Page 75 of Rescuing Sophia

Mitzy’s fingers dance across her keyboard, the soft tapping a counterpoint to the tension thrumming through the air. The large screen at the front of the room flickers to life, displaying a map of Guardian HQ crisscrossed with a web of colored lines.

“We’ve been tracking your badge’s movements,” Mitzy’s eyes never leave the screen. “At first, just for the day it went missing, but…”

“But what?” I glance around the table with trepidation.

“The activity continues well past that initial 24-hour period.” Mitzy’s fingers dance across the keyboard, and the display shifts. My stomach drops as the timeline extends beyond the day my badge went missing.

“That’s impossible.” I lean forward, squinting at the screen. “I’ve had my badge with me every day since.”

“Then who’s been accessing restricted areas with your credentials?” Sam’s sharp gaze cuts through the room.

A ripple of murmurs sweeps through everyone gathered. I scan the data, my heart racing as her movements tell a disturbing story. Server rooms, restricted areas, places I’ve never even seen.

“This can’t be right.” I point to a specific time stamp. “It shows my badge accessing the server room last Tuesday at 1400 hours, but I was at the firing range with Gabe.”

Gabe’s usual smirk is replaced by a grimace. “He’s right. We were working on his grouping all afternoon.”

Another inconsistency catches my eye. “And here, Wednesday at 0900. The log shows me entering the tech lab, but I was in the gym with Walt.”

“Yeah, I remember. You were bitching about that new leg press machine.” Walt’s gravelly voice confirms,

“There’s more,” Mitzy interjects, highlighting another section. “Your badge was used to access The Guardian Grind’s back office at 2200 hours last night, well after closing.”

The implications hit me like a ton of bricks.

“She cloned it.” Ethan’s voice is tight, barely controlled anger simmering beneath the surface. “Somehow, Sophia made a copy of your badge.”

The words hang in the air, heavy with accusation. My fingers dig into the arms of my chair, the leather creaking in protest.

“How is that possible?”

Mitzy pulls up schematics and lines of code. “It’s not easy, but with the right access and knowledge—it’s doable. Especially if she had help.”

“Help? How would she have had any help?”

The map on the screen shifts again, now showing two distinct sets of movements—mine and Sophia’s. Some overlap, others diverge wildly. The branching paths seem to mock me, a visual representation of the trust I’ve misplaced.

“We need to separate your actual movements from Sophia’s.”Sam’s deep voice cuts through my spiraling thoughts. “Blake, we need you to go through your whereabouts step by step.”

Sophia’s betrayal settles over me like a lead weight. I struggle to reconcile the woman I love with these actions. The soft smile that greeted me each morning, the warmth of her body against mine at night—were they all just part of her cover?

For the next hour, I painstakingly identify my locations. The gym, the cafeteria, mission briefings—all normal Guardian activities. But Sophia’s movements tell a different story. Server rooms, restricted areas, places I’m not sure where they’re at. With each revelation, the knot in my stomach tightens.

“How did none of us notice this?” Walt’s question breaks the tense silence that’s fallen over the room. “Wouldn’t there be an alert if our badges were used simultaneously in two separate locations?”

Mitzy pulls up a new screen. “That’s where it gets interesting. The system did flag these discrepancies, but…”

“But what?” Ethan’s voice is sharp, and his patience is wearing thin.

Mitzy takes a deep breath, her eyes darting nervously around the room. “The alerts were suppressed.”

A collective gasp ripples through the room. My entire body goes rigid, every muscle tensing as the implications of her words sink in.

“There’s more,” Mitzy says, her voice cutting through my thoughts.

The room falls silent as Mitzy explains Protocol Zero and its true purpose.

Unease washes over me.

---