IDENTITY UNDER ATTACK · EPISODE 13

The Urgent Request

Nina was flying out that evening. The email said she couldn't take calls, the bank's cut-off was close, and the vendor was new. Jordan was alone.

Identity Under Attack, episode 13: The Urgent Request. Fragment 13, the deadline.

The real Nina was unreachable, the deadline was real, and the request was almost reasonable. That was not bad luck. That was the design.

5:52 PM. Friday.

Jordan was the last one in the office when the email from Nina arrived. Nina was flying to a client workshop that evening. Everyone knew: it was on the team calendar, and, Jordan would later realise, on her public profile too.

An email that appears to be from Nina, sent from a personal-looking address, asking Jordan to pay a new vendor before the bank's cut-off because she is boarding a flight and cannot take calls.

The amount was large but not strange. The vendor was new, but Nina had been talking about changing venues for weeks. The bank's cut-off was in thirty-eight minutes. And the last line pressed on exactly the spot it was written to press.

Jordan opened the banking app. Then he looked at the card stuck under the meeting room screen.

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