The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

Chapter 853: [BLIND JUSTICE] MOVIE (III)

REMI had gotten into Valeʼs system in under ten minutes. That was too fast for a job of that size. Vale, a broker who handled money for someone as careful as the Architect, should have had stronger security. He should have layers of protection and false trails meant to throw people off. But Valeʼs system had none of that. The encryption was basic, nothing that would stop a real professional. And the files Remi found werenʼt buried either. They were organized and labeled.

He thought about that for a while, scrolling back through the files he had pulled. Checking timestamps, access logs, anything that might tell him he was mistaken. But the feeling that something was off just wouldnʼt leave him. The job had gone too smoothly. It felt as if someone had left the door open and was waiting for them to walk through it. And the more he thought about it, the more it felt like they hadnʼt found this lead at all. It had been handed to them on a silver platter.

He quickly looked for Noa, not bothering for small talk and just went straight to the point.

”This was too easy.”

Noa didnʼt look up right away. He didnʼt even ask what he meant. ”You got what we needed. Thatʼs the point of the operation.”

”Thatʼs not what I meant.” Remi walked over and sat across from him. ”Vale should have had real security. What I found tonight, anyone could have gotten into. Any newbie hacker could have done it.”

”Maybe Vale isnʼt as careful as you think.”

”Or maybe he was never supposed to be. Maybe we were meant to find those files.”

That made Noa pause. He turned off his Terminal and looked at Remi directly. ”You think this was staged.”

”I think itʼs worth thinking about before we proceed with anything.”

”My team and I planned that job for a month. Nobody outside this compound knew the details of it.”

”You canʼt possibly be sure of that. Isnʼt that the whole reason my team and I are here?” Remi leaned in. ”Your agency has been chasing this person for twenty years and gotten nowhere. Then my team tried our hand in it and get exactly what we need on our first try? Thatʼs not luck, Noa. Thatʼs not how this works, and you know it.”

Something changed in Noaʼs face when Remi said his name, just as how it always did every time he said it. But he quickly chase that away, just like he always did. ”I know how this works better than you do.”

”Then explain it to me.”

”Not everything is a trap. Sometimes people slip up and then we catch a break.” Noaʼs voice had gone flat, obviously not wanting to believe what Remi was trying to insinuate.

”You donʼt actually believe that.”

”It doesnʼt matter whether I believe it or not. What matters is that we have nothing to act on except your hunch. You want me to shut down the mission and risk losing the only lead weʼve had in years over something we canʼt confirm?” Noa held his gaze. ”Iʼm not saying youʼre wrong. Iʼm saying we donʼt have enough to decide on that yet.”

”Iʼm not asking you to shut anything down,” Remi said. ”Iʼm asking you to keep your eyes open. If this was handed to us, then someone is watching to see what we do with it. Thatʼs not a hunch. Thatʼs just common sense.” He held Noaʼs gaze. ”You used to trust my instincts. You taught me to listen to them in the first place.”

Noaʼs expression didnʼt change, but something in his voice shifted. ”I donʼt remember teaching you anything.”

”Donʼt do that.” Remiʼs voice sharpened. ”Donʼt act like you donʼt know what Iʼm talking about.”

”Iʼm telling you what I can work with. Nothing more.”

”Thatʼs not an answer. Thatʼs you dodging the main problem here. You always did that when you didnʼt want to deal with something.” Remi caught himself too late. The word ʼalwaysʼ hung in the air between them.

”You keep talking like you know me.” Noaʼs voice stayed level, but there was something underneath it now. ”Iʼm not who you think I am.”

”So youʼre really going to sit there and pretend like the past didnʼt happen?”

”Iʼm telling you I have a job to do. And right now, that job doesnʼt include chasing a theory with nothing to back it up.” Noa opened his Terminal. ”But Iʼll have someone look into the files you got from Vale. Thatʼs what youʼre asking for anyway, right? So just take it.”

Remi stared at him, frustration and something else mixing in his chest. They were close enough now that he could have reached across the table if he wanted to, but he didnʼt. ”Fine,” he said, standing up. ”Run your check.”

He didnʼt leave right away. He stood there for a second, waiting for something he wasnʼt even sure of. A crack in Noaʼs control maybe. A flicker of the person he used to know. Anything that would show him that the man in front of him still had something left of the person Remi remembered. But Noa didnʼt look up from his Terminal. So Remi turned and left without another word. It wasnʼt until the door closed behind him that he let himself wallow in the sadness and pain drowning him.

~~~

Two days after the argument, Noaʼs team ran the deeper check Remi had asked for. Analysts went through the files pulled from Valeʼs system, comparing timestamps and access records with what ICI already had.

It didnʼt take long for something to show up.

An analyst found a name in the transaction records. A mid-level accountant secretly feeding information to ICI for months. The files Themis took from Vale exposed and tied him directly to the same transactions. The details in the files were specific enough to identify him easily.

The room went quiet once that connection was made clear. Noa reached for his Terminal and tried to contact the informant. But what he found was something he hadnʼt expected. The informant was already dead. He was found hours earlier in a way that looked like an accident.

Themis was brought in and were told of everything. Remi had already shared his suspicions with them after the argument, so the news confirmed what they had all been bracing for. Remi didnʼt say anything for a long moment. He had been right. And, just as he thought, it didnʼt feel good at all.

It became clear what had really happened. The files were really just there for them to find it. Whoever was above Vale had wanted this informant exposed and eliminated. Themisʼs clean, easy infiltration had done exactly that. They hadnʼt gotten ahead of the Architect. They had been used to clean up a loose end. Everyone in the room understood without needing it said out loud. This had likely been the plan from the start.

~~~

Remi found Noa on the rooftop, away from the noise of the compound. Noa had an e-cig in his hand, something Remi had never seen him use before. Noa didnʼt turn around when the door opened, but his back straightened, like he already knew it was Remi.

Remi walked over and stood beside him. He didnʼt say anything at first, just looked out at the same view Noa had been staring at for a while.

”You shouldnʼt be up here alone,” Remi said.

”I just needed some air.”

”More like you needed to get away from everyone down there.” Remi glanced at him. ”Not really the same thing.”

Noa didnʼt answer. He took another drag from the e-cig instead. Remi kept his eyes on him. The whole thing felt out of place, like Noa was doing it for show.

”That wasnʼt your fault,” Remi said. ”You know that, right?”

”I approved this mission. I put the team in play.” Noaʼs voice was flat. ”Whatever happened after that is on me.”

”You didnʼt know. None of us did.” Remi kept his voice even. ”You canʼt carry all of that just because you were in charge.”

”Thatʼs not how it works.” Noa finally looked at him. ”Iʼm the one who okayed this. The responsibility in on me.”

”So youʼre just going to stew with it alone?” Remi asked. ”You donʼt have to carry it by yourself.”

Noa didnʼt answer. He turned back to the skyline, and the silence stretched again. Remi stayed where he was, watching him. Even now, Noa held himself straight, composed, like nothing was wrong. But something was clearly weighing on him beneath all of that.

”Since when do you smoke,” Remi said finally, nodding at the e-cig.

”Itʼs not smoking. Well, not really.”

”Sure.” Remi almost smiled. ”I remember how you hated the smell of smoke when we were younger.”

Something in Noaʼs face flickered at that. Just for a second, then it was gone. He looked down at the e-cig in his hand, then back at the skyline. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again in a much softer tone. ”You canʼt keep comparing everything now to how it used to be. It doesnʼt help. Not with this. Not with anything.”

”Is that advice for me, or for you?”

Noa didnʼt answer right away. When he finally looked at Remi, really looked at him, his expression softened just a little. Just enough for Remi to catch it. ”Maybe both.”

Neither of them spoke for a while after that. They just stood there, side by side. The space between them felt smaller, something that Remi hadnʼt felt since all of this started.

~~~

The team met again the next day. The mood was different from after the auction. No one was in high spirits. They moved quickly from talking about what went wrong to figuring out what to do next. It was clear early on that chasing more evidence the same way they did before wouldnʼt work anymore. Whoever they were up against had already proven they could see a standard approach coming and turn it against them.

Callie pushed the conversation in a new direction. She argued that if evidence kept leading them into traps, then evidence wasnʼt the right thing to chase. What they needed was a read on the person behind all of it. Not proof of a crime, but a sense of who this person really was. What pattern connected the choices they had made over twenty years of staying hidden.

Remi then pointed out that whoever had set all of this up had to think a certain way. Controlled. Patient. Someone who saw people as pieces to be moved.

Noa listened more than he talked. When he finally spoke, he revealed classified ICI data, linking twenty years of hidden patterns and case inconsistencies. For the first time since the mission started, it didnʼt feel like ICI was the boss and Themis were the subbordinates. It felt like a team effort.

The meeting ran long. There were virtual screens floating above the table, showing every data they needed. As they kept going, the conversations between Noa and Remi started to feel more natural.

By the end of it, they had a clearer picture of everything. Of what kind of person the Architect was. For the first time since Remi had woken up in that interrogation room, the entire team finally felt like they were on the same page.