A routine federal audit at City Hall was supposed to be procedural — paperwork, signatures, nothing more. Instead, investigators uncovered anomalies that didn’t belong in any standard review. Unlisted rooms. After-midnight badge activity. Financial approvals funneled through “emergency” channels long after crises had ended. What began as minor discrepancies escalated when server logs started shifting minutes before inspection. Then came the discovery of a concealed data partition — unclaimed by any department, yet accessed by multiple high-level accounts across finance, permits, and oversight. Archived records hinted at a mysterious “Secondary Authorization Pathway,” with no documented owner. As scrutiny deepened, files vanished. What was hidden inside City Hall — and who was protecting it?