“Remy?”
I blink, realizing Ansel has been talking.
“Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you needed anything for the implementation rollout. Resources, additional personnel, authorization to override departmental pushback?”
“I should be fine. Most departments have been cooperative so far. IT is dragging their feet a bit, but I think that’s more about workload than resistance.”
“I’ll talk to them.” Enzo makes a note on his tablet. “They’ll cooperate.”
“Diplomatically, please.” Ansel doesn’t sound hopeful.
Enzo just shrugs. “Diplomatically. Got it.”
But his tone suggests he will be anything but diplomatic.
Damon stands abruptly. “If we’re done here, I have meetings to prep for.”
“We’re done.” Ansel’s dismissal is clear.
Damon leaves without another word. The tension in the room eases immediately.
Breck moves to take the seat Damon vacated. “So, aside from terrorizing IT departments, what’s your priority today?”
“Finishing the trace on the backdoor access.” I pull up my notes. “I’ve narrowed it down to a three-day window when themodification was made. If I can isolate the exact timestamp and cross-reference it with employee access logs?—”
“You’ll have a name,” Enzo finishes my sentence.
“Exactly.”
“How confident are you?” Ansel leans forward slightly.
“Seventy percent. Maybe seventy-five.” I meet his gaze. “Whoever did this was careful, but not perfect. They left traces. I need to find them.”
“And if you can’t?”
“Then I’ll find another angle. There’s always another angle.”
Ansel nods slowly. “Keep us updated. If you hit any roadblocks, let us know immediately.”
“Will do.”
I head back to my office with renewed determination. The Chicago deal is signed, I have the full support of the executive team, and I’m close—so close—to cracking this breach.
Four hours later, I’m staring at my screen with my heart pounding and a grin I can’t suppress.
I found it.
The access logs, the timestamp, and the exact moment someone used compromised credentials to insert that backdoor. And more importantly, I found the pattern: a series of minor, almost invisible modifications made over the course of weeks, all leading up to the main breach.
It’s elegant, in a terrifying sort of way. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing, how to hide their tracks, how to make each change look innocuous enough that it wouldn’t trigger alerts.
But they made one mistake. They accessed the system twice from the same IP address. That IP address traces back to a specific location, a specific device.
I have them.
My phone buzzes, startling me out of my focus.
