Chapter 12 - Nolan PriceNolan Price called Leo at 8:03 a.m.
Unknown number.
Leo answered from Professor Ward’s office.
“Hello?”
“Did Trent give you the drive?”
Leo sat straighter.
Professor Ward immediately activated the recorder.
“Nolan.”
“I’ll take that as yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere Everett can’t reach me easily.”
“You helped him.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
Professor Ward closed her eyes.
Leo continued.
“You cloned my account.”
“Yes.”
“You rerouted the applications.”
“Yes.”
“You framed me.”
A longer silence.
“Yes.”
Leo’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because eighteen years ago, Everett Holloway saved my company.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“No. That is how it started.”
Nolan sounded exhausted.
He explained.
His cybersecurity firm had been collapsing.
Everett invested.
Then began asking favors.
Small ones first.
Access reports.
Contract information.
Data analytics.
Nothing clearly criminal.
Eventually the favors grew.
By the time Nolan understood the structure, Everett held financial documents proving Nolan had improperly billed clients years earlier.
Not enough for prison, perhaps.
Enough to destroy his career.
“So you kept helping.”
“Yes.”
“You had choices.”
“I know.”
“You used my disability as part of a setup.”
“I used your account.”
“You knew Trent was going to confront me.”
“Yes.”
Leo’s voice hardened.
“And you still did it.”
“I told Voss not to involve Trent.”
“But you didn’t stop it.”
“No.”
Professor Ward leaned toward the phone.
“Where are you, Nolan?”
“I will turn myself in.”
“When?”
“When the evidence is safe.”
Leo looked at Trent’s drive.
“What evidence?”
“The entire network.”
Nolan explained that Westbridge was one of several universities where Everett, Graham Pike and associates had cultivated recruitment pipelines.
Not necessarily by sabotaging students every time.
Usually they influenced recommendations.
Internships.
Scholarships.
Interview shortlists.
The North Hall operation became extreme because Apex was central to Everett’s merger.
“He was desperate.”
“That doesn’t explain the fifty students,” Leo said.
“Everett believed Apex’s algorithm was too competitive. He wanted several candidates lifted.”
“So you rerouted stronger applicants.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know who they were?”
“Graham obtained preliminary scores through a compromised recruiting contractor.”
Professor Ward muttered, “Unbelievable.”
Nolan continued.
“They identified high-scoring Westbridge candidates and guided them toward North Hall.”
“And me?”
“You were a problem.”
“Because?”
“You designed the anomaly alerts.”
Leo understood.
If fifty Apex connections suddenly failed through a routing manipulation, Leo’s diagnostics platform might flag it.
“So you stole my credentials to make me look responsible.”
“Yes.”
“Why send me warnings afterward?”
Nolan’s voice broke slightly.
“Because I watched Trent take your crutch.”
Leo said nothing.
“I was monitoring the hallway security feed. The plan was for a brief disruption. A network hardware failure. Maybe Voss would distract you with some complaint. I didn’t know Trent would…”
Nolan stopped.
Leo finished for him.
“Treat me like I was something he could throw around.”
“Yes.”
“And suddenly you developed a conscience?”
“I realized there was no bottom.”
Leo disliked the phrase because part of him believed it.
People often convinced themselves they were still decent because they had not yet crossed one particular line.
Then the line moved.
Again.
And again.
Nolan said, “Everett ordered me to erase Trent’s phone.”
“You remotely wiped evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And the priority spreadsheet?”
“I leaked it.”
Professor Ward looked at Leo.
There it was.
The whistleblower.
“What do you want?” Leo asked.
“To make sure Everett cannot bury this.”
“How?”
“I copied seven years of records.”
Leo’s pulse quickened.
“Where?”
“I’ll provide them to federal investigators.”
“Then do it.”
“I need one thing first.”
“What?”
“Protection.”
Leo almost laughed.
“You framed me, helped destroy fifty applications, erased evidence and now you want me to protect you?”
“No.”
Nolan’s voice became quiet.
“I want you to make sure the students get their applications restored before I turn over everything.”
Leo frowned.
“Why?”
“Because once this becomes a federal case, Westbridge will lock down every server. The cache may become inaccessible for weeks.”
Professor Ward nodded slowly.
He was right.
Leo asked, “What do you know about reconstructing them?”
“I know where the session keys are.”
Leo stood.
“Where?”
“Hidden backup directory on A-17’s controller.”
“The controller was destroyed.”
“Physical box, yes.”
Nolan paused.
“But every campus node replicates controller state to the disaster-recovery server.”
Leo looked at Professor Ward.
She was already moving toward the door.
“Path?”
Nolan gave it.
Leo wrote quickly.
Then asked, “Where are you?”
Nolan didn’t answer.
“Nolan.”
“I’m sorry, Leo.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“I know.”
The call ended.
Professor Ward stared at the path.
“If those keys exist…”
“We can reconstruct the fifty applications.”
“And prove they were complete before noon.”
Leo grabbed his temporary crutches.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
For the first time since Trent’s swing, they were no longer merely investigating who destroyed the students’ chances.
They might actually be able to save them.
Related Stories
