Chapter 23 - DONOVAN'S FIRST WARNING
The projector screen faded to black, but nobody in Room D-17 moved.
Daniel stared at the blank wall, his mind racing.
"Nine recordings," he whispered. "There are nine."
Alex still held the thin Orion file in his hands. Every instinct told him to turn another page, yet something about Donovan's calm voice lingered in the room like an unfinished sentence.
Detective Bennett walked toward the projector.
"Can we recover the rest?"
She searched behind the cabinet until she found an aging media server humming quietly inside a steel compartment.
Its indicator light blinked amber.
Still functioning.
Daniel crouched beside her.
"The hardware is newer than everything else down here."
"So someone maintained it."
Bennett nodded.
"Recently."
The maintenance employee remained near the doorway, nervously watching the hallway.
"I don't like this place."
"You don't have to," Daniel replied. "Just tell us if anyone comes."
Alex opened the Orion folder again.
Only one additional document remained.
A handwritten note.
Unlike every other report, this one carried Donovan's signature.
If circumstances force you to enter D-17, do not trust the timeline you were given. Everything began much earlier than anyone will admit.
Alex frowned.
"The timeline?"
Daniel reached for the note.
"Corporate records say Orion started twelve years ago."
Bennett looked at him.
"And?"
Donovan's handwriting continued.
The official project date is false.
Destroy every document that says otherwise.
Daniel slowly lowered the paper.
"If Donovan is telling the truth..."
"...then Orion predates my father's leadership."
Alex looked at him.
"How much earlier?"
Nobody knew.
Suddenly, the projector activated again without anyone touching it.
Static filled the screen.
Then Donovan reappeared.
This time he looked noticeably younger.
The date displayed in the corner caught everyone's attention.
Eighteen years earlier.
Daniel's eyes widened.
"That's impossible."
His father had not even joined Marlowe Global at that time.
Donovan looked directly into the camera.
"If this segment survived, then the archive purge was incomplete."
He paused.
"You've already discovered that Alex Carter was observed."
"That assumption is only partially correct."
Alex felt his pulse quicken.
Donovan continued.
"The observers believed they were watching him."
"They never realized..."
"...someone else was watching them."
The image suddenly distorted.
Horizontal lines rolled across the screen.
Donovan's voice broke apart.
"...don't let... Level C..."
"...they're still..."
The recording froze.
Then disappeared.
Only one sentence remained on the monitor.
Playback Interrupted.
Remote User Connected.
Bennett immediately disconnected the server cable.
Too late.
The server lights flashed rapidly.
May you like
Someone outside D-17 had just accessed the archive.
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