The Second Floor | Unhappy Accidents, pt. 6 (63.17)

[mragland]

4.03.2063 – Richmond upon Thames, Greater London

“That's our take on the Pacific,” said Molly. “As far our own theory of events at the spring training facility is concerned, it goes like this. As I've mentioned, we don't think anybody in the BBA cares enough about you or your club to pull something like that. We haven't uncovered any instance of anybody high up in a BBA organization referring to you or anything you've written in the past four years.”

“Ouch,” said Grant. He shook his empty coffee mug, frowning at it.

“I don't know,” said Molly, “these people are busy running baseball clubs. Don't take it too hard.” She took a beat. Grant leaned forward thinking maybe he lost the connection, but she began again. “Also, we've found no evidence that the GBC gets up to this sort of thing.”

“Right,” said Grant, nodding. This jibed with what Arlo had told him. “So where does that leave us?”

“We think this was a dress rehearsal for a move on the real target or targets, whatever or whoever they might be. Proof of concept, in other words. These pitching machines are in use throughout the GBC and BBA. If they could get to one of your machines, they could get to somebody else's.”

“Okay,” said Grant. “How do you figure this was just practice?”

“The player profile on the machine that was going to do the damage mimics a pitcher for a team the Monarchs aren't scheduled to play until May 24th. Your catcher explained that he basically set the machine on random, and wasn't really paying attention to who was on the mound. There was no real reason to expect someone on your team to dial up that profile until at least mid-May. We thought that by the time someone intended for a mishap to occur, your security footage of the night the tampering took place would have already been erased, you only keep it on the hard drive for a couple of weeks. You weren't supposed have anything pointing directly to tampering in the end. All you would have had was the company's word that its code was altered. But then we circled back to the fact that this machine is in your spring training facility – ”

“And we don't play any AfSAmOc clubs during the spring.”

“Exactly. It seems probable that whoever did the tampering didn't really intend actual harm to your club at all. This further bolsters our 'dress rehearsal' theory.”

“So, should we warn someone?”

“Who?”

“I don't know. Everybody?”

“That's your call, Grant. I'm just putting our conclusions in front of you. You could broadcast that this incident occurred, which would all but eliminate your chances of catching the perpetrator.”

Grant grabbed the baseball off his desk and started tossing it between his hands. Molly gave him some time to think.

“I don't know,” said Grant. “I don't really care about what somebody intended. One of my guys was hurt, bad. If we say nothing, somebody else gets hurt, maybe worse. Somebody who, in all likelihood, doesn't have it coming.”

Grant mulled things over for a few more tosses.

“I think I know somebody who could get the word out discretely to those who need to know.”

“Great,” said Molly. “You'll get the written report sometime later tonight. Good luck.”

[Graham]

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