Chapter 162: Inside the Walls
For several long seconds, no one in the operations center spoke.
The blinking signal on Marcus’s map continued pulsing calmly.
Location confird: Kane Group Headquarters
Adrian stared at the screen as if the system itself had betrayed him.
"That’s wrong."
Marcus didn’t look away from the map.
"I checked three tis."
Elena stepped closer to the display.
"Trace the signal again."
Marcus ran the diagnostic once more.
The network trace moved through the city’s communication grid, passed through several encrypted relay channels, and then stopped at the sa location.
The signal origin didn’t move.
It remained fixed.
Inside the building.
Marcus swallowed slowly.
"It’s not a routing error."
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
"You’re telling soone inside this building is controlling the entire Phase Two trigger?"
Marcus answered quietly.
"Yes."
The tir kept falling on the corner of every screen.
03:29:47
03:29:46
03:29:45
Elena crossed her arms.
"Then we find them."
Adrian was already moving.
He stepped toward the internal security console and opened the building surveillance system.
Hundreds of small cara feeds appeared across the wall display.
Hallways.
Elevators.
Lobby entrances.
Server rooms.
Office corridors.
Every part of Kane Group headquarters was visible through the caras.
Adrian scanned the feeds quickly.
"Security teams will start floor sweeps."
Marcus nodded.
"I’ll keep tracking the signal."
Elena looked around the room slowly.
"If the attacker is inside this building..."
She didn’t finish the sentence.
She didn’t need to.
Everyone understood what that ant.
The breach wasn’t just in the network.
It was inside their walls.
Across the headquarters tower, security personnel began moving.
Teams spread across each floor.
Offices were checked.
Server rooms were locked down.
Employees were asked to remain at their workstations.
From the outside, the building looked normal.
But inside, tension was spreading quickly.
Marcus zood the signal map further.
The pulsing point shifted slightly.
Adrian noticed imdiately.
"It moved."
Marcus nodded.
"Different network node."
He followed the signal path through the building’s internal infrastructure.
The marker settled again.
Floor 22.
Elena looked up.
"That’s the analytics division."
Adrian grabbed the radio.
"Security team two, move to floor twenty-two."
The response ca instantly.
"Copy."
The countdown continued.
03:18:02
03:18:01
03:18:00
On the twenty-second floor, employees looked up as two security officers entered the office space.
One of the analysts stood nervously.
"Is sothing wrong?"
The officer answered calmly.
"Routine system check."
Marcus watched the surveillance feed closely.
The signal continued pulsing.
But then...
It moved again.
Marcus leaned forward.
"It’s not stationary."
Adrian frowned.
"What do you an?"
Marcus pointed at the screen.
The signal had jumped to another internal node.
Floor 24.
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
"They’re using the building network to relay it."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"Like a bouncing signal."
Adrian cursed quietly.
"So we’re chasing ghosts."
anwhile, far below the operations center, inside the underground network hub of the building, a man stood quietly in front of a terminal.
He wore a plain maintenance jacket and a cap pulled low over his eyes.
The small terminal displayed the sa infrastructure map Marcus had been studying upstairs.
The man watched the signal trace move across the building network.
Security teams were already searching.
Just as expected.
He typed a new command.
The signal jumped again.
Floor 27.
Then he leaned back slightly.
"They’re responding quickly," he murmured.
A voice from a small earpiece replied.
"They have strong leadership."
The man smiled faintly.
"That’s why this test matters."
Back in the operations center, Marcus felt the tension building.
"The signal keeps shifting nodes."
Adrian slamd a hand lightly on the table.
"That ans the source is mobile."
Elena looked toward the building map.
"Or the source is stationary but using relay points."
Marcus’s eyes flicked back to the code window.
"That’s it."
Adrian looked at him.
"What?"
Marcus highlighted the data stream.
"The trigger isn’t coming directly from the attacker."
He pulled up the signal structure.
"It’s coming from our own network."
Adrian frowned.
"That makes no sense."
Marcus explained quickly.
"They injected a self-routing command."
Elena nodded slowly.
"So even if we find the person..."
Marcus finished the thought.
"The trigger will still fire."
The tir dropped again.
02:52:31
02:52:30
02:52:29
Adrian ran a hand through his hair.
"We’re running out of ti."
Elena stayed calm.
"Focus on the trigger."
Marcus returned to the system architecture.
If the signal was bouncing through the network...
There had to be one central control point.
One place where the command originated.
He opened the deeper routing layers.
Thousands of nodes appeared on the screen.
Marcus began filtering them.
One by one.
Removing redundant connections.
Removing passive relays.
Removing inactive nodes.
The list slowly shrank.
Adrian watched silently.
Finally Marcus stopped.
"There."
A single node remained.
A private terminal connection.
Adrian leaned forward.
"Where is it?"
Marcus checked the address.
His eyes widened slightly.
"Sublevel two."
Elena turned toward him.
"The building’s infrastructure hub."
Adrian’s expression hardened.
"That’s where the internal network switches are."
Marcus nodded.
"Which ans..."
Elena finished quietly.
"The attacker is downstairs."
Security teams moved imdiately.
Two patrol units headed toward the underground levels of the building.
The elevator caras showed them descending quickly.
Marcus watched the tir.
02:31:10
02:31:09
02:31:08
Adrian spoke into the radio.
"Proceed carefully."
The response crackled through the speaker.
"Understood."
In the underground hub, the man heard the elevator doors open above him.
He didn’t look worried.
Instead, he calmly closed one terminal window and opened another.
The Phase Two trigger script appeared.
Ard.
Waiting.
He checked the tir.
Two hours.
More than enough.
He typed another command.
The signal bouncing through the building network suddenly stopped moving.
Marcus saw it instantly.
"It’s stationary again."
Adrian leaned closer.
"Where?"
Marcus pointed at the screen.
The signal marker now sat directly over the underground hub.
Security teams were already approaching.
Elena spoke into the radio.
"He’s there."
The officers moved down the final corridor.
Inside the underground hub, the man calmly shut down the terminal.
The Phase Two trigger remained active.
But now it ran independently.
He slipped a small device from the back of the computer.
Then he stepped toward a maintenance door hidden behind the server racks.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway outside.
The security officers were close.
The man opened the maintenance hatch and slipped inside.
Seconds later, the officers burst into the room.
"Clear!"
They searched quickly.
Server racks.
Terminal desks.
Storage cabinets.
But the room was empty.
One officer spoke into the radio.
"Operations center, no one here."
Marcus stared at the screen.
"That’s impossible."
Adrian frowned.
"What about the signal?"
Marcus checked.
It was still there.
Still active.
But the control node had changed.
Elena stepped closer.
"Changed to where?"
Marcus’s voice dropped.
"It’s no longer in the building."
Adrian’s eyes widened.
"You’re telling ..."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"He already left."
The tir continued falling.
01:58:22
01:58:21
01:58:20
Adrian looked toward Elena.
"We missed him."
Marcus zood the signal map again.
The control signal had moved to the city network outside the building.
A moving marker appeared.
Vehicle route.
The attacker was traveling.
Elena spoke calmly.
"Track him."
Marcus followed the signal path.
The route led toward the central highway.
Adrian grabbed the radio again.
"Dispatch patrol units."
But Marcus suddenly froze.
"Elena..."
She turned.
"What?"
Marcus stared at the screen.
The moving signal wasn’t heading randomly through the city.
It was heading toward a very specific location.
And when the destination marker appeared...
Everyone in the room went silent.
Adrian whispered the na.
"The central traffic control hub."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"That’s where the Phase Two transportation system connects."
Elena’s voice dropped.
"If he reaches that hub..."
Marcus finished quietly.
"He won’t just trigger the system."
Adrian stared at the countdown tir.
01:42:06
01:42:05
01:42:04
Marcus felt the weight of the mont settle in his chest.
Because the attacker wasn’t running away.
He was heading straight for the city’s transportation control center.
And if he reached it before the tir ended—
The entire transportation network could fall under his control.
Elena looked at the map one last ti.
Then she spoke the order.
"We stop him before he gets there."
But the signal marker kept moving.
And the countdown clock kept falling.
01:41:30
01:41:29
01:41:28
And sowhere out on the highway...
The man driving toward the control hub smiled faintly.
Because he knew sothing they didn’t.
Even if they caught him...
Phase Two was already unstoppable.
End of Chapter 162
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