22. Blake
TWENTY-TWO
Blake
The relaxed atmosphere evaporates instantly, replaced by a tense alertness that’s become all too familiar.
The bright morning sunshine contrasts with the somber mood as we make our way back to HQ. The usual banter is subdued, and each of us is lost in our own thoughts about what this urgent briefing could mean.
As we make our way through the building, the familiar security protocols feel more oppressive than usual. The weight of my recovered badge seems heavier in my pocket, a constant reminder of the unease plaguing me.
When we reach the conference room, the air buzzes with tension. I take my seat among the other Guardians. Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie teams are all present, an unusual gathering that speaks to the seriousness of the situation. Delta team would be here, except they’re out on a mission with the FBI.
Sam stands at the front of the room, his posture rigid. CJ paces behind him, his usual jovial demeanor replaced by a grim frown. Mitzy’s fingers blur across the keyboard, her focus unbroken, while Forest leans against the wall, his arms crossed.
“Alright, let’s get started.” Sam’s voice cuts through the murmur of conversation. The room falls silent. “As you’re all aware, we’ve been experiencing some irregularities in our security systems.”
Mitzy looks up from her laptop. “Irregularities is putting it mildly. We’re talking about a potential full-scale breach.”
A collective intake of breath sweeps through the room. My muscles tense, the weight of the situation settling on my shoulders.
“What kind of breach are we talking about?” Max, the leader of Alpha team, leans forward in his chair.
“That’s the thing. It doesn’t look like any breach we’ve seen before. It’s... subtle. Almost undetectable.” Mitzy’s hands move swiftly over the keyboard, her gaze locked on the screen.
“But you did detect something.” Brady, Bravo team’s leader, points out.
“Barely,” Forest chimes in, his voice grave. “And only because we’ve been expecting it.”
CJ stops his pacing. “We’ve had doors unlocking themselves, security cameras glitching, and some odd data transfers that we can’t account for.”
“Why were you looking for a breach in the first place?” Max leans back in his chair, frowning.
“We’ve been on high alert since we rescued Mia,” Sam says. “That’s why we initiated Protocol Zero—it’s not just about locking down Guardian personnel, but also reinforcing security measures across our systems. We’ve taken every precaution to protect against any potential breaches.”
“We noticed a sudden increase in data requests.” Mitzy doesn’t miss a beat, pulling up a graph on the screen. “At first glance, they looked legit, but the volume and timing didn’t sit right. That’s when we knew something was up.
“And then there was a network traffic spike.” Mitzy pulls more data. “We couldn’t trace it back to scheduled activities, which made us dig deeper.”
“All of this happened while we had issues with a security system update.” Forest’s gaze sweeps across the room as he folds his arms. “It failed to install properly, and we were worried it might have been compromised during the process. ”
My mind races, thinking back to my missing badge. Could it be connected?
“Any idea who’s behind it?” Ethan asks, his fingers drumming a restless rhythm on the table.
“That’s what we’re here to figure out.” Sam shakes his head. “We need ideas, theories, anything that might help us understand what we’re dealing with.”
“Could it be an inside job?” The question slips out before I can stop it. The room falls silent, all eyes turning to me.
“That’s a heavy accusation, Blake. What makes you say that?” CJ’s eyebrows shoot up.
I swallow hard, aware of the weight of my words. “Just—the level of access they seem to have. The subtlety of it all. It feels like someone who knows our systems.”
Mitzy nods slowly. “He’s not wrong. The intruder navigates our security like they built it themselves.”
“But who?” Walt from my team speaks up. “We all go through rigorous background checks. And the loyalty of everyone in this room is beyond question.”
“Is it?” Brady’s quiet voice carries clearly across the room. “We’ve been infiltrated before.”
Rigel shifts in his seat, his brow furrowed. “I remember Protocol Zero being activated when we rescued Mia, but that whole mission was a blur. Can someone remind me what exactly was involved? I wasn’t fully briefed afterward, and it feels relevant now.”
CJ’s expression softens, understanding the chaos Rigel must have experienced during that time. “Sure thing, Rigel. Protocol Zero is more than just a lockdown. We isolated key personnel, scrambled communication lines, and rebooted the system from a clean backup.”
Mitzy nods, picking up where CJ left off. “We also cut off all external contact and ran every team member through psychological evaluations, looking for any signs of coercion or manipulation.”
Forest leans forward, his voice steady. “Behavioral audits, asset freezes, financial monitoring—we tore everything apart looking for breaches. And when we rebuilt, we didn’t stick to a predictable layout or routine. Access routes were changed, key areas were relocated, and entry points were reassigned.”
Sam adds, “We also enhanced physical security—biometric access, armed patrols, random schedules. Every piece of equipment was wiped and reprogrammed. We didn’t just change the locks; we built an entirely new house.”
Forest’s gaze sweeps the room. “And for the most critical missions, we activated Ghost Protocol. Operatives went completely off-grid. Their identities were erased from every system. Only a handful of us knew they even existed.”
Rigel nods slowly, the reminder settling in. “Got it. So if someone’s breached us now, they’ve either found a way around all of that… or were never fully locked out in the first place.”
The tension in the room ratchets up a notch.
Rigel leans forward, the concern evident in his voice. “Why not just activate Protocol Zero again? If we’ve been breached, shouldn’t we lock everything down like before?”
Mitzy shakes her head, her fingers tapping lightly on the table. “We’ve considered it, but activating Protocol Zero now is like waving a giant red flag. Whoever’s behind this will know we’re onto them. Right now, we’re monitoring the situation, minimizing data leaks, and trying to trace their movements. If we lock down, we lose the element of surprise—and any chance to catch them in the act.”
I frown, trying to piece it all together. “What about the pattern of the breaches? Is there any rhyme or reason to which systems are being hit?” My gaze shifts from Mitzy to Sam.
“That’s the odd thing.” Mitzy turns back to her laptop, pulling up a series of diagrams on the large screen at the front of the room. “The intrusions seem... random. Almost like they’re testing our defenses, probing for weaknesses.”
“Or creating distractions,” Gabe mutters beside me.
I turn to him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “Just thinking out loud. But what if all these small breaches are meant to keep us looking in the wrong direction while something bigger is happening? ”
The room falls silent as we consider this possibility. It’s a chilling thought that makes a disturbing amount of sense.
“If that’s the case,” Max says slowly, “what’s the real target?”
“Or who.” CJ runs a hand over his face. “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”
“Okay, let’s break this down.” Sam’s deep voice cuts through the tension. “What do we know for certain?”
Mitzy ticks off points on her fingers. “We’ve had unauthorized access to multiple secure areas. Data transfers that we can’t account for. And a series of small but persistent glitches in our security systems.”
“And it all started when?” A nagging feeling grows in the pit of my stomach.
Forest consults a tablet. “The first anomaly was detected a few days ago, but it could have been going on longer without us noticing.”
Right around the time I lost my badge. The coincidence is too glaring to ignore, but I can’t bring myself to voice my suspicions.
Not yet.
“What about external factors?” Brady asks. “Any unusual activity from known hostile entities?”
Sam shakes his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. If anything, it’s been quieter than usual on that front.”
“Which could be suspicious in itself,” Ethan points out.
The discussion continues, theories flying back and forth. Each possibility seems more far-fetched than the last, but none of them feel quite right. It’s like we’re all dancing around the edges of something, unable to see the full picture.
I clear my throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “What if…” I hesitate, feeling the weight of their stares. “What if this isn’t about stealing information or sabotage? What if it’s about planting something?”
“Like a virus? Or a backdoor?” Mitzy’s eyes widen.
“Something that would give them ongoing access. Or worse, control.”
The idea that someone could be laying the groundwork for a larger attack is concerning. Cyber warfare isn’t my thing, but Mitzy and her crew are experts when it comes to battling it out in the digital realm.
“It fits,” Forest says slowly. “The random pattern, the subtle intrusions. They could be setting up multiple points of entry.”
“Or exit,” CJ adds grimly.
Sam straightens, his face set in determination. “Alright, this gives us something to work with. Mitzy, I want your team to start looking for any unauthorized additions to our systems. Forest, work on strengthening our firewalls and intrusion detection. Something connects everything. We have to find it.”
“We’re already on it.” Mitzy tugs on the tips of her psychedelic hair. “Right now, it’s random. Nothing connects.”
“As for the rest of you,” Sam addresses the Guardian teams. “I want increased patrols. Physical and digital. Anything out of the ordinary, no matter how small, gets reported immediately.”
“What about ongoing missions?” Max asks. “Do we pull back?”
“We can’t afford to. Whatever this is, we can’t let it disrupt our operations.” CJ shakes his head. “That might be exactly what they want.”
Sam leans forward, his voice steady. “Maintain your current assignments but be on high alert. And absolutely no discussion of this situation outside this room. We don’t know who we can trust.”
As the meeting breaks up, I hang back, my mind whirling. The timing of my lost badge and the start of these intrusions can’t be a coincidence. The possibility Sophia might be involved gnaws at me, but it’s a truth I’m not willing to consider—not yet.
“Blake?” Ethan’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just processing.” I force a smile.
“It’s a lot to take in. But we’ll figure this out. We always do.”
Before I tell the team anything, I need to talk with Sophia. It has to be a coincidence, and I trust her.
I have to trust her.
Because if I can’t, everything we’ve built together is a lie. That’s a possibility I’m not ready to face. Not yet .
I’m wound as tight as a spring when I make it home that evening. Sophia immediately picks up on my mood, her brow furrowing with concern as I shrug off my jacket.
“Tough day?” Her voice is soft and cautious.
Words stick in my throat, and I nod.
Sophia approaches slowly like she’s dealing with a wild animal, her movements careful and measured. When her hands come to rest on my chest, the warmth of her touch seeps through my shirt, grounding me.
Calming the storm inside me.
I need to talk to her. I need to clear this gnawing doubt eating at me.
But I’m not ready. Not yet.
“What do you need?” Her eyes search mine, filled with concern and something more profound—trust, maybe.
Love, even.
The question lingers between us, heavy with unspoken fears. I take a deep breath, feeling some of my tension drain away under her steady gaze.
“You,” I say simply, the word barely a whisper. “Just you.”
I’ll wait until morning. There’s no rush. I need time. One more night before everything changes.
There’s no going back once I ask the questions burning in my mind. So tonight, I’ll hold her close, savor the feeling of her warmth, and enjoy her presence beside me.
Something shifts in Sophia’s expression, a mixture of understanding and anticipation. She takes a step back, her posture changing subtly.
“Then take what you need.” Her voice drops to a husky whisper. “I’m yours, Sir.”
The honorific sends a jolt through me, igniting something primal and possessive. My fingers thread into her hair, pulling her close. The heat between us sparks to life.
“Say it again.” My voice is low, a demand wrapped in dark desire.
“I’m yours, Sir,” Sophia repeats, her breath hitching. “Always. ”
What follows is a dance of dominance and submission, a give-and-take that we’ve been perfecting over the weeks. I guide Sophia to the bedroom, my commands soft but firm. She follows willingly, and her trust in me is absolute.
We don’t need elaborate scenes or equipment. It’s all about the energy between us, the power exchange that happens with a look, a touch, a whispered word. I push Sophia, watching in awe as she surrenders control, finding freedom in her submission.
Afterward, we lie tangled together, the sweat cooling on our skin as the remnants of our passion linger in the air. Sophia’s head rests on my chest, her fingers drawing lazy, soothing patterns on my stomach.
The quiet is heavy, filled with our breaths gradually slowing down, echoing our satiated hunger. Beneath that, the weight of my suspicions presses down, making the silence unbearable.