All she wanted was fairness and justice.
And so, this plan that hit two birds with one stone unfolded to perfection.
Hearing that Maeve had remained entirely untouched, Andres was highly satisfied.
Before hanging up, he gave Hans one final order.
"Proceed with the original plan for Anya Morales."
After stirring up a storm this massive, Andres had no intention of letting her walk away unscathed.
Ending the call, he carried a tray of delicious late-night snacks straight up to the second floor and knocked on the door of Maeve's study.
Hearing permission from inside, Andres pushed the door open.
Inside, Maeve was typing away at her keyboard, engrossed in some task.
Seeing him enter, she paused her work.
"Did Hans get everything sorted with the online mess?"
Andres set the sliced fruit and dessert down on the desk.
"Following your orders, everything was handled flawlessly."
Maeve nodded.
"Tell him I said thanks. He worked hard."
Andres speared a piece of orange with a small steel fork and offered it to her lips.
"Professionally and personally, you were the one helping me. I'm the one who should be saying thank you."
"Here, have some orange. It's sweet, and you need the vitamin C."
Maeve obliged, taking the fruit from the fork.
It was perfectly sweet and tart, bursting with juice.
Neither of them wasted any more breath on the topic of Anya.
Maeve was acting a bit unusually today.
Right after dinner, she had locked herself in her study.
She didn't even have the interest to watch the spectacular drama Anya was starring in online.
Andres glanced at the monitor, noting the chaotic jumble of code sprawling across the screen.
"What are you working on? Need a hand?"
"Brute-forcing it from start to finish would take an eternity."
Andres offered a solution.
"My company keeps a team on payroll that specializes in cracking this exact type of cipher."
"If you're in a hurry to see what's inside, you can hand the chip over to them."
"You don't need to worry about security. They're my inner circle; they won't breathe a word to anyone."
Maeve smiled and declined.
"It's fine. Cracking a cipher is minor work. I can handle it myself."
It wasn't that she didn't trust Andres; she just didn't want to drag him into this mess.
Once the chip was opened, it could implicate a lot of powerful factions.
The fewer people who knew, the better.
As for how she was going to crack it, a brilliant idea had already sparked in Maeve's mind.
As if reading the sly calculation in her eyes, Andres issued a stern warning.
"You can try any method you want, except the Forbidden Arts."

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