Chapter 15 Austin’s Sacrifice – Belle
Professor Austin’s classroom is empty when I arrive for Computer Science. Not just Austin. The entire room. No students milling about. No teaching assistant setting up equipment. Just silence and the faint smell of chalk dust.
I check my phone. It’s the right time. The right day. Other students start trickling in, equally confused.
“Did anyone get an email about class being cancelled?” someone asks.
Nobody did.
We wait fifteen minutes. Then twenty. Finally, a teaching assistant I don’t recognize appears in the doorway. He’s young, nervous, clutching a tablet like a lifeline.
“I’m sorry for the confusion. Professor Austin won’t be teaching today. Or for the foreseeable future. You’ll receive an email shortly about alternate arrangements.”
“Where is he?” I ask before I can stop myself.
The TA’s eyes dart away from mine. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that. Please check your email for updates.”
He leaves before anyone can ask more questions.
My stomach drops. I grab my bag and head straight for Austin’s office. The corridor is empty. Most classes are in session. My footsteps echo too loudly against the stone floor.
Austin’s office door is closed. I knock twice. No answer.
I try the handle. Unlocked.
The door swings open, and my breath catches.
The office is destroyed. Papers scattered everywhere. Books pulled from shelves. Desk drawers hanging open, their contents dumped on the floor. His computer monitor is cracked. The tower lies on its side, casing pried open. The hard drive is missing.
Someone searched this place. Thoroughly. Violently.
I step inside and close the door behind me. My hands shake as I crouch down and start sifting through the debris. Looking for what, I’m not sure. Evidence. A clue. Anything that might tell me what happened to him.
There’s nothing. Just destroyed equipment and scattered papers about coursework and department meetings. Nothing that would explain why his office looks like a crime scene.
“Miss Gallagher.”
I spin around. Victoria Charlson stands in the doorway. Her expression is carefully neutral.
“What happened here?” I ask.
“Professor Austin had a family emergency. He left quite suddenly.” Victoria’s eyes sweep the room. “I’m afraid in his haste, he made quite a mess. Maintenance will be cleaning it up this afternoon.”
“This isn’t the mess of someone leaving in a hurry. This is someone searching for something.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Victoria steps into the office. She’s blocking the door. “But I do think you should return to your dormitory. This area is off-limits to students until it’s been properly secured.”
It’s not a suggestion.
I stand slowly, making sure my movements are casual. Unconcerned. “Of course. I was just worried about Professor Austin. He’s a good teacher.”
“I’m sure he appreciates your concern. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Victoria doesn’t move until I’m past her and in the corridor. I feel her eyes on my back all the way to the stairs.
***
The announcement comes during dinner. Selena stands at the head of the dining hall, commanding attention without raising her voice. Students quiet immediately.
“I have some unfortunate news to share. Professor Peter Austin has taken a sudden sabbatical due to personal family matters. We wish him well and hope for his speedy return.” She pauses, her pale eyes scanning the room.
“In the meantime, his classes will be covered by substitute instructors. Information will be sent to your student emails this evening.”
That’s it. No other explanation. No details about what kind of family emergency. No timeline for his return.
I look at Luna across the room. She’s staring at her plate. Erik’s hand is on her back. Max sits beside me, his jaw tight.
“He’s not coming back,” Max murmurs.
“I know.”
“Do you think he’s dead?”
“I don’t know.” My throat feels tight. “But either way, Selena has him.”
The rest of dinner passes in tense silence. We can’t talk here. Can’t reveal that Austin’s disappearance means anything more to us than any other professor going on sabbatical.
When we finally make it back to our room, I lock the door and lean against it. My heart won’t stop racing.
Max crosses to the window and peers out into the darkness. “Do you think they’re watching us right now?”
“Always.” I move to the bed and start checking it. Running my hands along the frame, looking for anything that shouldn’t be there.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure nothing’s changed. That they haven’t planted anything new.”
Max helps me search. We check every surface. Every potential hiding spot. We don’t find any new surveillance equipment, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Technology keeps getting smaller. More sophisticated.
A couple of days ago, we took a calculated risk and disposed of the camera in the smoke detector and several other ones around the room. It was the only way for me to be able to breathe again.
I’m pulling back the sheets when something falls to the floor.
A thumb drive.
Max and I stare at it for a long moment. Neither of us moves.
“That wasn’t there this morning,” I finally say.
“Are you sure?”
“I made the bed. I would’ve noticed.”
Max crouches down and picks it up. It’s small. Black. Completely ordinary looking. “Someone put this here. Today. While we were in class.”
“Austin.” My voice comes out hoarse. “It has to be. Before they took him.”
“Or it’s a trap. Selena could’ve planted it to see what we’d do.”
“Then why not just arrest us? Why play games?”
“Because she wants to know what we know. Who we’ve told. What evidence we’ve gathered.” Max turns the drive over in his hands. “This could be a way to track what we access. To see what we’re looking for.”
“Or it could be exactly what it looks like. Austin’s final gift.” I hold out my hand. “Only one way to find out.”
Max hesitates, then places the drive in my palm. It’s warm from his skin. So small. Such a tiny thing to potentially contain evidence that could bring down a decades-old criminal conspiracy.
Or get us killed.
I pull out my laptop and sit on the bed. Max settles beside me. His shoulder presses against mine. Solid. Real.
“If this is a trap,” he says quietly, “if plugging this in alerts Selena that we’re onto her…”
“Then we run. Like we planned.”
“The tunnels aren’t fully scouted yet. Erik and I only got partway through before we had to turn back. There was standing water. Structural damage.”
“Then we swim if we have to. But I’m not letting Austin’s sacrifice be for nothing.” I meet Max’s eyes. “He tried to warn me. Tried to help. And now he’s gone. The least I can do is see what he risked everything to give us.”
Max nods slowly. “Okay. Do it.”
I plug in the drive.
A window pops up immediately. Password protected. But this time there’s a hint: “Luna testified. Now it’s your turn.”
I type quickly: testimony.
The screen flickers. Files appear. Dozens of them.
Max leans closer, scanning the names. “What is all this?”
“Encrypted communications, looks like.” I click on the first file. Text fills the screen. Complete gibberish. Random letters and numbers with no discernible pattern.
“He gave us encrypted files? What good does that do?”
“Wait.” I scroll down. There at the bottom of the directory is another file. README_BELLE.txt.
My hands shake as I open it.
Belle,
If you’re reading this, they’ve found me. I knew it was only a matter of time. I’ve been too obvious in my concern. Too careless in my investigation.
I’m sorry I couldn’t give you everything. The full files were too large to transfer before they came for me. But what I’ve given you is enough. I hope.
The encrypted communications are between Selena and other network members. Years of evidence proving her involvement. But you’ll need the decryption keys to access them.
I’ve included a program on this drive. It will help you break the codes. It’s not perfect. You’ll need to do some of the work manually. But I’ve given you the foundation.
Why you and not Luna? Because they’d expect me to go to Luna. We have history. We’ve worked together before. They’re watching her even more closely than they’re watching you.
But you, Belle. You’re the dark horse. The one who surprised everyone by testifying against her own family. The one they’re still trying to figure out.
Use that. Use their uncertainty about you.
I wrote a book about systems of power and exploitation. About how institutions protect abusers. I thought I could help by documenting what happened. By making people see.
But documentation isn’t enough. The system needs to be destroyed from within.
You can do that. You’ve already started.
Don’t let my sacrifice be for nothing.
Peter Austin
P.S. The Founder. Find out who that is, and you’ll understand why Selena can’t be stopped alone. She’s not the top of the pyramid. She’s just the most visible piece.
The message ends there.
I sit back, my chest tight. “He knew. He knew they were coming for him, and he still left this for us.”
“What did he mean about The Founder?” Max asks.
“I don’t know. But apparently, Selena answers to someone.” I scroll back to the encrypted files. “We need to start decrypting these. Now. Before anyone realizes what we have.”
“That could take hours. Days, even.”
“Then we better get started.”
Max gets coffee from the contraband pot we keep hidden in the closet. I open the decryption program Austin included. The interface is complex but intuitive. He’s built in shortcuts. Algorithms that will do most of the heavy lifting.
We work in silence. I run the program on the first file. The computer churns through calculations. Lines of code scroll past so fast that it doesn’t give me enough time to read. Then suddenly it stops. A prompt appears: MANUAL INPUT REQUIRED.
“What does that mean?” Max asks.
“The program can only do so much. The encryption has layers. We have to solve parts of it ourselves.” I study the pattern on-screen. “It’s like a puzzle. The program gives us pieces. We have to figure out how they fit together.”
Max pulls up a chair. “Show me what to do.”