Ryan stood beside Ava, still dripping rainwater onto the spotless marble floor. His boots squeaked with every slight movement, sounding painfully out of place in the gleaming, high-tech world around him. When the doors slid open, the atmosphere changed instantly.
Chaos. Phones rang nonstop, voices overlapped, and the large digital screen on the wall flashed SYSTEM FAILURE in bold red letters. Several employees rushed past, carrying stacks of papers, their faces pale and tense.
Ava didn’t break stride. Conference room. Now, she called out, and three senior-looking staff members scrambled to follow.
She gestured for Ryan to come with her. Inside, the room was all glass walls and polished chrome, overlooking a skyline blurred by rain. A long table dominated the center, scattered with laptops, coffee cups, and documents.
One man, gray-haired and sweating, blurted out, Ava, the distribution tracking system crashed last night. We’ve got shipments in six states unaccounted for. If we don’t restore it today, we’re looking at millions in penalties.
Millions, another added grimly, and lost clients. We’ve already had three call to threaten termination. Ava dropped into her chair, calm but deadly focused.
So fix it. The gray-haired man’s voice faltered. Ma’am, our IT lead says it could take a week, maybe longer.
Ryan shifted, recognizing the layout of the diagrams on the table, his brows knit together. This… This is your logistics dashboard? The room turned toward him, as if they’d forgotten he was even there.
Ava’s eyes narrowed. You know it. I’ve seen systems like it, he said slowly, moving closer to the table.
Used one in the Marines for supply drops, and in my shop for parts distribution. Your servers aren’t down, they’re misaligned. It’s like having the right puzzle pieces but the wrong picture on the box.
A younger employee snorted under his breath. And you figured this out by just looking at it? Ryan’s voice was steady.
I’ve spent most of my adult life figuring out how to keep things running with half the parts and no time. This isn’t magic, it’s pattern recognition. Ava leaned back, watching him with an expression that made his stomach flip.
Part curiosity, part challenge. Show me. Ryan rolled up his sleeves, stepping to one of the laptops…
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