Chapter 5: Querying the Baron

The room seemed to shrink as the Data Baron stepped closer, his polished shoes clicking against the concrete floor. Dash D. Board didn’t flinch. He’d faced rogue queries, infinite loops, and broken joins before—this was just another bug in the system.

“You’ve been meddling in my business, Mr. Board,” the Baron said, his voice as smooth as a perfectly normalized schema. “And I don’t like meddlers.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like people who delete KPIs,” Dash shot back. “What’s your game, Baron? Why mess with the city’s data?”

The Baron smirked. “You’re a bright one, aren’t you? It’s not about the data, Mr. Board. It’s about power. Control. In a world driven by analytics, whoever controls the metrics controls the decisions. The companies, the economy… the city itself.”

Annie stepped forward, her voice shaking with anger. “You’re manipulating entire organizations. People rely on that data to make real decisions. You’re playing with lives.”

“Precisely,” the Baron said, his smile widening. “And what better way to ensure they make the decisions I want than by giving them the numbers they need to see?”

Dash narrowed his eyes. “And McCoy? He’s your fall guy?”

The Baron chuckled. “McCoy is an ambitious fool. He thinks this is all about migrating to the cloud. He has no idea he’s merely a cog in a much larger machine.”

“Then why involve him at all?” Annie demanded.

“Because pawns are expendable,” the Baron said coolly. “And because I needed someone with just enough access to execute my plan without drawing attention to me.”

Dash glanced at Eddie, who was still leaning against the wall, pale but determined. “What about Eddie? Why kidnap him?”

“Ah, Eddie,” the Baron said, turning his gaze to the warehouse admin. “He got too curious. I couldn’t have him poking around and accidentally exposing my operation. But now…” He gestured to the guards. “It seems I’ll need to deal with all of you.”

The guards stepped forward, their faces blank but menacing. Dash took a step back, his mind racing. He needed a plan, fast.

“Wait,” Dash said, holding up a hand. “Before you do anything rash, don’t you want to know how we found you?”

The Baron raised an eyebrow. “I admit, I’m curious. My system is flawless. How did you manage to trace the trail back to me?”

Dash smirked, buying time. “Your ‘flawless’ system isn’t as perfect as you think. Sloppy coding in the cleanup script. Inconsistent command syntax. And your VPN? Amateur hour. I’ve seen better obfuscation from interns.”

The Baron’s smile faltered, just for a moment. “Interesting. I underestimated you.”

“And that’s your real problem,” Dash continued, taking a step closer. “You think you’re untouchable. But every system has vulnerabilities. Every scheme leaves a trail.”

The Baron’s eyes darkened. “You’re bluffing.”

“Am I?” Dash said, pulling out a flash drive from his coat pocket and holding it up. “This drive contains everything we need to expose you. The logs, the fake KPIs, even the commands you ran to erase the backups. You think McCoy will take the fall for this? Once the city sees what’s on here, they’ll know who’s really behind it.”

The Baron’s confidence wavered. “You’re lying.”

“Test me,” Dash said, his voice cold. “Because if I don’t walk out of here, this drive goes public.”

For a moment, the room was silent, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. The Baron’s guards glanced at each other uncertainly. Annie held her breath, her hand inching toward her laptop bag.

Finally, the Baron laughed—a short, humorless sound. “Well played, Mr. Board. But you’re forgetting one thing.”

“What’s that?” Dash asked, his grip tightening on the flash drive.

The Baron gestured toward the workstation, where the dashboard of manipulated data was still flickering. “Even if you expose me, the damage is already done. The city’s leaders are already making decisions based on my metrics. By the time the truth comes out, it’ll be too late.”

Dash’s mind raced. The Baron wasn’t wrong. Even if they took him down, reversing the decisions made from false data would take months, maybe years. But then an idea struck him—a risky, last-ditch effort that might just work.

He turned to Annie. “Can you access the system from here?”

Annie blinked, caught off guard. “Uh, maybe. If I can get past the firewalls—”

“Do it,” Dash said. “We’re not just exposing him. We’re taking the system down.”

The Baron’s expression shifted from smug to alarmed. “What are you doing?”

“Fixing your mess,” Dash said, tossing Annie the flash drive. “Use this to overwrite his data forgeries. Restore the backups. If we’re lucky, we can undo the damage before it’s too late.”

Annie plugged the drive into the workstation, her fingers flying across the keyboard. “This is insane,” she muttered, “but it just might work.”

“Stop them!” the Baron shouted, but Eddie, finally regaining his strength, stepped in front of the guards.

“You’re not touching them,” Eddie said, his voice firm despite the tremor in his hands.

The guards hesitated, clearly unsure whether to take orders from the Baron or avoid a potential scandal involving a hostage.

“Annie, hurry,” Dash said, keeping his eyes on the Baron.

“Almost there,” Annie said, sweat beading on her forehead. “Just a few more—got it!”

The monitors flickered, then went dark. A moment later, they lit up again, this time displaying the original metrics—the real KPIs. Dash let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

“No!” the Baron roared, slamming his fist on the desk. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Yeah,” Dash said, stepping closer. “I’ve taken you offline.”

Sirens wailed in the distance. Annie smirked. “Looks like Eddie’s emergency alert system worked after all.”

The Baron’s face twisted with rage as the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. Dash leaned in, his voice low. “Game over, Baron. The only data you’ll be managing now is on prison rosters.”

By the time the authorities arrived, the Baron and his guards were in custody, and Eddie was being treated for his injuries. Dash and Annie stood outside the warehouse, watching as the rain started to fall again.

“Well,” Annie said, “that was one way to spend a day.”

“Just another case in Data City,” Dash replied, lighting a cigarette. “Corrupt data, corrupt people. Someone’s always trying to manipulate the numbers.”

“Think this is the last we’ll see of the Baron?” Annie asked.

Dash exhaled, the smoke curling into the night. “Doubt it. Guys like him always find a way back. But we’ll be ready.”

Annie smiled. “So, what now?”

Dash glanced at her, a rare glint of humor in his eyes. “Now? We get some coffee. And maybe a new client. Something simple. Like cleaning up a bad spreadsheet.”

They both laughed, the sound echoing through the rain-soaked streets. Data City wasn’t perfect, but as long as Dash D. Board was on the case, the truth had a fighting chance.