“Condition?”
“Conscious now.”
“Serious injuries but stable.”
The CEO leaned against the restaurant wall.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether you reached the meeting.”
“Then?”
“He told investigators he discovered an unauthorized login to executive-security route files this morning.”
“From whose credentials?”
“His.”
The CEO frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“He says his credentials were cloned.”
“He was driving to meet you when his SUV lost steering.”
Her blood went cold.
“Sabotage?”
“Unknown.”
“He also said he had ordered your car’s corporate tracking relay physically inspected three weeks ago because it was transmitting duplicate pings.”
The CEO closed her eyes.
The hidden module had not necessarily been installed three months ago legitimately.
It could have been substituted later.
Her attorney continued:
“The officer who approached you today?”
“Yes.”
“He is not answering investigators.”
“His company phone is off.”
“The black SUV was found abandoned at a warehouse.”
The CEO looked through restaurant window.
The single father was cutting pizza into smaller pieces for his daughter.
Her attorney said:
“Do not return to headquarters tonight.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere public.”
“Good.”
“Law enforcement wants to speak to the man who found the module.”
The CEO looked inside.
“He has a daughter.”
“That is not optional long-term.”
“I know.”
“Can he come tomorrow?”
“Probably.”
“Also, there is a bigger issue.”
The CEO closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“The module serial number was partially visible in your photo.”
“We ran it through a former Meridian archive.”
Her gaze moved back to the father.
“And?”
“It came from a prototype batch designed eleven years ago.”
“Who designed it?”
There was a pause.
“His team.”
The CEO went still.
“What?”
“Your tow-truck driver’s name appears on the original engineering group.”
For one second suspicion moved faster than reason.
The man had happened to find her.
He happened to recognize the module.
He had left the company that made it.
He knew how it worked.
Had he really just been driving by?
The attorney seemed to know what she was thinking.
“Do not accuse him.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were about to.”
The CEO looked through glass again.
The father was now helping his daughter with a fraction problem on the placemat.
The attorney continued:
“The batch was decommissioned.”
“Twenty-four units.”
“All supposedly destroyed after acquisition.”
“Supposedly?”
“Three inventory records missing.”
The CEO whispered:
“Send everything.”
She returned to the booth.
The father looked up.
Something in her face made him stop smiling.