Bad Blood ~Rewrite~

Seven

The sun rose steadily over the city, sending a soft glow over the buildings as the sun peeked through the clouds. Caitlyn sat silently in the conference room, staring out the window at the park that sat across the street from their building. A young woman sat on a picnic blanket, watching as her kids played nearby. A soft smile slipped onto her lips as she watched the family play, ignoring the crisp autumn air as they enjoyed spending time together.

"Our system was hacked over the weekend, so everything is currently down," Urie said, snapping Caitlyn out of her thoughts. "Depp says I.T. is working on getting it back up, but until they get the glitch fixed and the hacker is found, we're going manual. The interns from the fourth floor are sending up print versions of the articles that need to be edited. On that note, don't check your emails until we get the okay from the higher-ups... several spam messages went out over the weekend through company accounts, and there are viruses laced in several convincing messages."

"What are we supposed to do without our emails?" Taylor asked. "How are we supposed to send our edits back to the writers?"

"We're doing everything without tech right now, people," Robbie said, leaning against the table beside Urie. "It's been done before, I'm sure we'll survive. We'll be using the old mail tubes for transit until they get our online system functional again." Caitlyn felt a soft kick on her shin and looked down quickly, seeing Luke holding a note out to her under the table. She reached over silently and took it, hiding it in her lap.

"That's right. Your writer's information will be printed at the end of the article. If you have edits, write their information out on the envelope and ship it down the tube on the left. It'll be sent down to the mailing room, and they'll get it where it needs to go. If it's ready for print, put it in the right tube, and it'll be sent straight up to publishing. Look, I know it isn't ideal, but it's the situation at hand right now. Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads quietly, glancing around at each other uncomfortably. "Great. You're dismissed. Resource committee, stay behind a sec." Caitlyn stood up, clutching the note tightly in her hand as she slipped out of the room. She glanced back and saw that only four stayed behind with Urie; Dylan, Thomas, Grant, and Robbie. She took in a deep breath and followed Luke and Taylor into the break room, trying to hide the note in her hand.

"What's the resource committee?" She asked, pouring a cup of coffee as Taylor began making a bowl of oatmeal. Taylor stopped suddenly and cleared her throat, turning to look at the younger girl.

"It's nothing really," she said. "It's boring. They just research advanced editing techniques and software..." she turned back to her oatmeal stirring water into the uncooked oats. "See ya later," she muttered suddenly, picking up the cold bowl of watered oats and hurrying out. Caitlyn glanced over at Luke, who was silently sipping on a cup of tea. He raised his eyebrows at her and looked at the note in her hand.

"The research committee is the task force of people Urie trusts enough to tell everything," he said in a hushed tone before hurrying towards his cubicle. Caitlyn took in a sudden deep breath and looked down at the note in her hands. She unfolded it quickly and felt her breath hitch in her throat.

After work: see where everyone runs off to...

Caitlyn felt her brow furrow in confusion as her mind reeled with possibilities. She bit her lip softly as she heard the muffled voices spreading through the wall. She leaned closer to the wall, trying to see if she could make anything out.

"Top priority... make sure she doesn't see the email," she heard Urie mutter. She felt a breath escape her lips as the team began to disperse. Her mind was spinning with questions. The door to the breakroom opened suddenly, and she quickly crumpled up the note, gripping it tightly in her hand as she turned and poured creamer into her coffee mug.