Fourteen days later, rain glosses the freight overlook above Leonidas’s automated cargo lanes. Cranes glide without drivers, moving sealed containers through blue-white scanning light.
Sela Marr waits beside the guardrail without guards or visible weapons, her dark coat beaded with rain. A private logistics display flickers across one palm.
Sela Marr
I kept monitoring the node. Someone used its credentials to move hardware toward an underwater infrastructure route.
Below, cargo carriers turn with mechanical precision, their route lights threading between towers. Sela angles the display away from the public cameras.
Sela Marr
That node is compromised. My promised private favor is no longer private, and keeping it alive could expose both of us.
The display shows duplicated credentials, freight timestamps, and a descending route that vanishes beneath Leonidas’s coastal infrastructure. One access signature remains active.
Sela Marr
I summoned you because I need a decision before the next transfer. We can bury the trail, or find out what it is carrying.
Trace the unauthorized hardware transfer to its source