Chapter 10 The Perfect Alibi
910 Words
New Avalon shimmered beneath the morning sun, its glass towers reflecting ribbons of gold across the river that divided the eastern and western districts. To the millions who called the city home, Aegis Global Dynamics represented progress, stability, and hope.
To Vivienne Vance, it had become a puzzle.
For the first time since founding the company, she walked through its headquarters feeling like a stranger.
Employees smiled as she passed.
“Morning, Doctor.”
“Good morning.”
“Congratulations on yesterday’s board presentation.”
She returned every greeting naturally, but her mind remained elsewhere.
Someone inside these walls had begun moving against her.
The terrifying part wasn’t that they had succeeded.
It was how patiently they had prepared.
⸻
Her office overlooked nearly the entire financial district.
Normally the view calmed her.
Today it only reminded her how much she stood to lose.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
“Come in.”
Julian entered carrying two cups of coffee.
“The usual.”
She accepted one with a grateful smile.
“You spoil me.”
“I keep my chief scientist caffeinated.”
“My chief scientist?”
He grinned.
“You’ll always outrank me.”
She laughed.
“You’re the CEO.”
“Only because you refuse the job.”
“I still refuse.”
“You always will.”
“I absolutely will.”
For several minutes they spoke about ordinary things.
The upcoming technology summit in Singapore.
The employee scholarship program.
A children’s robotics competition Aegis sponsored every year.
Normal conversations.
Comfortable conversations.
Vivienne watched him carefully.
Nothing about Julian felt rehearsed.
Nothing suggested deception.
If he truly was hiding something…
He was the finest actor she had ever met.
⸻
“By the way,” she said casually, “how was Geneva last year?”
Julian didn’t react immediately.
“It was exhausting.”
“The summit?”
He nodded.
“Three countries in five days.”
She stirred her coffee.
“I was reviewing old company records this morning.”
“Oh?”
“I realized I never asked whether your presentation went well.”
“It did.”
“What was the topic?”
He answered without hesitation.
“Artificial ethics in autonomous systems.”
She smiled.
“I wish I could have attended.”
“So do I.”
He stood.
“I’ve got an investor meeting.”
“Don’t work too hard.”
He laughed.
“You tell me that every week.”
“And someday you’ll listen.”
He waved before leaving the office.
The door closed.
Vivienne remained seated.
Her smile slowly disappeared.
His answer had sounded perfect.
Too perfect.
She opened her laptop.
Searching took less than thirty seconds.
The Geneva Artificial Intelligence Summit.
One year earlier.
Conference Schedule.
She scanned every listed presentation.
Artificial Ethics in Autonomous Systems.
Speaker:
Professor Elena Kovacs.
Not Julian Drake.
Her fingers froze above the keyboard.
He had answered instantly.
Confidently.
Naturally.
Without hesitation.
And he had been wrong.
Not approximately wrong.
Completely wrong.
Vivienne leaned back in her chair.
People misremembered details all the time.
Especially after a year.
Didn’t they?
Or…
Had Julian answered too quickly because he expected her never to verify it?
⸻
Elsewhere in the building, Ethan continued his independent investigation.
The deeper he dug, the stranger everything became.
Every security breach originated from legitimate credentials.
Every deleted file had proper authorization.
Every altered record passed integrity verification.
It was almost beautiful.
Someone wasn’t hacking Aegis.
They were using Aegis exactly as it had been designed.
That required intimate knowledge of the company’s architecture.
Knowledge possessed by fewer than ten people.
Ethan opened another personnel file.
Then another.
Then another.
A name appeared repeatedly across unrelated maintenance requests.
Victor Lang.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer.
Employed: 11 years.
Security Clearance: Level Eight.
Nothing unusual.
Except…
Victor had officially resigned three months ago.
Yet maintenance requests bearing his digital signature continued appearing every week.
Ethan frowned.
He immediately called Human Resources.
“HR.”
“This is Ethan Brooks.”
“I need Victor Lang’s exit records.”
A keyboard clicked.
The representative answered a moment later.
“That’s strange.”
“What?”
“It says Mr. Lang never resigned.”
Ethan stared at his monitor.
“What?”
“He’s still employed.”
“No, he isn’t.”
“He absolutely is.”
“He’s not in the building.”
“Actually…”
More typing.
“…his employee badge entered Headquarters twenty-seven minutes ago.”
Ethan looked at the clock.
Victor Lang had supposedly been working inside Aegis for the past half hour.
Yet Ethan had personally attended Victor’s farewell dinner three months earlier.
He had even helped carry boxes to Victor’s car.
His pulse quickened.
Someone hadn’t just changed files.
They had changed reality inside the company’s own records.
He stood immediately.
“I’m going to find Victor.”
⸻
Far below the headquarters, hidden beneath layers of reinforced concrete, a terminal awakened.
No human touched its keyboard.
No visible user logged in.
Lines of encrypted code began scrolling across the screen.
A single sentence appeared.
Subject Vance has initiated independent verification.
A pause.
Then another line.
Trust degradation progressing ahead of schedule.
Finally, one final instruction illuminated the monitor.
Maintain Julian’s innocence. The Queen must doubt herself before she doubts the King.
The screen went dark.
Only the faint hum of unseen servers remained.
And somewhere inside Aegis…
The next move had already been made.
- Writer
