“What can the rest of us do?” a large, tattooed man asked.
“Fane,” Easton answered and inadvertently reminded Pedro of the man’s name. “Could you and a couple of security guys head down to the cafeteria to muscle those doors off the hinges to free our people?”
“Of course,” Fane agreed, as if glad to do something.
Pedro saw him pause to press his hand to the base of Elaine’s back. When she looked at him, Pedro could see a silent message being transmitted. If he were correct, Fane was both Elaine’s Daddy and her assistant. He’d just urged her to be careful. She nodded and Fane turned to leave. Their gazes intersected and Fane nodded, confirming all the conclusions Pedro had guessed.
“Tina Kaye, the hiring manager, is on her way in—about five minutes away. She left her computer on her desk. As soon as she accesses it, we’ll have our list of those with possible coding skills,” Sharon reported.
“Not Bill Weston?” Easton asked Sharon quietly.
When she shook her head, Easton added, “Then we need to make a staffing change.” This time, his former administrative assistant agreed with a nod.
Pedro had met both Tina and Bill as he’d signed his hiring paperwork and completed the required training modules. It did not surprise him that in an emergency, Sharon would choose to work with the organized woman who accomplished so much with a smile. Bill, the head of HR, had only wished to impress Pedro since he was the special expert landed by Edgewater Industries. Although Pedro had not been in his new position for long, the leaders of most departments had already impressed him.
The response of the core team of employees impressed him. Pedro learned a lot about people when they were under pressure. No one here was panicking. Each contributed all they could to a team effort. Easton’s focus was on the people, not his corporation. This is a good place to be.
“I’m heading to the training area. Do you want to come with me?” Belinda asked quietly.
“Let me know when your team is in place and you have a computer set up and ready for me to access it. Until then, I’ll keep working here. I want to find that next point of attack before it happens.”
“The elevators on all three floors just went offline,” Knox reported.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and spoke clearly, “Code red, address anyone stuck in elevators first,” before disconnecting.
Pedro knew they would soon be flooded with Knox’s specially trained staff. His fingers flew over the coding to access anything that touched the elevators. This was tedious work. Despite the pressure they were under, he had to be meticulous.
“How many minutes between the first and second event?” he asked Knox who worked next to him.
“Ninety minutes. The doors triggered at nine. It’s now ten-thirty,” Knox reported, making himself notes.
“If the pattern continues—noon, one-thirty, and three,” Pedro projected.
“I’ll pull up our emergency plan,” Easton said quietly. “We’ll be ready for whatever happens.”