Chapter 9 - THE ENEMY IN THE ROOMThe boardroom locked down.
Phones were collected.
Access cards disabled.
Nobody left.
Clara studied the executives seated around her.
Some were angry.
Some frightened.
One was sweating.
Victor Lang, head of corporate security.
Clara had known him for four years.
Quiet.
Professional.
Invisible when he needed to be.
Exactly the kind of man Julian valued.
The federal investigator placed a laptop on the table.
"At 10:42 this morning, someone attempted to delete archived transaction logs."
Victor immediately spoke.
"Could've been automated."
The investigator looked at him.
"It required physical biometric authentication."
Silence.
Victor's jaw tightened.
Clara understood.
"Show me your hand."
He stared at her.
"What?"
"Your right hand."
"Clara, this is absurd."
"Show me."
Slowly, he raised it.
His thumb was bandaged.
The biometric system required a thumbprint.
Marcus noticed too.
Victor stood suddenly.
Two agents moved.
"Sit down."
Victor's eyes darted toward the door.
Then toward Clara.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
She remained seated.
"I keep hearing that."
"Julian built this company."
"My father built the technology Julian's family monetized."
"Without the Vances, you'd be nobody."
That sentence exposed him.
Not merely an employee.
A believer.
Victor reached toward his jacket.
The agents reacted instantly, pinning him against the table.
A phone crashed onto the floor.
No weapon.
Just another device.
On its screen was an unsent message.
THE ARCHIVE IS STILL SAFE. SHE DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT BALTIMORE.
Clara stared at it.
"Baltimore?"
Victor said nothing.
Marcus photographed the screen.
The investigator read the message twice.
Then looked at Clara.
"Does your company have property in Baltimore?"
"No."
Marcus slowly turned.
"Your father did."
Clara remembered.
An abandoned Whitmore engineering laboratory near the harbor.
Closed after Thomas died.
She hadn't thought about it in years.
Until now.
Somewhere inside a forgotten building tied to her father was something Julian's people still feared she might find.
Clara rose.
May you like
For the first time that day, she smiled.
"Then I think we're going to Baltimore."
