Chapter 4: The Enemy Inside
1082 Words
The knocking stopped.
Silence settled over Adrian Wolfe's office like a heavy fog.
Lena didn't breathe.
Then the voice came again.
"Lena..."
"Open the door."
It wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
The calmness in the man's voice was somehow more frightening than shouting.
She slowly stepped backward.
Her eyes darted around Adrian's office.
Floor-to-ceiling windows.
One locked door.
A private restroom.
No other exit.
Her phone.
She grabbed it and dialed Adrian.
No answer.
She tried again.
Straight to voicemail.
The handle turned once more.
Slowly.
Then stopped.
For nearly thirty seconds...
Nothing happened.
Finally, footsteps faded down the corridor.
Only then did Lena allow herself to breathe.
---
Twenty minutes later...
Adrian returned.
The moment he saw her face, he knew something had happened.
"What is it?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she walked to the office door and unlocked it.
"I think someone wanted to know if I was alone."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"What happened?"
She told him everything.
The phone call.
The knocking.
The voice.
His face remained unreadable until she repeated one sentence.
"He called me by my name."
Silence.
Adrian reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"Security."
His voice was calm.
"Lock down the executive floor."
Lena stared at him.
"You believe me?"
"I believe facts."
"And?"
"You've just given me one."
---
Within minutes, security officers filled the corridor.
Every camera on the executive floor was reviewed.
Every visitor log was checked.
Nothing.
No stranger.
No unidentified employee.
No one had approached Adrian's office.
The head of security looked uncomfortable.
"Our cameras show no one."
Lena frowned.
"That's impossible."
"I agree."
Adrian folded his arms.
"So either someone erased the footage..."
"...or someone inside security helped them."
The room fell silent.
Nobody wanted to be the first to speak.
Because if Adrian was right...
The threat wasn't outside Wolfe Empire.
It was already inside.
---
Later that afternoon...
Lena returned to her desk.
She tried focusing on invoices.
It was impossible.
Her mind kept returning to the cemetery coordinates hidden inside the document.
She opened the map again.
The location wasn't random.
It pointed to one specific grave.
No name.
Only a number.
Section E.
Plot 27.
Before she could think further, her computer screen flickered.
A new email appeared.
No sender.
No subject.
Only one sentence.
Stop digging... unless you're ready to be buried with the truth.
The message vanished before she could click it.
Lena stared at the blank screen.
Someone wasn't just watching her anymore.
Someone had access to Wolfe Empire's internal systems.
And they knew exactly where she was.
The email vanished.
Lena clicked frantically across her screen.
Inbox.
Trash.
Spam.
Nothing.
It had disappeared as though it had never existed.
A cold sensation settled in her stomach.
Someone had just accessed her computer...
...inside one of the most secure companies in the country.
That shouldn't have been possible.
Yet it had happened.
She quickly copied the cemetery coordinates onto a sticky note before they could disappear from her mind.
Section E.
Plot 27.
She folded the note and slipped it into her blazer pocket.
The office door opened.
Adrian walked in, followed by the Head of Security.
A broad-shouldered man with silver hair and sharp eyes.
"This is Marcus Reid," Adrian said.
"He'll be asking you a few questions."
Marcus pulled out a chair.
"Miss Hart..."
"I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
Lena explained everything.
The mysterious email.
The disappearing message.
The coordinates.
The knock on the office door.
The voice calling her name.
Marcus listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he looked toward Adrian.
"Our system shows no breach."
Lena frowned.
"But I watched the email disappear."
"I'm not saying you're wrong."
"I'm saying our system says it never existed."
Adrian folded his arms.
"And what do you believe?"
Marcus hesitated.
"I believe someone wants us looking in the wrong direction."
Silence filled the room.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Meaning?"
Marcus leaned forward.
"If someone can manipulate our internal systems this cleanly..."
"...they don't need to break into Wolfe Empire."
"They're already inside."
An hour later...
Most employees had gone home.
The executive floor had become eerily quiet.
Lena was organizing the remaining files when she noticed something unusual.
One cabinet near the records room wasn't completely closed.
She frowned.
Victoria had insisted every confidential cabinet remained locked.
Slowly, Lena walked toward it.
She pulled the drawer open.
Inside...
Nothing looked out of place.
Folders.
Contracts.
Employee records.
Then she noticed one file tucked behind the others.
No label.
No barcode.
Just plain black.
The same kind Adrian had shown her earlier.
Her heart pounded.
Should she open it?
No.
She shouldn't.
She reached to close the drawer—
Then paused.
What if this was connected to the missing payments?
She carefully opened the file.
Inside was only one sheet of paper.
Typed neatly across the center were six words.
Trust no one inside this company.
Below it...
A photograph.
Lena stared.
It was taken in this very building.
Five people stood together, smiling.
She immediately recognized Adrian.
Daniel Cross.
Marcus Reid.
Victoria Hale.
And...
A fifth person.
The face had been burned away.
Not torn.
Burned.
As if someone wanted that identity erased forever.
Before Lena could think—
A voice echoed from the hallway.
"Who's still here?"
Victoria.
Lena's heart nearly stopped.
She shoved the photograph back into the folder, slid it into the cabinet, and quietly closed the drawer just as footsteps approached.
Victoria appeared at the doorway.
Her eyes moved from Lena...
...to the cabinet.
"You should have gone home an hour ago."
Lena forced a smile.
"I lost track of time."
Victoria held her gaze for several long seconds.
Then, surprisingly, she smiled.
It was small.
Almost sad.
"Be careful, Miss Hart."
Lena blinked.
"Excuse me?"
Victoria glanced toward Adrian's office before lowering her voice.
"There are people in this building..."
"...who smile while they're deciding how to destroy you."
She turned and walked away.
Leaving Lena frozen where she stood.
Meanwhile...
Three floors below...
A man sat alone inside the underground archive room.
Dozens of surveillance monitors glowed in front of him.
One screen showed Lena standing beside the cabinet.
He smiled.
"So..."
"She's finally asking the right questions."
He reached for a phone.
"The game has begun."
The call connected.
A distorted voice answered.
"Is she ready?"
The man looked back at the monitor.
"No."
He smiled again.
"But Adrian Wolfe is."
END OF CHAPTER 4
- Writer
