THE SOLDIER WHO BURIED HER DAUGHTER—UNTIL A LITTLE BOY WHISPERED, “SHE’S STILL ALIVE”

The descent into the lower sub-levels of the Blackwood Estate felt like dropping into the bowels of a nuclear submarine. The air grew colder, heavy with the hum of massive server racks and the faint, ozone-tinged smell of superheated computer processors. Red emergency strobes flashed rhythmically against the dull gray concrete walls, casting long, dancing shadows that twisted like living creatures.

Marissa moved with lethal precision, holding her MP5 high as she cleared every corner and intersection, her body acting as a human shield for Lily, who walked directly behind her, guiding the way through the labyrinthine corridors.

“Left at the junction,” Lily whispered, tapping Marissa’s shoulder lightly. “The biometric vault door for the central server is fifty yards down that corridor. But... Sterling’s personal security detail uses this route to access the upper floors. We’re going to run right into them.”

Marissa checked her magazine. Three rounds left in the chamber. Not nearly enough for a firefight against armored mercenaries.

“Is there another way?” Marissa asked, her eyes scanning the ceiling ventilation grates.

“Only the maintenance conduit,” Lily replied, pointing up at a narrow metal grate secured with standard Allen screws. “It leads directly above the server room’s master terminal.”

Without a second thought, Marissa holstered her submachine gun, reached up, grabbed the heavy metal grate with both hands, and wrenched it downward with a sharp, explosive heave. The screws sheared out of the drywall with a screech of tearing metal, and the grate clattered loudly onto the concrete floor.

“Up,” Marissa ordered, boosting Lily into the dark, dusty ductwork. Lily scrambled inside with surprising agility, her small frame sliding easily into the narrow metal tube. Marissa hauled herself up right behind her, pulling the heavy ventilation cover back into place just as the heavy thud of running boots echoed from the end of the corridor.

Through the narrow slats of the grate, Marissa watched as a half-dozen heavily armed mercenaries rushed past their hiding spot, their flashlights cutting erratic beams through the darkness below.

“Clear!” one of them shouted into his comms. “Target is moving deeper into the sub-levels. Lock down all sector bulkheads!”

As the sound of their boots faded away down the hall, Marissa crawled backward through the duct behind Lily until they reached a junction overlooking a massive, cathedral-like room filled rows upon rows of humming server towers bathed in eerie blue light. In the center of the room sat a massive glass-enclosed master terminal console.

“That’s it,” Lily whispered, pointing down through the ventilation grate directly above the terminal. “If I plug into the diagnostic port with my access key, I can disable the compound’s entire security grid and unlock the perimeter escape route.”