The Don's Wife, The Brother's Whore
Clean interruptions, no error signatures, no trace of external access, just nine seconds of absence in each system, distributed across a four-hour window, each one at a different location.
This wasn't random. The spacing was too precise for random. The cleanliness was too complete for any of the standard intrusion methods.
He sat back.
"…No."
Rafe: "What?"
He replayed the sequence. Zoomed in on the third instance, then the fifth, comparing the architecture of the interruption itself.
Same hand, same method.
"That's not random." He kept his voice level with some effort. "That's control."
The room held.
"Cipher Lord is in the system."