Chapter 28

Hannah lifted the lid of the silver briefcase. Inside, nestled in high-density shock foam, was not a hard drive or a weapon, but a sleek, matte-black tablet connected to a specialized hardware dongle. It looked deceptively simple.

"This is it," Hannah breathed, wiping the rain from her glasses. "This is the Apex Key. It's a localized master-override terminal. If I can connect this to a high-speed cellular relay, I can broadcast the kill-switch code to every Northstar server on the global network."

"How long will that take?" Cole asked, keeping his weapon trained on Thorne in the backseat.

"I need to bypass Thorne's security protocols first," Hannah said, frantically powering up the device. "Maybe ten minutes. But I need a stable connection, and this mountain is a dead zone even without the jammers."

"We drive," Cole decided instantly. "We get out of the jammer radius and hit the highway toward Boston. Once we have a signal, you deploy the Key."

I grabbed Celeste by the arm, helping her into the passenger seat, while Hannah scrambled into the back next to Thorne, keeping the tablet shielded from the rain. I jumped into the front passenger seat.

Cole threw the SUV into reverse, spinning the tires in the thick mud before violently shifting into drive. We tore down the overgrown logging trail, the vehicle bouncing violently over deep ruts and exposed roots.

"Twenty-five minutes until the strike team breaches the house," Thorne taunted from the back, his calm facade completely restored. "You won't break the encryption in time, little girl. You're out of your depth."

"Shut up," Hannah snapped, her fingers flying across the tablet's touchscreen. "Your architecture is archaic. You rely on brute force; Thomas Hale relied on elegance."

We hit the paved mountain road, and Cole pushed the accelerator to the floor. The heavy SUV roared through the darkness, taking corners at terrifying speeds.

"Signal bars!" Hannah shouted triumphantly. "We're out of the jammer radius! I have an LTE connection!"

"Deploy the code," I ordered.

"It's not that simple," Hannah cursed. "Thorne installed a biometric firewall on the external servers. It requires a retina scan to execute a global command."

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I turned around in my seat, glaring at the Architect.

"He needs to authorize it," Hannah said, a note of despair creeping into her voice. "Or the kill-switch bounces back and deletes itself."