Chapter 3 - The Traitor
I stared at the glowing screen of the burner phone in absolute horror.
Someone had slipped this device into my purse at the diner before I left.
My hands trembled as I realized Harlan Voss would kill me instantly if he saw this message.
I frantically tried to turn the phone off, but the screen was completely locked.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway outside my bedroom door.
The brass doorknob turned slowly, and Harlan stepped into the room without knocking.
He looked at my pale face and immediately noticed the black phone clutched in my hands.
His dark eyes narrowed, instantly recognizing that it was not a standard device.
He pulled a silver handgun from his shoulder holster and aimed it directly at my chest.
He demanded to know exactly who I was working for.
I raised my hands in the air, tears of pure panic streaming down my face.
I swore to him that someone must have planted the phone in my bag while I was working my shift.
Harlan did not lower his weapon.
He ordered me to slide the phone across the hardwood floor toward his boots.
I gently tossed the device, and it skidded perfectly to a stop at his feet.
He picked it up with his free hand and read the horrifying text message on the screen.
The air in the room grew completely freezing as his anger radiated like a physical force.
He pulled out his own encrypted smartphone and quickly typed in a series of commands.
He told me he was hacking into the diner's security camera system to verify my story.
I held my breath, praying that the cameras in the restaurant had actually been working tonight.
Harlan stared at his screen, watching the digital playback of my shift.
He saw the exact moment a man in a dark coat bumped into me near the kitchen doors.
He saw the man smoothly drop the burner phone into my open purse.
Harlan slowly lowered his silver handgun.
His face drained of all color, replaced by a look of sheer, devastating betrayal.
I asked him if he recognized the man who bumped into me.
Harlan whispered that the man on the screen was Silas, his own head of security.
The man who designed the entire defense system of this very estate was the traitor.
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Suddenly, every single light in the mansion flickered and died.
The deafening shriek of the estate's emergency breach alarm shattered the silence.
