Chapter 27 - The London Gambit
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Two hours later, the storm had cleared, leaving the night air crisp and cold. The convoy of three armored black SUVs sped down the M4 motorway toward central London, sirens silent, flashing blue lights cutting through the lingering mist.
I sat in the middle vehicle, Maya secure in her bulletproof travel capsule beside me. Dad sat in the front passenger seat, a tactical rifle resting across his knees, his eyes scanning the empty highway.
"He expects you to be afraid, Mara," Dad said, watching the rain droplets slide up the windshield. "He expects you to react like a corporate executive trying to save her stocks."
"I'm not going to London to save my stocks, Dad," I said, adjusting the encryption key drive hanging around my neck. "I'm going there to trigger Protocol Zero."
Dad turned his head slightly, surprised. "Protocol Zero? You haven't fully tested that software."
"It doesn't matter," I replied coldly. "Protocol Zero doesn't just block a cyber attack; it traces the signal back through the satellite array and overloads the receiver’s hardware. If Gabriel Vance is sitting on that luxury yacht in South America using military servers, I’m going to fry his entire comms rig from three thousand miles away."
"And if he’s not on the yacht?" Dad asked.
"Then the server will trace the physical location of whoever is holding the master key," I answered, my voice dropping an octave. "And we’ll finally have a face to put on the monster."
The towering glass structure of Vance Dynamics’ London headquarters appeared on the horizon, gleaming against the night sky like a monolith of power and greed.
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"We have eyes on the lobby," our lead escort reported through the radio. "Building is quiet, boss. Night security team hasn't reported any anomalies."
"That’s what concerns me," Dad muttered, unlocking his rifle's safety. "It's too quiet."
