"I was careful for years, Rebecca. You were going to let them put all of this on Calvin and me."
Mercer's voice dropped: "This is not the place."
Maya intervened: "If you have information relevant to the investigation, you'll provide it formally."
Rebecca looked at her. "I have emails."
Mercer shook his head. "She's trying to protect herself."
"I have meeting records, too," Rebecca continued, "and access instructions."
Maya called another agent over. "Take Lieutenant Sloan to a separate room. Preserve her phone and any records she identifies: no deletions, no forwarding, no edits."
Rebecca nodded once before leaving. She looked at Mercer. "You told me to keep outside technical reviews away from the basement until Calvin finished cleaning up the system."
Mercer said, "That is not what happened."
Rebecca stopped at the door. "Then your messages should help you."
The agent escorted her out.
Lena's console signaled a connection update: "I have the transport again." The county map refreshed: Nathan's vehicle appeared south of the weak-signal area, still on the route confirmed by county dispatch.
Maya picked up the secure phone: "Transport One, status."
The driver answered clearly: "We're good. We stayed on State 8. No electronic routing accepted."
"Nathan?"
"He's fine."
Nathan's voice came through from the rear of the vehicle: "I'm still here, Agent Williams."
Maya allowed herself a brief nod. "Continue to the federal location. Voice guidance only until arrival."
"Understood."
The immediate transport problem was over. Maya turned back to the investigation.
The forensic technician had completed a timeline of Mercer's actions. He placed the sequence on the main monitor:
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Mercer opened a configuration file sent through a Sloan Integrated Systems administrator account.
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Next, he searched the document for the emergency response functions.
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Then he opened the section describing event chain sanitation.
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Only after that did he activate the external cyber intrusion protocol.
Maya faced him: "You said you activated the protocol because you believed the department was under outside attack."
"That's correct."
"Then why were you reading instructions for removing administrator relationships before you declared the attack?"
Mercer kept his voice steady: "I was reviewing the emergency tools available to me."
"You searched for one specific function."