Chapter 34 - The Poisoned Well
|
I felt my stomach drop. "What are you talking about? Protocol Zero stopped the purge!"
"It stopped the purge of your files, my dear," Gabriel smiled, setting his glass down on the marble bar. "It didn't stop the release of mine."
He pressed a button on his smartwatch. Behind him, a massive floor-to-ceiling display turned on, showing a live global map with red data streams spreading across every continent.
"For thirty years, Vance Dynamics has provided encryption software to every major intelligence agency in the Western world," Gabriel explained, his voice filled with terrifying pride. "CIA, MI6, Mossad, Interpol... they all use our core code. And twenty minutes ago, I broadcasted the universal decryption key to the open dark web."
I stared at the screen in utter horror. "You just unmasked every covert operative on the planet."
"I unlocked the world's secrets," Gabriel corrected, his eyes gleaming with mad ambition. "In one hour, the world order collapses. Stock markets will crash. Governments will fall. And who do you think they will blame?"
"Vance Dynamics," I whispered, the crushing weight of his plan falling on my shoulders. "They'll blame me."
"You are the CEO, Mara," Gabriel said, taking a step toward us. "You signed the compliance certificates yesterday. On paper, you just committed the largest act of cyber-treason in human history."
Dad raised his weapon, pointing it straight between Gabriel's eyes. "Undo it, Gabriel. Now."
"I can't," Gabriel laughed softly. "The sequence is hard-coded into an offshore terminal. It can only be aborted by the person holding the physical master key."
May you like
"Where is the key?" I demanded, my hands shaking with rage.
Gabriel tapped his chest, smiling sinisterly. "It’s embedded in a biometric chip next to my heart. If my heart stops... the upload becomes permanent."
