“Doing what?”
“Meeting someone.”
“Who?”
Sarah placed a photograph on the desk.
Marcus looked at it.
Richard Halstead.
Helen Crawford.
And a third man.
Samuel Voss.
The three were sitting together in a private restaurant.
Marcus stared at the image.
“Helen told me she was on my side.”
“She may be.”
“Then why is she meeting Voss?”
“We don't know.”
Marcus looked at the timestamp.
The photograph had been taken two days earlier.
Before the train incident.
Before the investigation.
Before everything exploded.
“Call her.”
Sarah did.
Helen answered.
Marcus took the phone.
“Helen.”
“Yes?”
“Why were you in Zurich?”
Silence.
“With Voss.”
Another silence.
“You said you wanted to help me.”
“I do.”
“Then tell me why you met him.”
Helen's voice trembled.
“Because I was trying to stop him.”
“By meeting him privately?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I knew you wouldn't trust me.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“You were right.”
Helen sighed.
“He wanted something.”
“What?”
“Control of Reed Systems.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“He already tried.”
“No.”
Helen's voice became urgent.
“He wants something bigger.”
“What?”
“The algorithm.”
Marcus froze.
Reed Systems' most valuable asset was not its software platform.
It was a predictive transportation algorithm Marcus had developed years earlier.
The system could predict failures across interconnected transportation networks.
Airports.
Railways.
Ports.
Highways.
Governments had called it revolutionary.
Marcus had always refused to sell complete control of it.
Now he understood why.
If someone controlled the algorithm, they could influence entire transportation systems.
“Why does Voss want it?”
Helen answered quietly.
“Because whoever controls the algorithm controls the infrastructure.”
Marcus stood.
“How much does he know?”
“Everything.”
Marcus looked at Sarah.
“Can he access it?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“We checked.”
Marcus frowned.
“Check again.”
Sarah immediately left.
Helen continued speaking.
“Marcus.”
“Yes?”
“There's something I haven't told you.”
Marcus waited.
“Twenty years ago, Voss wasn't trying to buy your company.”
Marcus frowned.
“What then?”
“He was trying to make you dependent on him.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed you would eventually discover what the algorithm could do.”
Marcus felt a chill.
“What can it do?”
Helen hesitated.
“It doesn't only predict failures.”
“What else?”
“It can identify vulnerabilities.”
Marcus stared at the window.
A system capable of finding weak points in transportation networks could potentially identify where a single disruption would cause maximum damage.
That knowledge could be catastrophic.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you weren't ready.”
Marcus's voice became cold.
“Don't make decisions about what I'm ready to know.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You don't get to decide that.”
Silence.
Marcus finally asked:
“Where are you now?”
“Zurich.”
“Stay there.”
“Marcus—”
“Stay there until I arrive.”
The call ended.
Marcus looked at Sarah.
She had returned.
Her face was pale.
“What?”
She placed a tablet on the desk.
“Someone accessed the algorithm.”
Marcus stared at her.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“How?”
“We don't know.”
“Was anything copied?”
“We're checking.”
Marcus walked toward the server room.
Sarah followed.
They entered a restricted facility beneath the headquarters.
Rows of servers filled the room.
A security engineer was waiting.
“Show me.”
He pulled up the access logs.
Marcus watched.
An encrypted account had accessed the algorithm.
The account was registered to a senior executive.
Marcus recognized the name.
His chief technology officer.
Marcus turned.
“Where is he?”
The engineer checked.
“He left the building three hours ago.”
“Where did he go?”
“We don't know.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Another trusted executive.
Another betrayal.
But then he noticed something strange.
The access had occurred using Marcus's own authorization code.
He stared at the screen.
“That code hasn't been used in five years.”
The engineer looked confused.
“Then how did they get it?”
Marcus looked at Sarah.
“They didn't.”
“What?”
“They didn't steal my password.”
He pointed at the screen.
“They copied an old access key.”
Sarah frowned.
“From where?”
Marcus remembered something.
The original prototype.
The laboratory.
The first server.
The old infrastructure had been decommissioned years ago.
Or so he thought.
“Take me to the original lab.”
Sarah stared at him.
“It's been closed for years.”
“Then we're reopening it.”
They drove through the city before sunrise.
The old laboratory was located beneath a building Reed Systems no longer owned.
Marcus unlocked the rusted entrance.
Dust covered everything.
Old computers.
Broken monitors.
Stacks of documents.
Photographs from the company's earliest days.
Marcus walked to the back room.
There was an old server cabinet.
He opened it.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a small blinking light.
Sarah stared.
“That's impossible.”
Marcus reached toward it.
A screen suddenly turned on.
A single message appeared.
WELCOME BACK, MARCUS.
He froze.
Then another message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST ALONE.
Marcus stared at the screen.
The final message appeared beneath it.
NOW THEY KNOW YOU REMEMBER.
The screen went black.
Marcus stepped backward.
Sarah whispered:
“Who is they?”
Marcus looked at the dead monitor.
“I think that's the question we've been avoiding.”
Outside, the first light of morning appeared.
But Marcus knew the real darkness had only just begun.
Chapter 10
Marcus stood motionless in the abandoned laboratory.
The old monitor had gone completely dark.
For several seconds, neither he nor Sarah spoke.
Then Sarah whispered, “What does that mean?”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“I don't know.”