Chapter 25 - The Ghost Hacker
If I was going to infiltrate an offline server in a corporate fortress, I needed someone who viewed digital security not as a wall, but as a puzzle waiting to be solved. I needed David.
David was a brilliant, highly unethical white-hat hacker who had previously helped me bypass Derek’s hidden files. He owed his freedom to Elena, who had quietly kept him out of federal prison three years ago. When I called him, he arrived at the foundation within the hour, carrying a heavy backpack filled with custom-built decryption hardware.
"An offline, biometric server vault," David muttered, examining the blueprints I had laid out on the table. He grinned, a manic light shining in his eyes. "That’s old-school paranoia. I love it. But Lena, to hack an offline server, I physically have to plug my rig into the mainframe. I can't do it remotely from a van."
"I know," I replied, strapping a lightweight Kevlar vest over my black tactical clothing. "That’s why you are coming inside the building with me."
David’s smile vanished instantly. "Whoa, wait. I am a keyboard warrior, Lena. I don't do guns and guards."
"You won't have to deal with the guards," Elias’s deep voice rumbled as he entered the office, wearing full tactical gear and carrying a suppressed non-lethal submachine gun. "My team will secure the physical perimeter and handle any hostiles. Your only job is to break the digital lock and extract the ledger."
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I looked at the digital clock on the wall. It was 10:00 p.m. Julian’s midnight deadline to burn down the foundation was rapidly approaching. He assumed we were cowering in the dark, waiting for his strike.
"Julian is preparing to attack my sanctuary," I said to the room, my voice absolute and unwavering. "He thinks he holds all the cards. Tonight, we don't just steal his money. We steal his ghost. Let's move."
