I had missed one of the secondary security tokens in the transition.

“Do it quickly,” Sterling said. “The city council votes on the final zoning variance tomorrow morning.”

“The file is being downloaded now,” Adrian said.

I looked at the screen of my phone.

The download bar for the master structural blueprint had just reached one hundred percent.

“They have the file,” I whispered to Julian.

Julian’s jaw tightened, a muscle jumping in his cheek.

“We can call the police,” Julian whispered back. “This is industrial espionage.”

“No,” I said, my voice barely a breath. “We need proof of what they change.”

“If they alter the load-bearing formulas, the automated city portal will flag it as a safety hazard,” I explained.

“The system will automatically suspend our building permit.”

“Can you stop the upload?” Julian asked.

“If I cut the connection now, they’ll know we’re onto them,” I said.

“They’ll find another way to block us.”

“I have to let them upload the modified file,” I said.

“Are you sure about this, Claire?” Julian asked, his blue eyes searching my face.