Chapter 4: Silent Countermeasure

👉 Previous Decision: You continued by learning about Arthur’s financial sabotage.

Arthur Pendelton’s hand hovered over Chloe’s bedroom door handle. The camera feed showed his profile, a slight furrow in his brow. Was he listening? Could he hear Chloe’s shallow breathing from inside?

My dispatcher terminal pulsed with a new incoming call, but I ignored it. Every fiber of my being was focused on that door, that hand.

“He’s just standing there,” the caller’s voice was barely audible now, a breathy whimper. “He’s not moving.”

He stood frozen for a long moment, a statue in my hallway. Then, slowly, he began to turn the handle.

I knew Chloe kept her door unlocked, just in case of an emergency, just in case I needed to get to her fast. He would be inside in seconds.

I could call the house landline. Yell at him through the speaker, tell him I saw everything. But what if he panicked, grabbed Chloe, or destroyed the evidence he had just planted?

Or I could use the smart home system. A silent alarm, a distraction. Buy time for an off-duty unit, someone I knew and trusted, to get there.

But activating the alarm meant risking a direct confrontation, right outside Chloe’s room. The noise might shock her.

My fingers hovered over the console, one option meant direct, risky exposure, the other, a gamble on discretion. The caller was still on the line, depending on me. And Chloe was just beyond that door.