Chapter 30 #4
My attention drifts toward the data stream scrolling beside the audio feed, mostly out of habit, and that’s when something catches my eye.
I frown.
That wasn’t there last time.
The telemetry has a second synchronization pattern riding underneath the primary channel.
Tiny timing deviations, almost invisible unless you know exactly what the normal traffic should look like.
Supplemental polling requests, intermittent key validation, compressed enough to pass as maintenance noise.
Except it isn’t noise!
I straighten in my chair and isolate the packet behavior.
And it hits me like a fist straight into my face.
Someone else is attached to the glasses!
Fuck!
Not piggybacking crudely, not brute-forcing access, this connection knows the architecture. It negotiates cleanly, requests live state data, receives acknowledgment tokens that shouldn’t exist in a single-user environment.
Fuck times two!
Someone is watching Blue in real time.
A cold pulse crawls down my spine.
Corporate security? Internal monitoring? Some engineer with administrative access?
Or the bad guys…
It doesn’t matter anyway, I’m already moving.
I split the stream, inject myself deeper into the authentication layer, and wrap the session in a fresh encryption shell built on a recursive prime-seeded key cascade.
The math unfolds automatically in my head.
Nonlinear iteration, dynamic entropy expansion, key mutation tied to timing intervals too irregular to predict externally and too expensive to brute-force before the session expires.
I reroute validation through my own layer and quietly revoke the secondary session.
The shadow traffic disappears, just like that.
My screen settles back into the clean pattern I remember from before.
Blue is still talking, completely unaware.
"…if we can stabilize the trace long enough to map retention behavior, then replication may actually become feasible."
Adams says something excited I barely register.
I sit back slowly, eyes fixed on the now-silent diagnostic pane.
So what happened here?
Someone had access.
For how long? It wasn’t there the last time, of that I’m sure. What changed?
A few minutes later, Blue’s tone changes into the clipped, wrapping-up version I know well.
"Good work. Send me the updated reports."
The call begins shutting down.
I terminate my connection almost immediately, wipe the temporary logs, power the receiver down, and stare at the darkened monitor for a few seconds, trying to gather my thoughts.
Then I stand and head for the door, biting the inside of my lip.
Should I tell Blue?
Doing so will reveal to him that I was eavesdropping on him before. But maybe it’s the right thing to do. No secrets?
I used to take such joy in my sneaky break-ins, never thinking twice about the moral side, but with Blue it’s different.
I should come clean. It can’t continue. And he needs to know, it’s a security matter.
Blue is still sitting on the armrest when I come back to the living room. He slips his phone into his pocket.
"We can go now. I had to take that call, this project is too important."
I scratch lightly at my chin, still wrestling with myself. Now or never. Either I come clean or I keep carrying this around, endangering him in the process, and it’s unacceptable.
"Blue, listen." I clear my throat. "There’s something weighing on my conscience. Or… the updated version of my conscience, I guess, because a while ago this wouldn’t even have bothered me. But things changed because of… what’s between us now."
Those sapphire eyes move across my face with faint amusement.
"Wow. That is certainly an interesting opening, although I still have absolutely no idea what you’re trying to tell me."
I cough awkwardly and drift toward the glass doors leading out to the roof garden.
"You remember when I told you I used to get a kick out of breaking into systems?
I never thought much about the moral side.
Me, some nobody, getting this brief little illusion of power over people who thought they were above me.
I know how pathetic that sounds. Nothing excuses it except the fact that it was a flaw in my character, but—"
"Let me guess," Blue says flatly. "You hacked something that belongs to me."
Shit. I grimace painfully and brace a hand against the glass, like I’m trying to borrow some of its coolness and clarity because I’m going to need both. Of course he figured it out.
"Nothing excuses it, Blue," I say, slowly turning toward him. "I was an asshole. I’ll understand if you’re pissed. You’ve got every right to be."
Blue closes his eyes briefly and exhales. I can feel the impatience building under his skin.
"Just tell me, Gabriel. I do not need the preamble. It won’t influence me and it won’t change my reaction."
Right. No softening him up. No steering him emotionally. No fishing for pity. Blue doesn’t work that way.
Slowly, I lift my hand and lightly touch the edge of his glasses.
That’s all it takes.
The color drains from his face, then a flush rises just as quickly.
Without a word he turns and walks outside onto the rooftop, his breathing speeding up a bit.
He makes his way toward the pool and looks down at its perfectly still surface while I follow a few steps behind.
"And what exactly did you find so interesting in there?" he asks in a voice that sounds calm, but has a dangerous edge to it.
"I only did it a few times. I swear this isn’t some regular habit of mine.
Two of them happened when I was frustrated and…
craving you, trying to understand you better.
Today, honestly, I had no good excuse for it.
I was sitting alone in that damn room, bored, and I got curious about what you could possibly be discussing with Adams. I have this thing, which you’ve probably already noticed in that situation with Gomez: sometimes I just eavesdrop—"
"Wait." He cuts me off. "I would actually like to go back to those two instances where you were frustrated and curious. What exactly did you see?"
I was really hoping he wouldn’t dig into that part, but of course his brain needs complete information. I sigh and sit down on one of the loungers because I think I’d rather be sitting when he finally gets angry at me.
"The first time was… peculiar. It didn’t tell me much. You were standing in your room looking at the photo on your wall. I cut the connection almost immediately because it felt private. Like maybe you were dealing with your past."
Silence.
Blue watches me with an unreadable face, but there’s caution in him now, tension lingering just under the surface.
"And the second time was a lot worse."
"Just say it."
"I saw you watching this… compilation. Videos of me. Close-ups of my face, little moments between us, the ones where things were obviously sparkling between us." I can feel heat crawling into my face. "You were watching it and…"
Fuck, I hate saying it out loud.
"And you were touching yourself."
Blue lets out a quiet curse under his breath and fixes his eyes on the horizon, his brow furrowed.
"You have every right to be angry," I say quietly. "I would be too. It was a deeply private moment. I shouldn’t have intruded. I apologize, Blue."
I can see the muscles in his jaw twitch as he speaks, as if he’s forcing himself to stay calm.
"Well. You can’t control other people. Anyone entering a relationship has to learn that sooner or later. And maybe that’s the beauty of it. We all make mistakes. We all do things that can hurt others. That’s part of life."
I stare at him for a moment, almost shocked that instead of tearing into me, or cursing me out, he’s taking it so calmly. I admire his level of maturity and emotional control, so much so that I feel like I deserve more scolding, deserve a reprimand of some kind…
"I should have done it."
"You shouldn’t."
I wait and wait for the next part, for the part when he chews me out, but that’s not Blue. So I close my eyes and move on to what I’ve discovered.
"What I’m also wanting to tell you is that today I noticed I wasn’t the only person connected to your glasses."
Blue blinks.
The restrained annoyance shift instantly into alertness.
"What did you just say?"
"I don’t know what it is. Corporate espionage, maybe. Internal surveillance. I’m not sure. But I locked your system down after I found it. Anybody trying to break through now is going to need an actual genius." I grimace faintly.
Silence. He just stares.
"The connection logs are still there, though. They can be analyzed. I can do it, if you allow me."
Blue stands perfectly still for a moment, every line of his body tight as metal wire, fists slowly clenching at his sides.
"I do not currently have the time to process all of this," he says finally. "But I appreciate you informing me about the security breach."
He makes a move like he’s about to turn and leave.
"Blue! I don’t know how long they’ve been listening.
I didn’t have time to fully dissect it. This could be recent or could also have been going on for weeks.
I haven’t checked your glasses in a long time.
" My mouth twists bitterly. "I just know you need to change your schedule, to adjust it accordingly. "
Blue presses a hand against his forehead and rubs hard, and for a few seconds I can practically see his mind racing through branching possibilities.
"In one regard," he says quietly, "you are correct. This needs investigation and action."
Silence settles between us while he thinks.
Then he slowly lifts his head and looks at me.
"Blue, please… I know you’re disappointed—"
"Maybe, but also…" he interjects. "One could argue that had you not illegally accessed my device, we would never have discovered someone else doing the same. As the popular expression goes, every cloud has a silver lining." He sends me a sour smile.