Chapter 30
"Send it," I said.
Hannah tapped the screen. A small loading bar appeared, filled rapidly with green blocks, and then a bold confirmation message flashed: BROADCAST SUCCESSFUL.
We sat in agonizing silence as the SUV tore down the highway, the heavy rain battering the roof. Minutes stretched into eternity. I pulled out my phone and dialed Miguel’s number.
"Pick up, pick up," I muttered.
"Hello?" Miguel's voice crackled through the speaker, breathless and tense.
"Miguel, it's me," I said rapidly. "What is happening outside?"
"They were stacking up by the front doors," Miguel reported, his voice echoing slightly in the concrete safe room. "But a minute ago, they all stopped. They checked their comms, packed up their breaching gear, and fell back to the SUVs. They just pulled away. The street is clear."
A massive, collective sigh of relief filled our vehicle. Celeste closed her eyes, resting her head against the window.
"Keep everyone in the safe room until federal agents arrive to secure the perimeter," I told Miguel. "We're heading to Hale Systems HQ to finish this."
I hung up the phone and looked back at Thorne. He was conscious again, a thin line of blood trickling from his split lip. The arrogance was completely gone, replaced by a cold, burning hatred.
"You delayed the inevitable," Thorne spat. "The network is still active. I have hundreds of operatives embedded in government and corporate sectors. They will rebuild. They will hunt you down."
"No, they won't," I said, turning my attention back to Hannah. "He wouldn't authorize the global kill-switch because he thought he was protecting his legacy. But now his strike team is compromised, and we have physical possession of the Apex Key."
"Hannah," I asked softly, "if you can't bypass the biometric lock to destroy the network, can you use the Apex Key to expose it?"
Hannah smiled, a brilliant, terrifying smile. "You mean instead of deleting the files, I decrypt them and dump the entire Northstar Meridian database onto the public internet?"
"Everything," I confirmed. "Every blackmail file, every illegal transaction, every name of every corrupt official Thorne has ever bought."
"Do it," Cole agreed with a grim smile.
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"No!" Thorne screamed, thrashing wildly. "You don't understand what you're doing! You'll collapse entire financial institutions! You'll ruin the country!"
"We're letting the light in," I said. "Execute the dump, Hannah."
