Chapter 5 - The Trap is Set
That evening, Rory and Veronica devised a dangerous plan.
If the traitor inside the estate believed the bug was still transmitting false data to the local relay, they would eventually make a move to check the status or plant a secondary device.
“We leave the decoy signal active,” Veronica explained, pointing to the laptop screen in the dimly lit study. “We route it through a secure proxy so it looks like the girls are still experiencing the sleep disruptions, but the signal actually loops back to an isolated server here in the house.”
Rory stood behind her, one hand braced against the back of her chair, leaning over her shoulder to inspect the code. His proximity was intoxicating; she could smell the clean, sharp scent of cedarwood and expensive cologne on his skin.
“And when the mole tries to access the proxy to confirm the status?” Rory asked, his voice low and gravelly near her ear.
“We track their IP address straight to their private terminal within the estate,” Veronica finished, her heart fluttering against her ribs.
“Clever,” Rory murmured, his gaze dropping momentarily from the screen to her lips before he forced his attention back to the mission. “We execute it at midnight.”
The hours ticked by with agonizing slowness.
At 11:55 p.m., Rory and Veronica sat side by side in the darkened command center of the basement bunker. The estate was silent, save for the hum of servers and the distant rhythm of rain lashing against the reinforced concrete walls.
On the main monitor, the proxy server blinked green.
Ping.
A connection attempt.
“Someone is tapping into the loop,” Veronica whispered, her fingers flying across her keyboard to trace the handshake protocol. “They’re trying to verify if the psychological loop is still active in the nursery.”
“Trace it,” Rory ordered, his hand resting inches from hers on the desk.
“Got it,” Veronica’s eyes widened as the source IP resolved. She pulled up the internal security directory, cross-referencing employee badge scans and terminal logs.
The screen flashed a name and a location.
Rory stared at the monitor, and for the first time since the ordeal began, the color drained completely from his face.
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The traitor wasn't an outsider. It wasn't even Susan.
It was Marcus Vance—Rory’s own head of administrative security and his brother-in-law, the man who had stood by his side for ten years.
