Chapter 4

I left the dealership and pressed the accelerator.

The V8 growled through the tunnel.

My backup phone updated beside me.

CURRENT LOAD: 145%.

WARNING: SECONDARY PROTECTION STAGE PREPARING.

Then my phone buzzed.

Not Sonia.

Nate.

He was one of the only people in engineering who'd never swallowed Grant's version of reality.

He sent me a screenshot from the 452-person company chat.

The whole place was melting down.

DANA WHITFIELD:

"@Grant Palmer @Sonia Blake What is happening with Polaris? Clients can't log in. Our phones are getting destroyed."

CURTIS VANCE:

"My live demo just froze in front of Mr. Ellison. What is going on?"

SONIA BLAKE:

"Everyone remain calm. Engineering is handling a minor fluctuation."

SONIA BLAKE:

"Also, do not spread negativity in this group. Certain former employees should not assume they can threaten the company with small tricks."

I gave a short laugh.

Even with the building on fire, she still needed to control the narrative.

Polaris was the product of three years of sleepless nights.

Its architecture was huge, precise, and interconnected, like the engine under the hood of my Porsche.

People who didn't understand it only knew how to press the accelerator.

They didn't understand that the system needed continual tuning, cleanup, and maintenance.

My phone rang again.

Sonia.

I answered and turned up the sound system.

"Ethan! What did you do to Polaris?"

Her voice had lost every trace of arrogance.

Behind her came frantic typing, shouting, and swearing.

"Sonia, be careful with accusations."

I kept one hand on the wheel.

"I signed the termination agreement. I completed the handoff you allowed me to complete.

"You were the one who demanded my signature."

"Stop talking around it!" Grant shouted as he grabbed the phone. "Why is the load exploding? Did you plant something in the system?"

"Plant something?"

I laughed.

"No. You're looking at a backlog under extreme traffic.

"I built automated cleanup because management refused to pay for more infrastructure.

"The platform still needed daily maintenance.

"And for the record, I tried to give you the documentation during the exit meeting.

"You told me, and I quote, 'I don't want excuses. Sign and get out.'"

Silence.

Then Grant's voice returned, shakier.

"You did this on purpose.

"Ethan, I am ordering you to come back right now.

"Fix Polaris and I'll forget the staples. I'll even issue your employment letter."

I looked at the city lights sliding past my window.

"My hourly rate is expensive now, Grant.

"And my Porsche has an appointment for paint protection.

"I don't have time."

"You-"

A deeper male voice cut in from the background.

Martin Cole, Velocity's CTO.

"Grant, stop letting him scare you."

Martin sounded as smug as ever.

"I reviewed the platform. It's a buffer problem.

"I already told Kyle Renner to rewrite the allocation script and force a service restart.

"We don't need one engineer to keep a company alive."

I nearly laughed hard enough to miss the next light.

A forced restart under that kind of load?

It was like dropping a car into reverse at highway speed with the engine already coming apart.

"Excellent judgment, Martin."

My praise was completely sincere.

"If the great CTO has it under control, then I'm relieved.

"Good luck."

I hung up and blocked the number.

At the next red light, I glanced at my backup phone.

The red graph fell off a cliff.

WARNING: PRIMARY NODE UNRESPONSIVE.

WARNING: DATA RECOVERY FAILED.

CURRENT LOAD: 0%.

Martin's "fix" had locked the core environment.

A new message from Nate appeared.

"Ethan. You were right."

"Martin forced the restart. The server room literally started smoking."

"Client data disappeared from the live environment and the backups aren't mounting."

"Grant has gone completely white. He is smashing things in his office."

"Sonia is crying and asking Legal whether they can sue you."