Within seconds, the server’s desktop appeared in a window on her laptop. No security policy triggered. No logs flagged the connection. It was a silent, invisible bridge.

“That’s it?” he asked.

She killed the faulty sensor process that was tricking the HVAC into thinking it was working, then manually overrode the fans to 100%. The temperature graph flatlined.

She didn’t need admin rights. She didn’t need an installer.

Tom texted: “How?”