Darius clicked around, his fingers moving fast. "I can't tell exactly, but..." He opened the activity logs and froze.
Navarro noticed the shift in his face. "What is it?"
Darius's throat went dry. "It's been accessing camera feeds."
The room went dead quiet.
Melanie blinked. "I—I don't understand. What camera feeds?"
Darius's fingers hovered over the keyboard. "Mine." He turned the laptop around. "My home security cameras. Someone's been logging in and watching my live feeds."
Carter's expression tightened. "You're saying someone has been spying on you through your own security system?"
Darius exhaled sharply. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
But then his stomach dropped, because the more he scrolled, the more he realized it wasn't just his cameras. His system had flagged multiple IP addresses. Some of them belonged to his network, but others... different homes.
"Oh, this is bad," Darius murmured.
Navarro leaned closer. "What do you mean?"
Darius tapped the screen. "Whoever this is, they're not just watching me. They're watching other people in the neighborhood."
Melanie took a step back, shaking her head. "No, no, that can't be right."
Darius turned to her. "You sure about that?"
He clicked another log. A new feed opened. A dimly lit hallway appeared, then a living room, then a bedroom.
Melanie gasped. "Wait... that's..."
Darius didn't even have to ask; he recognized it immediately. It was her house.
She stumbled backward, pressing a hand to her mouth.
Navarro's voice was sharp: "How the hell is this happening?"
Darius gritted his teeth. "If I had to guess, someone in the neighborhood set up a fake network—a Wi-Fi signal that looks like a normal connection. People unknowingly connect to it, and once they do, their devices get compromised."
Carter's face darkened. "You mean a man-in-the-middle attack?"
Darius nodded. "Exactly."
Melanie's voice shook. "So you're saying someone's been... what, watching me? My family?"
Darius's eyes didn't leave hers. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
She sank into a chair, her hands trembling. "Oh, my God."
Navarro's jaw tightened. "All right. We need to figure out who's behind this, and fast."
But what none of them knew was that the person responsible was a lot closer than they thought.