A Valentine's Algorithm
Copyright© 2026 by Tantrayaan
Chapter 11
Inna stayed away for two days after what happened. When she returned the apologies were quiet and sincere. They didn’t revisit the almost-kiss. Instead, they dove into the data, hoping the work would take their minds off what had happened.
They were helped by the fact that Elara wasn’t just an accountant, she was a forensic architect. She’d mapped the rot inside Chronos Tech with surgical precision. Her work allowed the two of them to map out all the shell companies, money transfers and collect evidence that could not be repudiated. Yet it still involved a lot of hard work.
One night Inna fell asleep on the couch with a spreadsheet on her laptop. Vikram didn’t wake her. He just turned off her screen and draped his coat over her shoulders. He lingered a moment, then went back to work.
“Look at this.” Inna pointed at a series of transfers. “These aren’t just any kickbacks. These are payments to foreign intelligence contractors. They were selling encryption backdoors.”
She stared at the contractor names list spit out by the computer. When she saw the names of the officials attached to them, her face drained of color.
“No wonder Elara went into hiding. Look at these names! She knew this would make her a target, maybe even get her killed. Yet she built the trail anyway.”
She looked at Vikram. His eyes were fixed on the evidence like it could bleed.
“Do you understand what kind of courage it needed to do this? She didn’t run because she was weak. She ran because she was smart. That’s the Deputy Mayor. And that’s the Comptroller. Look at these transactions she has uncovered. Payoffs. Dates. Account numbers. She mapped it all.”
Chronos Tech wasn’t just a company. It had attached itself to the city’s heart like a parasite.
Vikram had tears in his eyes thinking about the danger Elara had faced. He missed her more than he could say. When they found her, he’d spend the rest of his life making sure she never doubted what she meant to him.
When Inna watched the tears in his eyes, her own heart ached twice. Once for the danger Elara had faced. And once for the love in Vikram’s face that could never be for her.
The elevator to the twelfth floor smelled like floor polish and stale coffee.
Inna stood with her shoulders squared, her handbag on one shoulder, a manila envelope under one arm, and a sealed evidence pouch under the other. The pouch felt heavier than it should, although it only contained three USB drives.
The doors opened onto a carpeted corridor with framed commendations and photographs of handshakes. All of it screamed institution. It was meant to say - Don’t make trouble.
None of it mattered to Inna though. She went in anyway with her head held high. She was focused on what needed to be done as she turned into the Chief’s outer office. A receptionist with perfect hair looked up and blinked. No one entered the room this way. She stared at Inna as if she’d walked in carrying a live grenade.
“Detective ... Sokolov?” The woman read the nameplate on Inna’s chest. “Do you have an appointment?”
Inna set the envelope on the counter gently. “No.”
The receptionist’s smile hardened. “Then I’m afraid...”
“This is an exigent disclosure involving public corruption, compromised channels, and a missing person case with federal implications. It needs to be in front of the Chief and the DA today.” The receptionist hesitated. “The DA isn’t...”
“I know where he is. He’s on the calendar at ten-thirty for a photo-op with the mayor’s office. If he leaves this building without hearing me, he’ll be explaining to the press why he ignored evidence of racketeering. And if you stall me I’m walking this folder to Internal Affairs and the press.”
The woman’s eyes sharpened. “Detective, that is wildly inappropriate.”
Inna leaned forward, just enough that the receptionist could see the dark circles under her eyes. “So is selling the city to foreign contractors.”
“Detective, you can’t threaten the Chief...”
“Watch me.”
That did it.
The receptionist picked up the phone and spoke in a low voice Inna couldn’t hear. A moment later she hung up and gestured down the hall. “Conference room B. The Chief will be there in ten minutes.”
Inna didn’t thank her. She just walked towards the conference room.
Conference room B was glass on three sides. Although the room was supposed to have a fantastic view of the city, the skyline looked cold and indifferent.
Inna set the evidence pouch on the table and started laying out printed pages of the evidence from the envelope. The timeline of the events. A map with three locations circled. Bank transfers highlighted in yellow. Names underlined in red.
When the door opened, Police Chief Reddick walked in first. He was a tall man with grey at the temples. His posture indicated that he’d survived politics by swallowing his pride rather than standing up for anything. Behind him came a DA Halverson with his suit jacket open and his phone still in hand. He already looked annoyed - possibly at having to miss a photo-op with the Mayor.
Reddick’s gaze flicked to the table. “Detective Sokolov. I’m told you forced your way into my morning.”
“Yes sir. I did.”
Halverson tossed his phone onto the table. “You’ve got three minutes. Start talking.”
Inna slid the sealed pouch toward them. “These are three drives recovered from three separate public locations. The data is fragmented. The only way to read them is to reconstruct the master image with all three fragments of the data.”
Halverson’s eyebrow ticked. “So what?”