Chapter 9 - THE THING VOSS MISSED

The federal government had Victor.

It had Voss.

It had Alex's accusations.

What it didn't have was enough evidence.

Not anymore.

By noon, Meridian's attorneys were already calling the server fire an electrical accident.

By two, Victor had retained three criminal-defense firms.

By four, Voss was released without charges.

Alex watched him leave the federal building on television.

Reporters surrounded him.

Voss smiled.

“I have complete confidence in the truth.”

Alex threw the remote across the room.

Noah didn't react.

Maya did.

“That was an expensive television.”

“I can afford another one.”

“No.”

She held up her phone.

“Technically you can't.”

His accounts were still frozen.

Alex sat down.

Everything they had fought for had vanished in smoke.

Then Noah spoke.

“Not everything.”

Alex looked at him.

Noah was holding the silver fourth drive.

“The real one?”

“Yes.”

Alex stood.

“You said it disappeared.”

“It did.”

“You stole it.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn't you tell us you still had it?”

“Because I didn't trust either of you.”

Maya rolled her eyes.

“We've established that.”

Noah connected the drive.

Folders opened.

Alex leaned toward the screen.

The transaction map.

Complete.

“You had this the whole time?”

“Most of it.”

“Most?”

“One folder is missing.”

Alex looked.

PROJECT LANTERN.

The file that connected Voss directly to the operation.

Maya exhaled.

“So we can prove Meridian's financial activity, but not necessarily that Voss controlled it.”

Noah nodded.

Alex sat back.

Close.

Again.

Always close.

His phone rang.

His father.

Alex answered.

“Dad?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

A pause.

Then:

“Your mother told me what happened.”

Alex rubbed his eyes.

“I'm sorry.”

“For what?”

“Dragging you into this.”

His father laughed.

“Son, you didn't create these people.”

Alex said nothing.

His father continued.

“But I remembered something.”

“What?”

“The little computer your mother gave that man.”

Alex straightened.

“Yes?”

“He didn't take everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“There were two machines.”

Alex stood.

“What?”

“You built them together.”

Memory struck him.

Junior year.

Two identical prototype boxes.

One failed constantly.

Alex abandoned it.

His father had taken it into the garage and used it as a media server.

“Dad.”

“Yes?”

“Where is the second one?”

“Garage.”

Alex looked at Maya.

She understood immediately.

“If they were mirrored…”

Noah was already grabbing his coat.

They drove.

Inside the Carter garage, Alex moved boxes until he found it.

Dusty.

Black.

Forgotten.

He plugged it in.

Nothing.

His father laughed.

“You always were terrible at hardware.”

“Helpful.”

Alex opened the case.

Removed the storage module.

Noah connected it to his laptop.

Files appeared.

Old code.

Snapshots.

Logs.

Then Maya whispered:

“Wait.”

A directory.

LANTERN_TEST.

Dated six years earlier.

Before Meridian had ever approached them.

Before Lattice officially existed as a company.

Alex opened it.

A video appeared.

Daniel Voss.

Much younger.

Sitting across from twenty-one-year-old Alex in a coffee shop.

Alex remembered the meeting.

His first pitch.

But the recording continued after young Alex left the table.

Voss remained.

Another man sat down.

Victor Hale.

Victor asked:

“Well?”

Voss smiled.

“The kid built exactly what we need.”

Alex felt sick.

Victor asked:

“Does he know?”

“No.”

Voss looked directly toward the hidden camera.

“And if we manage him correctly, he never will.”

Maya covered her mouth.

Noah whispered:

“Jesus.”

Alex stared at the date.

Voss hadn't discovered Lattice after it became successful.

He had funded Alex specifically to build it.

The entire career Alex believed he'd created himself—

might have been engineered from the beginning.

Then another voice came from the recording.

A woman.

“There's one problem.”

Alex froze.

He knew that voice.

He had heard it his entire life.

The camera shifted.

The woman sat beside Voss.

Alex whispered:

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