When Jack arrived at CyberTech, the entire building was alive with frantic energy. Suits and engineers darted through the corridors, their faces etched with urgency as they worked to contain the breach that had thrown the corporation into chaos. Jack pushed his way through the commotion, heading straight for the lab.

  Inside, Naomi was already addressing her teams, her voice sharp and commanding.

  “…We need this contained immediately,” she snapped, pacing in front of a holo-terminal. “Nobody leaves until we’re in the clear. Each team needs to isolate their sections of the database and ensure the virus hasn’t latched onto anything critical. It’s polymorphic, so stay sharp. It’s going to keep changing.”

  Jack stepped through the door and caught the tail end of her words. “Polymorphic?” he repeated, his brows furrowing. “That’s pretty sophisticated for a random breach.”

  Naomi’s gaze flicked to him, her expression serious—but Jack didn’t miss the flicker of unease in her eyes, gone almost as quickly as it appeared. She was hiding something.

  “It’s not random,” she said, her voice steady. “It’s Federation.” Her tone carried conviction, but Jack could tell there was more she wasn’t saying. “Grunt, take this.” She grabbed a small data cube from the console and tossed it to him.

  Jack caught it smoothly, inspecting it as she continued. “Insert it into the holo-terminal connected to the super core. It’ll suspend all the data into the cube and lock it behind an impenetrable firewall. You find anything you let me know immediately.”

  He gave her a curt nod and turned toward the corridor, slipping past the flood of engineers dispersing to their tasks. Bella gave him a tired nod as he passed. Her clothes were wrinkled, her hair disheveled, and she looked like she’d been pulled from her bed. Jack offered her a quick smile before moving on, his mind already focused on the task ahead.

  As Jack stepped into the data core room, the atmosphere shifted. The air was cooler, and the steady hum of the core reverberated softly, filling the stillness. The massive silver sphere rotated slowly, its surface catching the faint glow of the holo-terminals surrounding it. Jack moved purposefully to the main terminal and inserted the data cube into a slot along its side.

  Artemis materialized beside him, his expression unusually intent.

  “Master, the file,” the AI said, his tone low and urgent.

  “I know,” Jack replied, brushing him off as he keyed in a command. “Just give me a second.”

  “No,” Artemis said, stepping closer and lowering his voice further. “The file, Master. If you suspend everything in the data cube now, you’ll lose your chance to retrieve it.”

  Jack froze, his mind racing as he looked around the room to confirm they were alone. His eyes met Artemis’s, and after a tense moment, he nodded. Quickly, he pulled out his hand tablet, connecting it to the holo-terminal with a series of cables. His fingers flew across the screen as he navigated the labyrinthine data banks.

  The file wasn’t hard to find—it stood out, heavily encrypted and carefully hidden. Jack initiated the file cracker, watching as the encryption unraveled line by line. His pulse quickened as the download began. With the data secured, he routed the file through a wireless signal directly to his omni chip and, by extension, Artemis. A pang of guilt gnawed at him, sharp and unwelcome. It felt dishonest, a betrayal of the principles he’d once held tightly to—but he shoved the feeling aside, burying it beneath the weight of necessity. Now wasn’t the time for doubt.

  “I’ve received the data, Master,” Artemis confirmed. “Beginning trace destruction protocols now. I’m also looping the security cameras with an old feed.”

  Jack glanced at him, surprised. “You can loop the cameras?”

  Artemis gave a slight nod. “I’ve learned to exploit gaps in their systems. Their surveillance isn’t as sophisticated as they’d like to believe.”

  Impressed but wary, Jack unplugged his hand tablet, slipping it back into his jacket. Artemis was evolving faster than Jack had anticipated, and while it was useful, it was also unnerving. Pushing the thought aside, Jack turned back to the terminal and reinitiated the data cube’s suspension protocol.

  That’s when something caught his eye.

  The virus that had triggered the breach wasn’t dormant—it was active, and it had adapted. Lines of code scrolled across the screen as the virus jumped from one segment of the system to another, attempting to infiltrate the data cube itself. Jack’s breath hitched as he realized how sophisticated it was. This wasn’t a standard breach. This was something far more dangerous—and intelligent.

  Jack’s hands moved quickly over the holo-terminal, isolating the lines of code as they darted across various files like a living organism. The virus was fast—almost too fast—but Jack managed to cut off its path just before it accessed the cube’s firewall. The system flashed a warning: Intrusion Detected: Breach Contained.

  For a moment, he exhaled in relief, but his reprieve was short-lived. The virus suddenly shifted, its code fragmenting as it attempted to destroy itself as his screen flashed. Jack’s instincts kicked in, and he initiated a capture routine, managing to snag part of the trace code just before the virus jumped again and disappeared into the system.

  “Gotcha,” Jack muttered under his breath. He leaned closer, pulling up the captured fragment on the terminal, his fingers flying over the controls. The trace code was intricate, its pathways a maze of encrypted signals and rerouted origins. Jack furrowed his brow as he worked, unraveling its layers.

  “Master,” Artemis said, his tone serious. “Do you need assistance?”

  “Not yet,” Jack replied, his focus locked on the fragment. “This isn’t any Federation code I’ve ever seen. There’s no military signature, no known encryption patterns associated with them. This… this is something else.”

  He paused, his breath catching as the realization dawned on him. The virus hadn’t come from an external source—it had originated within CyberTech’s own system. The pathways, the subroutines—they all pointed inward, not outward.

  “Artemis,” Jack said slowly, his voice low. “Confirm this for me. Does the trace code indicate an internal origin?”

  Artemis’s holographic form flickered as he processed the request. After a moment, he nodded. “Confirmed, Master. The breach originated within CyberTech itself. Specifically, the code was launched from a restricted access node only senior techs would have access to.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  Jack’s stomach churned. This wasn’t just a sophisticated virus—it was an inside job. He clenched his fists, his mind racing. Why would CyberTech stage its own breach? And why lie about it being Federation? Perhaps CyberTech was in the dark about this as well and somebody was attempting a sabotage.

  Jack opened a comm to Naomi. “I found something. You’d better get in here. Fast.”

  An insider wasn’t just troubling—it was dangerous. The implications churned in Jack’s mind, each worse than the last. Why would someone initiate an internal breach? The motives were unclear. It could be an attempt to cover something up, or perhaps someone trying to steal sensitive data—just as he had. That gnawing sense of guilt crept up again, but he shoved it aside, focusing on the problem at hand.

  The only clue was the breach’s origin: a senior tech’s console. But that hardly narrowed it down. A skilled hacker—or even someone with rudimentary tech knowledge—could remotely access such a terminal. It could be anyone, anywhere, operating under any number of agendas. And without more evidence, pinning down the culprit felt like chasing shadows.

  When Naomi arrived in the data core room, her disheveled hair and the lines etched on her forehead betrayed her stress. She looked worn down, and the impatient gesture she made for Jack to start talking didn’t go unnoticed.

  “Look at this,” Jack said, motioning to a line of data he’d isolated on the holo-terminal. “Back at the naval academy, we studied Federation source codes for cyberattacks—methods, strategies, all of it. Polymorphic attacks like this match their tactics on the surface, but here’s the problem: this code originated from inside CyberTech.”

  Naomi crossed her arms, a flicker of unease flashing across her face. “Okay,” she said cautiously, “then maybe we’ve got a mole. Or they breached us through another access point.”

  Something about her tone was off. Jack noticed the momentary fear in her eyes, and it set off alarm bells in his mind. “Artemis,” he said, ignoring her sudden defensiveness, “scan the rest of the system. Look for any breaches within CyberTech’s mainframes.”

  “He isn’t authorized to do that,” Naomi snapped, stepping toward him. But Artemis had already begun, summoning a holographic display in front of them and running the scan.

  “Nothing, sir,” Artemis reported after a moment. “The code definitively originates from within CyberTech. There are no external breaches detected, nor is there an initial breach signature. This attack was launched from inside these walls.”

  Naomi’s composure cracked as she stepped closer to Jack, her voice sharp and urgent. “Listen to me, Jack.” Her eyes locked onto his, and her tone carried a dangerous edge. “The government says it’s Federation. CyberTech says it’s Federation. The media is saying it’s Federation. For your sake—and mine—it was the fucking Federation.”

  “What’s got you so spooked?” Jack challenged.

  Naomi stiffened, recoiling slightly before anger flared across her face. She glanced at the door, then back at Jack. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, Jack. There are things here you don’t dig into. Not if you value your life.”

  “What things?” Jack demanded, his tone hardening. “What things have you so scared you’re ready to piss yourself over this?”

  Naomi glared at him, her jaw tightening. Before she could respond, Artemis interjected. “Miss Voss, the source code originated from a senior tech’s console in the lower levels. If there’s a mole inside CyberTech, wouldn’t you want to root them out?”

  Naomi’s frustration boiled over, her voice snapping like a whip. “I’m going to say this once—let it go, Jack. Forget this ever happened.”

  “What is Eagle Eye?” Jack pressed, his gaze boring into her.

  Her expression faltered, just for a fraction of a second, but it was enough. That flicker of recognition told Jack she knew exactly what he was talking about. Fear gnawed at the edges of his thoughts. Who had her so terrified? What kind of game had he stumbled into? A cold dread settled in his gut, the kind that came just before the first shots of battle. This wasn’t just corporate politics. This was darker—far darker—and Jack could feel it in his bones.

  Naomi opened her mouth to respond but quickly shut it as the door hissed open, and Kwame entered. That ever-present, manufactured smile spread across his face as he strode in, his predatory gaze sweeping over the room. He gave Artemis a wary glance before stopping in the center of the room, his eyes flicking briefly to the suspended, rotating sphere at the core of the system.

  “Can we help you, Mr. Osei?” Jack asked, his voice calm but edged with steel.

  “Perhaps,” Kwame said, still staring at the rotating sphere. Jack and Naomi shared a glance.

  “When I was a boy,” Kwame began, his tone deceptively calm as his eyes swept over Jack and Naomi, “my father was a powerful man. He was on the cusp of becoming a dominate figure of the midland territories here in what we used to call America. He was close in council to the Terran Lord, Aleron’s father. A proud, strong leader. He had won countless battles and was feared by all who stood against the Empire. I believe, with every fiber of my being, that if the head of House Osei had rose to higher power, he would have ushered us into a better world.” He paused, his gaze growing distant. “Do you know what happened to my father?”

  “Obviously not,” Naomi snapped, her voice edged with impatience.

  Kwame’s eyes flicked to her, unbothered by her tone. “He was killed,” he said evenly. “Not by an enemy on the battlefield, not by illness or chance. No, my father was murdered by someone he trusted—someone he had taken in, fed, clothed, and given shelter. A man he called family. My father loved that boy like a son.”

  He let the words hang in the air for a moment, his expression hardening. “And that boy betrayed him. Sold him out for the promise of power—an elevated position in the house that he would never live to see.”

  Naomi crossed her arms, her irritation mounting. “What’s your point, Kwame?”

  Kwame’s smile faded, his sharp gaze locking onto Jack like a predator sizing up its prey. “A data transfer was initiated from this core,” he said, his voice dangerously smooth. “An unauthorized one. Strangely, there’s no record of it.”

  Naomi’s eyes darted to Jack for the briefest of moments, then back to Kwame. The movement didn’t escape Kwame’s notice. His smile sharpened, his voice cooling. “If something was taken, I would strongly advise returning it immediately.”

  “If you’re accusing me or my team of something, just spit it out, Kwame,” Naomi snapped, irritation and fear warring in her voice.

  Kwame ignored her, his full attention on Jack. “Mr. Lockley,” he said, his tone smooth but heavy with implication, “I’ve heard promising things about you. Let’s hope you don’t disappoint.”

  The tension in the room was palpable, the silence broken only by the soft hum of the core. The door hissed open again, and Amos and John walked in, laughing loudly.

  “…You bootlicker, I swear you’ve got the worst luck—” Amos was mid-sentence when he froze, throwing an arm out to stop John from walking further. Both men immediately registered the tension, their eyes moving from Kwame’s icy demeanor to Naomi’s pale, sweating face.

  “Should we come back?” John asked cautiously.

  “No, gentlemen,” Kwame said pleasantly, the smile on his face as sharp as a blade. “I was just leaving.” He took a step toward the door, then paused, turning back to Jack with an icy glint in his eyes. “The eagle will see all soon enough, Mr. Lockley.”

  With that, he strode out of the room, his footsteps echoing ominously. Jack’s heart pounded in his chest as he watched the man disappear through the door. He had dug himself into something far deeper than he’d anticipated, and now it was too late to turn back.

  Amos and John approached slowly, their concern evident in their furrowed brows and wary glances. “What the hell was that about?” John asked.

  “Nothing,” Naomi snapped. She turned to Jack, stepping closer, her tone dropping to a near whisper. “If you took something, put it back. Now.”

  Jack’s jaw tightened. “If you won’t tell me what’s going on, why the hell should I?”

  Naomi’s face twisted in frustration, her composure cracking under the weight of the moment. She shook her head, exhaling sharply before speaking again, this time more forcefully. “Go home, Jack,” she said, her voice almost gentle.

  When he hesitated, her voice rose, firm and unyielding. “Jack, you’re fired. Go home.”

  Amos and John stared in shock, their mouths slightly agape, the air thick with disbelief. Jack said nothing, his face unreadable as he turned and walked out of the room. Anger and fear churned within him, each feeding off the other. His instincts screamed at him to run, to get as far away as possible. But as the fear settled, his thoughts drifted to Sophia. Had he unknowingly dragged her into something dangerous? A cold knot of dread formed in his stomach, and for the first time, he wondered if his curiosity had cost them both more than he was prepared to pay.