Chapter 8 - The Hidden AdministratorLeo had spent enough time inside university systems to know that computers were terrible liars.
People deleted files.
Computers recorded deletions.
People changed timestamps.
Systems recorded changes.
People believed “administrator” meant invisible.
It rarely did.
By noon, Leo and Professor Ward had reconstructed the access path.
Someone created a fake administrator account in Coach Voss’s name six weeks earlier.
That account never logged in from the athletics building.
It logged in from three places.
The football stadium.
A university-owned apartment.
And Information Technology Office 4B.
Office 4B belonged to Deputy Chief Information Officer Nolan Price.
Leo knew him.
Everyone in computing knew him.
Price was respected.
Calm.
Brilliant.
A graduate of Westbridge.
He had approved Leo’s diagnostics project.
Once, after Leo’s accident, Price personally ordered automatic-door improvements in the engineering building.
Leo wanted the logs to be wrong.
They weren’t.
Professor Ward stared at the screen.
“Nolan?”
“Possibly someone using his office.”
“Security cameras?”
“Checking.”
Footage showed Price entering Office 4B during three of the suspicious login periods.
Nobody else entered.
Professor Ward leaned back.
“I don’t understand.”
Neither did Leo.
Price earned a good salary.
Had no obvious connection to football.
No public relationship with Graham Pike.
Then Leo searched university financial disclosures.
Nothing.
Brooke, who had joined the investigation team unofficially and without permission, searched social media.
“Found something.”
Professor Ward sighed.
“Why are you here?”
“Because my career almost disappeared yesterday.”
“Fair.”
Brooke showed them an old photograph.
Ten years earlier.
A Westbridge alumni golf tournament.
Four men stood together.
Everett Holloway.
Graham Pike.
Coach Voss, then an assistant coach.
And Nolan Price.
Leo zoomed in.
“They go back years.”
Brooke kept searching.
Another photograph.
Holloway Development charity banquet.
Nolan Price listed among technology sponsors.
Then Priya found something better.
A state corporate filing.
Before joining Westbridge, Price had owned a cybersecurity consultancy.
Its largest client?
Holloway Development Group.
Professor Ward said softly, “There’s the connection.”
But knowing Price knew Everett Holloway did not prove sabotage.
They needed direct evidence.
Leo searched authentication logs.
Price was careful.
The rerouting command did not come from his personal credential.
It came from Leo’s cloned account.
But cloned credentials still required creation somewhere.
Leo compared password-reset logs.
His account showed no reset.
Then he realized the attacker hadn’t changed his password.
They had copied his authentication token.
That required access to a device where Leo had logged in.
Leo mentally reviewed every university computer he had used.
Engineering lab.
Library.
IT office.
Then he remembered.
Three weeks earlier, Price asked Leo to demonstrate the diagnostics platform.
Inside Office 4B.
Leo had logged into Price’s workstation.
Twenty minutes.
Long enough to extract a token.
Professor Ward whispered, “You trusted him.”
“Yes.”
That hurt more than Leo expected.
At 2:40 p.m., campus police requested Price report for questioning.
His office was empty.
His laptop was gone.
His university phone remained on the desk.
Price himself had disappeared.
Security cameras showed him leaving campus at 12:17.
Minutes after Apex announced it would review affected applications.
He carried a backpack.
Then another surprise.
At 3:05, Leo received an email.
From Nolan Price.
Scheduled delivery.
Subject:
YOU ARE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE
The message contained one sentence.
Ask why Everett Holloway needed Apex before Friday.
No attachment.
No explanation.
Professor Ward read it twice.
“Friday is tomorrow.”
Leo searched Everett Holloway.
Construction.
Development.
Commercial property.
Several university contracts.
Then Brooke found a news article.
Holloway Development was negotiating a merger with Apex Global’s real-estate infrastructure division.
A deal worth hundreds of millions.
Expected announcement: Friday.
Everyone stopped.
Professor Ward whispered, “Oh.”
If Apex discovered Everett Holloway was connected to recruitment manipulation at Westbridge, the merger could collapse.
Leo stared at Price’s email.
But why would Price expose Everett if he had helped him?
Maybe Price was turning against the group.
Or trying to redirect blame.
Brooke asked, “What do we do?”
Leo looked at the clock.
If the merger announcement came Friday morning, Everett had less than twenty-four hours to keep the scandal contained.
That made him dangerous.
Not physically, necessarily.
Financially.
Politically.
Institutionally.
Men like Everett Holloway did not need to threaten people personally.
They could threaten scholarships.
Jobs.
Budgets.
Careers.
Leo looked out the window toward the football stadium.
“I think we stop treating this like a campus disciplinary case.”
Professor Ward nodded.
“And start treating it like what?”
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Leo closed the email.
“Fraud.”
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