Chapter 14 - The Price of SilenceFederal investigators arrived quietly.
No flashing vehicles.
No dramatic entrance.
Three agents walked into the administration building carrying laptops and document bags.
Special Agent Dana Ortiz led the team.
She listened more than she spoke.
Leo liked her immediately.
Not because she was warm.
She wasn’t.
Because she never treated him like a victim who needed simplified explanations.
She treated him like a technical witness.
“Show me the routing event.”
He did.
“Show me credential duplication.”
He did.
“Show me why you believe Price had access.”
He did.
Ortiz asked questions for almost two hours.
Then:
“Could you have caused the outage?”
“Yes.”
Professor Ward looked alarmed.
Leo continued.
“If I had wanted to.”
Ortiz nodded.
“How?”
“I had the technical knowledge and, before my credentials were suspended, some of the access.”
“Why admit that?”
“Because you asked whether I could, not whether I did.”
For the first time, Ortiz almost smiled.
“Good answer.”
Then she turned serious.
“Your technical ability also makes you an attractive scapegoat.”
“I noticed.”
Ortiz had already seen similar cases.
Not identical.
But sophisticated fraud often used the person most capable of discovering it as the person blamed for creating it.
The irony was useful.
Leo showed her Nolan’s scheduled emails.
The priority spreadsheet.
Trent’s copied messages.
Then the threat sent that afternoon.
Ortiz immediately requested the phone.
“Do you think Price is in danger?” Leo asked.
“Yes.”
No softening.
No false reassurance.
“Can you find him?”
“We’re trying.”
“His family?”
“Also being contacted.”
Leo leaned back.
He suddenly felt tired.
Ortiz watched him.
“You’ve done enough.”
Leo stared at her.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning students often believe that once they uncover a crime, they are responsible for personally solving it.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re sitting in a federal interview room twelve hours after reconstructing fifty encrypted applications.”
“Fair point.”
“Let us handle Price.”
Leo nodded.
But events did not wait.
At 7:43 p.m., Everett Holloway held a press conference.
He denied everything.
“My son made an unacceptable mistake,” he said before cameras, “but attempts to connect that mistake to my business affairs are reckless and defamatory.”
Reporters shouted questions.
Everett continued.
“Holloway Development has never influenced Apex Global hiring.”
Technically clever.
He spoke only about hiring.
Not applications.
Not rankings.
Not recruitment.
He announced that Trent would “take responsibility for his personal actions.”
Leo watched from Professor Ward’s office.
Brooke sat beside him.
“He’s sacrificing Trent.”
“Yes.”
“You feel bad for him?”
“Trent?”
“Yeah.”
Leo thought.
“Two things can be true.”
“What?”
“He can be responsible for attacking me.”
“And?”
“And his father can still be using him.”
On-screen, Everett was asked about Nolan Price.
He claimed to have had no recent professional relationship with him.
That was false.
Financial records already proved otherwise.
Then a reporter asked about Coach Voss.
Everett ended the conference.
Minutes later, Westbridge announced Coach Voss had been placed on administrative leave.
Graham Pike resigned from the Athletics Foundation.
And Nolan Price remained missing.
At 8:11, Agent Ortiz received a call.
She left the room.
Returned three minutes later.
“We found Price’s car.”
Leo sat straighter.
“Where?”
“Abandoned outside Richmond.”
“Was he—”
“He wasn’t inside.”
No details.
No speculation.
Just empty car.
Then Ortiz’s phone buzzed again.
She looked at the message.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“A local bus station camera recorded Price buying a ticket under his own name.”
“Where to?”
“Washington.”
Leo understood.
“He wants federal protection.”
“Possibly.”
Ortiz looked almost relieved.
Then Brooke’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her face went pale.
“What?”
She put the call on speaker.
Marcus’s voice.
“Guys, you need to come to campus.”
“We’re on campus.”
“No. Stadium parking lot.”
“Why?”
“Trent’s here.”
Leo frowned.
“He’s suspended.”
Marcus continued.
“And so is his father.”
Brooke stood.
“What are they doing?”
Marcus whispered:
“Screaming at each other in front of about two hundred students.”
Leo looked at Agent Ortiz.
She was already reaching for her coat.
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