Chapter 22: Switch Protocol
Chapter Twenty-Two: Switch Protocol
Jayden always expected betrayal to wear a familiar face.
But "Switch" wasn't familiar.
He wasn't angry.
He wasn't loud.
He was… perfect silence.
It started with a blackout.
Not across the city.
Just inside Lexington Estate.
Not a flicker of power—but a blackout of identity.
At exactly 2:00 p.m., everyone on Jayden's executive team lost access to their clearance badges.
Phones wiped.
Biometrics rejected.
Emails rerouted.
For 17 minutes, no one on the Lexington Board could prove who they were—even inside their own system.
Faith burst into the command center.
"They cloned us," she said breathlessly. "All of us."
Leo frowned. "Cloned?"
"Digital identities. Facial structure. Thumbprints. Voice patterns. Gone. And replaced."
Sasha stared at her blankly. "By who?"
Jayden didn't blink.
"…Switch."
In a bunker beneath Mombasa, Switch stood before a curved wall of monitors.
He wore a matte-black mask—no eye holes. Just a featureless smooth surface, like a statue of a forgotten god.
Zuri stood beside him, watching his code run in silence.
"He's rattled," Zuri said.
Switch said nothing.
He pressed one key.
The screen flashed with hundreds of Jayden's files—reconstructed, altered, poisoned.
On one monitor, a faked donation receipt showed Jayden funding an illegal militia in Congo.
On another, a simulated phone call placed him in secret talks with a foreign arms dealer.
Zuri grinned.
Switch didn't speak. He just whispered:
"Let him chase shadows."
Back in Nairobi, Jayden and the team scrambled to contain the attack.
The media was catching on fast.
"Jayden Lexington Linked to Armed Militants?"
"Anonymous Hacker Switch Wipes Lexington Board Identities!"
Faith was panicking.
Leo punched a glass door.
Brian shouted across the room.
But Jayden just sat.
Still.
Focused.
Then he whispered.
"…Switch didn't just hit us. He's testing us."
Sasha looked at him. "Testing what?"
Jayden turned to the central screen.
"He wants to see if we believe in each other more than we believe in records."
Jayden made a radical decision.
He shut down all AI. All systems. All cloud platforms.
Everything went manual.
Paper records.
Face-to-face meetings.
Human verification.
Legacy² was now blind.
But Jayden's instincts weren't.
He called a team meeting.
In person.
One by one, he had every board member recite a memory only the real person would know.
He asked Sasha: "What did you give me the day you left the first time?"
She closed her eyes. "A broken watch. Yours. Because I hoped one day you'd fix time."
He asked Faith: "Why did I trust you with Legacy²?"
She whispered, "Because I cried when I saw your mother walk again."
He asked Brian: "What did I say to you in the alley when you wanted to give up?"
Brian answered instantly:
"I said you're not my guard.
You're my family.
And I don't abandon family."
Jayden nodded.
"This is who we are."
Then he turned on the camera and went live again.
"There's a new player.
Calls himself Switch.
Wears a mask. Wipes identities. Builds lies.
But let me be clear.
I don't hide behind servers.
I don't need an army of ghosts.
My name is Jayden Malik Lexington.
And if you come for my people…
You'd better be more than clever.
You'd better be right."
The message went viral.
Fans. Enemies. Leaders.
Everyone was watching.
Even Zuri.
"Your puppet's sloppy," she told Switch.
Switch turned his mask toward her slowly.
"You don't control me," he said flatly.
"You just woke me up."
Zuri frowned. "What do you want, then?"
Switch stared into the camera.
"I want the world to forget the Lexington name."
Later that night, Jayden received a final message:
"You can prove your innocence.
But can you prove your soul?"
—Switch
Jayden stared at the screen.
And typed back:
"Come and test it."
End of Chapter Twenty-Two