James and Victoria exchanged a look. That's a restricted system, James said carefully. I know. I've worked with the reporting outputs for 14 months. I know where the outputs come from and I know what the raw data should look like underneath them.
If someone built a shadow record, they had to either access the raw system directly, which leaves traces, or they built the fabrication on top of the reports, which means the seams will show if you know what you're looking at. He looked at James. I know what I'm looking at. Another exchange of looks between them. Then Victoria said, give him the access.
James nodded once and reached for his phone. One more thing, Darius said, "Whoever built this, they're still inside the company. You haven't identified them, which means they don't know they've been found yet. That's an advantage, and it's the only one you have right now. Nothing changes on the surface.
Nobody outside this room learns that you know about the shadow record. " "Agreed," Victoria said. "That includes your CFO," she looked at him sharply. David has been with this company for 9 years. And someone who has been feeding Voss data for 8 months has been with this company long enough to know exactly which systems to access and how to avoid leaving obvious traces. 9 years gives someone 9 years of access and 9 years of understanding how your security protocols work.
He said it evenly, not accusatorally, just clearly until you know who it is. You trust no one with this. No one. Victoria's jaw tightened. He could see the cost of what he was saying register across her face the loneliness of it.
The exhausting paranoia of having to suspect everyone around you, but she nodded. No one, she agreed. At 9:45, Kalista appeared with a quiet knock and informed Victoria that she had a board call in 15 minutes that couldn't be moved. Victoria straightened her jacket, transformed in approximately 10 seconds from the woman who had been leaning over documents with her hair slightly disheveled back into the CEO whose photograph appeared in business journals and looked at Darius. How long do you need with the raw data?
Give me the week. I'll know something solid by Friday. You have until Thursday, she said. Friday is too close to the weekend before the board premeating. Thursday, then he stood.
Victoria. She paused at the word, still adjusting to it. He could tell. Whoever is feeding Voss information, they're going to notice when someone starts looking at the raw data. Even with restricted access, a new user query pattern will show up in the system logs, meaning they'll know you're looking, meaning they might try to accelerate their timeline.
He held her gaze. Be careful. Not just professionally, actually careful. She looked at him for a moment with an expression. He hadn't seen from her before.