Chương 12
"You nervous?"
He stopped folding.
"No."
"You're making origami trash."
He looked at the tiny square in his hand.
"Maybe I'm discovering a hobby."
"You need one."
"Apparently."
My eyes began to close.
Just before sleep took me, my phone on the far table lit up again despite airplane mode being off now under Marcus's supervision.
This time it was not an unknown number.
It was Caroline DeWitt.
Marcus answered before I could.
He listened without speaking.
Then his expression changed.
He handed the phone to me.
Caroline did not say hello.
"Victoria, somebody just tried to transfer two hundred million dollars out of a Calder reserve account using your authorization."
My sleep vanished.
"Was it successful?"
"No."
Caroline's voice was clipped, breathless in a way I had never heard from her.
"The treasury controls caught it because the request bypassed our normal dual-approval chain."
"Where did it originate?"
"We're still checking."
"Who signed?"
"You did."
I closed my eyes.
"Of course I did."
Marcus was already standing.
Caroline continued before I could ask.
"The signature packet includes your certificate and an authorization token tied to your executive account."
"That token should require hardware authentication."
"It should."
"Should?"
"We're trying to understand how they got around it."
Marcus held out his hand for the phone.
I shook my head.
"Caroline, do not send me anything."
Silence.
"What?"
"No documents."
"Victoria—"
"No screenshots, no forwarded emails, nothing to this phone."
I looked at Marcus.
"No company devices either."
Caroline inhaled.
"You're treating this as an internal compromise."
"I'm treating it as unknown."
That silence lasted longer.
She understood what unknown meant.
It included her.
"I see."
Her voice changed.
Not anger exactly.
Something smaller and more personal.
"You think I might be involved."
"I think somebody has access they shouldn't have."
"And I have access."
"Yes."
"After twelve years."
"Caroline."
"No, it's fine."
It clearly was not.
"I would rather offend you tonight than apologize at your funeral next week."
Marcus looked at me.
Caroline did not answer for several seconds.
Then she said, "Fair."
The word sounded painful.
"Tell me only what you can verify verbally."
"The transfer request came in at eleven fifty-eight."
"After Jonathan was already in custody."
"Yes."
"Destination?"
"A clearing account in Singapore."
"Owned by?"
"Layered corporate structure."
"Can we freeze it?"
"It never left Calder."
"Good."
"There's more."
I stared at the ceiling.
"There always is."
"The request references an emergency continuity resolution supposedly approved by the board at nine thirty tonight."
My body went cold.
"There was no board meeting."
"I know."
"Minutes?"
"Attached."
"Signatures?"
"Seven directors."
"Real?"
"They look real."
I turned toward Marcus.
He was no longer pretending this might be confined to Jonathan and one crooked lawyer.
"Who received the packet first?"
"Finance operations."
"Name."
"Leon Park."
"Relation to Elena?"
"Brother."
That coincidence was almost too neat.
I hated it immediately.
"Don't touch Leon."
"I haven't."
"Don't suspend him."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Don't even call him."
Caroline paused.
"You really think we're compromised."
"I think someone wants us to behave like frightened idiots."
Marcus nodded once.
Caroline said, "What do you want me to do?"
I looked at him again.
He mouthed, Nothing electronic.
"Go home."
"What?"
"Go home."
"Victoria, somebody just tried to move two hundred million dollars."
"And they want us running around the building changing passwords and accusing people."
"We need to secure the company."
"We need to know what they're watching."
Caroline was quiet.
Then, slowly, "So we act normal."
"As normal as possible."
"You're in a hospital after your husband tried to kill you."
"Fine."
I shifted against the pillow.
"Act abnormally normal."
That got a short exhale from her.
Almost a laugh.
It made me miss her.
"Who can you trust enough to call personally?"
She answered immediately.
"Finance chief."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Everyone is maybe tonight."
Another silence.
This one less offended.
"Understood."
"Use a landline if you have to communicate anything sensitive."
"That sentence makes me feel ninety."
"Good."
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
I glanced toward the monitors.
"Nobody mentions the trust amendment."
Caroline did not respond.
Marcus's head lifted.
I realized too late that I had just told her about something I had intended to compartmentalize.
Fatigue had made the mistake for me.
"The what?"
I looked at Marcus.
He did not rescue me.
"The trust amendment."
"Victoria, what trust amendment?"
"Nothing you need to act on yet."
"You just told me not to mention it."
"Correct."
"So it exists."
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Caroline."
"Does this have something to do with Jonathan?"
"Yes."
"Did he change your trust?"
"Someone forged a change."
Her breath caught.
"How bad?"
"Bad enough."
"Send it to me."
"No."
"Victoria."
"No."
"You called me because I am general counsel."
"You called me."
"Then let me do my job."
There was the Caroline I knew.
Sharp.
Impatient.
Impossible when excluded.
Usually useful.
Tonight, dangerous if I guessed wrong.
"I need you to do a different job."
"What?"
"Stay boring."
She laughed once, incredulous.
"You are asking the general counsel of a defense contractor to go home while someone attempts a fraudulent international transfer."
"Yes."
"And you think I will?"
"No."
That stopped her.
"So what are you actually asking?"
"Stay observable."
Marcus looked at me sharply.
Caroline understood a second later.
"You think whoever is behind this may be watching our response."
"I would."
"That doesn't mean they are."
"No."
"Then this is a theory."
"Yes."
"You hate theories."
"I hate unsupported certainty more."
Caroline sighed.
"Fine."
"Go to the office if that's what you'd normally do."
"It is."
"Take your usual driver."
"I drove myself."
"Then drive yourself."
"Now you're micromanaging my commute."
"It soothes me."
"You're unbearable."
"So I've been told."
Her voice softened.
"Are you all right?"
The question almost undid me because it was not legal or operational.
It was hers.
I looked down at my stomach.
"Not particularly."
"Is the baby okay?"
"For now."
May you like
"That's enough for tonight."
I swallowed.
