Page 108 of The Stone Secret
Two hours later and nothing.“There is no breach.”
“Either that or it’s been sealed,” Selas says.
“Or there never was one…” Orix chews on his cheeks, deep in thought.
“What do you mean?” Prasan asks.
“If this was an inside job…”
“As in, inside the council?” Prasan’s voice rises an octave. “You think someone at the Stone Council is trying to kill Cameron?”
“That makes no sense,” Selas said. “The council wants an elite team. Theyneedit.”
Orix laces his hands on the top of his head. “The fact we haven’t been able to identify the mole despite all the checks. The intact wards…Everything points to someone with high level access.”
“A mole at the council,” Selas says.
“That’s impossible,” Prasan says. “They have security protocols, checks like you would not believe.” He shakes his head. “No, I can’t believe it. There has to be another reason.”
Whatever the reason, I’m sure of one thing now. “Cameron can’t take the cadet exam. Every attack that’s happened has been off campus. It’s not safe for her. Not until we find the culprit responsible.”
“She won’t like that,” Orix says. “She’s worked so hard these past weeks. She’ll be so disappointed.”
“Better to be disappointed than dead,” Selas says.
“Wait.” Prasan’s eyes light up. “Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone.”
“What? How?” Selas asks.
“This traitor attacks off campus. We know that now, and we know what the cadet exams will involve—the three locations where each part will take place. So…I say we set a trap.”
A trap? “Okay, I’m listening.”
“Willowman will be back before the exams. I’ll go with him to check over the warp zones and add a mystical tracker to the wards around each zone.”
“What kind of mystical tracker?” Selas asks.
“You remember the transmitter I was working on? The one that was meant to cut through the graynite shade that protects the wards around their stronghold?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Yeah, well they denied my application to plant the transmitter, said it was too risky. Whatever.” He rolls his eyes. “But I kept playing with it, and I came up with another use for the hardware. Mini transmitters that can connect to a ward and monitor it.”
“That’s…that’s impressive,” Orix says.
“Thank you. I sent off an application to the council last week to see if we can use it on our outposts and possibly Arcadia too as a security measure. I figure we could also use it on the graynite stronghold wards to monitor activity.” He grins. “If they let me use the original transmitter to cut through the shade, then we can plant the mini ones. I’m still waiting to hear back from them. But Carter is already using it on the academy wards.”
“That’s amazing,” Selas agrees.
Prasan ducks his head. “Thank you. I’m proud of it. I just wish I’d thought to use it for the field test.”
“None of us anticipated what would happen,” Selas says. “How does the tracker work exactly?”
“Several uses,” Prasan says. “It can account for any exits and entries to a ward, and it can also read biometric signatures that have been programmed into it.”
“So you can add the biometric data of all the cadets and identify if someone not on that list goes through?”
“Yes,” Prasan says, looking more than a little smug. “We can do this. We can catch the traitor.”
