Chapter 16 - The Card in Claire’s Pocket.
Claire held the blinking access card away from her body as if it had become something alive.
Daniel stepped toward her.
“Put it on the table.”
She did.
Adrian stayed beside her.
Simon remained across the room, watching with an expression that looked far too carefully neutral.
Daniel opened a small diagnostic application on the tablet.
The card continued broadcasting.
“SR-01 is routing through the badge,” he said.
Claire looked at him.
“Does that mean I control it?”
“No.”
Daniel zoomed in on the signal profile.
“It means someone turned your access card into a relay.”
Claire exhaled.
Simon folded his arms.
“Convenient.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Careful.”
“I’m only saying what everyone is thinking.”
“No,” Anna said.
“You’re saying what you want everyone thinking.”
Simon turned toward her.
“You have known me for less than an hour.”
Anna gave him a tired smile.
“I spent twenty years interviewing men who thought familiarity was the same thing as innocence.”
Simon looked away.
Daniel used the edge of a plastic tool to open the badge casing.
Inside, beside the normal access chip, was a second component no employee badge should contain.
A tiny black module had been embedded beneath the laminate.
Claire stared.
“When was that put there?”
Daniel checked the serial number.
“This card was issued twelve days ago.”
Claire frowned.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“My card is six months old.”
Daniel turned the badge over.
“The physical shell may be.”
“The internal credential was reissued twelve days ago.”
Claire searched her memory.
Twelve days earlier, an office fire drill had forced everyone onto the plaza for nearly an hour.
When they returned, her badge had failed at the lobby turnstile.
A security supervisor took it for five minutes, brought it back, and told her the magnetic strip had been reset.
She told them now.
Jonathan looked grim.
“Name of the supervisor?”
“I don’t remember.”
Adrian reached for his phone.
“I do.”
He opened the security roster.
The supervisor assigned to Claire’s floor that day was Aaron Pike.
Daniel searched the name.
His expression changed.
“He resigned yesterday.”
Claire felt the floor seem less solid beneath her.
“Why?”
“Personal reasons.”
Anna shook her head.
“Of course.”
Adrian called security.
No answer from Pike’s extension.
He called the man’s personal number.
Disconnected.
Simon leaned toward the table.
“So someone compromised her badge.”
Claire looked at him.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I’m relieved.”
“You didn’t look relieved ten seconds ago.”
Simon’s jaw tightened.
“I’m exhausted.”
“So am I.”
Claire stopped.
The word landed strangely.
Exhausted.
She looked at Adrian.
“How long was I asleep?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“How fast did I fall asleep?”
Adrian frowned.
“You said you were tired.”
“I was.”
Claire looked toward the abandoned coffee cup she had carried from her office earlier.
The cup was not with them now.
It was still upstairs near the sofa.
Her pulse accelerated.
“I wasn’t that tired.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Claire remembered sitting beside him.
She had been trying to explain Daniel, the audit, and her real name.
Then her eyelids became heavy.
She remembered thinking she had pushed herself too hard for too many nights.
She remembered Adrian asking if she was all right.
Then nothing until she woke to photographs on the table.
Anna saw the realization on her face.
“What did you drink?”
“Tea.”
“From where?”
“The executive pantry.”
“Did you make it?”
Claire shook her head.
“One of the evening assistants brought it.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Who?”
Claire tried to remember.
“Melissa.”
Simon spoke immediately.
“Melissa left at eight.”
Everyone looked at him.
Simon realized too late that he had answered quickly.
Adrian’s voice went quiet.
The possibility that someone had altered her drink made Claire furious in a precise, focused way.
She did not feel fragile.
She felt invaded.
Sleep had been the one moment that night when she believed she had chosen to stop carrying the problem.
Now even that choice had been manipulated.
Adrian saw her hands tremble and quietly moved the conference chair closer without touching her.
Claire refused to sit.
She wanted Simon, if Simon was responsible, to see her fully awake.
She also wanted Adrian to understand that protecting her did not mean turning her into something delicate.
He seemed to understand.
His anger remained visible, but he let her lead the questions.
“How do you know when my evening assistant left?”
Simon did not blink.
“She emailed me a revised board packet before she left.”
“That explains how you know she was working.”
“Not how you know when she left.”
Simon’s face hardened.
“I saw her in the lobby.”
Claire stared at him.
“You said you came straight here from the west conference suite.”
Simon’s eyes shifted toward her.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes,” Claire said.
“You did.”
Daniel looked between them.
Adrian remembered the conversation from earlier that evening.
Simon had called at 9:36 and said he was still upstairs reviewing the acquisition packet.
Melissa’s badge record showed she exited the building at 8:07.
If Simon saw her in the lobby, he had been downstairs.
Adrian asked the question slowly.
“Where were you at eight?”
Simon’s face turned cold.
“This is getting absurd.”
Jonathan stepped closer.
“That is not an answer.”
Simon looked at the locked door.
The red lights overhead flickered.
Then the digitally altered voice returned through the speakers.
“Five minutes.”
Claire looked at the ceiling.
The voice continued.
“Bring the boss to Conference Room C.”
Adrian frowned.
“The boss?”
Claire turned toward Simon.
For the first time that night, Simon looked genuinely afraid.
Not of Adrian.
Of her.
The room door unlocked.
Daniel looked at the badge on the table.
“The relay just shut off.”
Claire stared at Simon.
“You know what ‘the boss’ means.”
Simon’s face revealed nothing.
Adrian stepped between them.
May you like
“Then he can explain it in Conference Room C.”
DON'T WAKE THE BOSS
