Chapter 6 - The Caller
Clara let the phone ring three times before answering.“Who is this?”For a moment, there was only static. Then Julian said, “You shouldn’t be doing this.”Nina reached for the recording device on the table. Clara placed the call on speaker.“Doing what?”“Turning everyone against my family.”“Your family turned itself against me.”“You don’t understand what they’re capable of.”Clara laughed without humor. “I understand exactly what they’re capable of. I heard the cane.”Julian’s breathing changed.“Where are you?” he asked.“You already know I’m alive.”“I need to see you.”“Why?”“Because there are things I can explain.”“You watched your father break my leg.”“I was afraid.”“So was I.”The line went silent.Nina wrote something on a pad: Keep him talking.Clara leaned back. “Did you plan the attack?”“No.”“Did you know they were coming?”“I knew they wanted the papers signed.”“That isn’t what I asked.”“I thought they would argue with you.”“You thought your father would argue with a cane?”Julian did not answer.The call ended.Agent Cho, who had been listening from the doorway, said, “That’s useful.”“He didn’t confess.”“He admitted knowledge. Context matters.”Elise sat at the foot of Clara’s bed. “He knows about the original server.”“What original server?”Elise looked at Nina.Nina’s expression tightened. “You didn’t tell her?”“I didn’t know if she should hear it yet.”Clara’s anger rose. “Hear what?”Nina opened a secure file. “When you founded Vanguard, you created an archive called the Lantern. It stored original contracts, route maps, ownership records, and early financial ledgers. You moved the archive to a private server after the company’s first cyberattack.”“I remember the Lantern.”“Julian had access.”“Only to the business files.”“The archive was divided into two partitions. One held ordinary records. The other held files you marked for succession and emergency disclosure.”Clara stared at her. “How do you know?”“Because you gave me access instructions six years ago.”“I did?”“You were preparing for a hostile takeover. You told me that if anyone ever tried to remove you from Vanguard, I should open the second partition.”Clara searched her memory. Six years earlier, after a competitor had tried to buy the company, she had spent a week in Nina’s office. She remembered passwords, envelopes, and a promise made over cold noodles. She did not remember the details.“Where is it?”“The server was moved.”“By whom?”Elise answered. “Julian.”Clara looked toward her.“He requested a full archive migration eighteen months ago,” Elise said. “He told me you had approved it.”“I didn’t.”“I suspected that. But the approval carried your digital signature.”Agent Cho took out a notebook. “We need to know where the server went.”“It was supposed to be in the company’s disaster-recovery facility,” Elise said. “But the rack number was false. The physical unit disappeared.”“And Julian knows where it is,” Clara said.Nina nodded. “The message you received may have been a warning. Someone wants the Lantern found before investigators recover it.”The mystery was no longer only about fake invoices. The hidden archive might contain evidence of years of corporate decisions, acquisition attempts, and private communications. It might show who had altered Vanguard’s future and when.A nurse entered with medication. Clara did not look away from Nina.“Can we trace the phone call?”Agent Cho’s mouth tightened. “We can try. It came through a relay.”“Try harder.”“We are.”After he left, Elise said, “There’s something else.”Clara’s patience snapped. “If you have another secret, tell me now.”Elise absorbed the blow. “The night before your attack, Julian met Malcolm Rusk in the underground garage.”“You saw them?”“I saw their cars. I saw Rusk leave with a hard case.”“What was in it?”“I don’t know.”Clara turned to the rain-streaked window. “You keep giving us pieces.”“Because I’m afraid of the whole picture.”Clara understood then that fear did not excuse Elise, but it explained her. Fear had made Julian silent. Fear had made Elise compromise. Fear had made Clara build hidden cameras instead of asking for help.She looked at the red emergency button beside her bed.“Find the server,” she said. “And find out what was in that case.”Nina closed the file.“We will.”Clara shook her head. “No. We’re going to.”
