Chapter 4 - The Midnight Hacker
Claire backed away from the computer monitor as if it were a venomous snake.
"If the Chief of Police is married to the woman trying to destroy you, we have absolutely no one to trust," Claire whispered.
Jordan paced nervously across the bedroom floor, constantly checking the curtains to make sure they were closed.
"We can't just sit here and wait for them to realize we survived the fire," Jordan said, his voice tight with anxiety.
Claire sat down at her keyboard and cracked her knuckles, a determined look replacing her fear.
"If we can't trust the local authorities, we have to bypass them entirely and go straight to the federal level," she declared.
She opened a secure, encrypted browser on her computer and began typing furiously.
"What exactly are you trying to do?" Jordan asked, leaning over her shoulder to look at the complex code.
"I am going to hack into the school's main administrative server to download the actual financial ledgers," Claire explained.
She knew the video was great evidence, but proving the financial fraud required hard data.
Her fingers danced across the keys as she bypassed the school's incredibly outdated firewall security.
Within twenty minutes, she had gained full root access to Principal Vance's private directory.
"Look at this," Claire gasped, opening a hidden spreadsheet labeled 'Project Ivy'.
The document contained a massive list of wealthy parents who had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to alter their children's academic records.
It also detailed how the school was intentionally sabotaging high-achieving, low-income students like Jordan to keep the top ranks open for paying customers.
"They ruined my entire future just to make a quick profit," Jordan said, his voice breaking with anger and heartbreak.
Claire quickly highlighted all the files and initiated a massive download to her local hard drive.
Suddenly, her computer screen flashed bright red, and a loud warning siren began blaring from her computer speakers.
"Warning: Unauthorized Access Detected. Initiating Counter-Trace," a robotic voice announced from the system.
"They have a tripwire program, they are tracing my IP address right now!" Claire panicked, trying to abort the connection.
The download bar was stuck at ninety-five percent, crawling agonizingly slowly as the counter-trace escalated.
"Shut it down, Claire, they are going to know exactly where we are!" Jordan yelled over the alarm.
Claire slammed her hand down on the power button, brutally cutting power to the entire machine.
The room was plunged into sudden, heavy silence, leaving them staring at the dark monitor.
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They waited in breathless anticipation, hoping she had severed the connection in time.
Then, a massive black SUV with tinted windows slowly pulled into Claire's driveway, completely turning off its headlights.
