Chapter 11 - THE VIDEO THAT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE HIM
The video was eighteen seconds.
Desmond Gallagher sat behind his bedroom desk.
Same dark shirt.
Same scar.
Same voice.
“I am resigning all executive and voting authority effective immediately due to medical incapacity.”
Sadi watched twice.
Then said:
“Fake.”
One director on the emergency call replied:
“It passed biometric verification.”
“Still fake.”
“How do you know?”
Sadi pointed.
“He said ‘medical incapacity.’”
Everyone stared.
“So?”
“Desmond hates the word incapacity.”
Desmond looked at her.
“That’s your evidence?”
“No.”
She replayed.
“His left hand.”
In the video, Desmond rested his left hand flat on the desk.
Still.
No tremor.
Since the bombing, Desmond’s left hand had a slight residual intention tremor whenever he held his fingers extended.
Tiny.
Constant.
The deepfake model had corrected it.
Made him healthier than reality.
Sadi smiled without humor.
“Whoever built this trained on old footage.”
Desmond’s cybersecurity team confirmed.
Synthetic video.
Highly sophisticated.
Generated from years of public and internal recordings.
Who had access?
Meridian Recovery Systems.
Their AI logistics division had biometric modeling contracts.
Patrick’s acquisition suddenly looked even dirtier.
Then Malcolm said something unexpected.
“This is not Patrick.”
Everyone turned.
“Why?”
“He wants control. He doesn’t want Desmond publicly destroyed.”
“Difference?” Sadi asked.
“For Patrick, family name matters.”
“And whoever made this?”
“Wants chaos.”
Malcolm gave them one name.
Graham Vale.
CEO of Meridian Recovery Systems.
Patrick’s secret negotiating partner.
Graham had spent years trying to acquire Gallagher’s AEGIS rights.
Could not.
So he cultivated Patrick.
Flattered him.
Promised him co-chairmanship.
Fed him governance interpretations.
Possibly arranged the fake capacity documents.
Maybe exploited the dormant module.
Motive existed.
Proof?
Not yet.
Then cyber investigators traced the synthetic video upload.
Meridian server.
But initiated through Gallagher credentials.
User:
MALCOLM REEVE.
Everyone stared.
Malcolm went pale.
For the first time.
“My credentials were cloned.”
Sadi almost laughed.
“Popular week for that.”
But this time there was evidence.
Login originated from the second locked room upstairs.
Cash archive.
Someone inside the estate.
Security footage showed one person entering.
Frankie.
He stared at the image.
“That isn’t me.”
It looked like him.
Same height.
Same jacket.
Face obscured.
Badge cloned.
The estate’s entire security system had become evidence of nothing.
Then Sadi remembered something from her first day.
Frankie confiscated her bobby pin.
Pepper spray.
Key ring.
He ran physical security manually.
“Who can issue duplicate badges?”
“Security administration,” Frankie said.
“And who approves admin access?”
“Malcolm.”
Malcolm shook his head.
“Not only me.”
“Who else?”
“Patrick.”
Then Desmond asked:
“Who configured the system after the bombing?”
Silence.
Dr. Mercer’s security consultant.
No.
Mercer did medicine.
The vendor was:
Meridian Recovery Systems.
Of course.
They had installed upgraded access controls as part of Desmond’s “medical security modernization.”
Graham Vale had built a digital tunnel into the estate.
Not necessarily to bomb Desmond.
But to watch.
Clone.
Manipulate.
Then cyber found one active hidden administrator session.
Live.
Inside the house.
Device location:
Third locked room.
The weapons archive.
Desmond looked toward the hallway.
Sadi’s stomach tightened.
Someone was in the room right now.
They approached with security.
Opened it.
Empty.
Rows of locked weapon cases.
But one computer terminal glowed.
Remote session active.
On screen:
A map.
Gallagher estate.
Every camera.
Every lock.
Every vehicle.
Then one blinking red icon.
Sadi’s old Honda Civic.
Parked near the gate.
A remote command window sat open.
AEGIS LEGACY DEVICE DETECTED.
Sadi whispered:
“My car?”
Impossible.
Her 1998 Honda had no modern electronics.
Then Frankie opened the hood.
Under the dashboard was a device.
Recently installed.
Someone had put an AEGIS receiver in Sadi’s car.
May you like
And the command status read:
ARMED.
