Chapter 10
The scraping sound at the wardrobe door grew sharper, accompanied by the high-pitched whine of an industrial diamond-tip cutter biting into the steel casing of the hidden entryway. Sparks flickered through the microscopic gap at the base of the sliding panel, casting erratic orange flashes across the clean, minimalist interior of the panic room.
Lin didn't look back at the door. She stood beside Chen at the central steel desk, her eyes fixed on the glowing terminal screen. “Plug it in, Madame Chen. We don't have three minutes before they cut through the deadbolts.”
Chen’s hands were remarkably steady as she took the small metallic flash drive from Jin-woo and inserted it into the designated USB port on the secure terminal. A line of green text scrolled instantly across the dark monitor, bypassing local firewalls and establishing a direct, encrypted tunnel to the federal data repository downtown.
“Handshake accepted,” the automated voice of the terminal hummed softly through the built-in speakers. “Awaiting dual-key verification.”
“Enter your biometric scan,” Lin instructed, watching the red sensor light pulsate beside the screen.
Chen pressed her thumb firmly against the glass plate. A soft chime confirmed the match. “Biometric verified. Secondary cryptographic key required.”
Jin-woo tapped the keyboard, entering the complex alphanumeric sequence encoded on the flash drive based on the maritime routing numbers they had deciphered from the ledger pages. The progress bar on the screen ticked upward: ten percent, forty percent, seventy-five percent.
Outside, a heavy hydraulic thud shook the entire wall. The intruders were using a battering ram against the exterior of the wardrobe, attempting to pop the pneumatic seals by sheer force. Dust drifted down from the ceiling vents like gray snow.
“Ninety percent,” Jin-woo muttered, his eyes narrowing as he gripped his sidearm, turning to face the steel door of the panic room. “They’re through the outer casing. They’ll have the locking pins exposed in thirty seconds.”
“Hold the line,” Lin said calmly, her hand resting on her service weapon. She looked at Chen, whose face was illuminated by the green glow of the terminal. The older woman stood tall, her white skirt suit unwrinkled, her posture embodying an unbroken defiance.
“Transfer complete,” the terminal announced with a crisp, ascending double-beep. “Files successfully transmitted to Federal Task Force 7.”
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A secondary notification popped up on the lower right corner of the screen: Data packet distributed to automated public archive servers on a fifty-second delayed release timer.
Chen exhaled slowly, her shoulders dropping a fraction of an inch. “Even if they kill us in this room, the ledger is already public.”
