Evelyn worked like a surgeon—precise, silent, and fast. She set up camp in a corner of the vast office space just below Wolfe's, surrounded by cubicles buzzing with hushed phone calls and click-clacking keyboards. No one knew who she was, which gave her the greatest weapon of all: invisibility.
She started with the list. Fourteen employees had access to the confidential project—twelve of them accounted for by airtight digital logs. Two hadn't logged in since Friday. One of them was on leave. The other? A man named Derek Shaw—Wolfe's former personal assistant.
She requested his HR file. It had been marked as 'pending clearance.' Suspicious.
"Who's in charge of security clearances?" she asked a passing intern.
"Uh… Mr. Briggs on floor 17."
Evelyn was already in the elevator.
Briggs was gruff and old-school, but the moment she mentioned Wolfe's name, the doors opened.
"Derek Shaw's access was deactivated last week," Briggs said. "He was terminated. Quietly."
"Why?"
"Conflict of interest. Tried to sell data. We caught it before it went too far."
Evelyn's stomach dropped. "But he still has documents?"
Briggs hesitated. "He kept a backup drive. Claimed it was for 'portfolio purposes.'"
"How long ago was this?"
"Four days."
Four days. Just enough time for Derek to get bold.
She didn't wait. She ran.
Back in the glass tower, she burst into Wolfe's office without knocking. He looked up from a file, calm as ever.
"You have a rat," she said. "Derek Shaw. He's planning to leak the specs. He still has a backup drive."
Alexander stared at her for a long moment. "And you're certain?"
"I don't guess. I know."
He picked up his phone. "Handle it," he said into the receiver.
Then he hung up and stood.
"You passed," he said.
She blinked. "That was a test?"
"No," he said quietly. "The leak was real. But you passed me."
Their eyes locked.
And Evelyn Hart realized something terrifying: this was not a job.
This was a game.
And she'd just been invited to play it at the highest level.