Chapter 8 - PROFILE ZERO
Arthur knew every profile in the first continuity group.
Six names.
Profile Zero was not one of them.
Claire pulled the configuration metadata.
Created:
May 3, 2022.
Three weeks after Arthur's original emergency group.
Administrative source:
Derived root token.
Same family as Ethan's.
But not necessarily Ethan.
Arthur looked at him.
Ethan's lawyer said:
“Don't.”
Arthur hadn't asked yet.
Caleb did.
“Did you create Profile Zero?”
Ethan answered:
“No.”
“Did you authorize it?”
“No.”
“Did you know it existed?”
Ethan hesitated.
“No.”
Too late.
Caleb noticed.
“What?”
Ethan leaned back.
“I knew there was an unnamed board security profile.”
Arthur stared.
“When?”
“Summer 2022.”
“Whose?”
“I was told not to ask.”
“By who?”
Ethan looked toward his lawyer.
The lawyer whispered something.
Then Ethan said:
“Martin Shaw.”
Crownpoint's CEO at the time.
Retired last year after a stroke.
Alive.
Living in Connecticut.
The stalking threat had been directed at Martin.
Arthur understood the logic immediately.
A continuity identity not tied to Martin's name could obscure his movements from employees with log access.
That might even have been reasonable during an active threat.
But Profile Zero was used at 12:18 on the night of the leak.
Megan said the man escorting her was not Martin Shaw.
She knew his face from company materials.
So either:
Profile Zero was shared.
Cloned.
Or reassigned.
All unacceptable.
Caleb asked Arthur:
“Could a continuity profile authenticate more than one person?”
“Not if implemented properly.”
“Was this one?”
“I didn't implement it.”
Claire checked the enrollment type.
MANUAL TEMPLATE IMPORT
Not live enrollment.
Somebody imported biometric data from an existing company image.
That violated the security design Arthur had commissioned.
You were supposed to stand in front of a secure enrollment camera.
Liveness check.
Two administrators.
Documentation.
Profile Zero bypassed all three.
Arthur felt anger rise.
Then remembered his own derived token made it possible.
That part stayed.
Caleb asked Claire:
“Can you identify the source image?”
“Maybe from backup metadata.”
While she worked, Arthur turned to Ethan.
“You knew an unnamed profile existed and never told the 2022 investigation.”
Ethan answered:
“I believed it was Martin's protective profile.”
“Then you knew the archive wasn't complete.”
“I knew one exception existed.”
“You saw my name in the report.”
“Yes.”
“You signed it.”
Ethan stiffened.
“I signed an operational chronology.”
“That said my credentials were the only nonstandard access.”
“Yes.”
“Which you knew wasn't true.”
Ethan's lawyer interrupted.
“We've answered enough.”
Arthur sat back.
Enough was not the same as resolved.
Then Olivia spoke from across the room.
“Martin didn't create Profile Zero.”
Everyone turned.
“How do you know?”
Caleb asked.
“Because I wrote the privacy objection.”
Olivia had discovered the unnamed profile during a quarterly access review in August 2022.
She asked Security to identify the user.
Security chief Paul Denning responded:
Board protective measure. Executive need-to-know. No HR action required.
She accepted it.
“Why?”
Olivia looked at Arthur.
“Because I was tired.”
Not a noble reason.
The Harbor acquisition.
Labor negotiations.
Two open discrimination matters.
The CEO stalking threat.
She had thirty-seven unresolved issues.
One senior security officer told her this one was legitimate.
She let it go.
“Did you preserve the email?”
“Yes.”
Good.
Caleb read it.
Paul Denning.
Current Crownpoint Chief Security Officer.
The same man who oversaw executive security today.
Where was he now?
Claire checked.
His office was empty.
His assistant said he had left at 3:50.
Twelve minutes before Vanessa, Ethan and Olivia's access hold activated.
Caleb called.
Voicemail.
Security called.
No response.
Vanessa leaned forward.
“You think Paul created Profile Zero?”
Caleb answered:
“I think Paul knew it existed.”
Arthur looked at the controller history.
Then another line caught his eye.
Profile Zero had not merely entered Crownpoint in 2022.
Last successful authentication:
TODAY — 3:47 PM
Three minutes before Paul Denning left the building.
Fifteen minutes before the three executives were locked out.
May you like
Arthur stared at the screen.
Whoever Profile Zero belonged to had been inside Crownpoint headquarters less than an hour before Vanessa threw his cleaning cart into the hallway.
