Chapter 4 - The Man Behind My Father's Name
Mom stared at the message.
“Daniel is dead.”
Nobody disagreed.
Adrian tried his executive override.
Rejected.
Vale tried an engineering override.
Rejected.
I looked at the screen.
WELCOME BACK, DANIEL BENNETT.
Not “Welcome, Daniel.”
Welcome back.
“Whoever did this wants us to think Dad is alive.”
Mom turned sharply.
“Don't say that.”
“I'm not saying he is.”
I pointed at the screen.
“I'm saying they want us thinking about him instead of something else.”
Vale looked at me carefully.
“What?”
“The engine.”
Everyone turned.
The X9 had powered on again.
No ignition sequence.
No warning.
Just a low hum.
Adrian rushed toward the manual interrupt.
The steel cover locked automatically.
Vale swore.
“That shouldn't be electronically controlled.”
“It wasn't,” Adrian said.
Someone had modified it.
I opened Dad's notebook.
There had to be another way.
Mom suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“No.”
“What?”
“We leave.”
“The doors are locked.”
“Then we break the glass.”
The laboratory walls were reinforced.
Adrian called internal security.
Nothing.
Vale tried an emergency line.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the engine wasn't accelerating.
It was idling.
Waiting.
A new message appeared.
LILY BENNETT.
My name.
Mom moved in front of me.
The next line appeared.
OPEN DANIEL'S NOTEBOOK TO PAGE 47.
I didn't move.
Adrian whispered, “Don't.”
Mom looked at him.
“For once, we agree.”
But I already knew page 47.
Dad had torn it out.
I opened the notebook.
Pages 46.
Then 48.
“It's missing.”
The screen changed.
CHECK THE SPINE.
I felt along the binding.
A narrow paper strip slid out.
Numbers.
Vale leaned closer.
“Encryption key.”
Adrian looked at the monitor.
“Whoever is doing this knew exactly where Daniel hid it.”
Mom whispered, “Maybe Daniel created this years ago.”
Vale shook his head.
“The laboratory systems have been replaced twice since his death.”
Then someone currently alive knew Dad's secrets.
The engine's hum grew louder.
A countdown appeared.
05:00.
Adrian looked at Vale.
“What happens at zero?”
“I have no idea.”
The monitor displayed:
ENTER KEY.
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
I studied the numbers.
Dad taught me something about puzzles.
Never answer a question until you understand why it's being asked.
“It's not asking for the key.”
Vale frowned.
“It literally says enter key.”
“Dad wouldn't hide a password like this.”
“Why?”
“Because anyone who found the notebook could use it.”
I flipped the paper strip.
On the back was a sentence.
Numbers lie when labels lie.
I looked at the engine.
Junction seventeen.
Ninety seconds.
Bay 4B.
Labels.
“Maybe the numbers aren't a password.”
Adrian crouched beside me.
“What are they?”
“Instructions.”
The sequence contained six pairs.
17-4B-03-12-09-01.
Vale recognized them.
“Component locations.”
We moved around the machine.
Junction 17.
Bay 4B.
Module 03.
Circuit 12.
Port 09.
Switch 01.
At each location was a small physical marker.
Letters.
Together they spelled:
M A R C U S.
Everyone looked at Vale.
He stepped backward.
“No.”
Mom pulled me behind her.
Adrian's voice hardened.
“Explain.”
“I can't.”
The countdown reached 02:41.
Vale looked genuinely frightened.
“Daniel didn't trust me.”
“Apparently not.”
“No. You don't understand.”
Vale removed his glasses.
“Daniel and I built Orpheus together.”
Silence.
“He discovered the instability. I wanted more testing. We fought about it. Eventually I agreed with him.”
“Then why hide your name?”
“I don't know.”
I did.
“Maybe it isn't accusing you.”
Vale looked at me.
“What?”
“Maybe Dad wanted us to find you.”
The screen changed.
MARCUS VALE AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Vale stared.
“For what?”
Another line appeared.
DANIEL BENNETT ARCHIVE.
Adrian whispered, “There's an archive?”
Vale approached the terminal.
His hand shook.
He placed his palm on the biometric scanner.
Accepted.
The countdown disappeared.
The engine shut down.
A hidden directory opened.
Thousands of files.
Videos.
Designs.
Emails.
Test results.
Dad had preserved everything.
Vale opened the first video.
My father appeared on screen.
Older than in his contractor photo.
Tired.
“Marcus,” he said, “if you're seeing this, then somebody rebuilt Orpheus.”
Vale sat down.
Dad continued.
“I was wrong about one thing. The architecture isn't inherently dangerous. Someone altered it.”
Vale leaned toward the screen.
Dad held up a printed code review.
“The instability was introduced intentionally.”
Adrian whispered, “Sabotage.”
Dad nodded on the recording as if he had heard him.
“I traced the modification to executive-level access.”
Adrian stiffened.
Mom stared at him.
Dad continued.
“I don't know who yet. If anything happens to me, protect Elena and Lily.”
Mom covered her mouth.
“And don't trust the board.”
The video ended.
Adrian stepped away.
CrossTech's board had eleven members.
One of them had altered Orpheus years ago.
One of them might have caused Dad's death.
And one of them had returned.
The laboratory doors suddenly unlocked.
Nobody moved.
Then Adrian's phone received a message.
BOARD MEETING.
MIDNIGHT.
ATTENDANCE REQUIRED.
He checked the sender.
CrossTech Chairman Richard Sloan.
Vale looked at the clock.
11:58.
Mom whispered, “Don't go.”
Adrian looked toward the hallway.
“If Sloan knows about this archive, he'll destroy it.”
“We copy it.”
Vale tried.
The files were locked.
Read-only.
Local terminal only.
Adrian straightened his tie.
“I'll keep the board occupied.”
Mom shook her head.
“You don't know which one did this.”
“Exactly.”
He walked toward the door.
I looked at Dad's notebook.
One name had appeared repeatedly in older pages.
Not Marcus.
Not Adrian.
R.S.
I ran after Adrian.
“Wait.”
He turned.
I showed him.
R.S.
Richard Sloan.
Adrian's face hardened.
Then the elevator at the end of the corridor opened.
Chairman Sloan stepped out.
He wasn't alone.
May you like
Two security officers stood beside him.
And in his hand was my father's missing CrossTech badge.
