Chapter 7 - The Second Attack on Horizon
The line went dead.
Police traced the call to an industrial district south of Seattle.
They found Samuel alive.
The gunshot had been fired into a wall.
A warning.
Grant had taken Samuel's wallet and phone but left him bound inside an abandoned office.
At the hospital, Samuel finally spoke.
“I betrayed David.”
Ethan stood beside the bed.
Eleanor remained near the door.
Samuel explained that in 2004, Grant approached him with an offer.
Money in exchange for access.
Samuel refused initially.
Then his wife became ill.
Medical bills mounted.
He gave Grant one password.
One.
Grant used it to penetrate David's research.
“I confessed to your father.”
“Did he forgive you?”
“Eventually.”
“Why didn't he fire you?”
“Because your father understood that one terrible choice didn't have to become an entire life.”
Ethan thought of Vanessa.
Samuel continued.
“He also knew Grant would believe I remained useful.”
“You became a double agent.”
“For two years.”
The missing notebook page was with Samuel.
He had hidden it in a safe deposit box.
It contained the original access records proving Grant stole proprietary technology.
Enough, perhaps, to reopen criminal charges.
But Grant wanted more than old research now.
He wanted modern Horizon.
Why?
Eleanor found the answer.
Grant had spent years investing through shell companies in one of Hale Orbital's largest competitors.
If Horizon launched successfully, billions in Grant-controlled assets would lose value.
Destroying Horizon was no longer revenge.
It was survival.
They returned to Hale Orbital.
For seventy-two hours Ethan and Eleanor barely slept.
Together they redesigned security access.
Eleanor negotiated emergency agreements with suppliers.
Ethan worked beside engineers instead of above them.
His employees noticed.
So did Claire.
“You're different around her,” Claire said.
Ethan looked through the glass wall toward Eleanor.
“No, I'm not.”
Claire smiled.
“I've worked for you nine years. Yes, you are.”
He ignored her.
That evening Eleanor found Ethan asleep at his desk.
She placed a coat over him.
His eyes opened.
“Caught you.”
“Doing what?”
“Being nice.”
“Don't tell anyone.”
He smiled.
She turned to leave.
“Eleanor.”
She stopped.
“Did you really love me?”
She didn't pretend to misunderstand.
“At sixteen?”
“Yes.”
“With the absolute stupidity only sixteen-year-olds can manage.”
“And afterward?”
She looked down.
“Some feelings don't disappear just because you learn to live without them.”
Ethan stood.
He wanted to cross the room.
He didn't.
“I'm not good at this.”
“At what?”
“Anything that isn't work.”
“I know.”
“That wasn't flattering.”
“It wasn't supposed to be.”
He laughed softly.
Then the building alarm screamed.
Every light changed red.
Claire's voice came over Ethan's phone.
“Server breach. Active.”
Ethan and Eleanor ran.
The cyber team was already fighting the intrusion.
Horizon files were being encrypted.
Not stolen.
Destroyed.
“Kill external connections!”
“We did!”
“It is coming from inside,” Eleanor said.
Everyone stopped.
The attacker was physically inside Hale Orbital.
Security began sweeping floors.
Then Ethan's monitor changed.
A video appeared.
Grant.
Live.
“Hello, Ethan.”
Ethan stared at the screen.
Grant smiled.
“Your father always thought he could beat me.”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
“You threatened Eleanor's mother.”
“Eleanor should have learned twenty years ago that curiosity has consequences.”
Ethan's expression became lethal.
“You go near her again—”
Grant laughed.
“There he is.”
“What?”
“The Hale temper. Your father had it too.”
Eleanor moved beside Ethan.
Grant saw her.
His smile vanished.
“You should have stayed invisible, Eleanor.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“You should have stayed gone.”
Grant leaned closer.
“Do you still have David's notebook?”
Eleanor said nothing.
“I thought so.”
The feed disappeared.
Security called.
They had located the internal signal.
Executive floor.
Ethan's floor.
His private conference room.
They rushed there.
The door stood closed.
Security surrounded it.
Ethan looked through the glass.
Nobody.
Then Eleanor noticed the ventilation panel.
Loose.
An officer opened the door.
Inside, on the table, sat a laptop.
A countdown filled its screen.
00:10.
00:09.
00:08.
Not a bomb.
A data transmission.
Ethan lunged for the computer.
Eleanor saw the destination address.
Her blood went cold.
May you like
The files weren't being sent to Grant.
They were being sent to an account registered under her name.
