The sky over the city was dark and thick with clouds when Cynthia arrived at AeroGallacianSpace early the next morning. A steady drizzle misted the streets, but it did little to dampen the quiet determination that had settled over the team since their last breakthrough.
Cynthia was greeted by the familiar hum of the lab, a sound that had become as comforting as it was motivating. The propulsion system's progress had given the team a new sense of energy, but there was still an unspoken wariness hanging in the air, a reminder of the mole they had uncovered just weeks before.
Prometheus had been true to his word, spending long hours at night reviewing external threats. He had yet to find any concrete evidence of Kane's next move, but his instincts told him something was brewing. Cynthia trusted his intuition implicitly, and as she settled into her office that morning, she was prepared to face whatever came next.
Just as Cynthia was about to dive into the latest batch of test data, Lena popped her head into the office. "You have a minute?" she asked, her voice unusually quiet.
Cynthia glanced up, immediately sensing something was off. "Of course. What's going on?"
Lena stepped inside, her eyes darting around as if to make sure no one else was listening. She pulled out her tablet and handed it to Cynthia, the screen displaying a series of schematics.
"We ran another diagnostics check on the propulsion system last night, and everything looked perfect," Lena said, her brow furrowed. "But when I went to review the files this morning, I noticed something... strange."
Cynthia's eyes scanned the data. At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but as she looked closer, she realized that Lena was right. There was a minor alteration in the system's code, barely perceptible, but enough to set off alarm bells in her mind.
"This wasn't part of the original configuration," Cynthia muttered, her fingers tapping rapidly across the screen as she cross-referenced the data. "Someone's tampered with it."
Lena's face paled. "I triple-checked it. No one on the team made this change."
Cynthia's heart sank as the implications of the discovery hit her. The mole might have been dealt with, but it seemed their troubles were far from over.
"We need to lock down the system immediately," Cynthia said, her voice steady but urgent. "No one outside the core team has access to this, understood?"
Lena nodded, her expression grim. "I'll handle it."
As soon as Lena left the office, Cynthia leaned back in her chair, trying to piece together what this new threat meant. Whoever had tampered with the system knew exactly what they were doing and they had access to highly sensitive areas. The question was: How deep did this go?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Prometheus stepped inside, his expression serious.
"I heard," he said simply, taking a seat across from her.
"How is it possible?" Cynthia asked, the frustration clear in her voice. "We increased security, we vetted everyone on the team after the mole was uncovered. How could someone still get in?"
Prometheus ran a hand through his hair, his eyes hardening. "It could be external. We've been so focused on internal threats that maybe we missed something from the outside."
Cynthia nodded slowly. "If Kane is behind this, he's not working alone. He has connections and resources we might not have accounted for."
"Exactly," Prometheus agreed. "We need to expand our scope. It's not just about the security of our building anymore. We need to look at who Kane is working with and where his money is flowing. If he's orchestrating this, he's not doing it from the shadows. There's a trail, we just have to find it."
Cynthia stood and began pacing the room, her mind racing through possibilities. "We need to bring in someone else. A specialist in digital forensics. Our team is brilliant, but we're engineers, not cybersecurity experts."
Prometheus nodded. "I'll make some calls."
For the rest of the day, the lab hummed with a different kind of energy. The propulsion system was still at the heart of their work, but now, there was a silent, invisible threat to combat. Every keystroke, every calculation, was done with heightened awareness.
By evening, Cynthia found herself once again reviewing the test results. Despite the tampering, the propulsion system was still performing above expectations. But the knowledge that someone had infiltrated their work left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She was just about to leave for the night when her phone buzzed. It was Prometheus.
"I've got someone," he said without preamble. "Her name is Marla Grayson. She used to work for the NSA before going private. She's discreet and has a reputation for digging up dirt on people who don't want to be found."
"Can we trust her?" Cynthia asked.
Prometheus hesitated for a moment. "As much as we can trust anyone outside our circle. But if Kane's behind this, she'll find him."
Cynthia nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "Bring her in. The sooner we figure this out, the better."
As she hung up, Cynthia glanced out of her office window, the city's lights twinkling like a distant constellation. The fight against Vincent Kane wasn't over, not by a long shot. But now, they had a new weapon in their arsenal and Cynthia was determined to use it.