Chapter 10 - THE ENEMY INSIDE
NexusCore’s head of security identified three executives with access to the hidden account.
The chief operating officer.
The infrastructure director.
And Matthew’s cousin, Preston Hayes.
Preston controlled the private company holding the stolen intellectual property.
He had missed the emergency board meeting.
His assistant claimed he was traveling.
His corporate jet remained inside a hangar in New Jersey.
Henderson sent investigators to Preston’s apartment.
It was empty.
Computers were gone.
Closets had been cleared.
A framed family photograph remained facedown on the floor.
Preston had known the collapse was coming.
He had prepared earlier than Matthew.
The hidden account began transferring encrypted files shortly after midnight.
The destination server was located overseas.
Daniel joined the NexusCore security team remotely.
I listened through a video call from the hospital.
The engineers spoke quickly.
Some believed the transfer should be blocked by shutting down the entire platform.
That would protect the files.
It would also interrupt systems used by hospitals, banks, transportation companies, and emergency services.
Matthew had tied his escape to millions of innocent users.
He assumed the board would never risk shutting everything down.
He was right.
I studied the original architecture map.
The transfer passed through a diagnostic channel I had designed years earlier.
The channel allowed damaged data to be isolated without stopping the complete system.
Matthew once told me the feature was unnecessary.
He had kept it because Daniel proved it reduced service failures.
Now the feature he mocked might save the company.
“Separate the diagnostic channel from the live network,” I said.
The infrastructure director shook his head.
“That will destroy the destination path.”
“Exactly.”
“It could also corrupt the copied files.”
“Those files are already stolen.”
Daniel understood first.
“She wants to poison the transfer.”
I nodded.
“We replace the outgoing data with decoy architecture.”
The security team hesitated.
Elaine asked whether the original system could survive.
“Yes.”
“How certain are you?”
I looked at the old diagram beside my hospital bed.
“I designed it.”
For the next forty minutes, Daniel and the engineers rebuilt the isolation command.
The hidden account continued pulling information.
At 4:18 p.m., we activated the decoy.
The foreign server received thousands of useless files.
The true architecture remained sealed inside NexusCore.
Three minutes later, the hidden account attempted to delete the original repository.
The diagnostic channel trapped the command.
The screen filled with access information.
PRESTON HAYES.
LOCATION ACTIVE.
The address appeared beneath it.
A private airfield outside White Plains.
Henderson called federal authorities.
Preston was arrested on the runway.
Inside his luggage, investigators found two encrypted drives, multiple passports, and a written instruction from Matthew.
If the board moves against me, take the core and burn the rest.
Elaine read the message aloud.
No one spoke.
The company had not been an empire to Matthew.
It had been something he would rather destroy than lose.
My father looked at me through the video screen.
“You saved it.”
“Not alone.”
“Still.”
The hospital door opened.
Detective Chen entered with the prosecutor.
Matthew had been formally charged with felony assault.
Bail would be decided the following morning.
The prosecutor warned that his attorneys would argue he was not a danger to the public.
I looked at the message on the security screen.
Take the core and burn the rest.
May you like
Matthew did not need a cane to remain dangerous.
He only needed access.
