Chapter 17
Seven thirty arrived with precision.
Reece sat alone in his quarters. Still. Listening to the platform hum around him, the constant vibration of machinery that never stopped, the muffled sounds of people moving through corridors on their way to shift change or dinner or whatever illusion of normalcy they could maintain.
His phone vibrated on the desk.
Unknown number.
He answered immediately.
"Reece?"
Maggie's voice was tight and controlled. But underneath, he could hear the tremor she was trying to hide.
"I'm here," he said quietly.
Max activated in his ear at the same moment. "She's in her quarters," Max confirmed. "Alone. No surveillance is active in her room right now. You've got time."
Reece exhaled slowly, his grip tightening on the phone. "Are you okay?"
"No." The honesty in that single word hit him hard. "I'm not okay." She was crying now. He listened. Just listened. Because right now, that was what she needed.
"They don't believe me," Maggie continued. "Medical. Security. Jonah Pike showed up and looked at me like I was having a breakdown. They think I'm stressed. Confused. They think I imagined the message."
"But you didn't," Reece said. Not a question. A statement.
"No." Her voice steadied slightly. "I didn't. It was there. Real. Authenticated. And now, it's gone. Completely erased. No logs. No backups. Nothing."
Max spoke in Reece's ear, quiet and focused, "The message was injected into her system using legitimate security credentials. Then erased using executive-level permissions. Not a hack. An insider. Someone with authority."
Reece kept his tone neutral. Grounding. "Someone wiped it deliberately."
"I know," Maggie said. "But I can't prove it. And everyone's looking at me like I'm the problem."
"You're not the problem," Reece said firmly.
"Then why do I feel like I'm losing my mind?"
"Because that's what they want you to feel." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, phone pressed to his ear. "Maggie, listen to me. You're not crazy. You're not confused. Someone targeted you. Someone with access and authorization. And they're covering their tracks."
Silence stretched between them. He could hear her breathing on the other end. She was fighting for composure.
"I'm scared," she admitted quietly. "I haven't left my room since medical released me. I didn't go to dinner. Didn't go to the gym. I'm afraid to walk out my door."
Reece's chest tightened. He wanted to be there. Wanted to walk through her door and pull her close and make her feel safe. Wanted it so badly his hands ached with the restraint of staying still.
But he couldn't.
Not without blowing his cover. Not without putting them both at greater risk.
"You're smart, and you have to be careful," he said instead. "Stay in your quarters tonight. Lock your door. Tomorrow, go back to your normal routine. Show them you're fine. Show them they didn't break you."
"Even though they did?" Her voice cracked slightly.
"They didn't," Reece said. "You're still here. You're still thinking. You're still fighting. That's not broken, Maggie. That's strong."
Max spoke again in his ear. “Feeds are shifting. Security briefings are happening across multiple channels. Man, there are hundreds of private conversations. Everyone believes her, and they’re asking questions.
Word is spreading fast. I’m sending you a special package on the next supply ship.
Get Dex to pass it through to you without going through inspection. You’ll need a weapon."
Reece took in what he said. The platform was reacting. The ripple effect of what had happened in the maintenance bay was spreading through every level, every department. A weapon would be arriving soon for him.
"Something else is happening," Reece said carefully. "The platform knows. People are talking. You're respected here, Maggie. One of them. And if this could happen to you …"
"It could happen to anyone," Maggie finished quietly.
"Exactly."
Max continued, tone shifting. "Security personnel are uneasy. Engineers are whispering. Systems people are posting that people need to watch their backs. The platform isn't just a machine anymore. It's a nervous system. And right now, it's afraid."
Reece let that information settle. Fear was useful. Fear made people careful. But it also made them unpredictable.
"Why me?" Maggie asked. The question he'd been waiting for. "Why target me specifically?"
Reece hesitated. "You know."
“Because I’m digging.”
“Yeah. But they can’t know how deep you’ve gone. You’re covered.”
“So, what, from before? When I lit myself up before I went to Florida?”
“That would be my bet,” Reece said.
“Mine, too,” Max said before going quiet in his ear. Reece could hear the rapid-fire keystrokes, the low muttering as Max worked through systems and data streams and access logs that most people didn't even know existed.
Max spoke again, sharper now. More focused.
"I'm going deeper. Executive systems. I've been working on cracking their safeguards for the past two hours. Just got through. I'm in now. Undetected. Reading private messages, access requests, and command authorizations."
Reece's pulse kicked up. That level of access was dangerous. The kind of dangerous that could get them all killed if someone noticed.
"Be careful," Reece said quietly, knowing the specialist would understand he wasn't talking to Maggie.
"Always am," Max replied.
Maggie was still on the line, waiting for him to say something.
"We're going to figure this out," Reece told her. "I promise you. We're going to find out who did this and why."
"How?" Maggie asked. She sounded beat down and exhausted. "I don't have proof. I don't have anything."
"You have me," Reece said simply. "And that's enough."
“It is,” she whispered. Then there was silence again. But this time, it felt different. Less terrified. More anchored.
"Reece?" Her voice was quieter now.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For being here. For believing me."
His throat tightened. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be, and I will always believe you."
Max spoke again in his ear, tone changing, sharpening with discovery. "Got something. The order to send that DM didn't come from the CEO; it came from the platform."
Reece felt the weight of that settle.
If not the CEO, then who? Board members? Senior operations? Intelligence liaison? Someone close. Someone trusted. Someone who believed they could erase a woman and call it an accident.
"I need to go," Maggie said. "I'm exhausted."
"Sleep," Reece told her. "Lock your door. And Maggie?"
"Yeah?"
"Tomorrow, we keep going. Normal routine without showing anyone you’re afraid. Understood?"
"Understood."
“I wish I could hold you now.”
He desperately wanted to be able to comfort her. He could hear the tears in her voice when she answered, “I wish you could, too. Goodnight.”
The line went dead.
Reece sat in the darkness of his quarters, phone still in his hand, staring at nothing.
Metaphorically, he could see her. In her room. Alone. Safe for now but not untouched. Not unshaken.
He said nothing aloud. But the decision was made. Whoever had done this would pay.
Max spoke again in his ear. "I know who the fuckers are that targeted her."
Reece straightened, every muscle suddenly alert.