Leo's Tablet

Elena sat on the floor of the guest bathroom, the cool tile seeping through her jeans. The phone in her hand felt light now, unburdened by the weight of the file she had just offloaded. But her heart was still hammering against her ribs, a frantic rhythm that echoed the chaos downstairs.

She needed to check the upload. She needed to be sure.

She crept out of the bathroom. The hallway was empty, but she could hear Rossi's voice from the foyer, clipped and professional, coordinating with the local police.

"Suspect is secure. Evidence is being processed. We have a lead on the children."

A lead. Not a location.

Elena slipped into the nearest room. It was Leo's playroom. Or rather, the room that used to be the playroom before Victoria had it converted into a "study lounge" for her grandchildren.

It was empty, save for a few educational toys and a sleek, modern desk.

And on the desk, charging in its dock, was Leo's tablet.

It was a ruggedized model, built to survive drops and spills. But more importantly, it was built to bypass parental controls. Leo was a hacker in training, a seven-year-old genius who had figured out how to side-load games before he could tie his shoes.

Elena grabbed it. She woke the screen.

*Password required.*

She smiled, a grim, humorless expression. Leo's password was always the same.

*LEGOMASTER.*

The screen unlocked.

She tapped the smart home app. It was a proprietary system Arthur had insisted on, controlling everything from the lights to the security cameras.

She navigated to the server logs.

*Recent Activity.*

There it was. *Upload Complete: New Recording 4.* Timestamped two minutes ago.

It was on the local server. Buried deep in the house's digital nervous system.

But it was stuck there. The upload to the cloud had failed. Victoria had locked the gateway.

Elena tapped the file. She could play it. She could listen to Arthur condemn himself all over again. But she couldn't send it out.

Unless...

She looked at the connection settings. The tablet was on the same restricted network as her phone.

But Leo had found a workaround. He had told her about it weeks ago, bragging about how he could download updates even when the wifi was off.

*Bluetooth tethering.*

He had paired the tablet to the gardener's cell phone once, stealing his data plan to download a new map pack.

Elena went to the window. The gardener's shed was visible across the lawn. It was empty now, the staff scattered by the raid.

But the new irrigation system...

The new smart irrigation system ran on a separate cellular network. A dedicated 5G connection for agricultural monitoring.

It was a long shot. A desperate, impossible long shot.

She opened the Bluetooth menu. *Scanning...*

*Device Found: Toro_Irrigation_Hub_V4.*

She tapped *Connect.*

*Pairing...*

*Pairing...*

*Connected.*

Elena let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She had a bridge.

She went back to the file manager. She selected *New Recording 4*.

*Share via...*

The options were limited. The irrigation system wasn't designed for file transfers. It was designed for weather data and flow rates.

But there was a maintenance port. A diagnostic upload feature.

*Upload to Cloud Diagnostics.*

It would send the file to the manufacturer's server. To a database somewhere in Iowa or California.

It wasn't the FBI. It wasn't the press.

But it was *out*.

She hit *Upload.*

The progress bar was agonizingly slow. The file was huge, an uncompressed audio recording.

*5%...*

Elena heard footsteps in the hall. Heavy boots.

"Clear the upper floor," a voice shouted. "Check every room."

*12%...*

She looked around the room. There was nowhere to hide. If they found her with the tablet, they would take it. They would see what she was doing.

She needed to buy time.

She grabbed a heavy wooden block from the toy bin. She threw it at the window.

*Crash.*

The sound of shattering glass was loud, distinct.

"Did you hear that?" the voice in the hall yelled. "Bedroom wing!"

The footsteps thundered away, toward the master suite.

Elena turned back to the screen.

*45%...*

Come on.

She could hear them coming back. They were clearing rooms fast. Door after door being kicked open.

*78%...*

The doorknob to the playroom turned.

Elena didn't move. She kept her finger on the screen, willing the bar to fill.

*92%...*

The door flew open.

A tactical officer stood there, his rifle raised.

"Hands!" he screamed. "Show me your hands!"

Elena held up the tablet with one hand, her other hand raised high.

*99%...*

"Drop the device!"

*100%.*

*Upload Complete.*

A green checkmark flashed on the screen.

Elena smiled. She dropped the tablet onto the desk.

"It's just a toy," she said.

The officer moved in, kicking the tablet away. He grabbed her wrist, spinning her around.

"You're under arrest," he said, snapping the cuffs on.

"I know," Elena said.

She didn't fight. She didn't struggle.

Because as they marched her out of the room, her phone buzzed in her back pocket. A notification from the burner email she had synced to the tablet.

*New Message from Marcus Thorne.*

*Subject: Received.*

*Body: I have the tape. Sit tight.*

Sent. Marcus had the tape.