Chapter 125
Chapter 125
Hannah Zhao stared at her computer screen, the blue light reflecting off her glasses as she analyzed access logs to the Phoenix Grid’s secure database.
“I found it,” she said as Camille approached with coffee. “The leak in our team.”
Camille set down the cups, suddenly alert. “Show me.”
Hannah displayed a series of highlighted entries. “Someone’s been accessing our secure servers between 2:00 and 3:00 AM three times weekly. Always the same nights, always looking at Grid specifications, safety protocols, activation sequences.”
“Do you know who?” Camille asked, leaning closer,⚫
Hannah nodded grimly. “I installed a silent tracker last week.” She opened another window showing screenshots. “It’s Walsh.”
“The maintenance technician who installed the modified circuits?” Camille’s eyes narrowed.
“The same. We were watching his physical access, but overlooked his digital footprint.” Hannah pulled up financial records. “He’s still receiving payments from an offshore account.”
“Rose,” Camille said, the name like a curse.
“I’ve prepared termination paperwork,” Hannah continued. “Security can escort him out today.”
Camille didn’t respond immediately, her expression shifting from anger to calculation.
“Don’t fire him,” she said finally.
“What?” Hannah looked up, startled. “But he’s leaking critical information!”
“Exactly. And now that we know, we can control what information he leaks.” Camille straightened. “We’ve been on the defensive with Rose and Herod for too long. It’s time we took control.”
“You want to feed him false information?”
“Not just false, misleading. Information that serves our purposes.” Camille pulled up a chair. “What if Walsh received access to files suggesting vulnerability in the Grid’s west junction? Nothing that would actually endanger the system, but enough to make Rose and Herod think they’ve found a weakness.”
Understanding dawned in Hannah’s eyes. “We create a trap, and they walk right into it.”
“Better yet, when they act on this information, we’ll know exactly where they’ll be and what they’ll be targeting.”
“We can track them,” Hannah said, fingers already moving across her keyboard. “I can create dummy files with embedded trackers. When they’re opened on another system, we’ll know the location.”
“How soon can you set it up?”
“By tonight,” Hannah promised. “I’ll create a special portal that looks identical to our regular system but contains only the files we want Walsh to find.”
“Don’t tell anyone else yet. Not even Alexander,” Camille instructed. “We need to brief Victoria first.”
Victoria listened silently as Camille and Hannah explained their discovery and proposed response, her fingers steepled
beneath her chin.
“Instead of eliminating the threat,” Victoria said finally, “you want to manipulate it. Use their own weapon against them.”
“Yes,” Camille confirmed. “Walsh is more valuable to us as an unwitting double agent than as a fired employee.”
Victoria’s lips curved slightly. “And the risk? If he discovers your trap, or if the information he passes causes unexpected problems?”
“We’ll control every bit of data he sees,” Hannah explained. “The files will appear genuine to anyone who doesn’t know our actual systems intimately.”
Victoria rose, moving to the window where the Phoenix Grid control center was visible in the distance.
“There’s elegance in your approach,” she said.
Successfully unlocked! sed early in my career. A competitor had placed someone in my company–much like Rode has done with Walsh Everyone advised me to fire him immediately.” She turned to face them. “Instead, I kept him close. Fed him exactly what I wanted my competitor to know. When they moved against me based on that information, they found themselves outmaneuvered at every turn.”
Camille felt a rush of pride at the comparison.
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Chapter 125
Victoria studied her for a long moment. “You’re not just reacting anymore. You’re anticipating, planning three moves ahead. Good.”
Hannah displayed her preliminary design for the false portal. “Everything Walsh accesses will be logged and tracked. Any files he copies will contain hidden markers that will activate when opened on another device.”
“When will you deploy this?” Victoria asked.
“Tonight,” Hannah replied. “Walsh always accesses the system between 2:00 and 3:00 AM on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.”
For the next hour, the three women constructed an elaborate deception. They identified a junction box in the Grid’s western sector that would appear vulnerable based on the false data, though it was actually one of the most secure points in the
system.
“Any attempt to exploit this ‘vulnerability‘ would be immediately contained and would identify exactly who was behind it,” Camille explained.
Victoria’s eyes gleamed with appreciation. “This isn’t just about defending anymore. This is about setting a trap, forcing them to expose themselves.”
“They’ve been dictating the terms of this battle from the beginning,” Camille said. “This is our chance to reverse the dynamic.”
Victoria approved the plan. As Hannah left to implement it, Victoria gestured for Camille to remain.
“You’re changing,” Victoria observed. “The woman I found eighteen months ago would never have conceived of such a strategy. She would have reacted with immediate retribution.”
Camille nodded. “That woman was defined by her wounds, her need for direct revenge.”
“And now?”
“Now I understand that true power isn’t about immediate satisfaction. It’s about patience, strategy, control.” Camille met Victoria’s gaze. “You taught me that.”
Something shifted in Victoria’s expression–pride, perhaps. “When I found you in that parking garage, I saw potential. Raw strength that others had tried to break. But even I didn’t anticipate how completely you would transform.”
The rare personal acknowledgment caught Camille off guard.
“You gave me the tools,” she said simply.
Victoria shook her head slightly. “Tools are useless without the right person wielding them. What you’ve become, that’s your own creation.”
ion. Han
That night, Camille and Hannah watched as Walsh logged into their system remotely at 2:00 AM, He navigated through files, spending nearly twenty minutes examining the fabricated vulnerability reports.
“He’s copying them,” Hannah noted. “The trackers are embedded. When those files are opened, we’ll know exactly where.” At 2:47 AM, Walsh logged out, having downloaded precisely the information they wanted Rose and Herod to have.
“Now we wait,” Camille said. “Let’s see what Rose does with her new ‘intelligence.”
Hannah smiled. “It’s like watching a mouse approach the cheese, not realizing the trap is about to spring.”
“No,” Camille corrected, “it’s like watching a snake slither toward what it thinks is a wounded bird, not realizing the bird is actually a predator in disguise.”
She moved to the window, gazing at the city lights. Somewhere out there, Rose was waiting for information, believing herself clever, believing herself in control.
“For weeks, Rose has been attacking us, forcing us to defend,” Camille said. “That changes tonight.”
The tracker program hummed quietly, ready to alert them the moment their false information reached its intended recipient. Within days, they would have a direct line to Rose’s location, her plans, her next move.
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