The sealed security-office door unlocks from the administrative side. Derek Vale steps inside with both hands visible, leaving the lower lab behind him as the electronic lock seals again.
Derek Vale
The transfer system registered an unauthorized retrieval before the scheduled handoff. Someone anticipated the evidence being copied, and they may already be moving the archive.
Margery MacDonald
Did you enable the retrieval, Derek? Because if you did, you need to tell us right now.
Margery turns sharply toward him, her copied files still open on Lindsey’s phone. Derek stops beside the security console, careful not to reach for anything without permission.
Derek Vale
No. I used my credentials to leave the lab and enter this office. The retrieval was triggered elsewhere, through the archive network.
One camera feed goes black, then another. The remaining monitors redraw their status bars in amber as corridor images vanish one by one, leaving fewer eyes on the facility.
Margery MacDonald
Then whoever is doing this knows the system better than we thought. Lindsey, we need to find out what they are taking before the last camera disappears.
Establish the source of the unauthorized retrieval
Prevent the committee from making the evidence disappear