Chapter 79 - The Apprentice List
Cybersecurity specialists finally restored another damaged storage drive recovered from beneath the conference table.
This time the files were encrypted using technology almost obsolete by modern standards.
After several hours, a directory opened.
No meeting minutes.
No financial records.
Only one folder.
Apprentices
Arthur frowned.
"I don't like that title."
Margaret opened the first profile.
Each file described a promising executive.
Strengths.
Weaknesses.
Communication style.
Decision-making habits.
Influence over peers.
Then came one final section.
Recommended Mentor
The names were encoded.
Not initials.
Numbers.
Every executive appeared connected to a mentor through a numerical identifier.
Olivia searched the database.
Her own employee number appeared.
She froze.
"I've never seen this."
Her profile had been created only four years earlier.
Long after Office 7C supposedly disappeared.
Margaret quietly closed the file.
"The system continued."
She opened another profile.
Then another.
Every recent executive promotion had a corresponding apprentice record.
The terminology had changed.
The process had not.
Arthur slowly sat down.
"For twenty years..."
He looked toward the dark ceiling.
"...someone kept rebuilding the same machine."
No one argued.
May you like
Because the evidence had begun speaking for itself.
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