Page 1 of Fatal Conspiracy

Chapter One

The lights of Whiplash, the small town Alayah Heath called home, appeared in the distance, and she let out a sigh of relief. After working on-site for the last week, she was exhausted and ready to spend a few nights sleeping in her own bed. Once she’d helped her employer Secure Watch install new computer equipment at a business in St. Paul, she’d stayed behind to teach their tech team how to use the new equipment with their cloud and keep their data safe. Overall, Alayah was confident they would be fine, but she would check in with them next week to see if they had questions after using the new equipment with their software.

It had been a long day of travel, made longer by the fact that, as a little person, she required hand controls to drive. At a hair under four feet tall, there was no way her feet were reaching the pedals of the fleet SUV, but thankfully, her custom booster seat gave her enough height to see out the windshield. She had been diagnosed with Ellis-Van Creveld syndrome at birth, a type of dwarfism that left her with short forearms and lower leg bones, as well as other skeletal abnormalities. Her birth parents hadn’t stuck around long when they learned the extent of her condition, but a wonderful couple adopted her as a baby. They werethere through all the surgeries and therapy, and she knew how lucky she was to have them.

After working for several companies in California, she was never more grateful that Secure Inc.—which encompassed her employer, Secure Watch, along with the personal security company, Secure One—had many people with disabilities working for them, so their approach to accessibility came from personal experience. Several of the fleet vehicles had hand controls, and she was grateful to be independent while working offsite.

When Alayah left Silicon Valley four years ago to work for Secure Watch, she hadn’t known what to expect, but she knew she was ready for a change. Her new boss, Mina Jacobs, was disabled and had built a thriving business by understanding everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and playing to them. That was something she’d never experienced in the workplace before.

Happy to be home, she pulled down the lane onto the property that housed Secure Inc. and stopped at the security booth. When Cal Newfellow, the owner of Secure Inc., had first bought the property, it was nothing like what it was now, which was essentially a fortress to protect those who protected others.

“Hey, Alayah,” Zac, one of the Secure One guards, who also worked for Secure Watch when needed, greeted her. “Nice to see you. We were getting worried you might need an assist.”

“Sorry,” she said, instantly feeling bad for worrying them. “There was a lot of construction, which added to the drive time. I’m ready to call it a night, though.”

“I bet you are,” Zac said. “I’ll ring Mina and let her know you’re back. She wants to speak with you.”

Alayah brushed her hand at him. “I have nothing thrilling to report. The briefing can wait until tomorrow.”

“It’s not about that,” he said, pushing a button for the gate to open. “She needs your help with something else. She said she’d be waiting in the cafeteria with a plate of your favorite cookies and a hot chocolate.”

Her groan turned into laughter, which made Zac laugh, too. “She does know my weaknesses!”

“The only ones you have, if you ask anyone here,” Zac said, waving as she smiled and slipped the SUV through the gate before it closed again. When she pulled into the garage, the new Secure Inc. hire was waiting to help her down, so she didn’t need the small step stool she carried with her when driving larger vehicles.

“Thanks, Jonah,” she said, stretching her back.

“My pleasure, Alayah. I’ll unload the equipment and put your suitcase at your door. You’ve been summoned.”

“So I’ve heard,” she agreed, shaking her head as she took her purse from him. “At least there will be cookies.” She headed into the hallway, winding her way through the main building that housed their offices, control rooms, some employee quarters and the cafeteria.

The lodge, as Cal called it, had been added on to multiple times over the years, and the property behind it was now dotted with cabins where married couples from the team lived. With more than forty on-site employees, the need for housing was always changing and increasing, but so far, Cal had been able to keep up with the demand. It helped that many of the Secure Watch employees worked remotely or lived in other parts of the state to support different regions.

The first time Alayah had walked into the cafeteria, she’d turned around and walked right back out, only to besnagged by their resident cook and nanny, Sadie Newman. She was married to Eric, a Secure One operative, and they were now the proud parents of a little boy. Sadie still cooked three meals a day for the entire crew and took great offense at people turning their noses up at her cooking. At least, that was the joke Sadie had used that day when she found Alayah fighting back tears in the hallway.

Why did she have such a visceral reaction to a cafeteria? It reminded her of elementary school, where she was teased mercilessly for being short and using a walker. Not one teacher or adult in the school attempted to stop the bullies or educate them about disabilities. That hurt as much as the teasing did. The bullying had left deep scars that were easy to irritate, even years later. Sadie had sweetly reminded her that no one in the building teased anyone about anything, and all were welcome. Sadie had led her back in, where she found a special chair waiting to help her reach the table. That was when she understood she was accepted and welcomed at Secure Inc.

“Alayah!” a little voice said, and she glanced up to see Mina’s daughter, Hannah Grace, barreling toward her from the cafeteria. Hannah was only four, but Alayah still had to brace herself for her exuberant hugs.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she said, hugging the little girl. “You’ve grown since I was gone. You’re almost taller than I am! I’m pretty short, though.”

Hannah giggled and slipped her hand into hers. “You’re silly. You’re not short. You’re petite. That’s what Dad says.”

“Well, your dad is quite kind,” she said with a smile. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“It is,” Mina said, standing when she saw them walk in. “But Roman is in a meeting, and since I also neededto speak with you, I told her she could stay up until we’re done.”

Sitting, Alayah frowned. “I’m sorry to hold you up. Construction traffic was bad.”

“You know what they say about Minnesota. There are only two seasons. Construction and winter.”

They laughed as she helped herself to a cookie and dunked it in her hot cocoa while Hannah Grace did the same. They giggled and clinked cookies before taking a giant bite.

“Zac said you needed to talk to me about something,” she said when she finished chewing. “I hope I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Of course not,” Mina said, waving in dismissal. “It’s just that time is of the essence with this situation. The convention crew at a hotel in Duluth contacted us today. They’re holding a tech conference and had planned to run the entire thing themselves until they were notified that Hugo Victor would be there.”

Alayah raised an eyebrow. “TheHugo Victor?”