Chapter 10 - Blackout
Emergency lighting came on three seconds later.
That was enough time for Daniel Voss to disappear.
Security teams searched stairwells and elevators.
His radio was found beside the west service corridor.
His jacket was discovered two floors down.
Daniel knew Meridian Tower better than anyone.
He had designed much of its executive security.
If he wanted to vanish inside the building, he knew exactly how.
Cassidy stood inside the command center while backup security took control.
Julian and Owen remained under guard.
Margaret looked furious.
“How long has Daniel been compromised?”
“We don’t know that he is.”
Margaret stared at her.
“His officer disappears during a blackout after being accused of hiding a stolen badge report.”
“I said we don’t know.”
Cassidy had learned one thing during the last forty-eight hours.
Every obvious answer had been prepared for her.
Brendan wanted her to suspect Owen.
Someone wanted her to suspect Julian.
Now someone wanted Daniel to look guilty.
Cassidy asked engineers for the blackout logs.
The power interruption had not been random.
A maintenance override had been activated remotely.
User account.
M-4.
Again.
“Someone keeps using the same credential.”
Margaret said.
“Because they want us looking at a credential instead of a person.”
Cassidy replied.
Marcus entered carrying a folder.
“I found something else.”
He displayed the Bellweather payments.
The secondary authorization labeled M-4 did not originate from Meridian’s current security architecture.
The digital certificate was nine years old.
It belonged to a retired executive access system.
“Who had M-4 nine years ago?”
Cassidy asked.
Marcus pulled up the historical directory.
Four names appeared.
M-1.
Evelyn Hart.
M-2.
Margaret Chen.
M-3.
Julian Cross.
M-4.
Thomas Price.
Owen Price’s father.
Owen went pale.
“My father died seven years ago.”
Cassidy turned toward him.
Thomas Price had served as Hart Meridian’s CFO under Evelyn.
After his death, Owen inherited none of his corporate privileges.
At least officially.
“Could his credential still function?”
Marcus nodded.
“If someone preserved the encryption key.”
Owen sank into a chair.
“My father kept paper backups of everything.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Cassidy studied him.
Thomas Price had been one of Evelyn Hart’s closest advisers.
If his old credential was being used now, the conspiracy might have started long before Brendan’s affair.
Then Daniel Voss walked into the command center.
Two guards immediately raised their hands toward him.
Daniel lifted both palms.
“Don’t.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“Where were you?”
“Following the person who killed the lights.”
“Who?”
Daniel placed a small black device on the desk.
“A contractor using a cloned maintenance badge.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“You let him go?”
Daniel looked at Cassidy.
“I followed him to the parking garage.”
“And?”
“He left this in a trash bin.”
The black device was an encrypted hardware token.
Marcus connected it to an isolated terminal.
One directory appeared.
THOMAS PRICE ARCHIVE.
Owen stopped breathing for a moment.
Cassidy opened the first file.
It contained a letter written by Thomas Price six weeks before his death.
The first line was addressed to Evelyn Hart.
May you like
The second line changed everything.
EVELYN, SOMEONE IS QUIETLY PREPARING TO REMOVE CASSIDY FROM SUCCESSION.
