"Several million dollars, spread across different payments. I don't know the final total."
"Who approved the invoices?"
"Some were approved by Derek Voss's company. Others passed through a municipal procurement account. The names on the approval forms included people who had no authority to approve those purchases."
"Did the mayor know?"
"I don't know. I never saw a document proving that he knew the equipment was missing."
Riker nodded.
"Keep going."
Maria explained that Hargrove had created a separate archive of the original engineering records after discovering discrepancies in the official files.
He had intended to preserve the documents in case the city conducted an independent audit.
The archive contained signed inspection reports, equipment specifications, delivery receipts, contractor correspondence, and a history of changes made to the project documentation.
The authentication system was designed to prove that the files had not been altered after they were archived.
The small device Maria gave Leo contained the credential required to verify the archive.
Without it, someone could still read some of the files if they obtained access, but they could not establish that the records were authentic using the archive's verification system.
"Why did you hide it in Leo's shoe?" Riker asked.
Maria looked down.
"Because I didn't know who I could trust."
She explained that she had initially hidden the device in her apartment.
Then she discovered that someone had entered the building while she was at work.
Nothing valuable had been taken.
But a drawer containing her project notes had been opened.
She moved the device to her car.
Two days later, she noticed that the glove compartment had been searched.
She began to suspect that someone was looking for the authentication key.
"I didn't want to frighten Leo," she said. "I told him it was a spare computer part. I thought if I kept it with him, nobody would think to look there."
"Why not give it to the sheriff?"
"I tried."
Riker waited.
Maria explained that she had contacted an officer she knew through her work.
She had asked for a confidential meeting and said she possessed evidence of possible fraud involving the municipal infrastructure project.
The officer had arranged to meet her the following morning.
But before the meeting, Darren discovered a message on her phone.
He confronted her.
She told him that the message concerned work.
He did not believe her.
"He said I was making trouble for people who could destroy us," Maria whispered. "He said I didn't understand how powerful they were."
"Was Darren working with Voss?"
Maria nodded slowly.
"He had been doing contract work for Voss Industrial Logistics. He moved equipment, delivered documents, and sometimes drove people to locations around the city. At first, I thought it was ordinary transport work."
"When did you realize something was wrong?"
"When he began asking questions about Daniel. He wanted to know where Daniel lived, whether I still had contact with him, and whether I had kept any copies of the project files."
"Did you tell him about the device?"
"No."
Maria swallowed.
"But he knew I had something. He found a note in my bag that mentioned the archive. I told him it was an old work issue, but he didn't believe me."
She looked toward the door.
"After that, he started following me. He checked my phone. He wanted to know where I went after work. He said I was making him look suspicious."
"Did he hurt you?"
Maria did not answer immediately.
Then she nodded.
"He grabbed my arm once. He shoved me against a door another time. I thought he was angry because he was frightened, but it got worse."
Riker's expression hardened, but he kept his voice calm.
"Did you report it?"
"No. I was ashamed. I thought I could leave before things became dangerous."
She closed her eyes.
"That was a mistake."
Riker shook his head.
"You were trying to survive a situation you didn't fully understand. The responsibility belongs to the people who hurt you."
Maria looked at him for a long moment.
Then she continued.
"The night before I disappeared, Darren told me he had to make a delivery to the old factory. He said it was equipment for a municipal inspection. I asked why he was going there after hours, and he became angry."
"Did he tell you who he was meeting?"
"He said Martin Vale would be there."
Riker remembered the silver ring.
"What happened the next day?"
Maria explained that she had gone to work early and attempted to copy several documents from the municipal archive.
She discovered that her access credentials had been disabled.
When she contacted the information technology department, an administrator told her the change had been requested by a senior contractor.
She suspected that someone had discovered her investigation.
She took the authentication device from its hiding place and gave it to Leo before school.
She told him to keep it safe.
Then she went to meet Hargrove.
But she never arrived.
Instead, Martin Vale and two other men intercepted her near the railway station.
They took her phone, forced her into a vehicle, and brought her to the maintenance building.
"They kept asking where the key was," Maria said. "I told them I didn't have it."
"Did they believe you?"
"No. They thought I had hidden it somewhere and would tell them if they frightened me enough."
Riker looked at her injured wrist.
"What happened after that?"
"They moved me several times. I heard them talking about the midnight deadline. They said that if the archive couldn't be authenticated, the city would have no choice but to accept Northstar's emergency control proposal."
"Why midnight?"
"Because the emergency authorization was scheduled to take effect at midnight, unless the city suspended it."
Riker stared at her.
"Who scheduled it?"
"The amendment had been prepared weeks earlier. The final activation was supposed to happen during the infrastructure test."
"Was the test real?"
"The utility had scheduled a legitimate maintenance test, but Northstar changed the scope without proper approval. They wanted the monitoring system disconnected while they replaced the equipment records."
"Replaced them with what?"
"Documents showing that the emergency generator had passed inspection."
Riker leaned forward.
"Was someone planning to damage the system?"
Maria hesitated.
"I don't know whether they intended to cause a physical failure. But I heard Derek say that the city needed to experience a serious enough incident to justify the emergency order."
"Did he say what kind of incident?"
"He mentioned a communications failure and a false alarm at the reservoir. He said the public would believe it was caused by an outside threat."
"And the motorcycle attack?"
Maria nodded.
"They planned to blame the Steel Saw riders. They knew your group had been riding near the mountain road. They wanted people to believe you were preparing to attack the infrastructure."
Riker felt the cold anger return.
"Why us?"
"Because you were visible. Because people already had opinions about the club. And because Derek believed that if the city saw hundreds of motorcycles near the reservoir, the mayor could declare an emergency and request immediate assistance from Northstar."
"That would have given them control over the facility."
"Yes."
Maria lowered her eyes.
"They weren't trying to steal the reservoir. They wanted the emergency order to conceal the records long enough for the contract payments to clear and the original documents to disappear."
Riker sat back.
The pieces finally fit together.
The missing equipment.
The false inspection reports.
The unauthorized monitoring access.
The mayor's premature statement.
The attempt to associate the Steel Saw riders with an attack.
The emergency access provision.
Project Lantern had been designed to transform a financial and administrative crime into a public-safety emergency.