Chapter 10 - The Signature
The gunshot struck the workbench inches from the module. Nora dropped behind a steel cabinet while Adrian tackled the nearest attacker. Luis hurled a socket wrench at the second man’s wrist, sending the pistol skidding across the floor.
Marcus ran for the rear exit, but Nora caught his coat.
“You’re not disappearing again.”
“I’m not dying for you!” he shouted.
“Neither did Ethan deserve to die for your paycheck.”
For a heartbeat, Marcus looked as if she had struck him. Then he pulled a keycard from his pocket and shoved it into her hand.
“Server room beneath the old test track,” he said. “The access code is the date your father opened the first shop. That’s where Richard keeps the original records.”
The attackers retreated when sirens sounded in the distance. Adrian had managed to send an emergency alert before the fight, but he did not trust the arriving officers. He gave Marcus’s statement to a federal investigator he had contacted weeks earlier, then insisted Nora and Luis leave before Richard’s people could turn the scene against them.
They drove to a small motel outside the city. There, Celeste was waiting in a room with no television and no decorations. She had left the family house with a single overnight bag and the old company ledger tucked under her arm.
Nora stood in the doorway, unable to speak.
Her mother looked at the bruises on Adrian’s face, the blood on Luis’s cuff, and the black module on the bed.
“I signed the second report,” Celeste said.
Nora felt the floor tilt. “You told the investigators Ethan made a mistake?”
“I signed what Richard put in front of me. He said the board would blame you for the crash if I refused. He said he had proof you approved the patch.”
“You knew it was false.”
“I knew something was wrong. I didn’t know how much.” Celeste’s eyes filled. “I was afraid of losing both my children.”
“You lost one anyway.”
Her mother flinched as if Nora had slapped her. For a long moment neither moved.
Then Celeste opened the ledger. “Your father created a second approval process after Richard tried to force through a dangerous recall. There are signatures here, dates, and a list of who had access to the original server.”
May you like
Nora scanned the page and stopped at a name she never expected to see.
Her own father had approved a secret account that was still active—and its last login was recorded for tomorrow morning.
