Chapter 7 - THE BLACK WALLET
Grant lunged.
He was not trained like Cole.
He was angry.
Angry people telegraph.
His shoulder moved first.
I stepped aside.
He overcommitted.
His jacket swung open.
Something black flew from the inside pocket.
A leather credential wallet.
It struck the mat, bounced once, and slid almost exactly to where Ava sat clutching Major.
Grant froze.
Ava bent down.
“Don’t!”
His voice cracked across the atrium.
Every person turned.
Too late.
Ava picked it up.
She opened it because children open things.
Grant moved toward her.
I stepped between them.
“Stop.”
“Give me that.”
He was no longer pretending.
No professional tone.
No evaluation.
Pure panic.
Ava looked inside.
Her eyebrows pinched.
“There’s a man’s picture.”
Grant lunged.
Cole blocked him.
“Back off.”
That was when Victoria came down from the balcony.
Fast.
No assistant.
No executive composure.
She crossed the floor, took the wallet carefully from Ava, and looked inside.
Her face changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“Where did you get this?”
Grant said nothing.
Victoria looked again.
Inside the wallet was a federal contractor credential issued to Martin Vale.
Northstar’s former director of corporate security.
The man everyone had been told retired three months earlier.
Victoria stared at Grant.
“Martin reported this stolen.”
Grant backed away.
Two Northstar security officers near the entrance straightened.
Victoria flipped the credential sleeve.
Behind Martin’s badge were three access cards.
One red.
Two black.
She looked at them.
Then at Grant.
Her voice was quiet.
“Lock the doors.”
Grant turned.
Security personnel stepped across both exits.
Victoria held up the wallet.
“Grant…”
His face collapsed.
May you like
“What did you steal?”
And suddenly the missing cloned badge in the simulation was no longer the most important credential in the building.
