-your-ass attitude as well."

I smiled, because that was how I felt about Margaret too.

Phil leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table as he swirled his tea cup in his hand. "I see a little bit of her in you, Andi. I think Margaret has high aspirations for you."

I shrugged and looked down into my coffee because I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen when Margaret retired. She assured me that I would have a place with her, or in the company, but I didn't know what that was, or even if it was something I wanted. Maybe it was time for me to begin expanding my options.

Phil wasn't the person to reveal this to though, so I pulled the stack of folders in front of me and began asking him questions about the people who worked for him here in the Hong Kong office. Between what was in the files and the gossip he was able to reveal, nobody stood out as being a potential traitor or to the company, but with Phil running the office, it was likely there were office dynamics that he didn't know about, so I would need to snoop around a little bit more. Still, I had to think that whoever was sabotaging Strong Incorporated in Hong Kong had to be somebody outside the business.

After our discussion, Phil gave me a tour of the office and an overview of how the expansion was going as well as highlighting the supply chain and what was going on there. He was clearly on top of his game and dedicated to getting to the bottom of whatever was going on.

He showed me to an empty desk that had a phone and a computer where I could begin the research that Noah had asked me to do. I had made it through Phil and his top-level staff, when my stomach began to grumble. I stood and stretched, then headed over to Phil's office asking him about the possibility of ordering food to the office so that we could work through lunch time.

With the help of his secretary, we ordered lunch for the three of us and then met in Phil's office.

He had a large conference table that we sat around and as much as I wanted to savor the authentic Chinese food, there was work to be done.

"Have you figured anything out?" I asked Noah.

Noah stuffed his face with some sort of Chinese noodle and shook his head. He wiped his face with his napkin and sat back. It occurred to me that this was the first time that Noah had seemed like a businessman to me. Every time he'd been at the Strong offices in San Diego, there always had been an indifferent, slacker attitude about him. But now his eyes were sharp as he looked at Phil and me.

"It's clear that someone has hacked into the system and is making changes and messing with the supply chain, but I haven't been able to track it back to the origin."

“Is it bad?” I asked.

"It’s a little bit more involved than I think you all initially thought. In going through the system, I can see there’re places where they've made changes and they've also left little bits of code in case we find them. It’s trickier for me to deal with them without tipping off that we have seen them. The question is why." Noah looked over at Phil.

"I can't imagine why. Unless it's a competitor." He took a sip of his tea and thought for a moment. "Everyone we do business with doesn't have any complaints, the staff here, as far as I can tell, is happy. So, the only thing I can think of is a competitor."