Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO RAN
Maya did not scream.
Richard closed the door behind him.
“Listen before you call security.”
“You have about five seconds.”
“I didn't sabotage Daniel's prototype.”
“Four.”
“Someone used my credentials.”
“Three.”
“I ran because they threatened my daughter.”
Maya stopped.
Richard pulled out his phone.
A photograph showed a teenage girl leaving a private school.
Across the image were four words.
KEEP QUIET OR SHE PAYS.
Maya’s anger weakened, but not her caution.
“Who sent it?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why come here?”
“Because you found Orpheus.”
Maya stared at him.
“What is it?”
Richard lowered his voice.
“Daniel’s father started the project fourteen years ago.”
Arthur Sterling had died six years earlier, leaving Daniel control of the company.
According to Richard, Orpheus was an abandoned adaptive-energy algorithm capable of predicting electrical demand before fluctuations occurred. It had been decades ahead of its time.
But it had a flaw.
Under certain circumstances, it could manipulate the very systems it was supposed to regulate.
Hospitals.
Factories.
Transportation networks.
Entire sections of a city grid.
Arthur had shut it down.
Someone had apparently restarted it.
“Why?”
Maya asked.
Richard shook his head.
“I don't know.”
A knock came at the door.
Both froze.
“Maya?” Daniel called.
Richard whispered, “Don't tell him yet.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever is doing this has executive access.”
The door opened.
Daniel stepped inside.
His eyes moved from Maya to Richard.
Everything in him became still.
“Security.”
Richard raised both hands.
“Daniel, wait.”
Within seconds, guards entered.
Richard did not resist.
Maya watched Daniel’s face as his former engineer was escorted away.
“You knew he was threatened?” she asked.
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“What?”
Maya realized Richard had told the truth about at least one thing.
Daniel didn't know.
She showed him the photograph.
Daniel immediately ordered security to locate Richard’s daughter.
Two hours later, she was found safe at school.
Richard finally agreed to cooperate.
But the mystery deepened.
The threatening message had been routed through Sterling’s own network.
Only twelve executives possessed the necessary permissions.
One of them was Daniel.
Another was his chief financial officer, Marcus Vale.
Marcus had been Daniel’s closest friend since college.
He had also been the man responsible for negotiating the international contract that nearly collapsed at the Grand Meridian.
Daniel refused to believe Marcus could be involved.
Maya did not accuse him.
She simply asked for the access logs.
That irritated Daniel more.
“You think Marcus sabotaged my company?”
“I think evidence should decide.”
“I've known him for seventeen years.”
“Computers don't care how long you've known somebody.”
Daniel paced toward the window.
Maya watched him.
For all his arrogance, Daniel’s loyalty was real.
That made the possibility of betrayal more painful.
They worked until after midnight.
Coffee cups accumulated.
Arguments became conversations.
Conversations became occasional laughter.
Maya discovered Daniel was terrible at eating when concentrating.
Daniel discovered Maya hummed quietly when solving equations.
At 1:18 a.m., Maya found the first major break.
The unauthorized Orpheus access appeared to originate from Marcus’s account.
Daniel went silent.
Then Maya leaned closer.
“No.”
“What?”
“This is too clean.”
She compared timestamps.
Marcus had supposedly logged into Orpheus from New York at 3:42 p.m. on June 8.
But his calendar showed him giving a live presentation in Tokyo at the same time.
“Someone cloned his credentials,” Daniel said.
“Exactly.”
Maya searched deeper.
The attacker had made one mistake.
Each unauthorized session generated a microscopic timing difference in the authentication handshake.
Twenty-three milliseconds.
Always twenty-three.
A hardware signature.
They traced it.
The signal came from a device inside Sterling headquarters.
Floor thirty-one.
Daniel’s private executive level.
There were only six offices there.
They checked them one by one.
Nothing.
Then Maya noticed a network cable disappearing behind a decorative wall panel outside Daniel’s father’s old office.
The office had remained locked since Arthur Sterling died.
Daniel opened it.
Dust covered the desk.
Books remained exactly where his father had left them.
Maya followed the cable.
It ended behind a bookcase.
Daniel helped move it.
A hidden server rack appeared.
Its lights were blinking.
Someone had been using it recently.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
Maya checked the active connections.
One destination appeared repeatedly.
VANTAGE DYNAMICS.
Daniel’s greatest corporate competitor.
Then another file appeared.
Maya opened it.
Her blood went cold.
It contained photographs.
Daniel entering restaurants.
Richard’s daughter leaving school.
And Maya walking home.
The most recent photograph had been taken that morning.
May you like
Someone wasn't merely watching the company.
They were watching her.
