Chapter 4 - Maya's First Entry
At nine-thirty that evening, James sat in his office with the lights turned off, the only illumination coming from the ambient glow of the city skyline through the glass windows. The door opened silently, and Thomas Keane stepped inside, followed by a small, shadow-like figure.
Maya walked into the room with her backpack slumped over one shoulder, her expression as serious as an auditor approaching a major corporate discrepancy.
"Did anyone see you?" James asked, his voice low.
"No," Maya said, pulling the black leather notebook from her bag and placing it squarely on the center of his desk. "The security man at the back door was eating a sandwich. He wasn't looking."
James picked up the notebook, opening it to the first page. The handwriting was neat, childlike, but incredibly precise. As he read through the entries, his eyes narrowed, his fingers tightening against the leather binding.
James looked down at the seven-year-old girl, who was now studying a model of a cargo ship on his side table. "Maya, do you know who the old man with the white hair is?"
"He looked like the man on the big posters downstairs," she said without looking back. "The one with the serious face."
"Richard Vance," James murmured, a cold wave of clarity washing over him. "They aren't even waiting for the wedding to finalize the details. They’re running the operation right out of my garage."
He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small, gold-trimmed fountain pen, sliding it across the desk toward her. "You did an excellent job, Maya. This is very important data."
Maya picked up the pen, turning it over in her small hands. "My mom says that important people always write things down because their memories are full of lies. Is that true?"
James felt a sharp pang in his chest, a sudden, vivid memory of his own mother standing over a kitchen table, counting single dollar bills to pay the heating bill. "Sometimes, Maya. Sometimes people lie because they think the world belongs to whoever is the smartest. But the truth has a habit of staying still, no matter how much people try to move it."
He looked at Thomas. "We need to change the game. If Celeste is listening to everything in this office, let's give her something worth listening to. Tomorrow morning, I want you to leak a fake financial document regarding our proprietary software asset. Let's make her believe that Vanguard is about to lock our core code into an un-mergeable trust."
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"That will force her hand," Thomas said, his eyes gleaming with a professional, dangerous light. "She’ll have to move faster to get you to sign that share addendum."
"Exactly," James said, standing up and looking out at the city. "I want her desperate. A desperate player makes mistakes, and I want her to make the biggest mistake of her life on Friday night."
