Walking into Trouble Pt. 02

Sam

It was late Monday, around 10 pm when Sam finally finished the pile of paperwork on his desk. He had to organize the island staff for a hectic week ahead. With the arrival of Todd's kids coming to take over the companies within Todd's empire. They were due to turn up in the morning with James assisting them.

Sam had gone through the files on the kids already. He knew this was going to be a challenging time for everyone involved. The file that Sam had on Ethan was he was a card hosting director in the past and is currently a warehouse worker with a focus on building chairs for the subdivision of a business called Dental Co. So, in short, he had no skills in managing a business, least of all running multiple companies at once.

The file on Stacey was even worse. She had no job background to speak of only a master's degree in computer tech. There were rumours that she was a hacker, either for safeguarding systems or for breaking into company tech systems. Though no one could confirm or deny her as a hacker, Meaning Sam had figured she was either extremely good or, she was not a hacker to start with. So, in short, Sam had one guy with limited skills and one lady who was mostly a mystery to deal with. He hated the unknown factors when it came to dealing with new people.

This was going to cause problems all over the place. It could also possibly open a door for him as well as he had his mind set on taking over the empire that Todd had built up over the years beginning with full control of what happens on the island.

The island was still in its early stages with no helipad built, no safe room built, room to house 100 guests and staff (currently it could only do 30 guests and staff). The only thing that was built and running at 100% was the security system that records both audio and pictures. The system was his baby and had built it bit by bit over time in secret. He had over 150 cameras scattered over the island and he added more each week. For now, it was mostly used to spy on the staff and getting dirty secrets he could use to his advantage. That and the odd chance to spy on guests or staff in compromising positions and keep the data for later use.

It was late, and he had an early start, so he decided to skip going to the tech room to see if there was any action on the feed tonight as it would be recorded to hard drives for later viewing. So, Sam headed to bed, smiling at the fact that if the kids had any secrets, they didn't want the world to know, they needed to stay on his good side otherwise he would expose them and their secrets.

Amy

It was 5 am Tuesday, and Amy's alarm for work had just gone off to get her out of bed. She turned the alarm off and got out of bed to have her morning shower.

After about ten mins in the shower, Amy got out of the shower and got into her work clothes. This was the first time in years that Ethan was not with her in the morning when she was getting ready for work.

The day before a lawyer came to take him to the States for a private service for his deceased father. Even her manager had no idea what was going on which is pretty bad as her manager was in the know about everything that went on at work.

Amy had her breakfast like she normally did and went on her laptop to check her Facebook, and emails and watch the odd YouTube video. After about 45 mins or so of that she turned off the laptop and put it away. She went and got her bag for work making sure to pack her lunch for work. Having lunch at the local cafe every day was not cheap. She was also saving money for the upcoming wedding with Ethan within the next year.

Amy walked the short distance to the train station. She waited for her 6.55 am train to take her to Mascot, a station just outside of the city. After about 45 mins on the train, she got to her station and hopped off the train. It was packed as many people got the train into the city for work or study, today was no different.

It was a five min walk to the warehouse from the station where Amy worked. She said hello to the guys as she passed them working on the morning orders as she went upstairs to the office.

Amy turned on the lights as she was usually the first here of the morning and turned the computers on, so they had time to start up while she went downstairs to the kitchen to make herself a coffee for the morning. One of the guys named Jack came up to Amy while she was making her morning coffee.

"Morning Amy, where's Ethan this morning? I didn't see him walk in with you," Jack asked.

"No, he is not here today, Jack he is on leave for a bit so he can go to a private funeral service for his father," she replied.

"That Is sad to hear, I hope he is alright about everything," Jack said.

"Yeah, I'm sure he is, he would let me know if anything crazy or weird happens," Amy replies to Jack.

"Your right, Amy thought I heard in the news last night that some famous, wealthy man died recently, and they are trying to track down his family relatives to see who inherited his fortunes. I think the name was Higgs or something along thought lines," Jack told Amy.

"That is very interesting, Jack I will have to look into it, thank you for that," Amy gets her coffee and goes back upstairs to the office.

Amy got her computer set up for the day and checked the emails she thought to herself, "It would be funny if Ethan was somehow involved in an inheritance of that size, she would not have to worry about money for the wedding that she and Ethan were saving up for."

Amy had come across an email from Jess dated last night, it was far from normal for Jess.

"Amy, I don't know what Ethan has got himself into though I have been getting emails and calls from reporters asking for information on his history. Can you get in contact with him ASAP? I tried to contact the people I believe could be with Ethan though I have yet to get a reply back."

Amy was shocked to read this email from Jess. Thought from what Amy had heard from the voice messages left on the work phone after they were switched to night mode. Last night at the end of the day. They were from reporters asking about Ethan and information about him.

Amy sends an email to Jess in reply to her earlier one.

"Jess, I just checked the voice messages on the work phones, and about a dozen reporters are asking about him. I try and get in contact with him thought, though I can't say how well it will go due to the time difference."

Then Amy goes to ring Ethan's phone thinking he probably has it on him. It rings out after about 30 seconds, and then she tries again and again, but still nothing. After the 6th time, she sends him a text message. [u] "Ethan, answer your fucking phone [/u], we have big problems here at work with you in the middle of it".

At that moment, Bill walks into the office carrying his electric bike, "Morning Amy, Jess has told me via a phone call, we have problems this morning involving Ethan."

"Yeah, I know, I tried calling him though he is not answering his phone," Amy tells Bill.

"Well, that's a problem did the lawyer leave a number that you could contact in an emergency?" Bill questioned.

"Nope, I wish he did though," Amy felt very frustrated.

"I tell the guys to keep the warehouse roller doors closed today just to be safe in case we get random people that come looking for Ethan," at that moment, Bill leaves the office to go downstairs.

"Ethan, what have you gotten yourself into," Amy was thinking to herself, As she started to process the orders for the day.

Ethan

After the trip from Broome, Ethan was keen to get off the boat when it landed as he was not used to being on a boat this long. It was about 9.30 am going by his phone though whether or not it was in the right time zone was another thing.

The boat stopped when it got to the pier, and Captain Smith and his crew were doing what was needed to moor the boat safely.

Ethan, Stacey and James got off the boat at the pier with dozens of people waiting for them. An older man, about 5'8 in height wearing, loose fitting colourful summer shirt and shorts approaches them and introduces himself.

"Hello, my name is Sam, and I am the island manager nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Sam, my name is Ethan, "Ethan says and holds out his hand to shake Sam's hand.

Stacey steps up to meet Sam next, "Hello, my name is Stacey nice to meet you," as she shakes Sam's hand.

"It's good to meet the kids of Todd. Todd was a good man to everyone now if you follow me up the path, I will show you to your suits," Sam said, waving his hand to the pathway ahead of them.

It was a bit of a walk to get to the main part of the island as it was uphill from the pier though as they got closer to the building, "Wow, this looks cool, how much time did it take to set this up?" Ethan said.

As he viewed the main building, it was a mix of Japanese and European styles that somehow worked together. He saw to his left several apartments, all with a path leading from the main gathering space in front of them that was set up to fit three rows of tables big enough to fit 30 to 40 people for a dinner or lunch in one go, with a large Olympic size pool to the right of it.

"Yes, it was a small feat to set up, and your father had a part in the design of it though it is still incomplete. As we only had this island for around six months, you may see some incomplete buildings around the island. We have a tennis court, a gym, and the pool which you can see in front of us, we are still working on a helipad as well, so the only way to get here is by boat for the time being," Sam told both Ethan and Stacey

"We have a working server room, so you will have internet here I should warn you the phone lines are still being set up. So, it may be a while before you can get in contact with anyone from outside of the island," Sam told Ethan and Stacey

At that instant, Ethan thought to check his phone as he had set his phone to mute since he got on the plane last night. Ethan had no signal, no surprise there were ten missed calls all from the last four hours. There were missed calls from his bosses Jess and Bill, a call from his uncle (who he does not speak to anymore), and seven calls from his partner, Amy also sent a text for him to get in contact ASAP.

James had walked up behind Ethan quietly to see what Ethan was doing with his phone, "Boy, you won't be able to return those calls for a bit".

"I know, though it sounds like there is trouble happening in Sydney, Amy would not call me like this unless it is something important," he panicked.

"It's probably the reporters looking for information from your workplace. I got a report from Tim about it on the way here, don't worry about it, Tim will deal with it," James said calmly.

"Who is Tim, James?" Ethan asked.

"He is the one dealing with everything with Todd's funeral and managing the empire for now, or in simple terms, he is one of Todd's executives," James explains.

"So, he is running the empire as a caretaker would then," Ethan questioned.

"Yeah, that's right after the funeral, both you and Stacey will take over the role," James told Ethan.

"That is fuck up just how big is Todd's empire," Stacey injects.

"That you will find out shortly when the will is read out to the pair of you, later today," James said.

"The plan was for that to happen after dinner was it not James" Sam asked.

"It still is, both Ethan and Stacey. I want you to go up to your suits, and get comfortable and unpack your stuff," James said to both Ethan and Stacey.

Sam then raises his hand in the air and clicks his finger, two maids come running, "Can you please show Ethan and Stacey to their suits," Sam told the maids. One went with Ethan and the other with Stacey to show them where their rooms were.

James

Ethan and Stacey were walking away to their suits. James turned to Sam, "We need to call in a favour from the local airbase if we are to control the airspace when we have the funeral otherwise the media will be a real nuisance with their choppers".

"James, I already put a request in for them to do an exercise on the day of the funeral in our area, though it means all our guests have to come by boat to avoid problems," Sam said.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that as Captain Smith was asking for details about the day on the way over here," James complained.

"Don't worry about it too much James, your role is to ease the kids into what they need to know legally and go from there," Sam said then, adding, "Besides, Tim will be here Wednesday or at worst on Friday, to help them into their new roles".

"True that let's hope Tim can help them more than I can in that case," James said.

Tim

It had been a very taxing week so far, for him and it was only Tuesday morning. Tim was working out of his office in Canberra as he prefers the weather here at this time of year, compared to his main office in New York City due to winter being in full swing and he was not a fan of the snow. His best mate and owner of multi companies, Todd died two weeks ago, there was a small public service in Sydney for his family as requested by him before he passed. Though that service triggered the caretaker role he finds himself in now.

Tim had two experienced assistants to help him through the workload that came with him being the temporary head boss of everything. He had sent an email to Jess late Sunday night to inform her about James coming and visiting the Dentist Co group. Though he didn't tell her about Ethan being one of the successes of the company, as it would have caused more problems for them going forward. The phones had been ringing off the hook all morning and the emails had kept coming in asking about news of Todd's death.

One of his assistants came running into the office in a panic, "Tim you have Jess on line one and she won't take no for an answer and says it's important".

"No worries, Mary, I'll deal with it," Tim calls out to her as she goes back to her station.

Tim picks up the phone and presses one on the switchboard. "Good morning, Jess, how can I help you today?" Tim said.

"Morning Tim, can you give me more information about Ethan, please? As we had to keep reporters off our backs since last night, "Jess cries out.

"Sorry I can't Jess, I have to wait for myself, for a statement to come out which should be in the next few days, though in the meantime, I can organize some security to help keep them off your backs," he told Jess.

"I don't what security Tim, I what answers and I what them NOW, so I can advise my team on how we proceed," Jess yells over the phone.

"You will have your answers within the next few days till then you are just going to have to hold down the fort in the meantime," Tim snaps back and hangs up the phone.

"Jess was great at her job, though she can be very pushy at times which got under his skin a lot," he thought to himself.

Tim then left his office to go and find his assistants. He found them having a chat while getting their morning coffee.

"Oh, Tim didn't know you were there, is there a problem?" the blonde hair lady said.

"No problems girls, though I was looking for you two as I need to have a word with you both," Tim replied.

"What happened now, Tim?" Mary asked.

"Well, as you know, it has been a busy few days. It will only get worse closer to the funeral. I have to say I will miss your help when you two transfer over to Todd's kids at the end of the week," Tim said.

He continued, "You may pick which one of the kids you work for. I don't care who you choose though, it may not be a bad idea to look at their files before you choose".

"If that's all Tim, I was going to support Ethan as I looked at his file already and I figure out of the two of them he is the better one to work with," Mary said.

"Well, in that case, I guess that leaves Sarah with Stacey then," Tim said.

"That's fine by me, Stacey's computer skills will be more in line with the support I can offer her than I could with Ethan," Sarah replied.

"All I ask is don't be too hard on them, starting with them. As they will be very new to the corporate world," Tim told the two ladies.

"There is one other issue I have to deal with personally before I fly out tomorrow afternoon though I leave the rest to you two," Tim said to his assistants.

"That would not have to do with Miss Amy Flowers by chance?" Sarah asked.

"Yes and no, I have to pay Jess a visit first to give her a run down in person, then I will meet up with Amy and meet you two at the airport," he told the ladies.

"Is Amy coming with us then Tim?" Mary asked.

"That is entirely up to her though I doubt she has a reason to say no," he replied.

"Ok, if you run into trouble just give us a call won't you," Mary said.

"Don't worry, the only thing I have a problem with, would be trying to convince Jess to take Amy from her company on top of Ethan leaving," James said.

Ethan

It was about 11 am when he got shown to his suite by one of the maids who was instructed to show him where he would be staying during his time on the island. The staff had already put his bags away and put his clothes on hangers in the wardrobe. The suite was 3 times the size of his apartment back in Sydney. It had a king-size bed in the bedroom for him to sleep in a shower and a large bath to use plus a room to set up his computer if he wanted.

Ethan took it all in and thought to himself, "damn I can't believe my father had this double life hidden from him in control of several companies and dozens of businesses in his name." Ethan had only known about his father owning the Dentist Co when he started working there nearly three years ago.

He went out onto the balcony to take in the view and was surprised at just how much he could see from his suite. He could see the pier to the right, the community space and the pool below him and he could see the start of a helipad being built to the left on a small hill.

Stacey came out of her suite which was next door to his and could see her walking toward him in a dark blue dress.

"Nice dress Stacey, do you plan on wearing that to the service?" Ethan asked her.

"No, though I plan on wearing it to dinner tonight" Stacey replied with a smile.

"It looks good on you either way," Ethan said.

"Thanks, Ethan that's nice of you to say," Stacey said and was smiling from his complement.

After a few moments, she sat down at the table on the balcony in between the suites.

Stacey pulled out a packet of smokes and took one out of the packet to light up, "do you what one" Stacey offer.

"No, I'm good, I don't smoke and I'm not about to start now," Ethan said.

"Oh well more for me then," Stacey said.

"So, Stacey you don't see that surprise with Todd's empire," Ethan asked.

"Oh, I am a computer hacker by trade meaning I can hack into computers to collect information unlawfully or I can hack computers to test their systems and look for holes in their defences so they can better protect themselves," Stacey said. Then continued,

"I have known about the Todd empire for years. It was just the size that surprised me, at least 5 times larger than I thought it was. Publicity source information has estimated the empire at around 5 - 10 billion dollars US, though it is more likely 50 plus billion when you add the things that Todd put under different names to hide the origin of the business or company. We won't know for sure till the will is read to us" Stacey said.

"So, when you met me those years ago when I was working did you know who I was then," Ethan asked.

Stacey laughed, "No I knew I had an older brother thought all I knew was your name nothing else. To be fair I was curious when I saw you and I thought, why not try my luck with you?"