Chapter 9 - The Guard Who Remembered
Tomas met Nora near the laundry entrance after his shift.
“My father repaired generators at Emberwood,” he said. “Graham fired him when he wouldn't change a service timestamp.”
“Does your father still have the records?”
“He died last winter. But he taught me to keep backups. I have an old work-order binder.”
“Why didn't you bring it forward?”
“Because my mother needs her prescriptions and this job pays for them.”
Nora stared at the ground. Fear looked different on everybody, but it cost the same.
“An outside attorney might be able to protect you,” she said. “I can't promise it.”
“That's more honest than anybody here.”
Tomas promised to contact the lawyer, not hand Nora documents that might compromise their origin.
Inside, Margaret was setting tables for the foundation's annual dinner. Madison supervised, then snapped at a young server for placing a fork on the wrong side.
The girl flushed. “I'm sorry.”
Madison opened her mouth for another insult. She saw Nora watching and stopped herself.
“Fix it, please,” she said, stiffly.
The server nodded and escaped.
“Congratulations,” Nora told Madison. “You used a normal sentence.”
“I don't need a gold star.”
“No. You need to keep doing it when nobody's looking.”
Madison gave a reluctant snort.
That night, Tomas sent Nora a message: My dad's binder is in a storage unit. I'm going tomorrow with counsel.
An hour later a second message arrived: Someone broke the lock before we got there.
May you like
He attached a picture of the metal door hanging crooked. On the floor beneath it lay one torn page.
At the top, in faded ink, were the words: Caldwell Infrastructure — Emergency Alarm Bypass Authorization.
