Chapter 4 - The Forty-Second Floor
The glass doors of Northstar Systems headquarters swung open as Victoria and Mason strode through the grand marble lobby.
Security guards who had escorted Mason out of the building with a cardboard box three weeks ago stared in absolute confusion as the CEO herself held the private executive elevator door open for him.
As the elevator accelerated toward the forty-second floor, Victoria turned to Mason. “Julian Thorne is currently in the master control center with the external software consultants. He’s trying to blame the crash on an external cyberattack to protect himself.”
“Julian doesn't know the difference between an external cyberattack and a blown fuse,” Mason said, pulling a USB flash drive from his keychain. “He’s a suit who reads technical buzzwords off slides.”
The elevator doors chimed and slid open.
The main engineering floor was in absolute chaos. Dozens of junior technicians were running back and forth between glass conference rooms, shouting over ringing phones, while red alert lights flashed across the primary monitor wall.
At the center of the command bridge stood Julian Thorne—a tall, slick man in a four-thousand-dollar tailored suit, holding a cup of espresso and yelling at a young lead engineer.
“I don't care what it takes!” Thorne roared. “Format the drive! Wiping the database is better than letting the media know we lost control of the grid!”
“If you format that drive, Julian,” Mason’s voice boomed across the command floor, “you will commit federal healthcare fraud.”
Every head on the floor turned instantly.
Thorne spun around, his eyes widening in shock, then instantly turning into a sneer when he saw Mason standing beside Victoria.
“Reed?” Thorne sneered, walking forward. “What the hell are you doing in my building? Security! Escort this former employee out immediately!”
“Security, stand down!” Victoria commanded, her voice cutting through the noise like a whip.
Thorne blinked, taken aback. “Victoria, what is this? This man was terminated for incompetence three weeks ago! We are in the middle of a national security crisis!”
“He wasn't terminated for incompetence, Julian,” Victoria said, stepping directly into Thorne’s personal space, her eyes blazing with a fierce, terrifying authority. “He was terminated because you lied to me about his infrastructure reports so you could reallocate his department budget into your quarterly performance bonus.”
Thorne’s face flushed bright red. “That’s absurd! I saved this company four million dollars in operational overhead—”
“And it just cost us sixteen million dollars in twenty minutes,” Victoria snapped. She turned to the security officers. “Escort Mr. Thorne to his office. Collect his badge, his laptop, and his keys. He is terminated effective immediately for gross corporate negligence.”
Thorne’s jaw dropped. “You can’t do this! The board will crush you for this!”
“Let them try,” Victoria said coldly.
As security led the sputtering executive away, Victoria turned to the thirty stunned technicians standing on the floor.
“Listen to me!” Victoria called out, pointing to Mason. “Mason Reed is back in full charge of Infrastructure Operations as Senior Chief Technology Director. Every order he gives is backed by my absolute authority. Get him to the server core now!”
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A cheer broke out among the lower-level engineers who had worked under Mason for years.
Mason didn't waste a second. He stripped off his jacket, rolled up his flannel shirt sleeves, and sprinted toward the heavy steel doors of the central server vault.
