Chapter 8: The One Standing Very Close
Bao looked up.
"Did you
mention the internal network to Mr. Hung?"
"No."
"Then what
now?"
Phong stood,
walked to the door, and looked down the corridor.
It was late. Most
of the offices were dark. A few windows still glowed at the end of the row. A
guard's footsteps echoed up the stairwell, then faded.
He shut the door
and turned the lock.
"Back up
everything you found."
Bao's head came
up.
"But Mr. Hung
just ordered the file sealed, sir."
"I said back
it up. I did not tell you to alter or delete a thing."
"Where do I
put it?"
"One copy on
a sealed device. One printout for me."
"Sir, this
could come back on you."
"I will carry
it."
Bao stayed where
he was.
Phong leaned down
and looked him in the face.
"The tip knew
the hour of the ceremony. Hai Long may have known when we were leaving. The
device that sent it has been on our internal network. If this is nothing but
coincidence, we check it and close the file with our own hands. But if it is
not..."
He left the
sentence hanging.
Bao swallowed and
turned back to the computer.
"Give me
about ten minutes."
"Go."
Phong returned to his
desk and opened the list of everyone cleared to view the search proposal.
The first name was
his own. The second was Trinh Manh Hung.
Six more names
followed.
He read them one
by one, writing each down slowly. He had reached the fourth when Bao's screen
began to flicker.
"Wait."
"What is
it?"
Bao typed fast,
and the color drained from his face.
"Someone's
accessing the system logs."
Phong crossed to
him.
"From
where?"
"A machine
inside the building."
"What are
they looking at?"
Bao enlarged the
alert window. Lines of commands scrolled without stopping, then vanished all at
once.
"They're not
looking."
He turned to
Phong, his voice coming out wrong.
"They're
deleting the connection history for the device that sent the tip."
Phong snatched up
the phone.
"Block
it."
"I don't have
the privileges!"
"Cut the
server!"
"Cutting it
now takes down the entire system!"
The progress bar
climbed a notch at a time.
30 percent.
56 percent.
Phong ripped the
network cable out of the machine in front of him, but Bao shook his head.
"It's not
this machine. The delete command is running on the server itself."
"How do we
stop it?"
"We've got to
get into the server room."
Both of them
bolted for the door.
Phong had barely
got the lock open when every light in the corridor went out.
Darkness dropped
over them.
At the end of the
row, a steel door slammed.
Phong drew his
weapon and ran for the stairwell.
"Who's
there?"
No answer came.
Only footsteps
running down to the floor below, quick, then gone.
Phong reached the
landing. The emergency lights came up in a dull red, showing an empty flight of
stairs. The door through to the technical wing was still swinging.
He threw himself
down the steps, and the moment he hit the lower floor his phone buzzed.
Bao was calling
from the office.
"Sir!"
"Talk."
"The data's
gone."
Phong stopped
dead.
"How much of
it?"
"The entire
connection history tied to that device identifier. The access record on the
deployment file was wiped as well."
"The
backup?"
The line went quiet
for a beat.
"I only
managed to capture part of the screen."
Phong tightened
his hold on the gun.
The corridor of
the technical wing stretched away into the dark. Not a soul in it. The
emergency exit at the far end stood ajar, and the night wind pushed through it,
carrying the cold smell of rain.
Whoever sent that
tip had done more than pass through this building once.
He had known the
exact moment Phong picked up the trail.
And right now, he
was still very close.
Close enough to
hear every step Phong took.