Rebecca crossed her arms. "Those logs may already be contaminated. Your team has been inside the network for hours."
The technician answered: "The authentication occurred after the federal mirror was established. We captured the action independently."
Chief Mercer entered the room. "What happened?"
Maya looked at him. "Lieutenant Sloan initiated a purge request against preserved administrative records."
Rebecca turned to Mercer: "I was protecting the system from corrupted data."
Mercer's response came quickly: "Why were you using an administrative console after being told not to modify anything?"
Rebecca stared at him. "You're asking me that now?"
"I'm asking because federal agents are standing in my command area documenting an attempted deletion."
"You knew I had access."
"That doesn't mean I authorized this."
Rebecca let out a short breath. "So that's where we are."
Mercer's voice remained controlled. "Where we are is an active federal investigation. You should have followed the preservation instruction."
Rebecca looked at Maya, then back at Mercer: "Ask him who approved the shadow environment."
Mercer's expression tightened. "There is no shadow environment."
Maya turned toward the federal technician: "Show him."
The technician opened the certificate list recovered from the hidden server. Several administrator identities appeared: one belonged to Sloan Integrated Systems; another carried an executive certificate registered to Daniel Mercer.
Mercer stepped closer to the monitor. "That certificate could have been installed as part of general system administration."
Maya asked, "Did you know it was installed on the hidden server?"
"No."
"Did you know the hidden server existed?"
"No."
Rebecca looked at him. "Careful, Chief."
Mercer turned toward her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You approved Calvin's access."
"I approved contractor maintenance through the regular system."
"You approved more than that."
Mercer lowered his voice. "Rebecca—"