Richard leaned back in his chair with a tired stretch, one hand cradling a mug of fresh coffee, the other flicking through tabs on his main terminal. It was too early for complexity, but the blinking notification on his center monitor promised just that. A familiar voice echoed through the office—a voice without tone, yet unmistakably her own.
"Good morning, Sir Richard."
He sipped and set the mug down. "Morning, Lina. Anything from our little... fisherman?"
"Yes, sir. The Trojan signature was detected at 03:17 UTC," Lina responded without pause. "Its current operational environment is now localized to 675 North Randolph Street. Arlington. DARPA Strategic Tech Office."
Richard raised an eyebrow, then chuckled to himself. "Virginia? Huh. Not exactly a mom-and-pop server farm."
He leaned forward, gaze narrowing slightly. "They triggered the payload?"
"Affirmative. The embedded Trojan activated following a successful compromise of the Quantum Key Distribution layer."
