Chapter 10 - PACKET B
Packet B had never reached Rebecca.
But parts survived.
Pike’s storage unit contained a photocopied index.
No original documents.
Title:
ASTER BENEFICIARY CONTINUITY PROGRAM.
Children and dependents listed by code.
Investigators.
Judges.
Regulators.
Corporate whistleblowers.
Some names crossed out.
Some assigned schools.
Some assigned foundations.
The program did not necessarily harm these children.
That made it more sinister.
It paid.
Scholarships.
Medical grants.
Internships.
Leadership programs.
Travel fellowships.
Good opportunities.
In exchange, families entered ecosystems funded by the same powerful donors Gray once investigated.
Influence does not always look like bribery.
Sometimes it looks like gratitude.
Lily:
AW 19.
Walker dependent.
Preferred institution:
Hawthorne.
Activation age:
My daughter had been on a list since infancy.
Anna discovered it.
Packet B probably proved who created list.
Index showed approving code:
NP.
Nolan Price.
My technical director.
Rebecca sat silent.
I felt sick.
Nolan had been inside Gray while coordinating Aster?
Could be.
Or code belonged another person.
Need proof.
Then another code:
AP.
Aaron Pike.
Security contractor.
Pike helped.
Malcolm Voss code:
MV.
Next to his name:
REVIEW OBJECTS.
What did that mean?
Objected to program?
Likely.
Several entries marked MV HOLD.
Maybe Voss was trying to stop.
That supported his story.
Rebecca code:
RS.
No approval.
One note:
RS UNAWARE.
She closed her eyes.
Not proof.
But relief.
Then my code:
DW.
STATUS UNKNOWN.
Someone tracked whether I knew.
Anna’s notes probably threatened exposure.
Then the most important entry:
AW.
Anna Walker.
STATUS: INTERNAL RISK.
Mitigation:
CONTACT VOSS.
No instruction to kill.
No violent action.
Maybe they tried persuading her.
She met Voss.
Then crash.
Still unresolved.
Pike’s storage unit also held maintenance report from Sentinel truck.
The truck that killed Anna.
Technician:
Aaron Pike.
Three days before accident.
My blood went cold.
Was Pike a mechanic?
He was Sentinel security operations manager with authority to pull vehicles.
Why sign maintenance release?
He claimed in old record he performed administrative inspection.
Could be innocent.
Now not.
Federal engineers reviewed.
Could Pike sabotage steering?
He had access.
No proof.
He vanished now.
Flight risk.
Search intensified.
Then we found a payment.
Aster Civic Foundation to Pike.
$75,000.
One week after Anna died.
Description:
Security transition consulting.
Could be legitimate.
Looks terrible.
Then another payment to Nolan Price.
$120,000.
Three months later.
He was federal employee.
Undisclosed outside payment.
That was likely illegal.
Nolan may have been compromised.
Pike too.
What about Voss?
No payment.
Rebecca?
No payment.
That shifted.
Then Maya decrypted another file.
Packet B recovery note.
Written by Anna.
Nolan is running continuity through Aster. Pike handles physical access. Voss thinks he is watching them but they are watching him.
There.
Anna named Nolan and Pike.
Not vague.
She had discovered internal corruption.
Why not tell me?
Because Nolan was my technical director.
I trusted him.
She needed proof first.
Did Nolan cause crash?
Unknown.
Pike vehicle access made possible.
Then the note:
If I am wrong, I destroy three careers. If I am right, telling Daniel too soon gets him killed.
Anna was protecting me.
Again.
I hated it.
Loved her for it.
Both.
Then Tyler’s testimony gave modern connection.
Aaron Pike had told him:
“Once Walker activates, everything changes.”
He was not hiding the phone activation from larger network.
He wanted it.
Who received signal?
Technical trace showed Node 7 activation pinged a legacy server still active inside Aster Foundation’s cloud environment.
Owner now:
Cole Systems Government Solutions.
Ethan Cole’s father’s company.
Warren Cole.
Did Warren know?
His lawyers said legacy infrastructure acquired during merger fifteen years ago.
Could be true.
Then server access log at moment of activation.
User:
NP_RECOVERY.
Nolan Price recovery account.
Nolan dead twelve years.
Someone was using his credentials.
IP:
Hawthorne University.
Building:
Vice President Administration.
Malcolm Voss’s office.
We looked at Voss.
He said:
“My office system is compromised.”
Maybe.
Then camera from hallway.
At activation time, Voss was not in office.
He was at hospital.
Outside Lily’s room.
Who was in his office?
Access badge:
Aaron Pike.
He had entered using emergency security override thirty minutes earlier.
Pike triggered Nolan recovery account from Voss’s office.
He framed Voss.
Then disappeared.
We finally had a living operational suspect.
Not mastermind necessarily.
A man tying old and new.
Then Pike sent an email to me.
Direct.
Subject:
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED RETIRED.
Body:
Ask your daughter what Ethan said before the first punch.
Lily had already told us many things.
May you like
But not that.
Continue to the next part: Pike’s message points Daniel back to a sentence Ethan spoke moments before Lily was attacked.
