April stepped out, pale under the fluorescent lights.
Jax stood up so quickly his chair rolled back and bumped the rack with a soft thunk.
He rolled his shoulders once, forcing himself to breathe.
“Okay. Come on, April.”
April
THEY REACHED THE REINFORCED STEEL DOOR, and Jax was already there. Black hoodie. Rings on four fingers. A circuit-board tattoo disappearing under his collar.
"Finally," Jax said, pushing off the doorframe. His eyes swept over April with an intensity that felt less like looking and more like cataloging. Then his gaze flicked to Arthur, traveling up. And up again.
"Love the intimidation cosplay," he said. "But you can't come in."
Arthur didn't move. "I'll stay."
Jax lifted his tablet. "Server room. Sensitive equipment. Also: you’re hot."
Arthur's stare went flat.
"It's not a come-on, it's a temperature fact. You breathe near rack four and the alarms call the police." He tapped the screen. "Door locks from the inside. She's safer in there than out there with—" He gestured vaguely at the hallway.
Arthur's jaw tightened and he gave April a look.
She nodded.
With a grunt that sounded like a tectonic plate shifting, Arthur stepped back to lean against the opposite wall, arms crossed.
Jax keyed in. They entered and the door hissed shut behind them, magnetic locks engaged with a loud, final clack.
The room was freezing, filled with the blue glow of blinking LEDs and the roar of cooling fans. It smelled like cold metal and electricity.
Jax was already moving. Fingers flying across a keyboard, eyes bouncing between three different monitors like he was conducting an orchestra made of data.
"First thing, we lock you down.” He pulled up a terminal. "End all sessions. Force re-auth. New password. New MFA."
April watched him work, windows populating and closing. Her eyes wandered across the room. Then caught on one of the other monitors. A dashboard. Heat map. Red clusters. Tabs across the top.
"What is that?" she asked.
Jax's fingers paused for half a second. "That's Chad. I've been tracking him for eight months."
April moved closer. The dashboard glowed angry red.
CHAD STERLING - COMPLIANCE TRACKING
Last Updated: 14 minutes ago
| PASSWORD HYGIENE |?CRITICAL |
| POLICY VIOLATIONS | 17 ACTIVE |
| IMPACT RADIUS | GROWING |
| SECURITY TRAINING | OVERDUE (47 DAYS) |
| PHISHING TEST RESULTS | FAILED (3 OF 4) |
