CHAPTER 8: THE SERVER THEY TRIED TO BURN
Agent Reeves was on his phone before the judge finished speaking.
“Lock down Titan’s network. Now.”
Curtis leaned back slightly.
He tried to hide his smile.
Failed.
Dana turned to him.
“What did you trigger?”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
He sounded too calm.
Elaine stared at the table.
Malcolm Price closed his eyes like a man listening to a building fall.
The judge ordered a temporary recess, but no one left. The courtroom became a command center. Federal agents moved to the side aisle. The Pentagon attorney spoke quietly into a secure phone. Dana opened the black folder again and pulled out a small hardware key.
Curtis saw it.
His smile vanished.
“What is that?”
I looked at him.
“The part of Dad’s system you never found.”
Titan Tactical had been built by engineers who distrusted easy access. Dad had designed physical redundancies into everything that mattered. After Nightfall, he asked me to build an offline mirror of restricted procurement logs. Not connected. Not advertised. Not accessible from Titan’s main network.
A dead archive.
Only two people knew the key existed.
Dad.
And me.
Dana handed the hardware key to Agent Reeves.
Within minutes, a secure laptop was brought into the courtroom. Reeves connected the key. Lines of data appeared.
Deleted vendor logs.
Restored.
Board communications.
Restored.
Internal warnings.
Restored.
The mass deletion had erased Titan’s live records.
But the dead archive had kept its ghosts.
Curtis stared as if watching his own grave being typed into existence.
Dana projected the first restored email.
From Malcolm Price to Elaine Wright.
Subject: Captain Problem.
Elaine’s face drained of color.
The email read:
If Iris ever receives limited disclosure, we must move before noon. Curtis can handle public doubt. You handle emotional credibility.
Public doubt.
Emotional credibility.
They had reduced my life to tactics.
The next email was worse.
Curtis to Malcolm.
Subject: medals.
Need receipts planted before referral. If she cannot prove service publicly, stolen valor sticks long enough to force forfeiture.
The prosecutor lowered his head.
He had been used as their weapon.
Then the archive opened a final folder.
KANDAR — ROUTING EXCEPTION.
Carney stood.
“Do not display that publicly.”
The judge ordered the jury shielded from operational details, but allowed the summary.
Agent Reeves read it carefully.
“The restored log confirms an unauthorized export of convoy routing data occurred from a Titan board-level credential seventy-two hours before the ambush.”
Dana asked, “Whose credential?”
Everyone already knew where this was going.
Reeves looked at Malcolm.
“Malcolm Price.”
Malcolm’s body seemed to fold inward.
Elaine whispered, “You said it was only contract data.”
Malcolm snapped.
“And you took the money anyway.”
The room froze.
Elaine’s face changed too late.
Dana turned slowly.
“Mrs. Wright, did you accept payment from Mr. Price after the Kandar leak?”
Elaine’s lips trembled.
“No.”
Reeves opened the next restored file.
Bank transfer.
Two million dollars.
Elaine Wright.
Curtis whispered, “Mom?”
For the first time, he looked betrayed.
Almost innocent.
Almost.
Elaine stared at the transfer as if it belonged to another woman.
Then she looked at me.
“I deserved security too.”
That was her confession.
Not of details.
Of soul.
The judge’s voice was hard.
“Remove the jury.”
The jurors were escorted out.
Then Judge Halpern turned to the marshals.
“Detain Curtis Wright, Elaine Wright, and Malcolm Price pending federal review.”
Curtis bolted.
May you like
Again.
This time he did not make it one step.
