Chapter 47 - The Traitor’s Final Play
The subterranean vault was bathed in harsh blue LED light. Three private network engineers were frantically typing into military-grade terminals, while two armed guards kept watch over the main fiber trunk line drilled into the city’s bedrock.
"Federal agents! Drop your weapons!" Miller roared, stepping into the corridor.
The guards turned, raising their carbines, but David and Miller fired simultaneously. The double report in the confined brick tunnel was deafening. The guards fell instantly, their weapons clattering against the stone floor. The engineers froze, their hands shooting into the air, faces pale with terror.
"Step away from the consoles!" I ordered, rushing toward the primary server rack.
Marcus’s voice crackled through my earpiece via our auxiliary satellite radio: *"Sarah! The upload is at eighty-two percent! She’s initiating the system overwrite from the river! Cut that master cable now!"*
David raised his combat blade, slicing through the thick bundles of fiber-optic cabling with brutal efficiency, while I slammed the emergency override switch on the central distribution node. The server screens flashed red, throwing up fatal error dialogues: *CONNECTION TERMINATED. REMOTE ACCESS SEVERED.*
"We did it," Julian breathed, leaning against the damp brick wall. "She’s cut off from the state grid."
"She’s cut off, but she isn't finished," David said, checking the tactical feed on Miller’s tablet. "Her convoy just arrived at the riverbank near Shelby Street. Look."
On the low-resolution traffic camera feed, Eleanor’s armored limousine was parked beside an industrial pier. Armed men were loading heavy aluminum flight cases onto an armored rivercraft.
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"She’s preparing to flee down the Cumberland toward the Mississippi," Miller said, grimacing in pain as he clamped a bandage over his wound. "Once she hits international waters via the Gulf, we’ll never extradite her."
"She murdered our father," I said, my voice cold and calm, feeling the weight of the flash drive in my pocket. "She tried to destroy David’s wedding, she tried to slaughter my family, and she thought she could buy our city. She doesn't get to leave."
