Chapter 4 - The Trap Inside the Billionaire’s Garage
Christian invited Clarina to his private testing facility outside Las Vegas.
She expected arrogance.
Instead, she found silence.
The garage was enormous.
Rows of performance vehicles stood beneath white lights.
But the center of the facility was occupied by something much less glamorous.
A damaged prototype chassis.
Christian walked beside her.
"This is what we're really investigating."
Clarina approached.
Her heart tightened.
The architecture looked familiar.
"Where did you get this?"
"From a company I bought six months ago."
She crouched.
"What happened?"
"Thermal failure."
She looked up.
"Another one?"
"Yes."
Clarina touched a coolant line.
"Who designed this?"
"Your old company."
She stood.
"This is the same flaw."
Christian nodded.
"That's what I thought."
She spent the afternoon examining the prototype.
Then she found something hidden inside the wiring harness.
A miniature recording device.
Christian stared.
"That's not factory equipment."
"No."
He looked toward the security cameras.
"Then someone has been watching us."
Clarina removed the device carefully.
"It may not be recording."
Christian looked confused.
"Then what is it?"
"A trigger."
She turned it over.
"Someone can activate something remotely."
"What?"
"That's the question."
They transferred the device to a sealed lab.
An electrical engineer confirmed it had been designed to inject commands into the vehicle's network.
Christian's face darkened.
"Could it crash a car?"
Clarina hesitated.
"Yes."
"Could it cause a fire?"
"Potentially."
"Could someone kill the driver?"
She looked at him.
"Potentially."
Nobody spoke.
Then every light in the garage went out.
Clarina froze.
The emergency lights failed too.
Christian reached for her.
"Stay close."
A metallic click echoed somewhere inside the building.
Clarina whispered.
"Get down."
A loud mechanical snap followed.
Something struck the concrete wall above them.
Christian pulled her behind the prototype.
"Someone is inside."
His security team rushed in from the other side.
The intruder escaped.
But the damage had been done.
A server containing years of engineering data had been wiped.
Clarina stared at the black screen.
"They knew exactly what to target."
Christian nodded.
"Someone inside my company."
"Or someone inside your security contractor."
He looked at her.
"You think it's one of my people."
"I think you trust too many people."
Christian almost smiled.
"That sounds familiar."
They reviewed security footage.
One employee appeared near the server room.
Daniel Cross.
Christian's head snapped up.
"My chief technology officer."
Clarina studied him.
"Why would your CTO help Riker?"
"Because Daniel doesn't work for Riker."
"You're certain?"
"No."
That uncertainty changed everything.
Christian summoned Daniel.
The CTO arrived angry.
"This is absurd."
Christian placed a photograph on the table.
"Why were you in the server room?"
"Routine maintenance."
"At 3:17 a.m.?"
"Yes."
Daniel stared at Clarina.
"You brought her here?"
Christian remained calm.
"Answer the question."
Daniel did.
But his explanation was flawless.
Too flawless.
After he left, Clarina said quietly, "He's lying."
Christian frowned.
"Why?"
"He answered too quickly."
"That's not evidence."
"No."
She pointed at the table.
"But he didn't ask what was stolen."
Christian went silent.
He understood.
A truly innocent employee would ask what had happened.
Daniel had already known.
Christian called him back.
Daniel didn't return.
He disappeared before dawn.
The police found his abandoned car forty miles away.
Inside was a laptop.
On the laptop were files.
Hundreds.
Riker Templeton's name appeared everywhere.
The files showed Daniel had been paid through offshore accounts.
But there was something else.
A transfer schedule.
A target.
Adler Hutton.
Christian stared at the screen.
"They're not trying to sabotage my car."
Clarina looked over his shoulder.
"They're trying to sabotage your company."
"And make me look responsible."
She nodded.
"Just like they did to me."
Christian looked at her.
Suddenly the case was personal.
But there was another twist.
One file listed a date.
Tomorrow.
And a location.
An automotive investment summit in Las Vegas.
Christian was scheduled to speak.
Clarina stared at the page.
"What are they planning?"
Christian read the document.
His face went pale.
"A live demonstration."
"Of what?"
"A new energy-management system."
Clarina understood.
"If the software fails publicly, the market will blame your company."
"And my stock will collapse."
"Yes."
Christian looked at her.
"Can you stop it?"
Clarina picked up the laptop.
"I can try."
"How long?"
She glanced at the clock.
"Until tomorrow."
Christian nodded.
"Then we don't sleep."
Neither of them did.
For sixteen hours, they rebuilt the demonstration architecture.
At sunrise, Clarina found a hidden software command.
It was scheduled to activate during Christian's presentation.
She removed it.
Then she found another.
And another.
Seven separate triggers.
Riker had planned seven points of failure.
Clarina neutralized all seven.
Christian watched her work.
At one point, he said quietly, "You should have been running this entire industry."
Clarina didn't look up.
"I was."
Silence.
Then Christian said something that changed their relationship.
"I'm sorry."
She stopped typing.
"For what?"
"For what people like me did."
She looked at him.
"I'm not responsible for Riker."
"No."
He swallowed.
"But I made money from the same system."
Clarina studied him for a long moment.
Then she returned to the screen.
"Help me finish this."
Christian nodded.
"I will."
And neither of them realized that someone else was watching them.
Someone who knew where Clarina slept.
Someone who knew where Toby was being treated.
May you like
And someone who had just decided that the easiest way to silence Clarina was no longer destroying her career.
It was destroying her family.
