Chapter 27
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"Copy that, Mom," Chloe’s voice came through the earpiece, accompanied by the rapid clacking of her keyboard. "I am initiating the localized spoof on the first two security layers. Give me ten seconds."
The electronic keypad next to the heavy steel door blinked from red to green, but the massive deadbolts remained securely locked in place.
"The digital locks are bypassed, but the mechanical failsafe is active," Chloe reported. "Jax, you need to crack the manual access panel on the wall and physically cross-wire the primary relay."
Jax didn't waste a second. He pried open the metal panel with his combat knife, exposing a tangled mess of complex, color-coded wiring. He pulled a specialized multi-tool from his belt, his large, calloused fingers working with surprising delicacy to bypass the mechanical triggers.
"Got it," Jax grunted as the heavy steel door hissed, slowly sliding open to reveal the freezing, blue-lit expanse of General Thorne's private server room.
The room hummed with the sound of dozens of massive cooling fans. Towering racks of black data servers lined the walls, processing the immense, illegal wealth and logistical movements of Project Obsidian. In the center of the room sat a standalone terminal, heavily armored and disconnected from the rest of the network.
"That's the air-gapped terminal," Elena said, stepping cautiously into the room, her weapon raised. "The physical decryption key has to be in there."
She approached the terminal. It wasn't protected by a password, but by a physical, military-grade lockbox mounted directly into the console.
Elena pulled her thermal-cutting laser from her harness. The intensely bright, concentrated beam of light effortlessly sliced through the heavy titanium hinges of the lockbox. She pried the metal cover off, reaching inside to retrieve a heavy, rectangular piece of encrypted hardware resembling a specialized flash drive.
"I have the physical decryption key," Elena confirmed, sliding the heavy hardware securely into her tactical pouch.
"Excellent," Chloe cheered over the comms. "Get out of there, Mom. The patrol shift is changing in two minutes. The new guards will find the bodies in the corridor."
"Copy that. We are moving to extract," Elena said, turning toward the door.
Suddenly, the blue lights in the server room turned a blaring, violent crimson. A loud, automated siren began to wail throughout the entire compound.
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"Chloe, what happened?" Jax shouted over the noise, raising his weapon toward the door.
"It's a weight-sensor alarm!" Chloe yelled, panic bleeding into her voice. "The lockbox was tied to a pressure plate. They know you took the key! The entire compound is going into lockdown lockdown!"
