nst the wall covered in names and connections. Brenda, Jake, Henderson. They were pawns. The real players were still in the shadows. Why my house? I pulled up the county zoning maps

y piece of a much large

uiet. It was an automated notific

irmation of Yo

thanking me for my years of service and confirming that my resignation, effective immedia

't res

upervisor, a man named Peterson.

il this morning. Everything okay?" His voice was l

oice flat. "I'm in the middle of a family

have the email right here. Sent from your account yesterday evening. It wa

this. The smear campaign wasn't just public; it was

lock down my account and start a trace on that e

nsion. "Maybe you're just stressed. People do things they don't

core architecture of that company. I am a major share

y booked the first fligh

me than anywhere else. But today, it felt alien. The receptionist looked at me with pity. Colleagues who would normally greet me with a handshak

escorted up

thout knocking. He sat behind his

is highly

he email,"

e sentiment was all wrong. It spoke of a secret family I had to return to, of responsibilities I coul

said, my voice dangerousl

on said, refusing to meet my eyes. "It c

e last 48 hours. Show me the timestamp of the last login and the IP address it came from.

There's been... talk. About your situation back home. The s

hey were using the smear campaign as justification.

art of a coordinated attack agains

screen. I still had back-end access through a personal failsaf

itted to a private server just last night, work for our next-gen project. "These are timestam

narrative that I had just proven false. The air in the room was thick with his betrayal. He wasn't a mas