She opened her email.Vivian’s message sat near the top:Outstanding work, Carlene.The label appreciates your precision and dedication.You’ve proven your worth on this one.
It should have been reassuring.Instead, her gut twisted.Vivian never used compliments unless she needed something.
Carlene’s cursor hovered over another new email, this one from Bret.The subject line read:FYI, they’re cleaning house.
Her pulse kicked up.She clicked it open.
Heads-up.The label just removed all external access to the content server.My credentials got wiped this morning.Yours probably will too.Something’s shifting, and they’re not saying why.
She reread it twice, her heart thudding louder each time.
“Carlene?”Jami’s voice broke through her thoughts.
She looked up.He was standing near the bar, guitar slung over his shoulder, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans that looked too good on him for her to think straight.
“You okay?”he asked.
“Yeah,” she said quickly, forcing a smile.“Just catching up on some emails.”
He tilted his head.“You sure?”
“Positive.Go finish your sound check.”
He studied her a moment longer, then nodded and went back to the stage area.
When he was gone, she reread Bret’s message again, then checked her credentials.Access denied.
Her stomach dropped.
Someone had locked her out.
She tried the backup portal.Same result.Even the mirrored drive she’d built last night wouldn’t sync.
Her hands trembled slightly as she typed a new query, searching the public-facing feeds for file changes.Everything looked perfect.Too perfect.The data logs were scrubbed clean, as if no one had ever tampered with them.
“Damn it,” she whispered.
Tony walked by.“Something wrong?”
She snapped the laptop halfway shut.“No, just tired.How’s the sound?”
“Good.We go live in twenty.”
When he walked away, she exhaled slowly.She’d learned long ago that panic never helped.Whoever was tightening control around the files didn’t want her looking deeper.That meant the evidence she’d pulled last night was more valuable than she realized.
If they were trying to erase the trail, she needed to secure her copies in a safer place.
She opened a hidden directory and started transferring the mirrored backups to an external drive.The process crawled at a snail’s pace, each percentage tick taunting her.She glanced toward the crew.Cameras were rolling, people were laughing, Jami was tuning his guitar, and she was trying to keep her breathing steady while everything inside her screamed that something was wrong.
Her phone buzzed.A message from Vivian.
After the show, let’s debrief privately.You’ve earned some recognition.I’d like to discuss your next project.
Carlene stared at the text.It sounded friendly.Too friendly.And Vivian hadn't hired her for this job; Tony and Jami had.So what did that even mean?
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.She typed,
Of course.Looking forward to it.
