Chapter 5 - The Unlikely Ally
When the smoke cleared, the office was a wreck. Julian peeked over the edge of the desk, his ears ringing. Sarah was on the floor, unconscious, and standing over her was Leo.
He looked at Julian with an expression of mild annoyance. "You really are hopeless, aren't you?" Leo said, holstering a tactical device.
Julian scrambled to his feet, breathless. "You... you saved me?"
"I saved the asset," Leo corrected, looking down at Sarah. "She was acting on her own, trying to leverage the Auditor's goals for personal gain. That wasn't part of the plan."
"What plan?" Julian snapped, his fear beginning to curdle into anger. "Who are you? What is this all about?"
Leo walked over to the bookshelf, pulling a hidden lever behind one of the volumes. A section of the wall slid open to reveal a small, fortified safe. "Your father was the gatekeeper of the city’s corruption. He controlled the flow of information for decades. When he died, the system was left without a central processor. I’m that processor."
"You're an AI?" Julian asked, incredulous.
"I’m the human interface for the most sophisticated financial auditing system in existence," Leo said, turning back to him. "And you, Julian, are the only one with the biometric clearance to open the Ledger. That’s why you’re still alive."
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Julian stared at him, his mind reeling. "You need me."
"I need your handprint, your retinal scan, and your voice. The rest of you is just baggage."
