<b>Chapter </b><b>30 </b>
<b>79 </b>
Ethan Haxton paced across his Manhattan penthouse, morning sunlight streaming through floor–to- ceiling windows that framed the city skyline. His fingers absently traced the ck spider tattoo on his knuckle as he processed the previous night’s digital confrontation.
“It has to be X,” Connor insisted, his expression a mix of frustration and reluctant admiration. “No
one else could have countered my attack that efficiently.”
Ethan shook his head. “X is a ghost story hackers tell to feel better about their failures. A convenient
myth.”
“With all due respect, sir, X is very real. They’ve breached systems everyone imed were
imprable. The FBI, DARPA, even-”
“I know the legends,” Ethan interrupted, stopping to gaze out at the city. “But this is different. Our opponent isn’t just a hacker. They solved that quantum alignment paradox–something the brightest
minds at Princeton couldn’t crack.”
Connor’s eyes widened. “You think it’s the same person? A hacker <i>and </i>a physics genius?”
“Exactly. Someone extraordinary.” Ethan’s phone buzzed with a text from Philip Thornton. The
Princeton dean was asking if they should increase their schrship offer.
Ethan typed a quick response: <i>Don’t </i><i>bother. </i><i>Someone </i><i>with </i><i>that </i><i>level </i>of <i>talent </i><i>won’t </i><i>be </i><i>swayed </i><i>by </i>
<i>conventional </i><i>incentives</i>. <i>This </i><i>isn’t </i><i>about </i><i>money </i><i>for </i><i>them</i>.
The next morning, the Haxton Group’s downtown headquarters hummed with anticipation. The quarterly board meeting was about to begin, with senior executives filling the ss–walled conference room overlooking the financial district.
Connor Haxton straightened his tie nervously. As Ethan’s cousin and head of cybersecurity, he was responsible for presenting the quarter’s digital infrastructure improvements. He opened hisptop and connected it to the room’s projection system.
“Good morning, everyone,” Connor began, forcing confidence into his voice. “I’m pleased to report significant progress on our-”
His words died as the screen behind him shed to life. Instead of his meticulously prepared
7:04 Tue, Sep 16
presentation, explicit pornographic images filled the massive disy. A series of videos began
<b>79 </b>
ying automatically,plete with unmistakable sound effects that echoed through the conference room’s premium speakers.
“What the fuck?” Connor frantically jabbed at keys, his face flushing crimson as elderly board members gasped in shock. “This isn’t–I didn’t–this isn’t my presentation!”
Nothing worked. The remote control did nothing. Connor desperately mmed it against the table, then threw it at the screen, where it bounced off harmlessly as the images continued to cycle.
Ethan’s face had turned to stone. “Meeting adjourned,” he announced, his voice cutting through the chaos. “We’ll reconvene when our systems are… functional.”
As the room cleared, Ethan remained seated, staring at Connor with icy fury. “Check your files. All of
them. Now.”
An hourter, Connor reported back, his face ashen. “Everything’s gone. All my presentations, reports, projections–reced with… that content. The backup servers too. It’s like someone reached
into our system and just… changed everything.”
“Not someone,” Ethan said quietly. “X. I’d be furious if I wasn’t so damn impressed.”
At Cloud City High School, the hallways buzzed with spection.
“Did you hear? They fired Dr. Thompson and Mr. Peterson!”
“I heard Peterson got his teaching license revoked!”
Ashley Williams leaned against her locker, phone in hand. “My dad works for the school district. There was an emergency meetingst night. The mayor showed up personally.”
“Why would the mayor care about some random cheating usation?” someone asked,
“It wasn’t random,” Ashley replied. “My dad said Peterson used the wrong student. Someone with
connections.”
“You mean Jade Morgan?” a sophomore girl whispered. “I saw her talking to this super hot guy in an expensive suitst week. Custom tailored, Armani or something.”
7:05 Tue, Sep 16
“No way! Fat Jade?”
:
“She’s not fat anymore,” Ashley corrected. “Haven’t you seen her? She lost like fifty pounds over weeks.”
<b>79 </b>
Orion Miller listened quietly, remembering the suited man he’d seen talking to Felix Huxley outside the principal’s office. He frowned, tuning out his ssmates‘ gossip as they abandoned their SAT prep to specte about Jade Morgan’s mysterious connections.
Monday morning’s assembly brought another surprise. Principal Thompson was gone, reced by a middle–aged woman with a friendly smile.
“Good morning, students. I’m Dr. Reba Winters, formerly vice principal at Jefferson High. I’ll be serving as your principal for the remainder of the year.”
The whispers started immediately. No exnation for Thompson’s sudden departure was offered, but everyone connected it to the Jade Morgan incident. By lunchtime, there wasn’t a student at Cloud
City High who hadn’t heard some version of the story.
Max Morgan couldn’t eat his lunch in peace. Every few minutes, another student would approach with questions about his sister.
“Is it true Jade has some political connection?”
“Did your sister really get Peterson fired?”
“Hey Max, nice new iPhone. Did Jade get you that too?”
Max shifted ufortably, the attention making him self–conscious about his left foot. “She just
studied hard and proved she didn’t cheat. That’s all.”
“But she used to be… you know,” a girl whispered, making a gesture to indicate obesity. “Now she’s like, hot. How did that happen so fast?”
Max shrugged, wishing they would leave him alone.
7:05 Tue, Sep 16
The final period was interrupted bymotion in the hallway. A teacher rushed in, whispering urgently to their math teacher, who then left the ssroom without exnation.
“What’s happening?” Ashley asked a passing student.
“Fight in the sophomore hall. Some honors kid with a limp beat the shit out of Jason Reynolds.”
“The one whose dad is on the city council?” Ashley’s eyes widened.
“Yeah. Apparently Reynolds made some nastyments about his limp and called his sister a
whore.”
19
The news rippled through the ssroom. Everyone knew Jason Reynolds–star athlete with powerful parents and a reputation for bullying.
“The honors kid is totally screwed,” someone muttered. “Jason’s dad will have him expelled.”
Across the room, Jade Morgan had been silent all day, seemingly asleep with her head on her desk.
The bell rang, and students rushed out, eager to learn more about the fight.
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