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Chapter 6
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Off the Grid Weekend Chapter 10
One month later, I was sitting in the Verant Group’s digital marketing division office. I had my own workstation by the window, with a view of the entire waterfront and boats drifting along the river below.The desk was adjustable, the chair was ergonomic and the monitor was a 32-inch curved screen.The break room was at the far end of the hallway, a good 100 feet from my desk. For the first time in years, I could not hear the microwave.On my first day, Gwen had taken me to meet the division head, Keith Stratton. He was in his early 40s, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and spoke like a man who did not waste words."Perry, Gwen's told me a lot about you. Let's skip the introduction. I've been reading your work for four years. It speaks louder than any pitch would."He handed me a business card. It read, "Perry Carver. Director of Data Operations. Digital Marketing Division. Verant Group."I stared at it for a long time. My name was right there on the card, with "Director" printed above
Off the Grid Weekend Chapter 9
At 7:00pm that evening, I called Franklin. It was his 24th attempt to reach me that day. I had ignored the first 23."Perry?" His voice cracked the moment he picked up. "You finally—""Franklin, I have a few things to tell you. Just listen.""Go ahead, go ahead!""First, the admin password for the Verant backend is VE_analytics_2019. Watch the capitalization and don't miss the underscores. That password will clear the account lockout."I could hear him scrambling for a pen on the other end."Second, about the database crash. The server IP is 192.168.3.47, port 3306. Have Pete or anyone you can find who knows their way around a terminal log in and go to the root directory. There's a folder called 'recovery' with an automated repair script I wrote. Run that script and the database will restore to the last backup point before the crash.""A backup? You had a backup?""Weekly automatic backups. I set that up in my first year when I built the system."Franklin went quiet for three
Off the Grid Weekend Chapter 8
At 3:00pm that afternoon, the phone rang again. I assumed it was Russ or Franklin, but when I looked at the screen, it was Gwen Aldridge, the account manager at Verant.I knew that number better than almost any other. In four years we had spoken at least twice a week, but she had never once called my personal phone on a holiday unless something had genuinely gone wrong.I hesitated for a moment, then picked up."Perry?" Gwen's voice was surprisingly calm. There was none of the hysteria Russ had brought, none of the strained authority Franklin had tried to project. It was simply calm."Hey, Gwen.""Perry, I heard what happened.""Heard about what?""All of it. The retreat, Russ' post, you going dark. Deb told me."Deb. She was quiet most of the time, but when it counted, she came through."Gwen, about the Verant situation...""Forget Verant for a second. I just want to ask you one thing.""Go ahead.""Are you... okay?"I did not know what to say. Since yesterday, I had rece
Off the Grid Weekend Chapter 7
Less than an hour after Russ left, Franklin showed up. He called ahead this time. When his name lit up the screen, I hesitated for three seconds before picking up."Hello.""Perry!" Franklin's voice was urgent and low. "You home? I'm coming over."He had not asked if it was a good time or whether that would work for me. In six years, he had never talked to me any other way."Fine."I hung up.Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Franklin was wearing a black polo, and his hair, usually slicked back, was a mess with pieces sticking up in every direction. He clearly had not slept. He was carrying a paper bag.He stepped inside and scanned the apartment. The whole place was barely 160 square feet, with only a bed, a desk, a closet and a four-year-old laptop. His eyes lingered on the laptop for two seconds."Have a seat." I pointed to the only spare chair, a folding one.Franklin sat down and set the paper bag on the desk. "Brought you something."I opened it. It was a bottle
Off the Grid Weekend Chapter 6
At 10:00am that morning, the doorbell rang. This time it was not a delivery.I looked through the peephole. It was Russ. He was standing in the hallway with his hair going in every direction, his face gray, his eyes so swollen he could barely open them. He was still wearing the red team shirt from the retreat, the same one from the group photo at Osprey Lake.He had actually shown up at my door in that shirt. The irony was something else.The doorbell rang three more times, then the knocking started. "Perry! Perry, I know you're in there!"I opened the door.The moment Russ saw me, his expression was hard to read. He looked like a drowning man who had just spotted a piece of driftwood."P-Perry...""Come in."He practically fell through the doorway and dropped onto the couch. I poured him a glass of water. Plain water. I did not even offer him instant coffee. He was in no position to be picky. He picked the glass up and drank half of it in one go."Perry, it's bad. It's real
Off the Grid Weekend Chapter 5
His voice was hoarse and shaking, his nose completely stuffed up. He sounded like he had been crying all night, or maybe some combination of a cold, a hangover, and three days without sleep."Perry... please... I was wrong, okay? Just pick up the phone... Verant has completely blown up on us. Ms. Aldridge is saying we're in breach of contract, and they're talking about legal action... "Franklin drove back from Osprey Lake in the middle of the night. He's at the office right now just sitting there and his face is gray... I can't fix the data system, nobody can... there isn't a single person in this company who can do what you do... Perry, I'm begging you..."The message cut off.I set the phone on the table, then picked it back up. I scrolled up through the group chat and read through every message from last night to this morning, and the full picture came together piece by piece.Yesterday afternoon, when Russ had first come to me for the password, the situation had not actually
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