PART 15:

My name is David Brennan. Two nights ago, I was arrested for allegedly stealing information from CrossTech Industries. But what nobody’s telling you is why I took that information or who I was protecting you from. Cross isn’t just a tech company. They’re developing surveillance systems for governments that suppress their citizens.

They’re building infrastructure that enables authoritarian regimes, and they’re hiding it all behind corporate PR and progressive branding. Noah and Evelyn exchanged glances. Marcus turned the volume up. I took those files to expose what CrossTech really is. To show the world that Evelyn Cross isn’t a visionary leader.

She’s a war propheteer dressed in designer suits. And the man they brought in to stop me. Noah Mercer. He’s not some hero consultant. He’s a black ops specialist with a classified record so dark that even mentioning his name in certain circles gets you disappeared. Ask yourself why Croste needs someone like that on their payroll.

Ask yourself what they’re really building in that tower. The video cut to images, classified documents with heavy redaction, photos that could have been anything, financial records that proved nothing but looked incriminating in the right context. I’m releasing everything I have to journalists worldwide. Everything CrossTech doesn’t want you to know.

And if something happens to me, if I suddenly disappear or die under mysterious circumstances, you’ll know exactly who to blame. The video ended. The office was silent for a long moment. Then Evelyn said very quietly, “That son of a just declared war.” “Not war,” Noah corrected, his mind already racing through implications, counter moves, probable next steps.

“This is a distraction. Brennan’s not sophisticated enough to orchestrate this alone. Someone’s feeding him information, coaching him on what to say. They want us focused on public relations and legal defense while they do something else.” What’s something else? I don’t know yet. But this video wasn’t about exposure.

It was about misdirection. Noah pulled out his phone, started typing. Marcus, I need you to trace the video’s origin. Find out where it was uploaded from, what devices were used, any digital fingerprints. Evelyn, you need to get ahead of the PR disaster before it spirals. And I need access to your classified project files.

Evelyn went very still. What classified projects? Whatever Brennan is referring to in that video, the surveillance systems, the government contracts, he’s making it up or extrapolating from partial information. But for his claims to gain traction, there needs to be some foundation of truth. So, what are you actually working on that could be weaponized against you? We have a few government contracts, standard defense work, nothing.

Evelyn, Noah’s voice was sharp. This is the transparency part of partnership. I need to know what ammunition they’re using against you so I can figure out how to neutralize it. She hesitated, calculation warring with trust on her face. Then she made a decision. We have a contract with three allied governments for advanced infrastructure monitoring.

It’s designed to detect cyber attacks on critical systems, power grids, water treatment, emergency services. The technology can absolutely be used for surveillance if implemented improperly, which is why we built in privacy safeguards and require oversight. But if someone wanted to make it sound sinister, they could.

Anything else? A pattern recognition system for financial institutions to detect money laundering. Again, legitimate application with potential for misuse. We’re not building tools for oppression, Noah. We’re building tools for security that could theoretically be perverted, which is all they need. They take your legitimate work, strip context, add sinister interpretation, and suddenly you’re the villain.

Noah was typing rapidly on his phone. This is a classic intelligence operation. Discredit the target, destroy their credibility, make any defense look like guilty denial. The goal isn’t truth, it’s chaos. Marcus looked up from his tablet. The video was uploaded through a VPN chain, but I’m tracking the pattern.

It’s similar to Brennan’s previous access methods, which means whoever’s backing him gave him the same tools they used for the initial infiltration. Can you trace it back to source? Maybe. Probably. It’s going to take time. You don’t have time, Noah said. Because if this is a distraction, the real attack is already in motion.

What would hurt more than PR damage? What would be worth risking exposure for? Evelyn’s eyes widened. The launch. The global client launch is in 36 hours. If they compromise that, they won’t compromise it. They’ll destroy it completely. Make it fail so catastrophically that every claim in Brennan’s video looks true, discredit you, bankrupt the company, and prove that your security is worthless.

Noah stood. Marcus, forget the video trace. Check the launch systems, every component, every connection, every piece of code. Look for anything that doesn’t belong. That’s hundreds of systems across 14 countries. Then get every engineer you have working on it now. Marcus ran. Noah turned to Evelyn. You need to prepare for worst case scenario.

If they’ve compromised the launch, you need to be ready to pull the plug, cancel everything, eat the costs, and survive to rebuild. That would destroy us. 18 months of development, 300 million in investment, contracts with 47 partners worldwide. If we cancel now, if you launch with a compromised system, it won’t just destroy CrossT, it’ll destroy every client you’re connected to.

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